Say Goodbye to Clean Beaches and Sea Life with Unregulated Offshore Drilling

Say Goodbye to Clean Beaches and Sea Life with Unregulated Offshore Drilling

Not only has Trump opened the entire shoreline to offshore drilling, but he has abolished the regulations to prevent catastrophic accidents. The cost of these rules is minuscule compared to the enormous oil profits involved. Yet a single accident, as with the Deepwater Horizon, can lead to $60 billion in costs to BP, for about $17 billion in damages.

The Deepwater Horizon is by far the most damaging oil spill ever in the US. It killed 11 and injured 17 oilmen. Besides bad cementing, it was caused by an untested blowout preventer, which was miswired. The new rules to require third party inspection of blowout preventers, as well as standards for their design, operation, and testing, is being eliminated. The new Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement has been taken over by the usual Trump appointee whose goal is to destroy the Bureau.  They are now following the guidance of the industry funded American Petroleum Institute.  They have also removed the requirement of on-shore monitoring of the equipment, in case the drilling platform has a problem, and with experts at hand to consult with.

Dropping the rule will save oil drillers a measly average of $23 million a year. Compare this to annual production of 500 million barrels at $60 a barrel for $30 billion. The savings is 0.08% of the net sales. That is less than a penny on $10. This is from an AP article by Donald Boesch, University of Maryland, who served on the Deepwater Horizon review. Comparing the $228 million for inspections over a decade to the $60 billion cost of the Deepwater Horizon spill shows it is only 0.4% of the cost of the spill.

The States control drilling out to only 3 miles, and the federal government controls from 3 miles to 200 miles, into deep waters. California banned new offshore leases in 1984, following the disastrous 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill. California, Oregon, and Washington have already joined to fight these oil leases.

The new oil leases will run for five years from 2019 to 2024.  The LA Times has estimates that the price of oil has to be from $60 a barrel to $120 a barrel to make such continental shelf drilling profitable.  They also say that the output would not occur for 10 to 20 years from now.  The states and coastal commissions can also block pipelines from the drilling platforms to the coast.  There also is the hope that we will need less oil as we get more fuel efficient cars, or stop driving so much.

Since everyone is aware that most fossil fuel will have to remain in the ground, it doesn’t make sense to endanger our most beautiful, enjoyable, and valuable landscapes, while oil can be easily fracked or imported from rather unoccupied places.

In our two Republican beach district Representatives, we note that Darrel Issa of Dana Point to La Jolla has made a statement opposing offshore drilling. He made his fortune selling safety systems for cars, so his stance is not surprising. He is also considering that he will be in a very close race this year. On the other hand, Dana Rohrabacher does not have a statement but left on his website a video of his 2012 testimony backing offshore drilling as supposedly being safer than using imported oil with oil tankers. He did not consider the Trump deregulation effect in the future. Inland, but nearby, Irvine’s Republican Congresswoman Mimi Walters has on her website essentially “Drill Baby Drill” statements. On the other side of the climate fight, both Issa and Walters are Republican members of the Climate Caucus.

All 14 California Republican representatives have backed offshore drilling over the years.  Amazingly, the total amount of contributions that Big Oil and Gas have bought their backing with, is less than the cost of many SINGLE coastal houses.  Darrel Issa (retiring) received $351,910, Ed Royce (retiring) $323,999, Mimi Walters $177,600, and Dana Rohrabacher $93,854.  In a July poll, 69% of Californians opposed offshore drilling, while only 25% supported it.

The California offshore oil will be refined and consumed in California. Offshore wells contribute about 15% of California’s oil. The public anger at offshore drilling might lead to a boycott of the drilling company, the refineries used, and the stations that sell such gasoline. There also is the psychological effect of lowering the property values of seaside property, and of beach cities near the drilling. As we painfully learned from the Deepwater Horizon, spills spread far and wide, and can’t really be contained. Spills affect sea life, birds, fishing, tourism, and all ocean and beach businesses, for many, many years.

About Dennis SILVERMAN

I am a retired Professor of Physics and Astronomy at U C Irvine. For two decades I have been active in learning about energy and the environment, and in reporting on those topics for a decade. For the last four years I have added science policy. Lately, I have been reporting on the Covid-19 pandemic of our times.
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