A ruptured pipeline spilled 21,000 gallons of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean before it was shut off Tuesday, creating a slick stretching about four miles along the central California coastline, the U.S. Coast Guard said. Authorities responding to reports of a foul odor near Refugio State Beach around noon discovered that a half-mile slick had already formed in the ocean, Santa Barbara County Fire Captain Dave Zaniboni stated. They traced the origins of the oil to the onshore pipeline that escaped into a culvert running under the U.S. 101 freeway and into a storm drain that empties into the ocean. The pipeline was shut off about three hours later, but by that time the damage had already been done. The slick stretched for four miles and fifty yards into the water. The 24-inch pipeline is owned by Plains All American Pipeline. The Coast Guard, county emergency officials and state parks officials were all working together to clean up the spill. Boats from the nonprofit collective Clean Seas were also providing assistance, but were having difficulty because so much of the oil was so close to the shore, Coast Guard spokeswoman Jennifer Williams said. About eight hundred and fifty gallons of oil have been recovered from the water. The pipeline accident occurred on the same stretch of coastline as a 1969 spill that at the time was the largest ever in U.S. waters and is attributed for giving rise to the American environmental movement.
