One of the largest offshore oil spills happened in Southern California off the Santa Barbara coast ~ I just love the beauty of Santa Barbara and know Johannes will perform there soon ~ So I thought it would be interesting to share some of the history related to the current concern over offshore oil drilling and one of the reasons offshore drilling is a very sensitive issue in Southern California ~ I posted a blog awhile back where Robert Redford remembered the devastation from the Santa Barbara oil spill ~
Also, I love the beauty of the drive along the California coast line .. but that little bit of Pacific coast line right before approaching Santa Barbara where the oil platforms are still visible .. has always struck a silent cord inside me ~
From Wikipedia:
“January and February 1969 in the Santa Barbara Channel, near the city of Santa Barbara in Southern California. It was the largest oil spill in United States waters at the time, and now ranks third after the 2010 Gulf Deepwater Horizon and 1989 Exxon Valdez spills. It remains the largest oil spill to have occurred in the waters off of California.
The source of the spill was a Blow-out on January 28, 1969, 6 miles (10 km) from the coast on Union Oil’s Platform A in the Dos Cuadras Offshore Oil Field. Within a ten-day period, an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 barrels of crude oil spilled into the Channel and onto the beaches of Santa Barbara County in Southern California, fouling the coastline to the Mexican border. The spill had a significant impact on marine life in the Channel, killing thousands of sea birds, as well as marine animals such as dolphins, elephant seals, and sea lions. The public outrage engendered by the spill, which received prominent media coverage in the United States, resulted in numerous pieces of environmental legislation.”
Bless our waters and all creatures of Mother Earth ~ With love ~ Coralina ~