A look at Central Coast impacts from the Orange County Oil Spill
Last weekend, thousands of gallons of crude oil leaked into the Pacific Ocean off the shore in Huntington Beach, which triggered California to declare a state of emergency for Orange County. Clean-up efforts are underway, but there’s still a long road ahead.
“It's not a matter of if an oil spill, it's going to happen, it's when it's going to happen and where it's going to happen," said Dr. Michael Murray, Jane Dunaway Director of Veterinary Services, Monterey Bay Aquarium
Oil spills, like the one in Orange County, affect all parts of the food chain contaminating nearly everything in its path. Wildlife and the ecosystem will take a hard hit.
“This is just more evidence of why we need to start weaning ourselves away from. You know, fossil fuels such as our energy source,” Dr. Murray.
So will animals that escape the disaster zone reach the Central Coast? Dr. Michael Murray says he’s not convinced animals are moving north in our direction necessarily because of the spill. But birds are a bit more concerning, they could be flying into harm's way.
“They might be migrating or moving. This is the fall migration for a lot of shorebirds and other bird species are coming from the boreal forest and coming from the Arctic Circle, where they breed in the summer,” Dr. Murray.
Large marine animals already in the disaster zone will also be affected, not just from the oil, but the aromatic compounds that evaporate. Those highly toxic fumes can be inhaled by animals that are in the area. As far as that oil and fumes moving north toward the Central Coast, “That's a long distance. And, you know, point conception sort of in the way, which would probably have an impact there. But it's an oil spill and its nature, and one never knows what can happen. So I would hesitate to say never,” Dr. Murray.
The Point Conception is a little bump, or headland, just north of Santa Barbara. Where the Santa Barbara Channel meets the Pacific Ocean. An area where northerly currents coming down the coast, helps prevent something like oil, from moving from coming up from the south.
If a spill were to happen nearby, Old Wildlife Care Network and the Oil Spill Response Group, A part of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, have a facility in Santa Cruz near Long Marine Lab that is designed to help respond to the wildlife impacts of oil spills, with the Coast Guard being the lead agency.
“You go into a kind of an incident response plan where they take the lead and everyone kind of has as a job. I know that there are a number of other groups UC Santa Cruz, Monterey Bay Aquarium, and others that have been training and working with it to recognize how to respond to an oil spill.
Those oil spill drills are held periodically. Regardless, the effects of the Orange County spill will be long-term.
