IV. EFFECTS ON LIVING RESOURCES 



SPILLS AND LEAKS 



1. Past Sources . Platform A in the Dos Cuadras field off the coast 

 of Santa Barbara blew out in 1969, spilling several thousand barrels of 

 oil a day for 10 days into the Santa Barbara Channel. In 1971 the 

 Oregon Standard and the Arizona Standard collided in fog at the entrance 

 to San Francisco Bay, spilling an estimated 20,000 barrels of oil. In 

 that same year the U.S. Coast Guard estimated that there were 1,643 



spills from other sources in California waters, primarily pipeline breaks 



2 

 and line leaks that released 13,309 barrels of oil. Other spills occur- 

 red during the loading and unloading of tankers, from ruptured shoreline 

 storage tanks, and from intentional discharge of tankers. 



2. Potential . The Bureau of Land Management estimated that 0.23 

 to 2.6 million barrels of oil would be released into the environment dur- 

 ing the operational life of Sale 35 leases. Tankers and barges were 

 expected to account for spills of 0.11 to 1.6 million barrels. Pipeline 

 accidents were expected to release between one-fifth and one-twelfth as 

 much oil as tankers. Other estimated spills are 88,000 to 487,000 

 barrels of oil from well blowouts and small leaks and spills from load- 

 ing and unloading tankers. BLM also reported that the various spills 

 would range from a few barrels to over 150,000 barrels. The OCS Task 

 Force compared these estimates with other projected spills from Sale 35 



(Tables 7 and 8). Estimates of potential spillage from development of 



4 

 the Santa Barbara Channel and Sale 48 are not available. 



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