UNITED STATES 28 January 2009 Oil spill off California devastated coastline 40 years ago. Offshore drilling issue

On 28 Jan 1969, some 80,000 barrels of oil washed up on the popular beaches of Santa Barbara in California, an accident regarded as the catalyst for the United States environmental movement. A congressional moratorium since 1981 has prohibited oil and gas drilling along the east and west coasts and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, an area accounting for some 80 per cent of the country's outer continental shelf. Opponents of efforts to lift the ban used the 1969 accident as an argument for renewing it, but Congress allowed it to lapse in 2008.

Eight hundred square miles of ocean were impacted by the spill, which also make a 35 mile stretch of shoreline a sticky mess. The oil was up to six inches thick on the beach, the odor of petroleum was inescapable and the ecological impact was catastrophic. Rescuers counted 3,600 dead ocean feeding seabirds and a large number of poisoned seals and dolphins were removed from the shoreline. The problems began on an offshore drilling rig operated by Union Oil, where pipe was being extracted from a 3,500 foot deep well. Immense pressure caused a blowout of oil and natural gas.

Since the accident, offshore drilling and exploration have only been allowed in the western and central regions of the Gulf of Mexico plus parts of Alaska.

Congress first passed a national ban on new offshore drilling in 1981 and has renewed it annually ever since. The current political discussion was jump-started in July when crude oil prices peaked at US $150 and President Bush rescinded a 1991 executive order. Congress still needs to act before any leasing can occur.

Though Democrats insist drilling offshore is likely to have no impact on prices for at least a decade, they have cautiously embraced the possibility of offshore drilling. They say they generally support more offshore drilling but want oil companies to start by exploring the federal oil leases they already hold before drilling into the ocean bed. The issue could come up for congressional vote in September.

Proponents of lifting the ban argue that America cannot turn away from a homegrown energy source at a time when the country is dangerously dependent on foreign oil and technology has made offshore oil drilling safer than ever.

RELATED READING:

1969 oil spill (University of California-Santa Barbara Dept. of Geography)
www.geog.ucsb.edu

Bush lifts offshore drilling ban (BBC 14 Jul 2008)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7506346.stm