Trump officials open door to fracking in California

[MosheFeingold]

13. Mildly related

But after WWII, I explored the USA briefly and was shocked to see oil on the beaches on my one and only trip to California.

I assumed it was refuse from ships sunk during the war, but apparently the cause is the Monterey Formation (the shale oil formation from where the oil comes from) rises up to the sea floor in a number of places and naturally leaks oil into the water.

It's the essentially the same phenomena that created the La Brea tar pits, but the pits have become more like asphalt as the lighter hydrocarbons are eaten by bacteria or evaporate into the atmosphere.

Anyway, I was very surprised to learn "oil seeps" were a thing, although I suppose that's how they knew to drill oil wells there in the first place.