For a coastal community of California, an oil spill has devastating and lasting consequences. These catastrophes kill tourism and local economies, destroy marine life and interrupt fisheries and critical scientific research, which costs millions of cleaning costs and lost income. Many Californians will remember the oil spill of the 2015 State Beach as one of the most recent and destructive examples of this devastation in your life. But if Donald Trump and his great oil allies come out with his, exactly the same pipes that caused the refuge spill to be reopened, and we will take a big step back in the fight to keep our coasts clean.
At this time, a new Texas oil company called offshore corp. is trying restart the pipes That has been inactive during the decade since the refuge spill, but now with the corrosion of another decade. Do not be fooled: this is not a company upset that seeks to draw a different route to the last owner of the pipe, Exxon Mobil. After state and local officials, community leaders and environmental activists fought to prevent Exxon Mobil from taking these online pipes, exxon conveniently intervened to provide saber the $ 623 million I would need Buy the pipes and another oil production infrastructure.
But Exxon is not Sabber's only friend in a high place.
Just a few weeks ago, the Trump administration announced His “significant achievement” of saber announcement, perversely, in the anniversary of the 2015 refuge spill, which is restarting the pipes and the extraction of oil on the high seas on the platforms on connected seas. A celebration that, according to the Land Commission of the State of California and the Coastal Commission of California, it was not only premature, but also in violation of the directives of the state agency, since the company still does not have all the permits it needs to resume. The fact that the administration promoted a “restart” that is in direct conflict with our state agencies is the intentional ignorance of continuous and unstable litigation or a more chilling suggestion that they have no interest in complying with the rules of a State when it comes to protecting our coast.
As is true with much of what comes from the Trump administration, it is difficult not to see this act (and its moment) as another example of less revenge and greed that benefits corporations and has the cost of local communities and working families. Donald Trump highlights the states as California for his lack of perceived political support and then arm the powers of the Executive to reduce critical infrastructure investments, open politicized investigations, illegally cancel subsidies for security and prevention programs as basic as earthquake modelsand push projects like saber's that could give real to the Californians if they succeed.
In 2015, the refuge spill reached the south of the Los Angeles County and cost hundreds of millions of dollars in both Environmental Cleaning Costs and Lost income for our local businesses. In addition to the deep injury in marine life, the damage of the spill stole 140,000 days of recreation of lovers of the beach of California. Local fishermen alone lost a fortune and plains to all Americans, The previous owner of the pipelineHe was forced to pay them $ 184 million to resolve their losses.
Another spill could be much worse. Some estimates project that a future spill of the corroded pipe could be twice the size of the 2015 spill, even with the installation of improved safety valves. And all this could happen under a president who has shown that even the worst natural disasters, which do not discriminate between political ideologies, are not a sufficient reason to help a community in crisis.
The opposition to restart shelter pipes is to unite on all sides. Local companies whose success comes from our beautiful coast are increasing alarm. The municipal councils, tribal groups and community organizations are denouncing this dangerous threat to our coasts. My colleague of Santa Barbara, Congressman Health Carbajal and I are working to hold the Trump administration for his defense of this disaster. Local voices such as those of the Coastal Commission, at the Environmental Defense Center and among activists such as the indefatigable Julia Louis-Dreyfus, have worked to put this pipe on the national stage. And the state senator of Santa Barbara, the newly coined President Pro Tempore Monique Limón, as well as the Greg Hart assembly and others in Sacramento, are leading the burden to strengthen the security requirements and the test regimes for these pipes, and provide the Californians with a clear opportunity to be heard.
But to succeed, this effort needs a critical ingredient: you.
The Californians, only a handful of generations, joined in the wake of the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill and created Earth Day to reflect on the importance of protecting the only planet we have. We need to mobilize again. Big Oil and Donald Trump have you to stay out. Allowing that Saber advances would clear the way for the administration to open the entire continental platform on the high seas of California to oil drilling, as its administration wishes. Given this danger, we must alert the public about deep risks and generate a call to action: posing the problem publicly, repeatedly, visible, vociferantly, at the local, state and federal level, demanding that our elected representatives do it better, do something, before the calamity attacks again. We need to speak with the same strong collective voice that created Earth Day (and later the Environmental Protection Agency) to maintain our beaches, our coastal economies, our marine life and our state safe from another disaster.
Senator Adam Schiff represents California in the United States Senate, where he serves in the environment and public works, small businesses, agriculture and judicial committees.
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Ideas expressed in the piece
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Senator Schiff argues that the restart of shelter pipes represents Trump's revenge against California, describing it as “another example of petty revenge and greed that benefits corporations and has the cost of local communities and working families.” The author argues that Trump deliberately points to the states that lack perceived political support and assemble the executive powers to damage California through infrastructure cuts and dangerous projects such as the restart of the saber pipe.
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The author emphasizes the serious environmental and economic consequences of the 2015 refuge spill, noting that he reached the south of the Los Angeles County, cost hundreds of millions in cleaning and lost income, and resulted in 140,000 days of lost recreation for beach lovers[1][4][6]. In addition, local fishermen lost substantial income, and the plains are all Americans paying $ 184 million to resolve their losses[7].
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Schiff warns that a future spill could be catastrophicly worse, with some estimates that they project that could be twice the size of the 2015 incident despite the improved safety valves. The author argues that the pipes now have “the corrosion of another decade” since it is inactive, making them even more dangerous restart.
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The author criticizes the financial agreement between Exxon Mobil and Saber Offshore Corp, arguing that the loan of $ 623 million of Sable to Saber represents an rear door attempt to restart operations after state and local officials fought successfully to prevent exxon directly reactivating the pipes.
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Schiff demands the public mobilization similar to the response after the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill that led to Earth Day, arguing that allowing Saber to proceed would allow the Trump administration to open the entire continental shelf on the high seas of California to oil drilling.
Different views on the subject
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Industry supporters argue that the restart of oil production will provide important economic benefits to the region, with Jeremy Willett of Pacific Pipeline Company stating that the county has “the opportunity to improve our self -sufficiency, create jobs and stimulate the economy, all while reducing our carbon footprint”[3].
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The Trump administration frames the restart of the pipeline as a national energy security achievement, with Kenneth Stevens of the Office of Security and Environmental Control that “President Trump made clear that US energy should come from US resources” and describing the effort as converting “a closure of a decade into a return story for the production of the Pacific”[5].
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Federal officials emphasize the safety and efficiency of the restart process, and Stevens said that the Environmental Security and Confaction Control Office “helped put oil safely and efficiently, just in our own backyard” as part of the “Energy Domain” initiative of the administration “[5].
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SABLE OFFSHORE CORP argues that it is following the legal procedures and appropriate safety requirements, having completed the repairs of anomalies in the flower pipe system as specified by the consent decree and successfully performing hydrotets in seven of the eight sections of pipes[2]. The company argues that it meets all regulatory conditions for the restart.
