10 miles off of the coast of Southern California lies one of the most environmentally hazardous sites in the country. Until last year it was the talk of rumors but thanks to the work of David Valentine a professor at the University of California this mystery has finally been brought out from the depths. In 1960 DDT or Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane was banned in the state of California due to its harmful nature. DDT is a insect killing pesticide that had an enormous market in California in the 20th century. Due to the booming state of the agricultural market at the time DDT was being mass produced primarily by a company called Montrose chemical. When DDT was discovered to be dangerous in 1960 Montrose which was had its main manufacturing plant in Torrance California had to dispose of the waste. It was done in 2 ways, one by getting pumped into storm drains and getting directly filtered into the ocean. The 2nd was the more problematic option, hundreds of thousands of barrels of DDT were slashed and dumped into the deep waters of the channel between Long Beach and Catalina island. Believe it or not this action was actually sanctioned and permitted however shortcuts were taken and the barrels were dumped in shallow waters as well. The environmental impact was detrimental and thousands of birds, sea lions, and fish contracted various different types of cancers. To this day it is estimated that 25% of adult sea lion have cancer. Montrose was sued 140 million dollars that was spent on a rebuilding and rehabilitation process that has begun to make a positive impact. Overall the effects of ocean dumping are extremely dangerous and are detrimental to marine life.
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