Gaviota Coast Oil Spill shuts Refugio Beach

 by Milos Bezanov

Pipeline oil leak along Refugio State Beach unleashes 400,000 litres of oil along the Santa Barbara coast, of which 21,000 is expected to reach the ocean, say BBC News.

California Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in response to the two nine square mile oil slicks, which originated from the California pipeline owned by Plains All American Pipeline LP.

“We deeply regret that this incident has occurred at all,” explained Plains All American LP official Darren Palmer. “We apologize for the damage it has done to the environment. We apologize to the residents and visitors for the inconvenience it has caused, especially on this Memorial Day weekend.”

Authorities were alerted to the spill on Tuesday in response to local complaints and found a ruptured pipeline, which has subsequently been shut down
Local Impact

Mimicking the 1969 oil spill, which was also along the Santa Barbara Coast but on a much smaller scale, neighbouring business and citizens were affected.

“The smell absolutely burned your throat, your nose, made you dizzy and gave you a headache…It came up the beach and the canyon and settled around our house and barn.” said Leslie Freeman, who owns a cattle ranch a quarter mile from the beach.

Other affected areas include the Gaviota Coast, one of five unique climate regions worldwide where northern and southern ecosystems meet.

In raising the state of emergency, Governor Jerry Brown stressed the importance of “quickly mobilising all available resources…[to do]…everything necessary to protect California’s coastline”