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Amplify has had a tumultuous history in recent years. It was founded on the bankruptcy of Memorial Production Partners in 2017 and merged in 2019 with Midstates Petroleum, which filed for bankruptcy protection in 2016. Amplify shares, which had risen steadily for most of the past year, closed 44 percent. On Monday.
Many lawmakers from the state, which is a liberal stronghold, said the spill was a fresh reminder of the dangers of oil production.
Representative Ted Lieu, a Democrat from Southern California, said it’s time to end offshore oil production as the destruction from a single spill affects a wide variety of coastal lands and sensitive environmental areas. Mr Lieu said the effects of the recent spill at Refugio could be felt 125 miles south in the congressional district, which includes coastal areas in the Los Angeles area.
“Tar balls are starting to appear in my area in Manhattan Beach,” Mr. Lieu said. “My view is from what we’ve seen before off the coast of California, we need to shut down all offshore drilling because it’s so dangerous.”
Paul Blank, harbormaster of the city of Newport Beach, on Monday inspected the beaches surrounding the waterway, sailing between moored yachts and kayakers. The Coast Guard ordered the entrance to Newport Harbor to be closed, and workers blocked it with barriers to prevent oil from getting in.
In one bay, he noted the thriving seagrass and the lack of oil. Near another beach, he saw a tern on a rock. He looked at the clear water. He noted oysters that have reappeared in the harbor in recent years – a sign that the harbor water and ecosystem are as healthy as they have been for decades.
Mr. Blank is relieved that the leak has been relatively contained – this time.
“I live in fear that something like this could happen,” he said.
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