Officials furious after finding oil from Santa Barbara spill 100 miles away in California

Officials furious after finding oil from Santa Barbara spill 100 miles away in California

The Feds are investigating an oil spill of up to 101,000 gallons of crude oil that has reached Los Angeles County beaches.

Criminal charges could be forthcoming as the Feds investigate reports that up to 101,000 gallons of crude oil were spilled by a petroleum pipeline company in Santa Barbara, California that has found its way to Los Angeles County beaches 100 miles away.

Plains All American Pipeline admitted that the oil was found as far away as Redondo Beach, weeks after the May 19 spill was reported off Manhattan Beach, two miles away from Redondo, according to an Associated Press report.

Federal regulators are looking into the spill, which was suspected to be from a pipe but could also partly come from natural seeps in the ocean floor, the company argued.

Information has been hard to come by for local officials, said Janet Wolf, chair of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, according to the report. Wolf said at a state legislative hearing that they couldn’t get information on the spread of the oil, and that her staff hadn’t been allowed to get details on the spill response and cleanup.

Then, she said, the spill results were published after she had been told she couldn’t get results, and no one on her staff had gotten them before publication. The results were released on Friday.

Wolf called it a “breakdown in comunication.”

Santa Barbara County is located on the coastline facing south, sitting between the Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, resulting in a climate that is often referred to as the “American Riviera.” It is a popular tourist and resort destination.

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