Environmental group joins state in defense of oil tanker law

A federal judge will allow the Coalition for Buzzards Bay to join the state’s efforts to defend the state from a lawsuit challenging a law intended to prevent offshore oil spills. The coalition, an environmental advocacy group, says the law is worth defending. “Across the board, this is the best law to help prevent another spill like the Bouchard 120. The bill is comprehensive. We have to defend it,” executive director Mark Rasmussen told The Standard-Times of New Bedford.