Per NOAA and USGS, ~20 million liters of crude oil naturally seeps into that part of the California ocean each year. That is more crude oil each year than the worst oil spill in California history[0].

You are projecting your biases. There was no "drilling is good for the environment" narrative. I was recounting an interesting fact about the environment there.

Many of these seeps are under considerable pressure as there is substantial natural gas mixed in. The seepage rate of each has been mapped and studied for many decades. It has long been observed that the introduction of drilling appears to substantially reduced the seepage rate at many of these underwater sites. Drilling wells significantly reduces natural pressure in these reservoirs, likely leading to the observed reductions in seepage.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1969_Santa_Barbara_oil_spill