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"Bomb, Bomb, Bomb... Drill, Drill, Drill..."

The Santa Barbara Oil Spill of 1969


Photo credit: Los Angeles Times

On Jan. 28, 1969, a "blowout" erupted below a Unocal Corp. drilling platform about 5 miles off the Santa Barbara coastline, causing the worst oil spill in the nation's history. More than 3 million gallons of crude oil spewed from drilling-induced cracks in the channel floor. For weeks national attention was focused on the spill's disturbing, dramatic images. Oil-soaked birds, unable to fly, slowly dying on the land. Waves so thick with crude oil that they broke on shore with an eerie silence. Thirty miles of sandy beaches coated with thick sludge. Hundreds of miles of ocean covered with an oily black sheen. But the spills impact went far beyond the fouled beaches. The disaster is considered to be a major factor in the birth of the modern-day environmental movement.

Santa Barbara's catastrophe sparked a local environmental movement that fused the youthful and militant energies of student activists with the money, connections, and indignation of well-established blue-bloods. Together these forces were directly responsible for founding the Community Environmental Council, a major think-tank; starting numerous grass-roots organizations like GOO, the January 28th Committee, and later the Environmental Defense Center; and opening UCSB's Environmental Studies program, the first of its kind in the nation. These forces played a key role in the victory of the statewide initiative that created the California Coastal Commission and contributed to the State Land's Commission decision to ban oil drilling in state waters for 16 years. Nationally, they aided President Richard Nixon in his push to reduce special tax breaks enjoyed by the oil industry and, most important, the forces played a major role in Nixon's decision to sign the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) on January 1, 1970. The law stipulates that the environmental consequences of federal projects be considered before the appropriate federal permits are issued, requires that public hearings be held, and that the public be given access information previously viewed as the property of the developer. The state of California passed a similar law, known as the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).... [LINK]

On his visit to Santa Barbara, the location of the greatest oil spill in the nation's history, John McCain, who seems to have a penchant for offering monosyllabic solutions to complex problems (remember when he sang, "Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran"), deigned to call for offshore drilling on the California coastline as a solution to higher gas prices.

John McCain and George Bush have apparently joined forces. Now Bush is demanding that Congress lift the moratorium on drilling in the next two weeks. "If Congressional leaders leave for the Fourth of July recess without taking action," he said, "they will need to explain why $4-a-gallon gasoline is not enough incentive for them to act."

"Bomb, bomb, bomb..." and "drill, drill, drill..." are not the solution. It will take more enlightened problem solving by more sophisticated leaders to bring down gas prices. A change in our foreign policy and an end to saber-rattling against Iran would be a good start.

Bush wants to use the "gas scare" to pressure Congress to absolve him of responsibility for creating this fiasco by creating yet another deflection from the real causes for higher oil and gas prices. We need to let them know we're not falling for it. We won't be bamboozled.

Not this time.

Leaders follow when the people lead

Posted by Diana at June 25, 2008 07:31 PM