Officials coordinating the cleanup of an oil spill on the Santa Barbara coast in May say they are still checking to see if tar balls are washing up on Southern California beaches.
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Refugio State Beach is schedule to reopen to the public at noon on July 17.
Those “pocket beaches” that remain closed, some of which are locally known as Las Flores beach and Venedito Beach, were the areas that were hit hardest by the May 19 oil spill, and also the hardest to clean, according to Eric Hjelstrom, the State Parks Superintendent, Santa Barbara sector. Over the next week, crews plan to finish up scraping oil off cobblestones with wire brushes and putty knives.
The beach has been closed since the Plains All-American pipeline oil spill back on May 19.
Refugio and El Capitan state beaches were shut down due to the spill.
The spill dumped as much as 2,400 barrels (101,000 gallons or 382,000 liters) of crude onto a pristine stretch of the Santa Barbara coastline and into the Pacific, leaving slicks that stretched over nine miles (14 km) along the coast and closing the two state beaches.
The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is investigating the cause of the spill, and state prosecutors have been considering potential charges against Plains.
Preliminary findings released by the federal agency suggest that the break occurred along a heavily corroded section of pipe. El Capitan reopened for public use late last month, officials said.
Documents showed it took Plains almost 90 minutes after confirming the leak to alert the response center.
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Plains has maintained that the response was not delayed.
