Cleanup crews are still responding to the 1,344-gallon oil spill that hit the water on Dec. 7 at Platform A, six miles off the coast of Santa Barbara. Platform A is also the site of the infamous 1969 spill that sparked the modern anti-oil drilling movement.
As of Dec. 9, nearly all recoverable oil had been removed from the ocean’s surface, according to reports from a joint response team made up of the U.S. Coast Guard, the California Department of Fish and Game, and DCOR, LCC, which operates Platform A.
“The clean-up effort is going well. We’ve gotten most of the oil off of the water, but we still have a thin slick about six miles offshore,” said Carol Singleton, a representative for the Department of Fish and Game’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response.
Singleton said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted that all the oil will stay offshore. Scientific models show that remaining sheen will shift slightly, but likely won’t impact the shoreline.
Singleton also said that an investigation into the cause of the spill is ongoing.
Since the spill, DCOR has contracted Clean Seas to conduct sweeps to recover any remaining sheen.
According to a press release from the Department of Fish and Game, DCOR, LLC initially reported to regulators that 30 gallons of high-gravity crude oil spilled from the platform from a finger-sized hole, after discovering a sheen near the platform. On Dec. 8, DCOR recalculated its initial estimate and made follow-up notifications.
Following the spill, the Oiled Wildlife Care Network deployed two search and recovery teams for reconnaissance.
“Fortunately, they haven’t found any [threatened wildlife] yet, but that could change,” Singleton said.
Responding agencies will continue to monitor the area and search for wildlife affected by the spill.
Members of the public can report sightings of oiled wildlife by calling 1-877-823-6926.
Several environmental groups have made statements decrying the presence of oil drilling on the Central Coast.
“We were really sad to hear about the spill, and we thought it was really ironic that it happened at Platform A, the same place as in 1969,” said Linda Krop, chief council for the Santa Barbara-based Environmental Defense Center.
“It’s a reminder to people that spills do happen and that we have a lot of old equipment, some that is 40 years old, in the area,” she said.
Krop also referred to the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors’ 3-2 vote in August to send a letter encouraging the governor to consider a change in policy that would allow more drilling off the shores of Santa Barbara County.
“Here we are a few months later, and we’ve had another oil spill,” she said.
“The point is: It doesn’t matter what regulations are on the books. It doesn’t matter that we’ve had technological advances,” she said. “Oil spills happen.”
—Amy Asman
This article appears in Dec 11-18, 2008.