The Santa Barbara Oil Spill of 1969: A Turning Point for Environmentalism
How California's Worst Oil Spill Turned Beaches Black and the Nation Green
In January 1969, the Vietnam War was still raging. The Tet Offensive, launched by North Vietnamese and communist Viet Cong forces in January 1968, inflicted considerable losses on the US and South Vietnamese militaries (Office of the Historian). The war also caused significant harm to the US economy, leading to inflation and increased protests against the country's involvement.
On January 20, 1969, Richard Nixon became the 37th President of the United States, but his inauguration was marred by widespread protests. There were demonstrations around the country, especially in Washington, D.C., where protesters threw rocks and bottles at Nixon's motorcade, marking the first time a presidential inauguration had faced such protests.
In 1968, the United States and Hanoi agreed to enter into preliminary peace talks in Paris. While publicly campaigning against the war, Nixon, who was running against the incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson, was privately worried that a positive outcome from peace negotiations might lead to a shift in public opinion in favour of Johnson's campaign. There was no reason to be concerned. When Johnson turned over the presidency to Richard Nixon eight months into the discussions, the only thing the two sides had agreed on was the shape of the conference table.
Notes recently discovered by Nixon’s closest aide H.R. Haldeman, suggest that during a phone conversation on the night of 22 October 1968, Nixon directed him to "monkey wrench" the talks in Paris. As per the notes, Nixon asked Haldeman to explore ways to impede Johnson's efforts to organize effective peace negotiations. (Farrell, 2016)
On May 8th, 1969, President Nixon flew to Paris to meet with South Vietnamese President Thieu and other officials from both North and South Vietnam to discuss ways to end the war peacefully. The purpose of this meeting was to seek a peaceful resolution to the war by implementing Nixon's Vietnamization plan, which aimed to shift the fight against Communism to the South Vietnamese. However, despite Nixon's assurances of "peace with honor," the deadlock continued, and the war continued until 1975, resulting in the loss of up to 2 million civilians, 1.1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong fighters, and more than 58,300 members of the U.S. armed forces who were either killed or missing in action.
Vietnam was not the only issue that disturbed the first weeks of Nixon’s presidency. A few days after the inauguration, on 28 January 1969, about five miles off the coast from the seaside town of Summerland, in the county of Santa Barbara, California, all hell broke loose.
It is difficult, for a visitor today, to imagine that this traditional town with beautiful sandy beaches was once home to some of the earliest offshore oil rigs. In the late 19th century, locals observed natural oil seeps along the shores and in the ocean around Summerland, indicating the presence of underground oil reservoirs in the Santa Barbara Channel. The Summerland Oil Field in Summerland, California, was the site of the world's first offshore oil wells, which were drilled from piers that extended several hundred feet out into the ocean. This pioneering effort marked the beginning of a new era in oil exploration and production, as it introduced the concept of offshore drilling and laid the foundation for the development of advanced offshore drilling techniques.
“I don't like to call it a disaster, because there has been no loss of human life. I am amazed at the publicity for the loss of a few birds.” _Fred L. Hartley, President of Union Oil Company
On the morning of 28 January 1969, an offshore drilling rig called Platform Alpha, operated by Union Oil, (which later became Unocal Corporation), experienced a blowout off the coast of Santa Barbara. It resulted in the release of approximately 3.2 million gallons (around 80,000 barrels) of crude oil into the Santa Barbara Channel and on surrounding shorelines. It was the worst oil spill in the nation’s history – until 20 years later when the Exxon Valdez dumped 11 million gallons of crude off the coast of Alaska- and it had catastrophic effects. The spilled oil killed thousands of seabirds - more than 3.500 feeding birds were estimated to have died because of contact with oil - and immeasurable marine life. A large number of seals and dolphins were poisoned, and kelp forests were devastated. The oil spill left a lasting mark on the coastline, with approximately 35 miles of shoreline covered with black goo. The local community was stunned.
Thousands of volunteers from all backgrounds, age groups and political persuasions joined the clean-up operations. These dedicated volunteers worked tirelessly to clean up the oil and transfer the oiled seabirds to temporary animal rescues that had been set up soon after the disaster. Clean-up techniques have evolved since the 1969 disaster that helped usher in a new era of conservation. Back then, the clean-up crews used straws to soak up oily sand. This technique aimed to absorb and remove the oil from the contaminated shorelines. It is no longer used as it has not been the most efficient clean-up method for oil spills as straw is hard to pick up.
The oil spill aroused such a public outcry and media attention that President Richard Nixon made a trip to survey the damage. He inspected the polluted waters from a helicopter and scrolled across the beach with Secretary Hickel and a larger number of broadcast reporters. It is recorded to have said:
“It is sad that it was necessary that Santa Barbara should be the example that had to bring it to the attention of the American people. What is involved is the use of our resources of the sea and of the land in a more effective way and with more concern for preserving the beauty and the natural resources that are so important to any kind of society that we want for the future. The Santa Barbara incident has frankly touched the conscience of the American people.” (RN’s Response to the Santa Barbara Oil Spill, 2010)
In a W.H. statement published after his visit to Santa Barbara Nixon stated: “The obligation to develop our natural resources carries with it the duty to protect our human resources. This country can no longer afford to squander valuable time before developing answers to pollution and oil slicks from wells, tankers, or any other source.”
The disaster marked a turning point in American environmental history and changed forever the trajectory of oil and gas exploration in California. Nixon was not particularly interested in environmental issues, but he immediately recognised the political power and public sentiment associated with environmentalism. The Santa Barbara oil spill highlighted the need for stronger environmental regulations and better prevention and response measures. A moratorium has been placed on all new offshore drilling in state waters. Tighter regulations were initiated for all wells operating off the coasts of the United States and new federal policies were established that required platform operators to pay the clean-up costs themselves, along with penalties of up to $35 million.
In the aftermath of the Santa Barbara spill, President Nixon signed the Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1969 and on 1st January 1970 the National Environmental Policy Act, of 1969, one of the first laws ever written for the protection of the environment. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was born on December 2, 1970, with the purpose of protecting human health and the environment.
The landmark 2007 U.S. Supreme Court case, Massachusetts v. EPA, paved the way for the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases (GHGs) under the Clean Air Act (CAA). In the case, the state of Massachusetts, along with several other states and environmental organizations, sued the EPA, arguing that the EPA had the responsibility to regulate GHG emissions from new motor vehicles because these emissions contribute to climate change and harm public health and welfare. The central question before the Supreme Court was whether carbon dioxide and other GHGs could be considered "air pollutants" under the CAA, and if so, whether the EPA had the authority to regulate them.
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that GHGs, including carbon dioxide, met the definition of "air pollutants" under the CAA. The Court concluded that the EPA had the authority and responsibility to regulate GHG emissions from motor vehicles if it determined that they posed a threat to public health and welfare.
47 years since the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency, President Trump and many of his top aides, including EPA’s administrator Scott Pruitt, have expressed scepticism on the overwhelming scientific consensus that human activity is far and away the primary cause of climate change. On the CNBC program “Squawk Box.2, on Thursday 9 March 2017, Scott Pruitt said:
“I think that measuring with precision human activity on the climate is something very challenging to do and there’s tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact, so no, I would not agree that it’s a primary contributor to the global warming that we see.”
On June 2017, Scott Pruitt proposed a "red team, blue team" exercise to conduct an "at-length evaluation of U.S. climate science,” a concept common in the military to help leaders identify vulnerabilities. The idea was to subject the scientific consensus on climate change to a rigorous test by having a red team challenge consensus finding from scientific assessments, and the blue team would have the opportunity to respond. The proposal was discussed and debated extensively, but it did not progress beyond the initial proposal stage. It faced significant opposition from the scientific community for potentially misleading the public into thinking there is a debate on climate change when actually there isn’t one.
The Santa Barbara was the largest and worst oil spill in United States waters at the time, and now ranks third after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon and 1989 Exxon Valdez spills. In 1974, Unocal and its partners paid $15.3 million to settle lawsuits from the spill.
References:
Clarke, K. C. (2002). The Santa Barbara Oil Spill, A Retrospective. Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers, 64, 157-162.
Denevi, T. (2019, 01 19). The Striking Contradictions of Richard Nixon's Inauguration 50 Years Ago, as Observed by Hunter S. Thompson. Time. Retrieved from https://time.com/5506809/richard-nixon-inauguration/
Farrell, J. A. (2016, 31 16). Nixon’s Vietnam Treachery. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/31/opinion/sunday/nixons-vietnam-treachery.html?_r=0
Office of the Historian. (n.d.). Retrieved from U.S. Involvement in the Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive, 1968: https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/tet
RN’s Response to the Santa Barbara Oil Spill. (2010, July 1). Retrieved from Richard Nixon Foundation: https://www.nixonfoundation.org/2010/07/rns-response-to-the-santa-barbara-oil-spill/
Samenow, J. (2017, June 7). EPA’s Scott Pruitt wants to set up opposing teams to debate climate change science. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/06/07/epas-scott-pruitt-wants-to-set-up-opposing-teams-to-debate-climate-change-science/
Wikipedia. (n.d.). Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_to_United_States_involvement_in_the_Vietnam_War