The 1969 Santa Barbara, CA Oil Spill

Background

Environmental disasters are a commonplace in the world, yet some of them have had more significant lessons than the others. The United States has had a history of disasters, including oil spillages. Usually, oil spillages have had critical influences on the environment, such as the loss of marine life and the degradation of environmental resources. The cleanup processes in the aftermath of major spillages has always been a daunting task. The process requires significant amounts of resources to manage and cleanup, which is why companies strive to avoid them as much as possible. Each of the incidences presents an important lesson for the parties involved, especially the government and corporate institutions. The 1969 Santa Barbara spillage was the first time in the history of the country that a disaster of its kind, which spilled close to 3 million barrels off the coast of the Santa Barbara County coastline had ever been experienced. 

The response process was enormous considering that the technologies of the time were not sufficient to deal with the challenges of the spillage. The company used hay to soak up oil before it could be raked and cleared of the beach in addition to other methods. The method was ineffective, which resulted in continued pollution of the water and the cost, affecting the lives of thousands of organisms. The incidence attracted significant a high level of public participation in protests, subsequently culminating in important legislation on environmental protection. 

Objective of the Paper 

The purpose of this paper is to provide important, detailed information about the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spillage. The paper provides a brief history of oil exploration and storage in the region, the company in charge of the oil at the time of the accident, the incidence itself, the government response and cleanup process, and ends with the ecological interests associated with the catastrophe. 

A Brief History of Oil Drilling in Santa Barbara 

Asphalt and naturally occurring oil were known to the Chumash people, the natives of the Summerland region for thousands of years. Asphalt from More Mesa, Carpentaria, and Goleta started being shipped around the United States between 1890 and 1898 1 . As the latter study indicates a number of New Orleans’ historic streets were paved using tar that the Alcatraz Asphalt Company mined and sold from Goleta, which has since become part of UCSB. Shortly before 1840, business prospectors also discovered that natural gas and oil deposits were the asphalt seeps, which prompted them to embark on building some of the first wells that would mine the two minerals; gas and oil. 

According to the reviewed studies, the discovery resulted in the sprouting of hundreds of derricks made of wood across the bluffs and beaches of Summerland by as early as 1895. By 1897, H.L. Williams had developed the first offshore rig that the world had ever seen when the company drilled a well close to a wharf, which extended only about three hundred feet into Santa Barbara. Some 412 wells had been drilled in the region within the next five years, including a hundred and fifty of them that were offshore, but each of the wells’ output dwindled leaving only a few of them that remained active through the 1920s. As much as the oil boom did not last long, it created a permanent effect on the economy of the region and California at large, especially because it spurred the creation of superior technologies. 

The organization engaged in the exploration, drilling, distribution, and marketing of oil and gas around the world throughout its later history. It is also reported that Union manufactured and sold petroleum products, fertilizers, and chemicals, mining, processing, and marketing of minerals, including molybdenum, rare earths, and columbium among others 2 . The same cited literature reports the engagement of Union in the retorting and mining of oil shales and in the generation of geothermal power. 

The Company in Charge of Oil Drilling in the Region at the Time of the Catastrophe 

Union Oil Company of California (1890—1983) was the corporation in charge of the old drill at the time of the 1969 disaster. Founded in 1890, Union was a merger of three wildcatter firms—the Torrey Canyon Oil Company, the Sespe Oil Company, and the Hardison & Stewart Oil Company 3 . While the company was originally headquartered in Santa Paula, CA, it moved its head office to Los Angeles in 1900. However, by the time of the disaster, the company operated from El Segundo, California. The business changed its name to Unocal in 1983 after its reorganization and Chevron Corporation acquired it in 2005 4 . 

Thomas Bard, Lyman Stewart, and Wallace Hardison founded Union oil. Importantly, Bard moved into politics and became Senator after he had served the corporation as its first president. As much as Union was initially a producer and refiner of oil, it embarked on the production of tankers and the construction of pipelines in addition to marketing products in the United States and around the world at the turn of the 20 th century. A review of the extant information on the company indicates that it Union acquired Pinal-Dome Oil Company as well as all of its twenty filling stations that were located in southern California in 1917, which made it to enter into retain activity 5 . The same literature reveals that the company merged with the Pure Oil Company, which operated primarily in the Gulf of Mexico and Texas, which caused Union to double its size. 

The Incidence 

An environmental catastrophe commenced in the afternoon of January 29, 1969 close to five and a half miles off the coast of Santa Barbara County, California. On the morning of this day, it is reported that a reporter with the Santa Barbara News , Bob Sollen, received an anonymous call, and the only words he had were, “The Ocean is Boiling,” 6 . Before the call, thick black oil and natural gas had been bubbling to the surface of the water, and the sludge had been inching closer to the coastline in the region with each lapping wave. Reportedly, workers on an oil rig off the coast of Santa Barbara, which was called Platform A, had been attempting to remove the drill pipe they had sunk some 3000 feet under the ocean bed when an eruption involving the drilling mud and gas ensued 7 . As much as the crew was successful in stoppering the well’s top, the highly pressurized oil and gas kept leaking into the sea through fractures and fissures within the upper layer of the floor of the ocean. 

As reported, Union Oil owned and operated the platform. However, the company did not have a contingency plan of dealing with the disaster, and because of lack of federal regulations on its operations, it took several months before the blowout could be contained. At the end of the catastrophe, the eruption had spewed some 3 million gallons of oil into the Pacific, and spill unfurled across over eight hundred square miles of the ocean surface, resulting in the deaths of over 3600 seabirds and countless fish and marine mammals, mostly sea lions and seals, and coating about 35 miles of the California coastline 8 . Figure 1 depicts the ocean ‘boiling’ close to platform A as it spewed natural gas and crude oil. 

Figure 1 depicting the Pacific appearing as though it was boiling because of the pressurized gas and crude oil, which was coming from Platform A, which is pictured close to it 9 . 

Government Reaction and Cleanup Process 

The federal government did not have a contingency plan to manage a disaster of such magnitude. In fact, offshore drilling of oil started in the region when only so much had been learned about the best ways of cleaning up in the event of a disaster, and almost all the efforts of the company in charge merely exacerbated the issue. As soon as the blowout happened, the company set forth oil booms, which refers to floating devices, which counter the spread of oil, but they soon broke down in the rough waves that kept rocking them. The company resorted to using dispersants, which the crew poured on the oil, but the chemicals were as noxious as the oil itself, and they did only so much to combat the ever-expanding slick 10 . The waves kept pushing the oil towards the shore, and when it edged closer, the crew decided to use a technique that Britain had once applied; to soak the oil up in straw. While the method had worked for Britain, it was not as effective as the company expected it to be in the case of the United States. While this was happening, company staff was also engaged in trying to seal the well and ensure no further leaks from it. According to the latter reviewed literature, they succeeded by pumping chemical mud down the drill and sealing the top with cement, yet the move caused another smaller problem; smaller fissures emerged, which caused oil to continue leaking out of platform A for several months that followed. 

The country had experienced the worst environmental disaster from an oil spill in its history, and television networks were keen to capture the toll of the devastation. By then, the beaches were all painted black, dead animals were washed ashore, and birds’ feathers were plastered in mucky oil. Figure 2 is a scene from the initial cleanup process showing Union crew using hay to soak up the oil from the ocean and the beach in Santa Barbara. However, up to this time, government did not do much to assist and remedy the situation. While Union tried to handle the situation first hand, it is known that it did not successful manage because of the technological limitations that they experienced. 

Figure 2: workers try to clean up the spillage using straw, a technique, which had worked in Britain, but which did not work in the United States 11 

Government was always going to intervene, yet the first bold step did not occur until Santa Barbarians mobilized against the significant levels of degradation that they had witnessed afflict their coastline, which they called the “American Riviera,” 12 . Importantly, the demonstrations occurred in different forms, and the dozens of local protests, which occurred cursed Union for the negligence that had contaminated the beach. According to the latter cited literature, grassroots factions, including the “Get Oil Out,” the heaped pressure on the company and the government alike to try to ensure that the water and the beach alike were safe for marine life and humans. Therefore, government’s first intervention, apart from funding some of the cleanup, was to jointly file a suit against Union with the City of Los Angeles and the County of Santa Barbara. Despite the efforts from government and the public, it should be known that the cleanup did not achieve immediate results for the County because of the limitations in the levels of technology of the time. The quality of water, for example, remained poor for months, which meant that the beach remained shut from public access for considerable amounts of time. 

It has been mentioned that a group of attorneys moved to court with to sue Union, which appeared to be a wise move. Nonetheless, the group and the court faced significant challenges because by that time, there was no law in the books that would be applied in determining some of the serious issues around the case 13 . Therefore, in the wake of the case and the incidence, the need for legislation on the issue and others of a similar magnitude became apparent. 

Reaction from Ecologists 

Union management was surprised by the fuss of the public about “the loss of a few birds,” and the manner in which it incredibly attracted criticism. In fact, one must understand that the reactionary response was in part a reflection of the concern of Santa Barbarians about the number of offshore rigs that had sprouted off the coastline prior to 1969. Nonetheless, as literature reports, the voice of local activists, which mirrored the national interests, was consummated by the focus of the public and government alike on the Civil Rights movement, the War on Vietnam, and the Feminism movement of the time 14 . Additionally, the then Secretary of Interior, Stewart Udall, the public did not have a genuine fear because everything was under regulation. Then, the blowout happened; a time to pressure government for serious action. 

The Get Oil Out movement was the first form of pressure on government to adopt policies that would improve the environment. Important the alarm of the locals solidified and transited gradually into coherent environmentalism whose focus was twofold; legislative change and proper legislative change. The activists also found a real chance to take on the politicians who had a bad record with environmental. Until the 1969 incidence, it is reported that California and the country did not have specific laws and restrictions on offshore oil exploration and drilling processes. Nonetheless, following the spill, the California State Lands Commission passed a moratorium on any new offshore drills within the state waters as well as the extant leases by the time 15 . For decades, the cited literature reports that a federal moratorium banned the development of any new drills in the federal waters off the coastline of California. 

According to a further review of the extant studies, it is reported that the newly established federal policies at the time required that offshore oilrigs and operators pay an unlimited amounts of amount towards cleanup efforts in the event of a disaster that would come along with penalties that would potentially reach $35 million. President Nixon’s adoption of the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act that required the environmental effect reports from companies engaged in the oil industry was among the most significant actions towards ecological sustainability 16 . The next year, 1970, also saw the proposal and passage of newer regulations on environmental sustainability, including the California Environmental Quality Act. In the same year, it is reported, there was an adoption of Santa Barbara Declaration of Environmental Rights in acknowledgment of the human-caused environmental effects and the significance power of the people in altering their world 17 . The framers of the law considered it an awareness towards the need for ecological considerations in new projects with potential for human harm. 

A series of other laws on environmental protection followed with the objective of protecting any forms of sensitive coastal regions as well as the endangered species. The efforts culminated in the development of the International Earth Day, which was first marked in 1970 in the United States. The objectives of the event are twofold, which are to celebrate the earth and nature and to raise awareness about the dangers of pollution. The founding of Earth Day relied on the teach-ins of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movement, especially because they provided a case in which advocacy and pressure groups had culminated in irresistible movements 

Conclusion 

The 1969 oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara was the first time the United States experienced an environmental disaster of its magnitude. Prior to the incidence, exploration for and drilling of oil had been going on in the area—it was one of the regions in south California that had been identified to have significance reserves of oil and natural gas beneath the ocean. Because of its potential for oil and natural gas, the Santa Barbara coastline attracted a number of oil exploration and production companies, which built offshore oilrigs, as simple as they may have been, into the ocean. The earliest oil drilling efforts may not have been as heavily invested as the current ones, but they underscored the prospects of the region to contribute to the economy of California and the neighboring Santa Barbara County. 

The spill, which has been the central focus of this paper, occurred in 1969 when Union Oil Company of California (Union) was in charge of Platform A, an offshore oil rig about five and a half miles off the Santa Barbara coastline. Before, the incidence, workers had sank a drill about 3000 feet deep into the ocean bed to drill oil, but they had issues sealing it off. The problem resulted in a blowout that spurt 3 million gallons of crude oil and natural gas into the Pacific in what became the largest oil spills in the history of the United States by then. Since neither the federal nor the California State government had a contingency plan, Union acted in panic to abate the situation in any ways that it could. The cleanup and reactionary efforts could easily be mocked for their lack of success, yet one should consider the technological inefficiencies of the time. The challenges that the company experienced at a time caused the spill to unfurl across over eight hundred square miles of the ocean surface, resulting in the deaths of over 3600 seabirds and countless fish and marine mammals, mostly sea lions and seals, and coating about 35 miles of the California coastline and to take months to clean up. 

The spill attracted public outrage—thousands of Santa Barbarians took to protests, first against the company then against the state government for what they considered laxity towards proper environmental legislation. Consequently, the incidence awakened authorities about the need to develop proper strategies that would improve the interactions between humans and their environment. A series of legislations culminated in the creation of Earth Day, which served two purposes, to celebrate nature and to increase the awareness of the public about environmental conservation and a series of other laws that aimed to protect the environment. To most of the people, the spill was the first time that the country experienced a catastrophe of its magnitude as well as the first time it become aware of the need to have important environmental protection laws, most of which continue persisting to date. 

Bibliography 

Carison, Cheri. 2020. "The 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill: An environmental 'shot heard around the world". Vcstar.Com . https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/special-reports/outdoors/2019/01/24/santa-barbara-oil-spill-1969-environmental-movement-california-offshore-drilling-epa/2486352002/ . 

Clarke, Keith C., and Jeffrey J. Hemphill. "The Santa Barbara oil spill: A retrospective."  Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers  64 (2002): 157-162. 

Foster, Michael. "The Santa Barbara Oil Spill: dosage of crude oil on shore and initial effects on intertidal organisms."  Calif. Cooperative Oceanic Fish. Invest., Rep  16 (1972): 150.survey of the rocky intertidal." (1969). 

Mai-Duc, Christine. "The 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill That Changed Oil and Gas Exploration Forever". 2015.  Los Angeles Times . https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-santa-barbara-oil-spill-1969-20150520-htmlstory.html . 

Nicholson, Nancy. "The Santa Barbara oil spills in perspective." New York, Sage. (2017). 

Spezio, Teresa Sabol.  Rising Tide: The Santa Barbara Oil Spill and Its Aftermath . University of California, Davis, 2011. 

Spezio, Teresa Sabol.  Slick Policy: Environmental and Science Policy in the Aftermath of the Santa Barbara Oil Spill . University of Pittsburgh Press, 2018. 

Wheeling, Katie, and Ufberg, Max. " ‘ The Ocean Is Boiling:’ The Complete Oral History Of The 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill ". 2020.  Psmag.Com . https://psmag.com/news/the-ocean-is-boiling-the-complete-oral-history-of-the-1969-santa-barbara-oil-spill . 

1 Clarke, Keith C., and Jeffrey J. Hemphill. "The Santa Barbara oil spill: A retrospective."  Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers  64 (2002): 157-162. 

2 Clarke, Keith C., and Jeffrey J. Hemphill. "The Santa Barbara oil spill: A retrospective."  

3 Foster, Michael. "The Santa Barbara Oil Spill: dosage of crude oil on shore and initial effects on intertidal organisms."  Calif. Cooperative Oceanic Fish. Invest., Rep  16 (1972): 150.survey of the rocky intertidal." (1969). 

4 Mai-Duc, Christine. "The 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill That Changed Oil and Gas Exploration Forever". 2015.  Los Angeles Times . https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-santa-barbara-oil-spill-1969-20150520-htmlstory.html 

5 Nicholson, Nancy. "The Santa Barbara oil spills in perspective." New York, Sage. (2017). 

6 Wheeling, Katie, and Ufberg, Max. " ‘ The Ocean Is Boiling:’ The Complete Oral History Of The 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill ". 2020.  Psmag.Com . https://psmag.com/news/the-ocean-is-boiling-the-complete-oral-history-of-the-1969-santa-barbara-oil-spill 

7 Spezio, Teresa Sabol.  Slick Policy: Environmental and Science Policy in the Aftermath of the Santa Barbara Oil Spill . University of Pittsburgh Press, 2018. 

8 Spezio, Teresa Sabol.  Rising Tide: The Santa Barbara Oil Spill and Its Aftermath . University of California, Davis, 2011. 

9 Wheeling, Katie, and Ufberg, Max. " ‘ The Ocean Is Boiling:’ The Complete Oral History Of The 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill ". 

10 Mai-Duc, Christine. "The 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill That Changed Oil and Gas Exploration Forever". 

11 Carison, Cheri. 2020. "The 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill: An environmental 'shot heard around the world". Vcstar.Com . https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/special-reports/outdoors/2019/01/24/santa-barbara-oil-spill-1969-environmental-movement-california-offshore-drilling-epa/2486352002/ 

12 Mai-Duc, Christine. "The 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill That Changed Oil and Gas Exploration Forever". 

13 Clarke, Keith C., and Jeffrey J. Hemphill. "The Santa Barbara oil spill: A retrospective 

14 Ibid. p. 23 

15 Foster, Michael. "The Santa Barbara Oil Spill: dosage of crude oil on shore and initial effects on intertidal organisms."  

16 Clarke, Keith C., and Jeffrey J. Hemphill. "The Santa Barbara oil spill: A retrospective 

17 Foster, Michael. "The Santa Barbara Oil Spill: dosage of crude oil on shore and initial effects on intertidal organisms."