Sometimes little heralded, arcane votes in Congress affect people’s lives and livelihoods more than the ones that are easier to report.

Just such a vote occurred Wednesday, Sept. 24 in the U.S. Senate. Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell helped save our beaches and ocean from offshore drilling damage. They defeated an effort by Big Oil and its allies to fast track a hastily drawn up Bush-era drilling plan that would have opened millions of acres of Washington ocean for offshore drilling starting next year.

Beach goers, recreational fishermen, commercial fishermen, hotels, restaurants and tourism businesses all along our shores can thank Senators Murray and Cantwell for keeping their coast clean and their ocean healthy by defeating this measure.

Many of these businesses are suffering through the recession but imagine if they also had to deal with an oil spill on the beach.

Cara Dolan, state associate with Environment Washington