Offshore Oil Drilling – FAQs

Is a BP type oil spill disaster possible on the rigs in California? It’s hard to know the risk, but the rigs off our coast are a threat. We don’t have any rigs in the Santa Monica Bay, but depending on how large a spill is, the impacts can be wide-ranging. There are 27 different offshore platforms off the coast of California, with the closest located off the Santa Barbara and Seal Beach coasts. And, with the Chevron refinery near LAX, oil tankers regularly come into the Santa Monica Bay and caused a spill in the Bay in 1991.

Marine Protected Areas

Heal the Bay, along with other organizations and agencies, is participating in the process to extend the state's network of Marine Protected Areas into Southern California. Find out how MPAs are a valuable tool for both ecosystem protection and fisheries management.

Climate Change

Global climate change is the scientific term for the changes we are seeing on Earth due to increased carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere. Global warming occurs when certain gases create a blanket over our atmosphere trapping heat like a greenhouse and results in increasing temperatures. The trend of global warming has serious implications for our planet.

Polystyrene

Polystyrene (PS #6) is the most widely used form of plastic in consumer goods. California produces 3.32 billion pounds of polystyrene every year for packaging and food containers.1 Rarely recycled and used for only minutes, this throw-away plastic has a long-lasting impact on our environment and on our health.

Plastic Bags

Society is addicted to throwaway plastic bags. Californians use 19 billion plastic bags every year. This generates over 147,000 tons of unnecessary waste that ends up in our landfills, chokes local rivers and storm drain systems, and enters the ocean, threatening marine life.

Marine Debris: The Plastic Plague

Marine debris is simply manmade trash and materials that litter our beaches and oceans. It is estimated that 80% of marine debris comes from land-based sources, while only 20% comes from the sea-based sources, such as from ships and boats. The majority of marine debris is comprised of plastic materials.  An estimated 60 to 80 percent of all marine debris (and 90 percent of floating debris) is plastic.

Coastal Power Plants

Power plants that utilize once-through cooling (OTC) technology degrade the ocean environment by killing marine life through impingement and entrainment. Alarmingly, twenty-one of California’s coastal power plants use this outdated cooling technology.

Desalination Plants

Many proposed desalination plants along California's coast involve co-location with power plants that utilize once-through cooling (see above). This may provide an argument against making the federally required upgrades to newer, less harmful cooling technologies at these aging power plants.

Malibu Lagoon Habitat Enhancement

Heal the Bay has coordinated the preparation of a restoration plan for Malibu Lagoon.

Dog Parks at Public Beaches

Heal the Bay's recommendations for dog parks located at public beaches balances the need for such facilities in urbanized Southern California with protection of public health.