LAT: Mysterious (So Cal coast) Oil Patches Take Big Toll on Seabirds

[DeepModem Mom]

Mysterious Oil Patches Take Big Toll on Seabirds
Up to 5,000 avians have been harmed, the most in the state since a spill off the coast in 1990.

By Amanda Covarrubias and Kenneth R. Weiss, Times Staff Writers


A mysterious weeklong oil leak off Southern California has damaged more wildlife than any spill in state coastal waters since 1990, officials said Thursday as they struggled to find its source.

Dead or oiled seabirds are now turning up on beaches from Santa Barbara to Huntington Beach, with estimates that as many as 5,000 birds may have been coated with the black goo. So far, nearly 1,400 birds have been retrieved since the first grebes washed ashore in Ventura County a week ago.

What makes the situation so perplexing is that wildlife officials are overrun by birds, but have not found a major telltale slick on the water or tar balls washing ashore....

***

The spill comes as federal officials are reviewing environmental documents that could allow oil companies to extend their leases on 36 offshore tracts from Oxnard to San Luis Obispo for future oil drilling.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been encouraging the Bush administration to buy back these leased tracts, which have been undeveloped for decades.

And oil industry lobbyists have been urging Congress and the Bush administration to lift an oil-drilling ban that covers nearly all federal waters off California, except for specific areas already producing oil. Those areas are marked by oil platforms, most of them in the Santa Barbara Channel and off Huntington Beach....


http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-oil21jan21,0,5334740.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[illflem]

1. Source could be the oil that has naturally bubbled up for eons

off the Santa Barbara coast. The oil companies claim that their drilling has relieved pressure and the natural flow has slowed but we all know how much to believe in their claims.

[Hekate]

2. Yes; my first thought was disturbances from the mudslide

at La Conchita -- for those who don't live along the California coast, the whole thing is one faultline after another. And we do get natural seeps at the beaches around Santa Barbara; there's a significant amount of oil beneath the seafloor, and as you walk or swim you generally don't even notice until afterward that your feet or shoes have picked up blobs of tar.

Your point about the trustworthiness of the oil companies is well taken, however. They have so much more money than our little counties, and they have fought local citizens and local governments every inch of the way when it comes to regulating their practices.

Hekate

[UL_Approved]

3. Missing or damaged tanker

It looks like I finally found a use for this website. It is a website for transportation and maritime lawyers. They have something called the Cargo Letter. This describes distresses, and accident information. The website:

http://www.cargolaw.com

It has AP links, Coast Guard, Navy, and other sources for links. Check it out.