Sea, sand and oil

Sea, sand and oil

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A man watches an oil slick wash up on a beach in California. Up to 2,500 barrels of petroleum gushed onto San Refugio State Beach and into the Pacific about 32 km west of Santa Barbara when an underground pipeline that runs along the coastal highway inexplicably burst.

As much as a fifth of the amount may have reached the ocean, leaving oil slicks that stretched for more than 15 km along the coast.

. GOLETA, United States. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Cleanup crews laboured through a third day to scoop up patches of oil from a pipeline spill that closed two California state beaches and fouled offshore waters, shattering an environmental balance that U.S. Coast Guard officials said may take months to restore.

The cleanup has been painstaking and arduous.

Hundreds of contractors garbed head to toe in protective suits worked in shifts around the clock, shovelling blobs of oil from the sand, raking up tar balls and excavating petroleum-soaked soil from the heaviest-hit areas.

. GOLETA, United States. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
William McConnaughey, 56, who drove from San Diego to help shovel oil off the beach, stands in an oil slick in bare feet.

Environmental activists and local officials said it could turn out to be the largest oil spill in 46 years to hit the ecologically sensitive but energy-rich Santa Barbara shoreline, about 200 km northwest of Los Angeles.

The spill zone lies at the edge of a national marine sanctuary and state-designated underwater preserve teeming with whales, dolphin, sea lions, some 60 species of sea birds and more than 500 species of fish. The surrounding waters also are shared by nearly two dozen offshore oil platforms.

. GOLETA, United States. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Wildlife teams were immediately dispatched to rescue any animals injured by the spill. Authorities said they did not know the extent of wildlife harm, but oil-covered pelicans and other sea life have been washed ashore.

The Texas-based company that owns and operates the pipeline, Plains All American Pipeline, said it shut off the flow about 30 minutes after pressure irregularities were detected.

. GOLETA, United States. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

By then, however, a torrent of oil had streamed down a canyon, under a culvert and out onto the once-pristine Refugio Beach, blackening a 6-km stretch of sand and rocks.

By Thursday, thick globules of tar also littered El Capitan State Beach a few miles east. Park officials said both beaches - popular camping destinations - would remain closed to the public through the Memorial Day holiday weekend and at least well into next week.

. GOLETA, United States. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

If the pipeline company's worst-case estimate of its oil release holds up, it would mark the biggest in the region since a 1969 offshore oil well blowout that dumped 80,000 to 100,000 barrels of crude petroleum into the Santa Barbara Channel and stands as the largest spill ever in California waters.

The cause of the rupture remained under investigation. The company said it had inspected the pipeline a few weeks ago, but results had not yet come back.

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Slideshow

Birds covered in oil fly in front of an oil-drilling platform.
. GOLETA, United States. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Birds covered in oil fly in front of an oil-drilling platform.

A bird covered in oil flies over an oil slick.
. GOLETA, United States. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

A bird covered in oil flies over an oil slick.

A pelican is coated in oil.
. GOLETA, United States. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

A pelican is coated in oil.

A lobster is another victim of a slick.
. GOLETA, United States. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

A lobster is another victim of a slick.

A fish is covered in oil.
. GOLETA, United States. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

A fish is covered in oil.

An octopus lies on the shore.
. GOLETA, United States. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

An octopus lies on the shore.

A shrimp is covered in oil.
. GOLETA, United States. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

A shrimp is covered in oil.

A shrimp covered in oil lies on the shore.
. GOLETA, United States. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

A shrimp covered in oil lies on the shore.

A clean-up worker holds a box of sea creatures killed by an oil slick.
. GOLETA, United States. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

A clean-up worker holds a box of sea creatures killed by an oil slick.

Volunteers carried these buckets of oil from a slick.
. GOLETA, United States. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Volunteers carried these buckets of oil from a slick.

Volunteers fill buckets of oil from the shoreline.
. GOLETA, United States. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Volunteers fill buckets of oil from the shoreline.

A worker takes part in the cleanup operation.
. GOLETA, United States. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

A worker takes part in the cleanup operation.

A team of workers cleans up an oil slick.
. GOLETA, United States. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

A team of workers cleans up an oil slick.