Information about pollution from drilling ,not detaining to spliis

Oil Rigs: A Risk California’s Coasts Can’t Afford

We've all seen what a spill can do to an entire region's ecosystem, but the drilling business is just messy all around.

Offshore drilling activities, which produce a steady stream of pollution, destroy kelp beds, coral gardens and coastal wetlands. A single offshore rig can drill between 50 and 100 wells, each dumping 25,000 pounds of toxic metals such as lead, chromium and mercury, and potent carcinogens like toluene, benzene and xylene, into the ocean. This pollution from drilling would cause health and reproductive problems for fish and other marine life.

California has also seen the effects of a spill - The infamous oil spill of 1969 spilled 100,000 barrels of oil off the Santa Barbara coast from one of Unocal's offshore platforms. Within days, the spill contaminated 800 square miles of water surface, stretching to the Mexican border. Millions of birds died, and fish stocks were decimated.