The California Department of Fish and Game lifted its closure of the fishing grounds around Refugio State Beach on June 29. The long stretch of fertile coast, spanning more than 100 miles between Coal Point and Hollister Ranch, was reopened after tested fish didn’t show oily contaminants that posed a threat to people.
This comes more than a month after the Line 901 rupture on Refugio Beach that spilled more than 100,000 gallons worth of crude oil down a hill, onto the beach, and into the Santa Barbara Channel.
El Capitan State Beach was reopened as well. As of June 30, Refugio, the central site of the spill and the cleanup effort, remained closed.
Plains All American, the operator of Line 901, recently released an analysis of tar balls that have been washing ashore as far south as San Clemente. Using chemical fingerprinting techniques, investigators determined that the tar balls weren’t the product of natural oil seeps.
The results of that analysis also show that many of the tar balls came from the Refugio disaster. During the second week after the pipeline rupture, investigators ID’d Plains All-American oil in tar balls washing up on Redondo Beach and Santa Monica.
This article appears in Jul 2-9, 2015.
