Stephen Bates (Journalism and Media Studies) recently published “The Strange Tale of Rincon Island,” recounting an artificial island built off the California coast for oil and gas exploration in the 1950s, before the state allowed offshore platforms. Operator Richfield Oil Corp. subsequently created an adjacent artificial reef to increase fish populations by dumping 120 automobile bodies from barges, an exercise in environmental stewardship. Bates's article appeared in Coastal View News, a newspaper in Central California.