California oil spill response continues in earnest

SACRAMENTO, May 22 (UPI) -- A "significant" response operation is under way to clean up the beaches of Santa Barbara following this week's oil spill, a unified command said.

A unified command center established for the spill said the worst-case estimate is that 2,500 barrels of oil was released from a pipeline operated by Plains All American. Sheen is spread several miles from the site of the spill off the coast of Refugio State Beach.

"Continuing in this significant response, more than 349 federal, state and local first responders, and numerous environmental cleanup contractors have arrived on scene and are actively assessing, booming and continuing to remove oil from affected areas," the unified command said in its latest operational update.

Responders so far have deployed about 4,500 feet of containment boom, closed area beaches and enacted a fishing ban. About 8,300 gallons, or around 200 barrels, of an oily-water mixture has been recovered from the shoreline.

Unified command said about 500 barrels may have migrated from the pipeline into the waters off the Santa Barbara coast. So far, responders said they've rescued five brown pelicans and transferred a juvenile sea lion soiled by the spill to an area Sea World for treatment.

California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for Santa Barbara County earlier this week.

Plains officials apologized for the incident. A valve fault at a pumping station operated by Plains in 2014 resulted in the release of about 10,000 gallons, or 238 barrels of oil. Los Angeles officials said the oil was "knee-high" in some areas following the release.

The pipeline company said it was still determining the cause of the Santa Barbara release.

Around 150 protestors turned out to rally against California's oil industry. The state is the No. 3 oil producer in the nation.