As Much as 105,000 Gallons of Oil Escaped Ruptured Santa Barbara Pipeline

image20-05-2015 15.23.40Oil spill amounts in the Santa Barbara oil spill that occurred on Tuesday have been revised upward from the original 21,000 gallons that Plains All American Pipeline Company  stated and the U.S. Coast Guard repeated. The pipeline company says that as much as 105,000 gallons may have escaped from the burst pipeline.

It is unclear how much of that oil made its way into the ocean. The culvert where the oil found its way to the beaches and the water has now been blocked off to insure no additional oil makes its way into the water.

The burst pipeline was operating at maximum capacity, or approximately 84,000 gallons an hour, the oil pipeline owner reported. The oil slick produced by the escaped oil now spans approximately nine miles. Clean up crews have spread out on Refugio Beach, which was evacuated immediately on the discovery, to begin clean up and three sets of oil booms have been deployed in an effort to corral the oil while boats begin skimming the oil from the surface of the water.

Officials from the oil company stated that the pipeline had been inspected in the previous two weeks before the rupture. The officials with the company have yet to release the cause of the rupture in the 24 inch pipeline, that went undetected for hours.

The spill on the popular beach, comes just days before the Memorial Day weekend, curbing plans for many families that planned on utilizing the Refugio State Beach, just below the Reagan Ranch,  for their vacation plans.

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The harvesting of shellfish, as well as fishing has been closed all along the beach areas in Santa Barbara county indefinitely, says state officials.