Two weeks ago today, a pipeline ruptured off the coast of California near Santa Barbara, contaminating over nine miles of coastline and spreading across an unknown area on the Pacific ocean.
The company responsible for the spill, Plains All-American Pipeline, did not report that the pipeline had ruptured until after beachgoers reported seeing oil on the beach. A company spokesperson estimated that over one hundred thousand gallons were released before the supply was cut to that section of pipe.
The site of the current oil spill is near a 1969 spill that spilled over three million gallons of oil – and was the worst environmental disaster up to that point. Since then, the Exxon Valdez spill and the Deepwater Horizon spill both surpassed the amount and severity of the 1969 Santa Barbara spill. It’s taken several decades for the coastline along Santa Barbara to recover, and the otter population is just now reaching pre-1969 levels again.
In California today, local officials declared that several beaches in Santa Barbara are safe again – but environmental groups are concerned that the decision to open the beach is too early, since most of the oil has not been cleaned up.
- KBOO