On October 2, 2021, a leak on the oil rig Elly resulted in 126,000 gallons of crude oil being
spilled into the Pacific Ocean along the coast of Southern California. The rig is located
approximately 17.5 miles off shore from Huntington Beach, California, however the leak is
about 5 miles off the coast. Although the Newport Beach and Huntington Beach police
departments received notification of a “tar-like” smell from residents and visitors on Saturday,
October 2 at 6:30pm, an oil spill announcement wasn’t released until over 24 hours later. Dead
wildlife and tar began washing ashore along Orange County and Los Angeles county beaches
early on Sunday, October 3. Shortly afterwards, law enforcement shut down public beaches
along Orange County, and there’s been a large effort to contain the oil and prevent it from
endangering wildlife, and habitats.
However, there’s already been extensive environmental damage, Orange County Supervisor
Katrina Foley tweeted that the damage is “irreversible” and states “You can’t get wildlife back
that are killed in this process, and some of the habitat the plant species, they’re going to be
impacted for years to come”. According to an article by Bloomberg Green, the Oil Spill in 2021
is California’s worst oil spill in over 30 years, with the former being a result of the 1994
Northridge Earthquake, which severely damaged much of Southern California. During that spill,
4500 barrels of oil was released into the Pacific Ocean, destroying local wildlife and habitats
for years. Although there’s already been a large effort to contain the oil before it spreads farther,
the environmental damage has already been done. Newport Beach Mayor Brad Avery claims he
saw a pod of dolphins struggle as they swam through the murky oily water. So far, almost
3,150 barrels of oil have been removed from the Pacific Ocean. However, this accounts for a
mere 2.5% of the amount released during the spill.
Elly is operated by Houston based Amplify Energy, and since the spill, the company’s taken a
financial hit and stocks have dropped over 50% since Monday. In addition, Amplify was already
facing a staggering 216 million dollars worth of debt.
According to investigators and representatives of Amplify Energy, there’s been an
active investigation towards the cause of the spill since it was first announced to the public
and on Monday during a press conference, Amplify Energy CEO Martyn Willsher claims the
spill was a result of a collision between the pipe and the anchor of a passing ship. Even before
the spill occurred, oil drilling along Southern California's coast has been a subject of controversy
for years, with many environmentalists criticizing it for being a looming threat towards not only
wildlife and ecosystems, but also humans. There’s been increasing public opposition towards oil
and energy companies and last week, the Santa Barbara Planning Commission blocked Exxon
Mobil’s proposal to restart 3 oil platforms off California’s coast and transport oil collected to the
mainland by tanker ship. In addition, local, state, and federal government officials have been
pressured by ocean conservation and protection agencies and organizations such as Oceana to
discontinue offshore oil drilling and switch to cleaner and more sustainable forms of energy.
Questions:
Do you think oil platforms should continue to operate off the coast of California?
Will nearby beachside towns such as Huntington Beach and Newport Beach’s economies be hindered? Why or why not?
What should local and state governments do to prevent future oil spills?
Sources:
https://nypost.com/2021/10/03/socal-oil-spill-killing-wildlife-may-close-beaches-for-months/
https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/03/us/california-oil-spill/index.html
9 comments:
I think oil platforms should begin tapering off of areas that are either environmentally high risk or have little left to yield. As the world begins to move away from fossil-fuels, companies need to weight the risk and reward of drilling in certain areas. It is more than a financial or humanitarian decision, it is also a business decision. For example, if Shell has a major oil spill in a heavily populated area endangering thousands of people or animals, then people would be less likely to invest in their alternative energies as compared to another company that didn't have bad press surrounding it. The company referenced in the article, Amplify Energy, has already taken a major financial hit, proving the detrimental business effects of oil spills. However, beachside towns like Huntington Beach and Newport Beach definitely won't be majorly hindered by this spill. Although some people go to those areas to actually go to beaches, most people are there to either visit family or eat at excellent restaurants. The majority of the demographic there is rich, old, and white - so that means many tourists are coming to visit their grandparents.
I agree with you Darshan that nations are going to be more conscious about the production of fossil fuels and it is a complex situation that is not just business but also finance, humanitarian, and environmental influences as well. Additionally, I think that the local economies of Huntington Beach and Newport Beach won't be hindered in the long term, but may experience some stagnation for the coming weeks and possibly months because majority of the tourists flock to the world famous beaches. In addition, the towns of Huntington Beach and Newport Beach are not that big, thus the beach is a large part of their economies and them being closed because of oil cleaning will affect their economies. However, I do agree that there are lots of people who visit these areas without going to the beach, but I think there will be less of a draw for tourists visiting long distance. Thus businesses along the beach that are tailored for tourists may see less customers and thus less revenue.
I agree with Darshan in that I think oil platform operations should taper off, albeit for the short term. For the long term, oil platforms (as well as other dangerous practices such as fracking), should be outright banned. There are federal regulations regarding oil drilling, most notably the Clean Water Act of 1972 (https://www.americangeosciences.org/geoscience-currents/us-regulation-oil-and-gas-operations). However, oil drilling is mostly regulated by the states, so over time we will start to see even more of a discrepancy between states. I think the economies of beachside towns such as Huntington Beach and Newport Beach will be hindered temporarily. Obviously, this has nothing to do with the economic turmoil that Amplify Energy is in, given that Amplify Energy is based in Houston, Texas. Tourism is a huge contributor to the economies of those towns, and with the beaches being closed off to the public, there will certainly be downstream effects. To prevent future oil spills, state governments should try to reduce the number of oil platforms in the first place. If there are no oil rigs in the first place, there's no opportunity for an oil spill! Also, I completely agree with both of you that oil spills have financial, humanitarian, and environmental effects.
I agree with Darshan, and as cleaner energy sources advance there won’t be as much need for fossil fuels. Considering the damaging environmental impact of the oil spill on the local ecosystem, I hope oil platforms on the coast of California will eventually be shut down as their necessity declines. Like everyone I agree that the beachside towns' economies overall likely won’t be hindered long term since they are dependent on tourism. However, the beachside towns also have some fisheries that could be severely impacted for a while. Something the state and local governments can do to prevent future spills is to mandate checkups on the status of pipes, report any weaknesses or possible fractures and fix them.
I think that as the drive towards alternative sources of energy increases, that the need for oil and the industry itself will decline. However, it is easier for a developed nation such as the U.S. to commit towards moving away from oil by investing funds into finding better and cleaner energy sources as opposed to a third world nation struggling with hundreds of other problems, oil and pollution being much less of a concern than such issues as poverty, hunger, education, instability, and others. The economies of beaches such as Huntington and Newport will be negatively impacted for the time being as the oil contaminates the water, however should largely return to normal as the oil is cleaned and people can return to the water safely. The wildlife of these beaches however won't have it this easy, and there will be great amounts of marine life lost and habitat destruction. As it stands, ocean acidification as a result of increased C02 levels in the atmosphere threatens many creatures due to changes in water pH, so added environmental disrupting events further devastate the living systems in the ocean. As for preventing future oil spills, if like you mentioned in your article summary the result of this spill was a collision between some pipe and the anchor of another ship, then I think that oil should be only transported above the water level in barrels on the deck and/or levels above the water's surface. This would reduce the risk of collision puncturing oil containers and releasing them straight into the water.
I agree with my classmates that this oil spill will only hinder the beach cities’ economy temporarily, however, if oil spills like this continue to keep happening, not only will we have a big economic problem, but we’ll have an even bigger environmental problem. Huntington Beach and Newport Beach are in the heart of the major beaches of Southern California. North of them, you have Malibu, Venice Beach, Santa Monica, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, and Redondo Beach as your major beach cities. South of Huntington and Newport there’s Laguna Beach. Six out of the ten beach cities I mentioned are considered some of the top 20 beaches in California. People travel from all over the world to come to them for vacation, beach volleyball tournaments, and more. If this oil spill had happened over the summer, these cities would have lost out on major sources of income. However, although the economic situation is troubling, the environmental situation is even more worrisome. According to The Washington Post’s article “California attorney general to investigate oil spill as Huntington Beach reopens” about 3,500 seabirds were killed in the 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara along with many other marine animals, and that oil spill was much smaller than the one that just happened in Southern California. We don’t yet know the exact marine life damage of this oil spill, but whatever the number is, it isn’t okay. Other creatures can’t keep dying because of our mistakes. We need to switch to renewable energy and drastically reduce our oil drilling soon. The longer we wait, the more mistakes can be made and the more damage we can do.
I think that oil platforms should be phased out off the coast of California until renewable energy can sufficiently replace fossil fuels. Not only are oil spills and pipelines horrible for the environment, it also disproportionately harms indigenous people.
For example, while strolling on tribal land near his home in northeast Oklahoma in 2015, Walter Echo-Hawk, a member of the Pawnee Nation, stumbled upon a work crew surveying for a pipeline. He spoke to the Crown Oil Co. foreman and learned that the survey was a prelude to fracking operations. One problem: no one had bothered to tell the tribe.
Echo-Hawk, a law professor, tribal judge, and author, contacted the oil company and was stonewalled. Eventually, he learned that federal regulators had approved 17 oil and gas leases on Pawnee land two years earlier. In violation of their own rules, government agencies had failed to notify the tribe — not even a notice in the local newspaper. And it was too late to mount a legal challenge.
A University of Buffalo study in 2012 found that 65 percent of environmental violations from fracking involved mishandling of oil above ground, polluting the land. One-fourth of fracking fluid returns to the surface, contaminating public drinking water. More than 220,000 water wells failed government inspections between 2007 and 2010. Small lakes in New York State have become flammable from the wastewater, which is killing wildlife.
- https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/fracking-company-violations-IP.pdf
- https://earthjustice.org/blog/2018-december/agency-nixes-fracking-leases-on-pawnee-tribal-land
- https://pennenvironment.org/sites/environment/files/reports/PA_Close_Fracking_scrn.pdf
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