Just 13 inches of damage in a pipeline near California severely harmed the local wildlife and ecosystem, in addition to costing millions of dollars to cleanup. Oil spills are some of the most visible and consequently environmental issues. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is still imprinted in the collective American consciousness, and it also carried with it some of the most severe fines in American history, with BP paying more than $60 billion in fines. Yet, with World leaders meeting to discuss environmental issues at COP26, how much has truly changed? The recent oil spill in California, while significantly less impactful than the Deepwater Oil Spill, offers a look changes over the last decade has brought. 
The following weeks proved the disaster wasn't as bad as previously expected. Estimates of the leakage were lowered from 126,000 gallons to between 25,000 and 132,000 gallons, with the results likely being far closer to 25,000 gallons. Similarly, the effect on animals was not as bad as expected. Significantly fewer birds were affected, given that the spill occurred after nesting season and before migratory birds moved in. Furthermore, teams from LA, Orange, and San Diego reported they are documenting fewer and fewer live oiled animals each day. Still, the consequences of oil exposure are severe. Every part of the food chain is vulnerable, and while birds are the most vulnerable, marine mammals also suffer chronically. Scientists do not yet totally understand the effects of oil spills on plankton and invertebrates. Furthering the investigation, officials stated they are relatively certain the pipeline was damaged by a ship’s anchor many months before the catastrophe.
The first lawsuit against the parent company responsible for the pipeline, Amplify Energy, was filed within 48 hours of the spill. Federal prosecutors, other federal agencies, and the Coast Guard have launched investigations that may lead to criminal charges, civil penalties, and most noteworthily new laws and regulations. The Coast Guard is currently searching for the ships that damaged the pipeline and has already boarded two ships to inspect them. Other investigators and reviewing pipeline inspection records for evidence of negligence and falsification of information. Attorney Rohan Virginkar, who helped prosecute BP during the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, stated that “really in these environmental cases, it’s about finding somebody who’s going to pay for the cleanup.” Importantly, this goal has been significantly helped by the Oil Pollution Act, passed after the Exxon Valdez Tanker spill in Alaska, which requires the organization responsible for spilling the oil to pay for any cleanup. Since federal prosecutors have five years to bring felony charges, they will likely wait until their investigations turn up more information and they can calculate the total cost of the damage to put into place any penalties.
Now that federal prosecutors and other agencies are beginning to investigate, it is important to review the consequences of the Deepwater Horizon Spill. The primary benefit of the case against BP was the trend of larger penalties it started. The $4.5 billion that BP paid just for criminal penalties was many times larger than the previously largest penalty for environmental crime, which was just $125 million in 1990. This would prompt Washington to implement harsher penalties, with Volkswagen paying $30 billion for cheating environmental standards and the larger banks paying billions in fines for the 2008 financial crisis. Unfortunately, unlike previous oil spills such as the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, which resulted in the passage of the Clean Water Act, or the Exxon Valdez spill of 1989, which resulted in the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, the Deepwater Horizon Spill did not create any significant laws. While Congress did pass the RESTORE Act in response to the tragedy, this legislation only ensured that the fines would be shared with Gulf Coast states and did nothing to promote harsher consequences or higher safety regulations. So while BP did pay for its tremendous error, little was done to prevent another oil spill from occurring.
Having missed the opportunity generated by Deepwater Horizon, now, with the momentum of public opinion, it is crucial that we push for increased regulations in the oil industry. Already we can see this with increased attention being placed on fossil fuel divestment. Also, a recent publication by the LA Times examined the logistics of closing down these ocean wells. We can take this sentiment among the people as an opportunity to educate the public on the dangers of fossil fuels and the oil industry and to move public opinion towards promoting renewables.
Sources:
https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2021-10-08/offshore-oil-cost-to-end-california
https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/06/us/huntington-beach-california-oil-spill-timeline/index.html