Standard
Gasoline Co photo of Huntington Beach
Oil processing plant #8, January 1930.
Huntington Beach,
Calif.― "Oil City"
With more than 15 oil wells slowly pumping oil, and
several oil derricks doing
the same less than 2 miles
from the coast, you may
think you're in some distant
country, but chances are you
are in Huntington Beach,
Seal Beach (where the
Captain T. Lee and a fleet
of boats takes workers to
and from the derricks each
day), or even Long Beach
with its famous oil island
that looks like a vacation
playground of palms, but
it's not. As you fly in and
out of Orange County Airport
on any given day, you often
can
look down at the Huntington
Beach Pier and the oil
platforms that loom even
larger in the water.
Offshore oil production
isn't a debating point in
Surf City, it's part of the
landscape, and with gas
prices up, then down, then
heading back up, offshore
exploration is an
increasingly attractive
option to North Carolina and
other states in the U.S. In
Huntington Beach, California
(not the East Coast
Huntington Beach at Myrtle
Beach, South Carolina,)
tourists hear about and
often fear the visual scene
of huge oil derricks pumping
as they plan their vacations
to Surf City destinations.
When they visit, they do
notice the offshore
platforms as well as pumps
around the city and
downtown, but are actually
interested or simply ignore
them until they see
images of oil at a Pier
Plaza mural, and learn
that oil is intertwined with
the beach lifestyle in
Huntington Beach. With one
former mayor of Huntington
Beach
operating family oil wells
at profit, John Thomas
doesn't even debate the "if"
of oil production along the
California coast, tourism or
not. Yet in North Carolina,
the visual change creates
fear for tourism
professionals who oppose
offshore exploration.
Huntington Beach
(California's) Emma and Ella
platforms appear in millions
of tourist photos and are in
clear sight of sunbathers
and surfers. Oil spills have
created spikes and impacts
in tourism rarely, and a
spill years ago was
mitigated with clean-up and
compensation to tourism
entities such as hotels.
While resident surfers and
citizens were impacted most
and were not compensated,
that event passed and is
almost forgotten.
As a journalist on assignment, I have visited offshore
platforms near Santa
Barbara. It's an eerie
experience to tour these
platforms and see the folks
who live on them. I have
never lost my fascination
for these structures and the
oil that pumps day and night
to my hometown. In fact,
when I bought my house in
Huntington Beach, I had to
sign away the oil rights
underneath my property.
For tourists and local residents seeking a closer look at
the life of oil platforms,
go to Seal Beach in the
afternoon and watch the
workers board boats that
shuttle contractors and
employees back and forth
from the oil platforms.
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