California beach to reopen after oil pipeline spill

A beach in California will reopen next week, two months after an oil pipeline spill lined it with thick tar.

Refugio State Beach in Santa Barbara County was hit hard by the rupture of a nearby oil pipeline owned by Plains All American Pipeline. About 21,000 gallons of oil spilled into the Pacific Ocean about a quarter-mile from the beach.

{mosads}“We have made great progress and we are stoked,” said Eric Hjelstrom, state parks superintendent for the Santa Barbara area, told the Los Angeles Times following an inspection of the beach Thursday. “It is really neat to see light at the end of the tunnel.”

El Capitan State Beach reopened last month.

Volunteers and professional cleanup crews helped remove the oil from the beaches in the aftermath of the spill, providing environmentalists with striking photos in the days after a spill that reminded the area of the major 1969 oil spill off Santa Barbara’s coast.

Workers still have to clean oil and tar off some rocks and remove equipment before opening the beach, the Times said.

Some small pocket beaches will remain closed, however, because they are harder to clean.