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On January 28, 1969, an oil well off the Santa Barbara, Calif. coast experienced a blowout. The result was an oil spill that ranked as the largest in U.S. waters at the time. The oil pooled in a black, tarry slick above the sea six miles away from the perfect shores of southern California. The blowout resulted from drilling operations on the ocean platform "A" of the Union Oil Company.

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The oil from platform "A" was identified to be 80 miles to the north and more than 230 miles south in Mexico. Although the well was capped after 11 days, oil and gas continued to seep through the seafloor for months, and Union Oil struggled to seal the cracks properly. The resulting mess of tar killed upwards of 10,000 birds, suffocated marine plant life, and left big portions of Santa Barbara County to smell like petroleum refinery. Habitats and living organisms are ruined and destroyed.

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Citizens rallied and the oil company rushed to spread 3,00 tons of straw on the beach's top to sop up the oil, the scene gained a national spotlight. Despite attempts to clean and care for the oil-weighed birds 3,700 and 9,000 scientists died. This situation led to the Clean Water Act passed in 1972.

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The oil spill completely stopped commercial fishing in the area from February until April. Economic effects were extensive due to the loss of fishing income with a loss of $3 million, and recreational facilities, and damage to personal property. This also led to some beaches, parks, and waterways closing. This being said tourism revenue declined 20-30% in the year following the spill, tourism losses were millions of dollars.

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The primary tools used to respond to oil spills are mechanical containment, recovery, and clean-up equipment (booms, barriers, and skimmers) and some synthetic sorbent material. Personally, the best way to deal with this situation was using mechanical tools for efficient heavy-duty cleanup.

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On April 22, 1970, Students from a university in CA affixed a gas mask to a statue of their mascot and buried an agent to symbolize the fight against pollution. In CO bikers warmed the capital. All across the United States, teach-ins and demonstrations of Earth Day would go down in history. The spill was the first test for the new national pollution contingency plan.

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After this tragic oil spill that occurred in the baes of California. We, people, have become more cautious of how we affect the earth, especially water, it occurred to everyone that incidents like these make an impact on the future reliability of resources and hurt everyone economically, environmentally, and affect our health.

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This oil spill continues to be the largest in US waters.

Nixon was also president during this time.