page_title: Refugio oil spill
section_title: Oil and gas industry
hierarchical_section_title: Refugio oil spill / Aftermath / Oil and gas industry
caption_attribution_description: English: Oil storage tanks and "Warning: Petroleum Pipeline" sign at the onshore storage facility at Ellwood Beach, Goleta, California.
context_page_description: The Refugio oil spill on May 19, 2015, deposited 142,800 U.S. gallons of crude oil onto one of the most biologically diverse coastlines of the West Coast of the United States. The corroded pipeline blamed for the spill has been closed indefinitely, resulting in financial impacts to the county estimated as high as $74 million if it and a related pipeline remain out of service for three years. The cost of the cleanup was estimated by the company to be $96 million with overall expenses including expected legal claims and potential settlements to be around $257 million.
  The oil spill, located immediately north of Refugio State Beach in Santa Barbara County, California, originated in a 2 feet diameter underground pipeline named Line 901 owned by Plains All American Pipeline. Crude oil produced by offshore platforms was transported from onshore receiving plants to another pipeline that transported the oil inland for processing. The oil pipeline operators in Midland, Texas had turned off an alarm that would have notified them of the leak as they were dealing with a separate problem with a pump.
context_section_description: The estimate of $74 million financial impact over three years to the county includes approximately $37 million in lost property taxes, $32 million in lessened worker income and $5 million in reduced federal royalties. This is the result of the region's oil and gas industry being heavily dependent on Lines 901 and 903. Prior to the spill, Exxon, which was the region's biggest oil operator at the time, was on pace to generate approximately $636 million in revenue in Santa Barbara County during 2015 but as of November 5, 2015 had only generated an estimated $216.6 million. The seven offshore oil platforms that rely on the lines were forced to shut down when onshore storage tanks were filled. Truck transport of continuing production from the offshore platforms was not allowed by local agencies. Exceptions have been closely scrutinized by local officials such as allowing Venoco in August 2015 to transport crude oil that was already onshore by truck for a limited period. The oil had been evacuated from tanks and pipelines to allow maintenance of the onshore Ellwood facility in Goleta that serves Platform Holly.
  Mobil finished the environmental impact report in 2020 of a plan to truck oil.
caption: Oil storage tanks in Goleta in 2007
exif: {"Image Make": "Konica Minolta Photo Imaging, Inc.", "Image Model": "DiMAGE G600", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "174", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "3764", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5120", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/400", "EXIF FNumber": "47/10", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:03:10 17:14:20", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:03:10 17:14:20", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "17/5", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "41/5", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "8", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2816", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2112", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "3608", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "39", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}