The California oil pipeline spill could endanger sea life for years, experts say

Speaker 1: (00:00)

As authorities work to address the spill of roughly 140,000 gallons of oil off the coast of Huntington beach, environmental groups are decrying the incident as yet another clear example of the dangers of offshore drilling that 13 mile oil slick is roughly the same size as a similar spill that plagued the stretch of Santa Barbara's coastline. In 2015, as of now, authorities have closed off beach, front areas along Huntington beach and Newport beach, while experts say the full extent of the damage will not be realized for years. Joining me now with more is Peter Stauffer environmental director of the Surfrider foundation. Peter, welcome to the program. Thanks for having me. So what are we seeing now in terms of the ecological and wildlife impacts of this spill?

Speaker 2: (00:47)

This is a major ecological disaster, you know, as you noted, we have over 140,000 gallons of oil in our coastal environment, and it's a major threat to wildlife, to birds, to fish. And right now officials are working to contain the spill and try and clean it up. But, you know, once you have a, the spill in the ocean, which is very dynamic environment, uh, it's very difficult to do. So

Speaker 1: (01:13)

Is there any sense that this bill could affect San Diego's coastline as well?

Speaker 2: (01:17)

It certainly could. You know, that's going to depend on, on wind and currents, uh, in the coming days, uh, and also will depend on how effective, uh, the current efforts to contain the spill are, you know, obviously efforts are being made with, uh, booms and skimmers, but again, you know, when you have that amount of oil in a large area in the ocean, very, very difficult to respond to it.

Speaker 1: (01:40)

Is there any chance last night storm could have affected the movement of the slick and its cleanup prospects.

Speaker 2: (01:47)

It may be, you know, we're getting regular updates from the unified command. You know, we have the U S coast guard, California department of fish and wildlife along with the responsible party. And, you know, they are running point on this spill cleanup, but, you know, we are getting, uh, updates, uh, several times a day. And that's something that we'll have to keep an eye on.

Speaker 1: (02:08)

How is the Surfrider foundation helping with cleanup efforts at the scene?

Speaker 2: (02:12)

Well, you know, last night, our Newport beach chapter, uh, in our Huntington beach chapter, uh, met with city officials, uh, who are working on oil spill response. You know, it's really important to emphasize that oil is highly toxic. Uh, and so members of the public should not be participating in the cleanup, uh, unless you have the appropriate training, uh, and understand those protocols. But, you know, we have received tremendous interest from, uh, our volunteers, uh, and other members of the public that want to participate. So, um, you know, we are collecting names of, of folks and, uh, you know, we're providing updates to our network of volunteers of, of how they can support the effort.

Speaker 1: (02:55)

The oil is toxic. I mean, what does the cleanup effort on the, to actually consist

Speaker 2: (03:00)

Of? Well, again, you know, this is, uh, trained professionals from a variety of different agencies. And, you know, again, part of this is doing everything that's possible, uh, to try and keep the oil off the shoreline. Once it gets on beaches and into coastal wetlands, it really becomes a mask cause it's very, very difficult to clean up on those pollutants are our persist persistent, you know, past oil spills have showed us those contaminants can remain in the environment, uh, for years or decades to come. So at this point, it's about containment and trying to respond. Uh, but this is going to be a long-term effort, uh, to try and respond and, and restore, uh, our coastal environment. Well,

Speaker 1: (03:45)

What's used to contain and

Speaker 2: (03:47)

Clean up, uh, you know, in terms of containment, uh, skimmers are used, uh, which you may have seen images on, on television. So these long skinny devices that float at the surface because oil floats at the surface that can be effective if, if wind and sea conditions are relatively mild, that that you can help contain the spill that way. And then of course, you know, once the spill, uh, comes into contact with a shoreline, that that's a whole different issue, very complicated to try and remove that from the coastal environment, how can

Speaker 1: (04:19)

We prevent these kinds of incidents from happening in the

Speaker 2: (04:22)

Future? Well, you know, the best thing we can do is to stop any new offshore oil drilling. There actually is legislation in Congress that would permanently protect the California coast and other major regions of the U S from new offshore drilling. And, you know, the, the spill that happened, this was from a legacy lease that was issued in, in the early 1980s. And so really what, what we need to do is move forward with, uh, decommissioning these existing oil platforms as swiftly and safely, as we can,

Speaker 1: (04:53)

As you say, the spill is a grim reminder of how dangerous offshore drilling can be. Do you think spills like this will serve as a wake-up call to the consequences of that?

Speaker 2: (05:03)

You know, we certainly hope so. You know, there's been a tremendous interest in this, from the national media we've heard from, from supporters all around the world that are concerned about this, and we've seen engagement from elected officials at all levels. So yes, you know, we're hoping that this will spur some action, particularly at the federal level to pass a permanent ban on new offshore drilling off our coast.

Speaker 1: (05:26)

And those somewhat far out at this point, how do you think the question of liability will play into how the spill is dealt with?

Speaker 2: (05:34)

Yeah. You know, I would expect that we will see some significant fines and penalties for this or the Refugio oil spill. I believe that was, you know, in the neighborhood of $60 million. So, you know, obviously the amplify energy that the responsible party, they've got a long road ahead, they've got some significant obligations legally in terms of environmental mitigation. And yeah, you know, that that process will be moving forward in terms of, uh, whatever fines or penalties, um, maybe assessed.

Speaker 1: (06:04)

And as we mentioned earlier, the spill is very similar to the one that occurred off the coast of Santa Barbara six years ago. What lessons can we learn from that?

Speaker 2: (06:13)

Well, you know, that effort was, uh, many, many months in terms of the cleanup and response. And so the penalties as you discussed, and you know, what we saw six years ago was, you know, the extent of the oil was actually much broader geographically than officials that have initially acknowledged. And so I think that for everyone involved to continue to do the due diligence and for members of the public to exercise caution check, before you go to the, to the coast check with your local government website, you know, if you live in orange county or San Diego county, uh, and of course just make sure that you honor, uh, any beach closures and beach advisories. How

Speaker 1: (06:55)

Can people get involved if they'd

Speaker 2: (06:57)

Like to help? Well, you know, at surfrider.org, we do have a sign up list for people who want to be kept updated and want to receive information on how you can potentially participate in cleanup and response. There also is an official website that's been set up that hopefully you can share with your listeners as well. And there's a way to receive regular updates and a volunteer form. If you have the appropriate training,

Speaker 1: (07:23)

I've been speaking with the Surfrider foundation's environmental director, Peter Stauffer, Peter, thanks for joining

Speaker 2: (07:28)

Us. Thanks so much for having me.