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Weekly Oil Spill Update 11-22

Good afternoon,

I remain committed to providing you with the most up-to-date and accurate information about the Orange County Oil Spill.

You have may have seen that a new oil sheen was spotted near the site of last month’s spill on Saturday. Authorities have determined that the sheen was the result of a small leak in the damaged section of pipeline and may have been released when divers replaced the protective wrapping that is being used to seal the pipeline. This leak was contained on Sunday and the sheen has since dissipated.

As Chair of the California State Assembly's Select Committee on the Orange County Oil Spill, I held our first oversight hearing last Monday where we were updated on oil spill response and recovery efforts. Additionally, we discussed a number of ideas to improve spill response and oversight of offshore oil pipelines in California, including:

  • Providing coastal cities with an adequate emergency supply of oil spill response equipment
  • Improving oil detection technology in order to spot oil in the dark
  • Requiring more frequent safety assessments of offshore oil pipelines
  • Requiring offshore oil pipelines be operated underground, not on the ocean floor
  • Requiring greater performance standards among oil companies’ oil leak detection systems

This oversight hearing marks the first of many discussions to get to the bottom of what happened, ensure that the responsible party is held fully accountable, and identify the steps needed to ensure that an environmental disaster like this does not occur again.

On Saturday, I joined the Sierra Club for a Town Hall focused on the Orange County Oil Spill. We discussed the impacts of the oil spill, as well as the steps that must be taken in order to avoid similar disasters from occurring in the future. One lesson was made abundantly clear: as long as offshore oil drilling continues, our coastline faces an existential threat from oil disasters.

Help for Residents & Businesses


*Beach segments in pink are ready for sign-off. Segments in gray are signed off.

Updates as of November 22, 12 p.m.:

Cleanup News

  • Tar ball cleanup continues in San Diego County; Orange County teams are standing by to respond to reports of oil or tar balls
  • 5,544 gallons of oil recovered; 549,104 lbs of oil debris removed in total
  • 2 SCAT teams ready to deploy to Orange and San Diego Counties

How You Can Help: If you encounter impacted animals, call the Oil Wildlife - Care Network Hotline, (877) 823-6926. To report tar balls, email tarballreports@wildlife.ca.gov.

This will be our final weekly update but we will keep you updated with information on our next oversight hearing and when we introduce legislation in response to this disaster. We will also be posting more frequent updates on social media.

Thank you for all of your engagement on this crisis.

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oil spill update nov. 22