Refugio Oil Spill victim
News story update Tuesday from, Santa Barbara Independent, (linked) the local source for SB/SLO. Late information reports it's a possible crime, but things have gotten weird, too:
As a crew prepared to excavate the pipe that had spilled hundreds of barrels of oil into the Pacific, Santa Barbara’s District Attorney Joyce Dudley was on the spot Monday, of a mind to consider it a “potential crime scene.” Her office has prosecuted multiple environment-related cases in the past, she said, and could possibly take on the Refugio spill, though she could not comment on the particulars. She’ll be meeting with federal prosecutors this week to discuss the possibilities. (http://www.independent.com/...)
The area is being secured by Sheriff’s deputies for both the health and safety of the public, she explained, and also to avoid impacting any evidence.
my emphasis
As I reported last week, the area impacted (Santa Barbara County in Gaviota) was large getting worse, and the damage looked severe. Up to last night only one sea lion was acknowledged killed by the spill. Supposedly that one dies over night. But the one in our lede photo appears dead on scene. Here's more:
The north side of Refugio is just one area under quarantine from the public. The beaches at Refugio and El Capitan are closed through June 4, and Coal Oil Point remains off limits. The fishing areas from Canada de Alegria to Coal Oil Point remain closed, states the Refugio oil spill’s Unified Command. A safety zone around the fisheries has also been created from west of Gaviota State Beach to west of Coal Oil Point. Aircraft, including drones, have similarly been restricted from a five-mile radius around the Refugio State Beach area to 1,000 feet ASL.(bold is mine)
Read more below the seaweed entangled oil blob.
Is there a white wash going on at Refugio?
While authorities admitted response was slow, they claim cleanup and booms were promptly in place. However, Saturday Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! interviewed two longtime local environmentalists who told a different story of inadequate equipment and personnel, asserting responders DID NOT have enough or adequate booms nor the necessary personnel to begin containment. (I've misplaced that citation)
Then Tuesday it gets more weird: (http://www.independent.com/... )
The widely acknowledged and strikingly slow clean up operation was intended to keep the crude from hitting touristy locales ahead of the holiday weekend. But many marine biologists and conservationists have argued that it is just as — if not more — important to focus on the subsurface effects. “There’s a tendency to protect the visible aspects of the environment,” Helms said, “but you have to remember there are extremely important fisheries and resources below the surface.”
Exactly how many creatures are being killed is hard to say because most of the carnage is happening underwater. Federal and state agencies, now in total control of the affected area, have imposed such exceptionally strict closures that volunteers, reporters, and even local biologists have been denied access.
According to the Independent the day
after the spill, only
one person, a private citizen was present with a shovel, then others joined him. Just days before Memorial weekend, perhaps the second busiest beach day of the year.
Now today, this:
With a reference to the public’s “passionate commitment to the environment and wildlife,” the Unified Command has reversed course on its arm’s-length treatment of volunteers and has decided to allow citizen assistance — as long as they’ve been trained.
What is
REALLY going on in Refugio?
Either the response was delayed because of 'concerns for the holiday weekend' (not) or there was a crime scene declared which is delaying the clean up. Those appear to be contradicting excuses shown below, but what appears certain is SOMEONE wants the area closed to public scrutiny and is feeding the media its own narrative.
Last week a comment to my Daily Kos diary stated that government powers 'that be' are now quick to close spill areas; that reports of animals being quietly bagged and removed from spills to avoid public outrage would occur. And I'm working on confirmation of that.
Question: Would not the evidence of vandalism/criminal activity be immediately apparent on the first day during the fire department inspection concurrent with their response to 'gas smell'? For certain, announcing a 'possible' crime scene FIVE days after the spill is grossly inadequate in preserving 'evidence' of criminality! It also precluded opportunity to ameliorate the damage and prevent the oil contamination from being as extensive, thereby protecting the public interest. These actions of people in charge don't pass the smell test.
Question: Why is there a need to close the beach from both access and view? Does anyone really think that a drone would interfere with crime investigators? Or is the real purpose to prevent media coverage documenting the destruction to our shoreline by the oil industry (yet again)?
Here's my two bits: 15 years ago when Dr. Walter Nordhausen (now doing the same for the EU) ran the Ca. oil spill response teams, those crews carried dedicated phones and pagers which allowed rapid team deployments to be present in mere hours. Anywhere in the state. Then, within hours, as assessment had been made and resources mustered to have spills cleaned up in a matter of days. Investigations lasted a day, not weeks. And prevention of environmental impact was top priority. This system worked extremely well to protect our beautiful state from impacts of spills.
So what's happened?