Surfing Waves

On 19 May 2015, a crude oil pipeline located on a mountain side 0.4 km (0.25 mi) from the Santa Barbara Channel broke. The broken line released 2000 barrels (84,000 US gallons) of crude that entered the sea through a stream channel in Refugio State Beach Park. Oil in the sea spread east and west and impacted at least 10 miles of shoreline. The kelp forests in this area have also been impacted. Of course, many types of wildlife are impacted. The coastal area in which the crude oil is impacting sea and shoreline is within the undeveloped and previously pristine Gaviota Coast.

Some of you know I go to Gaviota at least once each week with my big Rhodesian Ridgeback to enjoy the most beautiful beaches and cliffs in the US mainland. We love Gaviota because the water is very clean, the wildlife sees so few people they are curious, there is usually surf somewhere in Gaviota with few surfers (and no kooks), the geology in the cliffs is amazing, the fishing is phenomenal, and the kelp is clean enough for human consumption.

Refugio State Beach Park and the little beach immediately east of it got terribly hammered by the spill. On 20 May, Roxy Ridgeback and I went to see how badly our beloved Gaviota Coast was hit by oil. We couldn't get into Refugio with all the authorities and clean-up personnel, so we went to check on a few of our secret spots to the west.

While this is not the worst oil spill, it pangs the hearts for so many folks here that love the Gaviota Coast for the same reasons I do.

These are photos I made.

Some more photos

And some more photos. In the first photo, you can see the kelp beds are darkened from crude oil. In the second photo, you can see Roxy Ridgeback took refuge from the heavy irritating crude oil fumes inside the tunnel for Tajiguas Creek. Roxy stayed in the tunnel, which had fresh water and a a cool fresh breeze blowing from the opposite end, for 15 minutes.

I really look forward to the day we stop ruining this planet.

Unfortunately, Jester, you won't live long enough to see it.

I have hope that we all will Billie, but you're right in thinking it'll take a miracle!

I've been through a few oil spills, and while studies show that long term impacts are not as bad as used to be feared, the short term results are horrendous and make the area unsurfable in addition to the impact on nature.

Hope it clears away soon with minimal impact. Fingers crossed

Oil has been leaking into the ocean since there was oil. The human caused leaks are unfortunate stuff but minor in the quantity of oil being dumped into the ocean compared to what happens naturally. I think every species has a bad impact on the environment when compared to other species. They all reproduce and feed and exist without regard to the other species. They may actually feed on others or eat the same food or use the same resources that other species depend on. It's all in constant flux with the species most suited for the current environment surviving. Humans however have the ability to do much greater harm to other species and the environment. If we chose to we could make a species go extinct or we might keep it from going extinct by choice not by accident as has happened with all species in the past. Once humans are extinct they will no longer cause harm to other species but till then it is a matter of how much harm. Esentially we can't really ruin the world but we can make it a less attractive place to live and cause more or less harm to other species (but can't avoid harming other species.) There will be other organisms that survive us and new ecologies develop once we kill ourselves off if we ever manage that.

The crude oil spill cleanup is going pretty well. The responsible party (RP), a Houston, Texas based company that operates many thousands of miles of pipeline throughout the US, is doing a surprisingly good job. They've have about 800 Hazmat Technicians removing oil from the 10 miles of impacted coastline and about 10 boats skimming and booming oil offshore. The technicians are doing an especially good job of cleaning up the beaches.

A lot of crude oil and oil balls washed up on beaches about 100 miles south. Manhattan Beach, CA, seemed to get hit the hardest. Samples collected from these beaches will be tested to determine whether this oil originated from the Santa Barbara County spill in the Gavioat Coast. It would be interesting if longshore currents transported oil and oil balls for this distance without smearing every beach between here and there.

Good to hear that is being done Billie, surfing with fume free for Roxie soon I hope.

Further down the coast I guess they will know whose oils it is if they have the balls.
Punitive damages?

Yeah, oil balls are terrible on the beach. You can't see them in the sand and then it's all over your feet and it doesn't come off

I ran into some oil balls a couple weeks ago surfing at my usual spot. Still have a spot of oil on my surfboard deck transferred from my feet on the first wave I caught. No record of a spill lately in this area.

Tar balls all over LA county...1"- 3" blobs all along the tide lines. Bummer for the coast, it is sad to see my happy place all yucked up!

Hey Parry,
Long time, no see. How are you? How's the window business? Are you still based in Ventura County?

Joke
Parry: "Did you hear the one about the dirty window?"
Billie: "Er, no."
Parry: "Well, you can't see through it."