expected from petroleum-related activities.

Also, floating rope

and sheeting could foul the screws of motor vessels and boats.

All floating debris, including litter, constitutes an aesthetic impact, especially when floating in nearshore areas or stranded

Construction of onshore facilities would change the local topography

and would have a small, but long-lasting, effect on runoff of surface water. Natural slopes might be changed by cutting and filling; stream channels could possibly be confined to buried conduits. Increased industrial activities might enter rural areas, thus occupying a small amount of land potentially suitable for other uses.

I. Air Pollution

Volatile hydrocarbons and other gases would be generated and released to the atmosphere from the following activities: development of wells, treatment of produced fluids, transportation to market of produced minerals, and exhaust gas generation from internal combustion engines on drill rigs, construction equipment, service boats, and motor vehicles. The overall impact of the planned development on air quality should be small. However, an OCS oil spill or a well blowing out of control, ignited or unignited, could contribute air pollution in varying degrees. See section III. LL. for air quality impacts.

J. Water Pollution

Offshore facility activity would result in the introduction of pollutants into the marine realm such as treated sewage, minor amounts of trash and garbage, drilling mud, produced waste water, and potential small

recurrent oil spills.

Moderate to severe degradation would occur in the event of an accidental oil spill. A major oil spill would result in several impacts on the water quality of the Santa Barbara Channel. These include: (1) a reduction of sunlight; (2) a decrease in the concentration of dissolved oxygen of the surface waters under the oil spill; and (3) an increase of hydrocarbon concentrations in water adjacent to the spilled oil.

Two unavoidable adverse impacts would affect some people in the vicinity of a proposed project. One stems from the visual impact of the platforms and other marine facilities; the other, which is closely related, stems from the overall increase in industrial activity. Some people would object to the very presence of the platforms and other facilities because they decrease their aesthetic enjoyment of an uncluttered marine vista. Some would object to the increase in truck and car traffic, the increase in noise levels, and other nuisances attendant to the industrial facilities.

Potential threat to human safety would, for the most part, be limited to the workers either on the platforms or at the onshore treating and storage facilities.

The impact on social services and increased demand placed on local government agencies would be small. (See section III.N. "Socioeconomic Impacts")

VI.

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN LOCAL SHORT-TERM USE AND

MAINTENANCE AND ENHANCEMENT OF LONG-TERM PRODUCTIVITY

The principle short-term use of the Santa Barbara Channel OCS would be

for extraction of oil and gas from those leases that have proven reserves of

oil and gas, and exploration for additional reserves on other leases. This mineral extraction would diminish the oil and gas reserves of the Santa Barbara Channel.

ment.

The long-term effects of oil spillage cannot be assessed until reliable data become available which will permit the analysis of overall biologic effects caused by a gradual buildup of oil-derived pollutants in the marine environThe additional stress from any form of pollution which the ecosystem can absorb is finite, but at present the bounds of these limitations are not known, and their possible effect on long-term marine productivity cannot be completely projected. Among pollutants derived from petroleum breakdown are aromatic compounds such as toluene and benzene that are toxic on contact. Other aromatic compounds, including those with carcinogenic properties, are potentially dangerous if ingested, although some organisms are able to purge themselves rapidly or metabolize the compounds into nontoxic substances and excrete them. It has been hypothesized that these might be concentrated through the marine food web, but evidence is not conclusive (see section III). However, these lighter more toxic fractions are more quickly dispersed and evaporated, and the heavy fractions that remain longer, such as tar, are less toxic and in certain instances are physiologically inert. The regulations under which further development would occur are the most stringent ever promulgated. With strict enforcement of these regulations and their further development, the possibility of adverse effects from the proposed action should be less than from similar actions in the past. At present, offshore oil production accounts for two percent of oil pollution to oceans.

The cumulative effect of structures on multiple uses in offshore areas where more and more structures are required as OCS production increases is also one of concern. The cumulative nature of structures as obstacles to commercial shipping and commercial fishing activities represents a use conflict that can be controlled through proper planning and coordination with appropriate Federal and State agencies and private industry. Some leveling out in the number of platforms and the number and total length of pipelines would be expected as more and more areas go out of production. Some platforms would be removed and some additional capacity would become available in existing pipelines to carry products from new areas.

The intrusion of man-made structures into areas where few or none exists is another matter of environmental concern. However, individual developments would have a relatively short life (about 30 to 40 years) and would be removed when mineral extraction was completed. The extraction of oil and gas would create additional wealth that eventually would be distributed in various proportions among the workers, the unit operators, the Federal Government, and How this wealth were used would have both a short-term and

local governments.

a long-term effect on the environment of the Santa Barbara region.

No long-term, direct adverse impact, such as scarred terrain, would remain except possibly in the area of the treatment facilities, and these areas could be landscaped and re-seeded with native plants and shrubs.

Destruction of archeological and historical remains that cannot be avoided or retrieved in project design constitutes a cumulative adverse effect. Cumulative effect of this destruction is increased by the loss of such resources for study in future years when techniques of archeological study are improved. Recovery of submerged remains, if present in impacted areas,

may offset in part the long-term destructive effects of the sea; the relative importance of such effects is not known since there has not been intensive and systematic study of submerged historic and archeological remains.

Short-term effects would result in the event of minor or major oil spills.

The local short-term use of the marine and shore environments for oil and gas production should have little adverse effect on other uses, either for the

short or long term.