california carbon-based lifestyle
From Bolsa Chica to Huntington Beach, derricks dot the landscape along the PCH. These look rather low-tech, as if from another age. They are dangerously close to human habitats. It is a very surprising sight - especially with all these Orange County million-dollars beachfront houses. It is very telling that the operators of these wells should continue pumping instead of converting the land to prime real estate development. I can think of several reasons for that:
1) site clean-up costs are most likely astronomical;
2) concession and royalties terms are too sweet to pass;
2) the SoCal housing boom is over;
3) peak-oil shock is upon us, otherwise, why go through all the trouble of pumping oil right here, on one of the most coveted piece of land in the world;
More of the same, but looking West. These oil rigs are huge. They probably drill the same deposit system that extends all the way up to Long Beach/San Pedro. Again, their presence in the distance is otherworldly - especially with Santa Catalina Island as a backdrop.
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