Coastal Oil Seepage Killing Sea Birds...Mainly Because the Government Won't Let Us Pump It Out

There's so much oil just offshore of Santa Barbara that large amounts seep from the ocean floor and more and more sea birds are being affected:

Oil seeping from the ocean floor off Santa Barbara is taking a toll on seabirds that are turning up by the dozens along the Southern California coastline coated in crude oil and tar.

The naturally occurring oil bubbles up and afflicts birds every winter, but wildlife rescuers in recent weeks have seen an unusual influx of oiled seabirds stranded on the shore as far south as Orange County, with the region's main rehabilitation center in San Pedro busy treating 140 of them since Jan. 1.

I find this story incredibly exasperating, especially now that we're paying nearly $4.50 a gallon for gas. Santa Barbara suffered a terrible oil spill in 1969 that did a lot of damage, and ever since then both California and Federal authorities have acted as though there have been no technological improvements in drilling in all those years and refuse to let anyone to get all that oil. So, it just seeps up from the floor, coats the sea birds which then have to be cleaned at great expense, or just gets dissolved in the ocean water. It's all wasted.

Want to stop killing sea birds?  Let us go pump the oil out of there.