At the National Safety Congress, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) released the 2015 Top 10 Violations occurring most frequently as workplace safety violations. List was presented by Patrick Kapust, deputy director of OSHA's Directorate of Enforcement Programs.

On the afternoon of January 29, 1969, a Union Oil Co. platform stationed six miles off the coast of Summerland experienced a serious blowout due to inadequate protective casings. While drilling at roughly 3500 feet below the ocean floor, riggers began to retrieve a drill bit for replacement. During the retrieval, the pressure maintaining mud level became very low, and the capping of the hole allowed pressure to build resulting in a natural gas blowout. The natural gas blowout left five breaks in the ocean floor releasing oil and/or gas into the ocean from each break.

After eleven and a half days, the leak was controlled by pumping chemical mud into the 3500-foot deep shaft topped with a cement plug. In an effort to remove the oil from the ocean, planes dumped detergents into the ocean, and skimmers physically removed oil laying on top of the ocean. For the beaches and harbors, straw was laid to soak up the oil and then raked up and disposed of to fully remove the oil from the shoreline.

The 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill may have begun the environmental movement. It definitely influenced the first Earth Day a few months later. However, the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill painted a negative image of the oil industry in the minds of the public.

U.S. President Richard Nixon: