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SANTA BARBARA, Calif. () — Controversial offshore drilling was restarted near the Santa Barbara coastline as lingering memories of previous oil spills in the area prompted concern over another possible environmental disaster.
This comes as gas prices have continued to soar while the war in Iran drags on.
There are three oil platforms just off the coast near Goleta. All three have been shut down for the last decade after one of the worst oil spills in California history covered the nearby beach in crude oil.
Two years ago, Sable Offshore Corporation bought the platforms and has been fighting ever since to reopen them. Every time they were told no, it’s not safe. But last weekend, President Donald Trump stepped in and said yes.
“This pipeline already failed once 10 years ago, caused one of the worst oil spills in California history,” Alex Katz, Exec. Dir. Environmental Defense Center. “The beaches were poisoned for miles up and down the coast. We had dead marine mammals washing up on shore, and so there’s a real sense that we don’t want to have another disaster here.”
Eleven years ago, more than 140,000 gallons of crude oil spilled from a ruptured pipeline onto Refugio State Beach and into one of the most biodiverse areas of the Pacific coast.
The pipeline, and three offshore platforms that feed it, have been closed ever since. that is, until March 14 when, despite legal challenges and a lack of a go-ahead from state and local officials, Sable Offshore corporation turned the system back on.
The area has a long, troubled history with oil. Many locals are old enough to remember the 1969 spill, still California’s largest, that over 10 days saw 4 million gallons enter the Santa Barbara channel.
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