Workers in San Diego County have started to check local waterways for potential fallout from Saturday’s Orange County oil spill.
They were on the lookout for oil at the Santa Margarita River, Harbor Beach and Oceanside City Beach, Aqua Hedionda Lagoon, near the Del Mar Fairgrounds, San Dieguito Lagoon, Los Peñasquitos Lagoon and La Jolla Shores-Scripps.
Meanwhile, Rep. Mike Levin, D-Dana Point, and Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, on Friday sent a letter, signed by 77 other congressional representatives, urging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer to ensure the Build Back Better Act retains a ban on any new federal coastal oil and gas leases.
The language includes the Pacific and Atlantic coasts and the Eastern Gulf of Mexico.
Levin is also behind the American Coasts and Oceans Protection Act that would bar any new leasing for oil drilling along the Southern California Coast from San Diego north to San Luis Obispo County.
San Diego Democrats Scott Peters, Juan Vargas and Sara Jacobs signed on to the letter.
Congressional leaders also pressed federal agencies to investigate the leak for regulatory issues involving Amplify Energy, the company that owns the “Elly” oil rig and others connected to the ruptured pipeline.
Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, chair of San Diego County’s Board of Supervisors on Wednesday announces the activation of the Emergency Operations Center in response to the leak.
– City News Service