Refugio Intertidal Habitat Exposure Zones with Max Oiling - Exposure (Updated 2018)

On May 19, 2015, a pipeline owned ruptured in Santa Barbara County, California, near Refugio State Beach. An estimated 21,000 gallons of the oil flowed overland from the break site into the Pacific Ocean and spread across the marine environment. NOAA and our state and federal partners are investigating these impacts and will determine the amount of restoration needed to return the environment to the condition it was in before the spill and to compensate the public for environmental degradation from the time of the spill until recovery.

This layer is composed of a series of polygons that represent a derived inter-tidal zone and is divided by the level of oil exposure into zones of High, Medium A, Medium B, and Low. This was determined by data and information collected to support the Refugio Beach Oil Spill NRDA.

On May 19, 2015, over 100,000 gallons of crude oil was released from a 24” rupture in an onshore pipeline in Santa Barbara County. At least 21,000 gallons of the released oil flowed through a culvert and into the ocean resulting in fouling of shoreline (which runs east to west), nearshore waters, and waters further offshore around Refugio State Beach (Santa Barbara County, California). Some of the oil that moved out to sea (south) fouled offshore kelp bed canopies. The shoreline, composed of sandy beaches, rocky stretches, and cobble/boulder fields was heavily oiled. Animals and plants in the oiled areas were exposed to crude oil, and in some instances oil-related mortalities have already occurred. Most active response was completed within a couple of months, although ongoing cleaning of rocks and removal of tarballs is still occurring on some beaches. The trustees collected information on exposure and acute mortality or impaired reproduction following the spill. Continuing work includes studies to refine preliminary injury determination and to identify scaling metrics and begin to identify restoration types appropriate to injuries sustained to natural resources and impaired or loss of use of these resources. Resources included in the assessment are: rocky intertidal resources, sandy beach resources, birds, mammals, subtidal seagrasses and invertebrates, fish and recreational uses. The Trustees (State of California is the lead; NOAA, USFWS and others) are working cooperatively with representatives of the responsible party (Plains All-American Pipeline, Ltd).

This layer was used to visualize the level of oiling within the intertidal zone of the the established oiling extent for the Refugio Beach Oil Spill.

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These metadata may be provisional and restricted to Trustees within a Natural Resource Damage Assessment.

The user is responsible for the results of any application of this metadata for other than its intended purpose.

While NOAA makes every effort to ensure that its databases are error-free, errors do occur.

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