After a pipeline failed and spilled 144,000 gallons of crude into the ocean, dead fish and birds coated in black tarry oil washed up on California’s shores.
It produced an oil slick in the Pacific the size of Santa Monica, reaching the Talbert Marsh wetlands, an ecological reserve for endangered wildlife. Beaches closed, boaters couldn’t pass through the harbor, tourists had no reason to visit. Oil disasters not only hurt our environment but our coastal economies and local communities.
Although Big Oil spends big bucks manipulating us into thinking otherwise, efforts to regulate the industry have failed miserably. Beta Offshore, the owner of the broken pipeline in California, has been cited over 100 times in 11 years. But after every major spill, they convince the public that the industry and regulators have a firm grasp on how to prevent future disasters—until the next disaster. In truth, as long as companies keep drilling, they will keep spilling.