[sammyg2]

Here's a perfect example of what we're talking about:
oil is natural in nature. It exists naturally, it floats to the surface naturally, it is part of nature.
It is especially prevalent off the California coast, where thousands of times or more oil and tar washes up onto the shore from natural sources than from any man-made oil spill. But the lefties can't stand that FACT.
That's right kiddies, they've taught you that if oil gets on the ground the world will end, they did not tell you that most oil that ever hits the ground or water is from NATURE.
How convenient.
The lib gubmint (USGS) is spending large fortunes to try and identify all tar and oil found to determine if it is from a natural source or from a man-made source. Talk about looking for a needle in a haystack. If it's from nature which it almost always is, they so no big deal, that's perfectly OK. but if they find a tiny amount from a man-made source, they act as if WWIII just broke out and try to put the company out of business. I remember about 20 years ago there was a petition going around that asked the fed gubmint to declare a superfund site around a large tar deposit in a town called La Brea. Yep, that's right. they got thousands of signatures to clean up the La Brea Tar Pits.

Sources, Transportation, and Fate of Natural Oil and Gas Seepages
Overview

Tar and oil residues are common on California beaches, especially in southern California where natural oil seeps are present. Baseline information on tar and oil accumulations from natural seepage and spills is sought in order to manage the offshore production of oil and gas. The Minerals Management Service and the County of Santa Barbara have funded the USGS organic geochemistry team in Menlo Park, California to provide geochemical information that can be used to distinguish between sources of tar from natural seeps of from man-made spill. Baseline tar accumulation on beaches is an important management tool to assess the environmental impact of natural oil seepage in contrast to possible oil spills or illegal dumping at sea. Tar accumulation on specific beaches is monitored on a periodic basis providing details of tar composition, amount, and possible transport pathways as they vary with time.
Related Projects

Submarine Oil Seep Study: Southern Santa Maria Basin and Western Santa Barbara Channel
Pacific Region, Naturally Occurring Oil Seeps

Santa Barbara County Natural Seep Inventory Project (2002-2004)
County of SB : Energy Division, project report

University of California Santa Barbara "Bubbleology" Coal Oil Point interactive explorer
Seep_Mapping_Frame
Bubbleology Main Page

USGS seeps page
Natural Oil and Gas Seeps in California - USGS PCMSC


The major goal of this project is to establish the geologic setting, source(s), and ultimate dispersal of natural oil and gas seeps in the offshore southern California within the area between Point Arguello and Ventura. The surveys will focus on likely areas of hydrocarbon seepage which are known to occur over the Pt. Arguello oil field, and the area near Santa Barbara where huge amounts of offshore oil seepage occur. Objectives in reaching this goal are to:

document the locations and geochemically fingerprint natural seeps within the offshore southern Santa Maria and Ventura Basins;
geochemically fingerprint coastal tar residues and potential sources, both onshore and offshore, in this region and compare these data with the existing database from this and other coastal regions of California;
establish chemical correlations between offshore active seeps and coastal residues thus linking seep sources to oil residues;
measure the rate of natural seepage of individual seeps and attempt to assess regional natural oil and gas seepage rates;
attempt to predict transport pathways of oil from seep sources to the coastline;
interpret the petroleum system history for the natural seeps; and
extend coastal tar residue study to include beaches of Santa Barbara County.

Approach

The Minerals Management Service has awarded the USGS funds over a 5 year period to conduct this program with the understanding that the USGS and our partners, will provide salary for our respective personnel. Below is a detailed workplan for years one to five.

Synthesize acoustic evidence of gas and oil seepage based on reviews of existing seismic-reflection and sidescan-sonar data. Goal: to define most favorable areas for detailed offshore fieldwork during year 2.
Review MBARI EM-3000 multibeam bathemetry and acoustic backscatter imagery previously collected in the southern Santa Maria Basin.
Review USGS seismic-reflection and related data lines in areas of interest for:
echo-sounding data at either 10 kHz or 12 kHz,
high-resolution seismic-reflection data using both 3.5 kHz and boomer sound sources,
side-looking sonar images,
single-channel seismic-reflection data, and
limited amounts of 24-channel seismic-reflection data.
Review of industry geophysical data archived by MMS.
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) evidence for oil seepage to determine if SAR is useful in this area for identifying and locating seep-rich areas.
Review oceanographic conditions to determine if transport pathways for oil originating at offshore seeps can be predicted.
Review existing records of near-bottom transport taken by USGS personnel at sites north of Pt Conception.
Review surface current information (observations, analysis, and numerical models) from the SBC-SMC circulation study. Current data at various depths along the central California coast, available through Mr. Sig Larson at MMS, will also be reviewed.
Develop a chemical-fingerprint library for oil, gas and source rock signatures. Goal: Establish a library of oil chemistry fingerprints with the utility to identify oil samples and their likely sources in contrast to oil residues resulting from spillage, especially those of non-California sourced oils. Tar residues and oil or tar found in seeps, sediments, in the water column and the surf area from California coastline locations within the study area will be collected mainly during year one. These samples are expected to include:
a representative number of about 150, some collected seasonally, of tar residue samples from the coastline between Point Arguello and Point Conception,
oil and gas samples from offshore wells in the study area,
oil and gas samples from selected onshore wells or seeps in the study area, and
organic matter in selected oil source rocks.

In order to address the temporal variations in oil deposits, a sample set will be collected bi-yearly during years one and two at established stations located next to intertidal biological monitoring stations previously established by MMS. We hope to coordinate oil residue collections with MMS and the County of Santa Barbara. In addition we intend to work with, and have previously worked with Bill Castle of the California Department of Fish and Game who has developed a chemical fingerprint library in the vicinity of our proposed study area. We will also integrate the new geochemical information from southern California with our current database which contains data on tar residues from a broader extent of the California coast.
News

Tar Balls Washed Onto Central California Beaches by Storms Tar Balls Washed Onto Central California Beaches by Storms

Mapping the Sea Floor Off Santa Barbara, California Mapping the Sea Floor Off Santa Barbara, California

Mapping Benthic Habitat Around Oil Platforms in the Santa Barbara Channel, California Mapping Benthic Habitat Around Oil Platforms in the Santa Barbara Channel, California

Report on Hazards Offshore California's Ventura County Coast Compiled in Response to Congressional Request Report on Hazards Offshore California's Ventura County Coast Compiled in Response to Congressional Request

Natural Tar Seeps in the Santa Maria Basin and Western Santa Barbara Channel Workshop, November 2004 http://www.mms.gov/omm/pacific/offshore/ROTAC/041102-ROTAC.htm

Survey of Offshore Hazards in Southern California Survey of Offshore Hazards in Southern California

Beginning the Search for Offshore Oil Seeps Near Point Conception, California Beginning the Search for Offshore Oil Seeps Near Point Conception, California

Ecology of Oil Seeps in Central California The Ecology of Oil Seeps in Central California

Ubiquitous Coastal-Tar Residues on Santa Rosa Island, Offshore Southern California Ubiquitous Coastal-Tar Residues on Santa Rosa Island, Offshore Southern California

Santa Barbara oil seeps: USGS-MMS co-op - USGS PCMSC