Congresswoman Jacobs Remarks at Field Hearing in Irvine on Southern California Oil Leak
Jacobs: “Infrequent inspections, combined with more extreme weather events and our aging infrastructure, are a recipe for disaster”
Irvine, CA - Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (D-CA-53) took part in a field hearing in Irvine, California, on the recent Southern California oil leak. The hearing was organized by the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources and was titled “Southern California Oil Leak: Investigating the Immediate Effects on Communities, Businesses, and the Environment.” For video of the hearing, click here.
The hearing allowed Congresswoman Jacobs to hear directly from local residents, environmental advocates, and business owners on the impact of this spill, and participate in the oversight process. In her opening remarks, Jacobs stated, “infrequent inspections, combined with more extreme weather events and our aging infrastructure, are a recipe for disaster — and our coastline, our wildlife, and our small businesses are paying the price.”
Jacobs also questioned one of the expert witnesses, Dr. David Valentine, on a congressional proposal to ban cargo ships from the region.
Along with Congresswoman Jacobs, the House Members in attendance were: Congresswoman Katie Porter, Congressman Alan Lowenthal, Congressman Mike Levin.
The hearing witnesses were: Dr. Michael Ziccardi, Director, Oiled Wildlife Care Network; and Executive Director, One Health Institute, School of Veterinary Medicine, UC Davis; Mr. Scott Breneman, West Caught Fish Company, Newport Beach, CA; Mr. Vipe Desai, Founding Member, Business Alliance for Protecting the Pacific Coast; Dr. David Valentine, Norris Presidential Chair in Earth Science and Professor of Marine Science, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Congresswoman Jacobs opening remarks at the hearing were as follows:
Good morning, everyone. Thank you, Chairwoman Porter, for inviting me to join you all today, and Chairman Lowenthal for helping to convene this hearing.
While I don’t sit on the Committee on Natural Resources, I do represent San Diego — and the issue of offshore drilling and these devastating oil spills affect all of us in coastal communities up and down the state.
Environmental and wildlife protections are two of the top concerns I hear from my constituents, and so many have reached out to express their concerns about the October 2nd oil spill — what it means for the health of our community, our environment, and our businesses.
If the ocean’s currents had been even a little bit stronger, this spill could have travelled all the way down to our San Diego communities, potentially affecting our entire southern coast — and we’re still concerned about the possibility of continued impacts.
I’m thankful the State of California put a stop to offshore drilling off our coast, but as my colleagues mentioned, there are still 200 miles of established pipelines — all of them decades old.
We’ve known for a long time that these pipelines pose risks to our marine life and our ocean-dependent businesses, and I agree we need to focus on decommissioning them as soon as possible.
And I’m so grateful that, in the meantime, Chairs Porter and Lowenthal are leading the efforts to make sure Congress is fulfilling our responsibility to prevent these spills from happening again and holding accountable those who cause them and harm our communities.
This hearing today is an important place to start.
It’s simply unacceptable that — as the United States Coast Guard has reported — this pipeline may have been damaged as early as January of this year, and as Congressman Levin said, it was not reported.
In fact, the last recorded inspection happened a full year ago, meaning this spill may have been going on much longer than we realized. These infrequent inspections, combined with more extreme weather events and our aging infrastructure, are a recipe for disaster — and our coastline, our wildlife, and our small businesses are paying the price.
As the youngest member of Congress from California, I’m keenly aware that my generation and future generations are going to be the ones living with the consequences of these environmental disasters, and the decisions Congress makes about them, longer than anyone else.
So that’s why I’m so grateful to be here today, I’m so grateful to our witnesses, and I’m really looking forward to hearing from all of you about the ways this spill has affected your lives and livelihoods and what we here in Congress can do to better support you.
Congresswoman Jacobs Question to Dr. David Valentine on Banning Cargo Ships:
Congresswoman Jacobs: Dr. Valentine, I had just one more question for you. While we’ve been here, while we’ve been trying to figure out the best way to respond and to prevent future spills, some of our colleagues are actually working to ban cargo ships in the area, and they believe that’s where the issue lies. You have mentioned how many of these spills you’ve been involved in. I was just wondering if you think that banning cargo ships will alleviate the problem? And if there are other additional vulnerabilities that you see as potentially greater concerns than cargo ships?
Dr. David Valentine, Professor of Marine Science, University of California, Santa Barbara: Yeah, I think it's not specifically cargo ships that worry me the most. What worries me is atypical conditions. I'm an oceanographer, I work on the water, all the time. And when things go as planned, they go as planned. But when conditions change and you’re not prepared for it, that's when things happen. And that may be the case here. So I think that I don't have an opinion about cargo ships. I'm not a politician, I’m a scientist, but I think that we do have to pay very careful attention to the potential that these cargo ships and industry in general, brings to the coastal environment and use policies that are going to help us to prevent incidents like this from occurring. And I don't have the answers for it. But that’s what I hope.
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