Refugio Oil Spill

[SlatchJim]

May be headed up there for the clean up.  *crosses fingers.

[surfcowboy]

Man, please keep us posted. If we could meet up for a paddle that'd be awesome.

This is horrible news but it did remind me of how beautiful the place was and it seems relatively small as these things go. Could have been much worse.

I'd also love to know if this is something that regular folks can help with or if it's pros only. Keep us updated please.

[southwesterly]

What a shame at one of the prettiest coastlines in California.

[TallDude]

Man, please keep us posted. If we could meet up for a paddle that'd be awesome.

This is horrible news but it did remind me of how beautiful the place was and it seems relatively small as these things go. Could have been much worse.

Like raw sewage? I not sure which would be worse on the fish and birds?
It didn't look like that big of an area on the news. It came from an inland pipe. Still a big mess.

[surfcowboy]

Totally inexcusable. But yes, smaller than it could have been.

[SeaMe]

I saw the report this morning on CNN and wondered how people would react given where the spill occurred. I feel like a lot of crap that goes on with the pipelines in the interior is ignored because it happens to blue-collar folks living in sparsely populated fly-over states. But now that some of the priciest real estate in the country got a bath? I guess we'll see… CNN has video of the spill and more information on their website: http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/20/us/california-oil-spill/index.html#

[SUP Sports ®]

Definitely an awful scenario at a beautiful stretch of our coast...when I first heard about it, I feared a platform leak...which would have been much worse...
Our shop manager, Al, was the head Lifeguard Supervisor for the whole Gaviota Coast...lived at El Cap...etc...here's his daughter, Kelsy, who also works for us, paddling and surfing at Refugio...

surfcowboy...I'm pretty sure that you would have to have Hazmat training...etc...part of their contingency plan is having a contract cleanup crew on standby...

[SUP Sports ®]

It's just gone from bad to worse...estimates of the amount of this oil spill now are 5X initial estimates of 21,000 gallons...the pipeline rupture may have released up to 105,000 gallons...in addition to Refugio State Beach being closed and evacuated...El Capitan State Park is now closed...and, all of the campers have had to be evacuated...definitely will be a buzzkill Memorial Day weekend for the memory banks of the city folks, and their families, who thought they had their little slice of paradise reserved for months in advance, for a few days...:-(

[supthecreek]

I worked on an oil spill cleanup, when the Argo Merchant ran aground on Cape Cod in the 70's.

We had zero training, plus they gave us useless tools, so we just cut an access hole in the top of 1 gallon milk jugs.... then used a stick to touch a bit of oil on the ground. The oil would cling to the stick, then we would tap it into the milk jug. Oil clings to lots of interesting things.

I got paid to walk around on the beach for 3 months and poke things 

[SlatchJim]

We came, we offered our company's assistance (we're an approved sub for Exxon/Mobil AND an one of the very few approved disposal/recycler for oily debris for the state) and we were promptly shoo'd off by the subcontractor doing the work (and being run by Daffy Duck in his most greedy episode).

Along with me was Marcial, our GM for our NorCal facility and a veteran of some huge spill clean ups.  I thought the crew there needed 300 more bodies actively working and another 6 or 8 boom boats.  Marcial thought they needed double my estimate. We counted only 50 on the beach cleaning the low hanging fruit, and 1 boat with boom in 3 hours on site. The effort was seriously lame.  Lots of wildlife rescue volunteers running around, but not nearly enough hazmat techs.  15 Fish and Wildlife rent-a-cops eating doughnuts.  Argh...I just know we'd be all over this in a big way and it's going so slowly.

Summary: it's either foot dragging, greedy sub ineptitude on the cleanup, or its just a royal cluster.  In the end, I'm bummed not to be able to jump right in and help, but I'm pissed the sub out there is giving such a weak effort.  Pathetic.

Such a beautiful stretch of coastline, now smells like jiffy lube and looks like a tub after a roughneck had a bath.

[KiwiSupGreg]

I got paid to walk around on the beach for 3 months and poke things 

Serious subject so I'm feeling bad that this made me laugh.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[supthecreek]

Slatch... raise a public outcry.
The environment is public..... no inept contractor should be allowed to drag feet when rapid and adequate response is available.

It's just not his call to fark up the recovery effort.

Have you though about going to the papers.... or social media?...well, you just did.....  but twitter or FB?   

[SeaMe]

We came, we offered our company's assistance (we're an approved sub for Exxon/Mobil AND an one of the very few approved disposal/recycler for oily debris for the state) and we were promptly shoo'd off by the subcontractor doing the work (and being run by Daffy Duck in his most greedy episode)…
(snip)
Summary: it's either foot dragging, greedy sub ineptitude on the cleanup, or its just a royal cluster.  In the end, I'm bummed not to be able to jump right in and help, but I'm pissed the sub out there is giving such a weak effort.  Pathetic.

Please consider contacting a news outlet. CNN is reporting:

California mobilized crews from multiple state agencies to tackle the mess.

"I can tell you we have more than 100 people responding in the EOC (Emergency Operations Center) right now," said Brad Alexander, a spokesman for the California Office of Emergency Services. "They have several ships, scooping up oil and assessing the boundaries on the water," he said.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife also was on the scene with nine vessels collecting oil and containing the spill, according to its Twitter feed. More than 70 of its people were in the field collecting oil and protecting shorebirds.

It is painstaking work.

Workers dressed in white protective suits raked up balls of tar from the shore, sand and rocks and put them into plastic bags.

The Coast Guard has seven ships in the area, laying down protective booms, skimming the water and collecting the oil to prevent it from spreading.

which makes it sound like the problem is being tackled efficiently, but that's not the scene you're describing.

[SlatchJim]

Yea, SeaMe, 100 people is what you send to a contained spill, and it's no where near enough for one floating down the coast.

Latest developments.
The state just took over management of the spill (assuredly a bad thing for speed).
Felony charges are being debated for Plains, the pipeline company.
Plains revenue last year was more than 40 billion, if you don't have a serious contingency plan that can mobilize all the resources available for spill response, well, then, your a rich idiot, soon to be spending time in the gray bar inn.
The current subcontractor not only rejected our company but at least 3 other competent responders while I was there.  Seriously, they need at least 1,000 and 10 boats not 2.
The "techs" these guys hire are temp workers from a completely bogus labor supplier.  We hired some of their guys once 10 years ago. They showed up at the job, we asked how their "40-Hour OSHA Hazwoper" training went, and they said "They just gave us these cards today, no class, and sent us out here to you." Our response was "Go home, your not working with us today."  Of the 50 people we counted near the campground, only 2 or 3 were actively working in the entire 3 hour visit.

Seriously, if I was in charge and someone said "felony" I'd call every company in the region and get everyone I could immediately on site, hire a management company, a videographer, and an accountant for the job and get $#!+ done fast!

I saw the wildlife folks, and they were out in force and working fast.
I saw the Fish and Wildlife folks and they were standing around in packs eating sandwiches.  I have yet to be impressed with a single one of their employees.

[SUP Sports ®]

Aloha Jim,
That's a bummer that you and your company were turned away at the most critical time...but, it sounds like a bunch of locals jumped in early on and corralled some of it on the beach...

We get most of our *real* local news online around here from a couple of grassroots websites...the comments are entertaining...;-)

"Late Wednesday, Plains officials announced they got approval to do cleanup efforts around the clock, and will have hundreds of people in white hazardous materials suits doing shoreline cleanup Thursday, in addition to nighttime operations."

As far as public involvement...
“We’re asking for the public’s cooperation to stay off the beach because we don’t want any of the hazardous materials to be spread around,” Santa Barbara County sheriff’s spokeswoman Kelly Hoover said.

"If people interfere with the clean-up or investigation, they are subject to arrest, she added."

http://www.noozhawk.com/article/how_to_help_during_the_refugio_oil_spill_response_near_santa_barbara

"The responsible party, Plains All-American Pipeline, is working closely with the responding agencies which include the Coast Guard, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Santa Barbara Office of Emergency Management. More than 272 responders are taking part in the cleanup effort and more personnel enroute."

http://www.edhat.com/site/tidbit.cfm?nid=153152

Caption for pic below...

"Volunteers filled buckets with oil from the spill at Refugio State Beach on Wednesday, but officials say the well-intentioned efforts are not helping and are asking the public to stay away from the spill area for now." (Senerey de los Santos / KEYT photo)