which claim about 400,000 avian lives a year.

In response, CalGEM exempted from the ban what it called “low energy seeps,” defined, in part, as slower spills that are not hot and are permanently contained. Much of it was locked underground in diatomites — tightly packed layers of ancient, tiny sea skeletons whose algal innards compressed over milleniums into gooey crude. AlterNet counts on readers like you to support our coverage. “It reminds me of the industry back when you’re watching ‘There Will Be Blood’ and they used to let this stuff explode out of the ground and collect it,” said Deborah Gordon, a Brown University senior fellow, who researched California’s Midway-Sunset field, where many surface spills occur. “I talk to the governor every single day,” he said, “and so when my voice rings in his ear, your voice rings in his ear.”. No photos of the Sandy Creek spills or the Cymric ravine flooded with oil were shown. ... spreading 80 miles north to Pismo Beach and 235 miles south to Mexico. Analysis by The Conversation?

Allen analyzed the slick in terms of thickness, area, and rate of growth. Last year, he and his deputy toured Chevron’s spill in the Cymric field. The agency also declined to provide spill maps and plans mandated by the new rules, citing, in part, “multiple ongoing legal investigations,” including a departmental probe of the Cymric spills and ongoing litigation between Chevron and another company involving the field where the worker died. Others chafe at such logic. Tantalized by visible natural “seeps,” companies large and small drilled wells across the state, hoping to hit paydirt. It still holds the record for the largest oil spill in U.S. history, dwarfing BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster, which leaked 210 million gallons into the Gulf of Mexico. Tom Frantz, a fourth-generation farmer and activist from Shafter, began monitoring the Cymric surface expressions himself a year ago, sending a drone into the air for timely updates. “The strict prohibition should be dropped in favor of language that provides for prudent management when events occur.”, In response, CalGEM staff defended the proposed ban on surface expressions “because they are inherently unsafe.” But they also provided an opening for containment. Nearly half of the oil in the state is produced from cyclic steaming, according to a University of California, Berkeley, report issued in April. The California Division of Oil and Gas — the precursor to today’s CalGEM — was formed in 1915. Over 18 months, the Lakeview Gusher spilled 395 million gallons, creating a pool so deep and wide that men rowed boats across it. Neither a company executive nor CalGEM responded to requests for comment on those measures.

Producers injected steam down well bores at pressures high enough to crack brittle underground formations so oil could ooze upward. But, the presentation concluded, there was little impetus for oil companies to change their ways: “The economic benefit of increased oil … production from steam injection into shallow diatomite … has been, and will continue to be motivation for operators.”, Employees familiar with the spills pushed for stricter regulation. Although CalGEM says Chevron has now successfully plugged and abandoned Well 20, the company told the agency it was still producing oil from a nearby surface expression. Given that oil prices steeply declined for a period in March and then slowly increased in the following months, the resulting revenue estimates are likely undercounts. Neither a company executive nor CalGEM responded to requests for comment on those measures. New permits were quickly approved. Their feathers, once evenly spaced and waterproof, stick together in matted clumps. “There were places where the earth had literally cracked open and oil was spilling out,” he recalled. After decades of extraction, pumping California’s increasingly tarry reserves became tougher.

It was the first time a CIA spy plane had ever been used for non-defense related aerial photography.

But he insists it shouldn’t be the default. Berry first told the inspectors the spills were natural seeps, but it has since voluntarily removed major rusted pipes and other debris, and has plugged and abandoned 10 nearby wells. This allows them to focus on drinking, preening, and digesting. But the deadline came and went as special interests on various sides lobbied to influence the regulations. A view of Santa Barbara Harbor today using NOAA's online mapping tool, ERMA, along with a historical photo of the harbor during the 1969 Platform "A" well blowout. “It’s a benefit and a disadvantage,” says Julie Skoglund, the center’s operations manager. The company tried and failed to plug it three times. As Taylor’s death showed, surface expressions can be dangerous. Within months, more than a dozen surface expressions occurred, including Chevron’s latest Cymric spills. It took workers until shortly before dawn the next day to retrieve Taylor’s body. (Jay Calderon/The Desert Sun), Fourth-generation farmer Tom Frantz says oil waste has stunted a neighbor’s almond trees. Some have been... "The Trump immigration agenda is defined by cruelty: it's responsible for six children dying in cages, forced women into unnecessary... "It's obscene and offensive to us that local and state governments move to celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day while the federal... "Small business owners, workers, and families are desperate for support—and lawmakers and the president abandoned them in order to focus on jamming through a historically non-transparent and extreme Supreme Court... A river of oil spills across the Cymric field near McKittrick, California, in June 2019.

To the west, Santa Barbara County officials had already grappled with the consequences of surface expressions. The department pledged to finalize the regulations in a little more than a year. It was spilling approximately 15,000 to 23,000 gallons of fluid a day in early February, the latest date for which the state provided detailed data. Several oil companies and trade groups pushed back, asking for a narrow definition of what constituted a spill. Why do nonwhite Georgia voters have to wait in line for hours? Workers and wildlife rescuers couldn’t immediately approach the site — it was 400 degrees underground, and if the earth exploded or gave way, they might be scalded or drown in boiling fluids. Shortly after Taylor’s death, the ground shook a few miles north and a 60-foot geyser blew skyward. After its wash, the grebe was dried using an adapted hairdryer and placed in a turquoise pool with another previously oiled western grebe. That ability seems to have improved since Sharp published his paper in 1996. “During larger spills, between 50 and 70 percent of the animals that we collect can be released,” Ziccardi says. And California Lets Them.

In the last three years alone, the crude collected from GS-5 has generated an estimated $11.6 million, according to an analysis of production data provided by the state. Sharp found that half the birds survived six days or less. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to AlterNet, or click here to become a subscriber. Two new studies of pregnant women living close to California oil fields show far higher rates of premature births and low-birth-weight babies. USPS deadline to mail ballots has passed, voters urged to drop it off. Veterinarian Rebecca Duerr gasps as she gently squeezes the belly of the black and white bird on her exam table. The company has yet to pay, and CalGEM has not moved forward with an appeal hearing. Since late March, an analysis by The Desert Sun and ProPublica found, the 36W cluster has garnered the company an estimated $245,000. That June morning, the field at Well 20 looked smooth, per oil and gas agency rules. Such work is urgent. The Western States Petroleum Association, the industry trade group representing major companies like Chevron, pressed to nix the spill prohibition altogether and just preserve the longtime practice of containment. After reports about “flow to surface” spills from heavy tar sands in Alberta, Canada, regulators there determined that excessive steaming volumes in the Primrose field — combined with open conduits from below ground, such as wellbores, natural faults and induced fractures — were to blame.



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