For decades, giant drilling rigs off the Texas and Louisiana coastlines have plumbed the Gulf of Mexico for vast oil and gas riches, creating jobs, bolstering state revenues and perpetuating a vibrant social structure in coastal communities.

To the West, drilling rigs also operate off the Pacific shoreline near Santa Barbara, Calif., but to many residents, they are vile reminders of a 1969 blowout on an offshore rig that spewed a giant oil slick into the Pacific.

Source: McClatchy

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