Oil on lakes, in the ground and in oceans is naturally there; spills are inconsequential.

American Thinker ^ | 11/29/2023 | Erwin Haas

[SeekAndFind]

Jack Hellner recently suggested that oil spills are only moderately harmful to the environment.

I disagree.

Oil in the environment is normally there and has been for centuries. That’s how people first discovered the stuff. In California’s uber-environmentalist Santa Barbara County, an estimated 11 to 160 barrels of oil seep into the ocean daily and have for countless centuries; the locals have made attempts at capping it. They have failed so far

In nature, there are the butanes, gasolines and kerosene in the oil, which, when deposited on the surface, evaporate off as naphtha (probably the basis of the ancient Greek fire). Ultraviolet light from the sun breaks these into carbon dioxide and water. 

The heavier oil distillates like fuel oil, the bunker oils, are digested by bacteria, (as noted by Hellner) converting them into simple organic compounds that other organisms feast on, leading to a localized exuberant biodiversity. 

I did find an analysis of the fish catches after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill but can’t find it now.  I recall that there was no fishing in that area for a year but in the following year the catch was about normal except for some obscure trash species that had an explosive increase in numbers. [These accounts by Humberto Fontova about the broad phenomenon are useful. -editor].

The heavier components of oil remain as lumps called bitumen or asphalt. We use it as cement to build our roads. The Dead Sea was called Lake Asphaltites because of the gooey pebbles that floated onto the surface from underwater seeps. This asphalt was used to coat Egyptian mummies. Oil and asphalt found floating on lakes or in puddles was used by Indians to caulk canoes, and as medicines. 

[MMusson]

Oil is an organic liquid that is metabolized by bacteria.
Spill oil and 10-20 years later it is gone.

Bury carbon fiber wind turbine blades and 500 years later they are still there.

[Magnum44]

[Flying Circus]

Aunt and uncle in Santa Barbra say the same thing. Since they started drilling off of the coast the beach is cleaner.

[curious7]

Because then government employees can ‘save’ you from the non-existent disaster and keep their paychecks coming in.

[Delta 21]

Some Freeper said that oil derricks and pumping units all over southern Cali are camouflaged in buildings that blend in to the background. Its all pumping and drilling as normal only its inside or 4 walls and no top. The envirowhackos would go nutz if they knew.

[SuperLuminal]

This has been understood for a long, long time...

[Worldtraveler once upon a time]

At Olympic Boulevard makes a wide left arc in the Century City area, there was for decades a sheathed oil tower and some closed area next to it. And of course traveling south on La Brea towards LAX, there was a quite visible oil field. That was long before my decades in Germany and retirement here, so perhaps some other current Los Angeles resident can fill in more details.

[Honest Nigerian]

And I recall that asphalt was originally slang for rectal problems and hemorrhoids.

[Honest Nigerian]

well, duh!!
“not debatable” - is that some kind of Final Word speak?

[minnesota_bound]

In Santa Barbara you can see the oil seeping from the cliff face down to thru the beach. There are balls of oil globs on the beach. There is a million gallons per year seeping in the channel offshore every year forever.