This is a story actually considered newsworthy by the Associated Press:
Barrel of crude oil spills into sea off Santa Barbara
A barrel of crude oil has spilled or seeped into the sea at offshore Platform Holly two miles off Santa Barbara.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Cory Mendenhall says the guard’s Los Angeles-Long Beach sector received a National Response Center report of a spill at the Venoco-operated platform before dawn Monday.
The cause hasn’t been disclosed.
Clean Seas has been contracted for clean up. The Coast Guard says containment booms are keeping the oil from spreading and clean up has begun. Venoco vice president Michael Edwards says the platform is shut down and natural seepage may be to blame. Edwards says 150 barrels of crude seeps in the area each day.
To repeat, one barrel spilled. Not one million barrels. Not one hundred thousand barrels. One barrel. One lonely barrel. And it may not have spilled at all. It may have seeped. Because up to 150 barrels seep naturally into the area every day.
But it made a damn fine headline. And we thank you for your hard-hitting reportage, Associated Press.
Source: Associated Press via SanLuisObsipo.com
