Coast Guard, Santa Barbara County Responding to Oil Slick on Ocean Off Refugio State Beach

[upaloopa]

http://ktla.com/2015/05/19/oil-slick-off-refugio-state-beach-in-santa-barbara-county-prompts-emergency-response/



Emergency officials and the U.S. Coast Guard were responding to an 4-miles-wide oil slick off the coast of Refugio State Beach in Santa Barbara County on Tuesday.
Authorities were responding to an apparent oil slick in the ocean off Refugio State Beach in Santa Barbara County on May 19, 2015. (Credit: KTLA)

Authorities were responding to an apparent oil slick in the ocean off Refugio State Beach in Santa Barbara County on May 19, 2015. (Credit: KTLA)

Multiple local news outlets reported a pungent smell from spilled oil on the popular beach about 20 miles west of downtown Santa Barbara.

U.S. Coast Guard crews were responding to an “unknown sheen” at Refugio, the guard’s Los Angeles/Long Beach office Twitter account stated.

The sheen was from a ruptured pipeline on the shore side that had been “secured,” the Coast Guard office later confirmed in a tweet.

County fire and emergency officials were responding to the 4-mile-wide of oil slick, the Coast Guard stated, saying it would oversee cleanup of the oil.

The Coast Guard also said in a tweet that Exxon was responding, but ExxonMobil spokesman Christian Flathman said the pipeline was not one of the company’s and the company was not responding. Flathman said he planned to contact the Coast Guard.

Houston-based Plains All-American Pipeline was later identified as the “responsible party.”