I saw that Greg was writing something about the oil spill, but he’s not done, and I see that readers want to talk about it, so I’ll just be putting up this little thread here… (of course this is Vern, duh)… here’s a couple communiques from local politicians who are NOT from the Grand Oil Party (i.e. does anyone really want to hear Michelle Steel at a time like this?) Here’s Supervisor Katrina Foley, Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris, and Congressman Mike Levin:
From Cottie:
Over the weekend, we saw our worst fears come to life with the catastrophic oil spill off our coastline. I live in Laguna Beach and I am personally devastated by this news. And as your representative, I’m working to ensure that all of our resources are being used to fight this. I just joined the U.S. Coast Guard for an aerial tour of the oil spill site and want to share as much information with you as possible.
Here’s what we know so far:
- On Saturday morning, the U.S. Coast Guard, California state officials, Orange County Harbor Patrol and Huntington Beach Marine Safety Division responded to reports of an oil spill approximately 13 square miles in size, located about three miles from the Newport Beach coast.
A unified command has been established – bringing together federal, state, county and city agencies. We are working around the clock to protect our marine life and mitigate ecological disaster. Our top priority is the health and safety of our community. As a result, at this time, the County of Orange and the Cities of Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach and Newport Beach have closed their beaches.
This is devastating for our local economy, particularly our small businesses. Anyone who has experienced revenue loss from their business or damage to their property from this disaster is encouraged to call (866) 985-8366, which is a hotline set up by Amplify and their partners to help impacted parties file claims and to also give out general information.
How you can help:
Many of you have reached out asking about how you can help. For your safety and the safety of the animals, the public is asked to not attempt to capture oiled animals. The California Department of Fish & Wildlife has set up a hotline for individuals to call if anyone sees wildlife impacted from the oil. In such instances, you can call (877) 823-6926.
In addition, at some point, we will need volunteers to help with beach clean-up efforts, and to help coordinate that effort, the City of Huntington Beach has partnered with the Surfrider Foundation. Anyone interested in helping on that front should visit www.cleanups.surfrider.org.
As this crisis continues to unfold, I am committed to providing consistent and reliable information for the community. If you would like to receive updates from my team, please sign up here.
Additionally, my office is updating on Facebook and Twitter daily.
For additional updates from our local, county and state partners, visit:
- Southern California Spill Response: socalspillresponse.com/
- County of Orange: ocgov.com/
- City of Laguna Beach: lagunabeachcity.net/
- City of Huntington Beach: huntingtonbeachca.gov/
- City of Newport Beach: newportbeachca.gov/
- California Fish and Wildlife: wildlife.ca.gov/
If you have questions or need more information, do not hesitate to contact my office https://a74.asmdc.org/contact or by phone: (949) 251-0074.
Yours faithfully, Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris.
On second thought, that was pretty thorough – I think Cottie’s letter can stand on its own for now — Vern
Greg’s Update, With Voice of OC Article Index!
As Vern mentioned, I started a post as first reports of the oil spill came in on Oct. 3, but the Voice of OC came in with a better story before I finished, so it was back to the drawing board. I had work commitments, Oct. 4, so I didn’t get around to updating the draft until later that evening … and I saw that the Voice of OC had already addressed each of the angles I had in mind: (Air Quality, Who Would Investigate, and Wild;ife Impacts. Eventually, I decided just to leave them to do what they do better than we can. So here’s a list of VOC stories on the oil spill through 5 p.m. on Oct. 8, which I’ll try to remember to update from time to time:
- Oil Spill Headed Toward Orange County Coast, Cities Shut Down Beachfronts Overnight (Oct. 2)
- City of Huntington Beach Cancels Day Three of Pacific Airshow Due to Oil Spill (Oct. 3)
- Oil Spill Impacting Nearly All Orange County Coastline, Cleanup Effort Begins As Oil Washes Ashore (Oct. 3)
- Oil Spill Moves Further South, Prompting Further Beach Closures as Cleanup Continues (Oct. 4)
- Newport Beach Closes Harbor Due To Oil Spill, Ending Last Holdout Of Open Coastline (Oct. 4)
- Huntington Beach Officials Set to Declare Oil Spill State of Emergency (Oct. 4)
- How Safe is Orange County’s Air for Residents to Breathe as Crude Oil Spills Ashore? (Oct. 4)
- OC District Attorney: Amplify Energy Should Not Investigate Its Own Oil Leak (Oct. 4)
- Did Lax Federal Oversight Fail to Prevent the Massive Oil Spill Off OC’s Coast? (Oct. 4)
- The Potential Unseen Wildlife Impacts of Orange County’s Oil Spill (Oct. 4)
- Gov. Newsom Declares State Of Emergency as Officials Say Oil Leak is Shut Off (Oct. 5)
- Huntington Beach Officials Declare Oil Spill a State of Emergency (Oct. 5)
- Orange County Supervisors Expected to Declare State Of Emergency In Coastline Oil Spill (Oct. 5)
- Oil Spill Cleanup Halted by Thunderstorms for 18 Hours, Crews Headed Back Out Tuesday Morning (Oct. 5)
- Dana Point Harbor is Latest Closure Along OC’s Coast in Efforts to Prevent Exposure to and Spread of Crude Oil (Oct. 5)
- OC Supervisors Question Who First Knew About Massive Oil Spill, Declare Countywide Emergency (Oct. 5)
- Series of Information, Communication Gaps Dominate First Days of OC Oil Spill (Oct. 5)
- OC Oil Pipeline Dragged 105 Feet, Officials Identify as Source of Leak (Oct. 5)
- Waves of Oil Spill Lawsuits Ready to Roll as OC Residents, Businesses, Local Governments Seek Accountability (Oct. 5)
- Santana: The Public’s Right to Know Shouldn’t Be the First Victim of an Oil Spill (Oct. 6)
- OC Oil Spill Officials Readying to Train Cleanup Volunteers While Trying to Ramp Up Response Efforts (Oct. 6)
- OC Spill Cleanup Facing Lack of Workers as Lines of Oil Continue to Wash Ashore (Oct. 6)
- Newport Beach, Laguna Latest Agencies to Declare Local Emergencies as Oil Spill Moves South (Oct. 6)
- OC Lawmakers Call For New Bans On Offshore Drilling, Creating a New Election Campaign Issue (Oct. 7)
- How Were More Than a Million People Allowed Along Huntington Beach Coast as a Massive Oil Slick Approached? (Oct. 7)
- Cleaning Oil Off Birds Can Feel Good, But Questions Emerge Over Whether It Really Makes A Difference (Oct. 7)
- Why Didn’t an Auto Shut-Off System Prevent the Massive Oil Leak off OC’s Coast? (Oct. 7)
- A Father-Son Boat Charter Business Survived the Pandemic, Now They Face the Impacts of an Oil Spill (Oct. 7)
- Orange County Awaits Oil Spill Investigators’ Arrival (Oct. 8)
- State and Federal Officials Cut Off Regular, Public Updates on Massive OC Oil Spill (Oct. 8)
- Officials Reopen Dana, Newport Harbors as Authorities Scale Down Oil Spill Size Estimates (Oct. 8)
- Nastic: Orange County’s Oil Spill Catastrophe, the Consequences of Complacency (Oct 8)
- Federal Investigators ‘Convinced’ a Ship Anchor Strike Dragged Oil Pipeline That Stained OC Coast (Oct 8)
- Oil Spill Prevents Access to Beaches During Laguna Painting Competition (Oct 8)
- Orange County Beaches Begin Reopening Following Oil Spill, Cleanup is Ongoing (Oct 11)
- Look for further updates here!
We salute the diligence and hard work and expertise of our younger and larger cousin! (I do have another hot take or two that they haven’t covered — no, I am not saying that just to drive them crazy! — that that can wait while it cools.) And this is another of our occasional reminders that the VOC does want and need your financial support beyond just your readership. And I’ll be riffing on their stories from time to time in the days and weeks ahead.
Credible report from some solid people stated they smelled oil on Thursday night.
Can you post a link? I’ve only heard Friday morning.
*Who wants to be the Paul Revere for a major Oil Spill in City Government? County Government? State Government? Federal Government?
Who dropped the ball? (1) The Off Shore Oil Well Operator….did not shut down the line for over three hours. (Probably had to get approval from a VP someplace?) Then failed to alert the City of Huntington Beach City Manager. (Too embarrassing perhaps?) Then when the City of HB did not immediately alert all the surrounding Beach Cities of the Tragedy as well as the the Well Operator…(Who should have issued an immediately Press Release and alerted the neighboring City folks as well as, County and State Officials). It was an all hands on deck moment that was missed on Friday…..not Saturday….some 8 hours later. We need the exact time that the Oil Alarm went off and how long it took for those in charge to respond.
Off Shore Oil Drilling Platforms by themselves are not evil. However, like anything that offers big rewards it requires Great Responsibility. Efficient, Safe and Environmental Protections. If not…..we need to fine those folks to the largest extent possible.
It’s a little too late to have a Paul Revere; we already know that it’s “two if by sea.”
*Don’t you just love the late news from the News Room: “Not 146,000 gallons…only 25,000….however the spill is already gone done to Encinitas
and San Diego……but maybe that doesn’t count?
Well, I appreciate the former news, but not so much the latter. That’s part of the perils of a spill on a south-facing beach
As you may be able to tell from the revised title, I’ve added an index to the VOC stories on the oil spill since Oct. 3; I plan to add more later.
Ron and Anna posted this comment on the wrong story, because this one accidentally had comments closed. SO I’m re-posting it here:
*Reports from Victoria Beach in Laguna that oil is everywhere and affecting the passing Dolphins. Of course Morepot Beach has opened the Harbor for in and out traffic, because the Oil Spill is from 2010 or maybe before that…..Who are these folks and how much nonsense are we supposed to believe? San Diego County is getting the Lion share of the Spill, because everything runs downhill…eh?
The Pacific is downhill from OC to San Diego?
I guess it’s all downhill from here!
*Dr. D., Yeah, thank goodness the oil spill didn’t happen at the MWD…..soon
the Salton Sea would have become Lake Oillyphant!