Energy exploration intensifies

The U. S. subsidiary of Comet Ridge Ltd. of Sydney, Australia, said last week it signed a $1 million lease option for 420,000 acres in the Grays Harbor basin area southwest of Seattle to explore for oil and gas.

The Comet Ridge deal is only the latest in a series of moves by the energy industry to either find or secure gas, coal and oil reserves in the state. Those initiatives include: