Southern California Oil Leak 'Extremely Disruptive' To Local Businesses - Testimony

The leak in an oil pipeline off the coast of Southern California was extremely disruptive to nearby local businesses, Founding Member of the Business Alliance for Protecting the Pacific Coast Vipe Desai said on Monday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th October, 2021) The leak in an oil pipeline off the coast of Southern California was extremely disruptive to nearby local businesses, Founding Member of the Business Alliance for Protecting the Pacific Coast Vipe Desai said on Monday.

"These spills are extremely disruptive to our businesses, our lives, and our health. The impacts ripple across the economy and across sectors," Desai said in testimony during a House committee hearing on the oil leak.

Hotels and resorts immediately began receiving cancellations after news of the spill, causing the business of surrounding restaurants and retailers to suffer, Desai continued. It also caused the Pacific Airshow to be canceled, which had 1.5 million visitors in attendance prior to cancellation.

Scott Breneman, a commercial fisherman, said in his congressional testimony that sales at his fish market were down "at least 90%" the first week after the spill was reported. Restaurants and wholesalers are also no longer interested in the local seafood, he added.

The spill's interagency Unified Command response team said in a statement on Friday that "significant progress" has been made in cleanup efforts. No free-floating oil has been observed on the water since October 5, they said. The spill was first reported on October 1.

Ronald Tjeerdema, a professor at University of California at Davis, told Sputnik that although there will be short-term impacts to plankton, fish, birds and mammals in the local ecosystem, long-term consequences will probably be "minimal."