The 1969 Blowout

The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum (SBMM) presented another of its nautical lectures, this time about the 1969 oil blowout and the birth of the environmental movement. Fifty years ago I was living in Europe, but even without cell phones we knew about the disaster in Santa Barbara, California.

A blowout on Union Oil’s platform A released 80,000-100,000 barrels of crude oil into the Santa Barbara Channel, covering the coast from Goleta to Ventura and the Channel Islands, killing thousands of sea birds, fish, dolphins, and seals. This led to environmental legislation around the world.

Our speaker was Marc McGinnes, Professor Emeritus and a founding member of UCSB’s Environmental Studies Program. He is a Stanford University graduate, where he was an honors student in history and an intercollegiate athlete in four sports and then a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley School of Law. After post-doctoral study he joined a law firm in San Francisco. In 1969 he moved to Santa Barbara to begin work as an environmental lawyer after the offshore oil platform blowout.

McGinnes was chair of the January 28 Committee which presented the Santa Barbara Declaration of Environmental Rights at the national Environmental Rights Day conference on the first anniversary of the blowout and spill. Then he became founding president of the Community Environmental Council in 1970. It became one of the nation’s first community-based environmental education centers. In 1971 he joined the UCSB faculty where he developed and taught ten courses in environmental law, policy dispute resolution and ecopsychology. It included the longest running undergraduate course in environmental law in the United Sates.

McGinnes wrote Principles of Environmental Law and had his newest book at the museum for sale, Falling in Love with the Earth, Again. He has been active in the movement ever since 1969. In 1977 he led the founding of the Environmental Defense Center (EDC), which is a regionally centered public interest environmental law firm. And the list continues.

When he was younger, “I thought we could save the earth in a short time, but as I learned, the fight goes on.” He states that we want people to have environmental awareness and to approach resources creatively, but their differences about it are inevitable. He believes this is worthy work and calls himself an “environmental elder.”

SBMM executive director Greg Gorga tells us, “Since 2000, SBMM has featured many artifacts and stories to share the history of the Santa Barbara Channel with more than 40,000 visitors annually.” They also provide year-round marine science education for local youth. Come and see what’s going on at 113 Harbor Way. Thanks go to Marie L. Morrisroe for sponsoring this evening.