Offshore drilling: Leaking ‘legacy’ oil wells pollute Calif. beaches, stir fears
Drillers punched hundreds of shallow wells in the California seafloor off Santa Barbara County at the turn of the 20th century — only to abandon them in the early 1900s. … But the oil has lingered. It leaks from the orphaned wells and seeps from the ocean floor naturally off the Santa Barbara coast… It leaves tar on the beach and a sheen on the waters. Environmentalists worry about damage to the ecosystem and threats to public health…