"When crude oil starts pouring into the sea, his phone tends to go off as it did around 3 a.m. on an April morning in 2010, following an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. It happened again in the small hours of Oct. 2, when a plume of oil reached the surface of the Pacific Ocean a few miles off the coast of Huntington Beach."
"That 25,000-gallon spill, from a ruptured underwater pipeline, fouled 16 miles of Orange County beaches, with oil washing ashore as far south as San Diego. I always seem to get the call in the middle of the night, said Charter, who now works with municipalities up and down the California coast, helping coordinate their response to offshore drilling threats. That group is on high alert following a recent Houston Chronicle story revealing Trump administration plans to open large swathes of the California coast to offshore drilling."
"A list of scheduled West Coast lease auctions for oil and gas drilling obtained by the Chronicle raises the possibility, said Charter, that Trump's Interior Department could try to roll back protections for national marine sanctuaries formed after 2008. That grim scenario could result in oil rigs within sight of the Sonoma and Mendocino coast, one of the most pristine, rugged stretches of seashore in the state, with a seminal role in California's history of marine protection and the environmental movement at large."
Richard Charter coordinates municipal responses to offshore drilling threats and responds to oil spills, with calls triggered by events like Deepwater Horizon and the Huntington Beach pipeline rupture. The Oct. 2 pipeline failure released about 25,000 gallons, fouling 16 miles of Orange County beaches and sending oil as far south as San Diego. Municipal groups are on high alert after a leaked list of West Coast lease auctions suggested the Interior Department might roll back protections for national marine sanctuaries formed after 2008. Loss of protections could place oil rigs within sight of the Sonoma and Mendocino coast, threatening pristine seashores and marine conservation gains.
Read at www.pressdemocrat.com
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