• Volunteers carry buckets of oil from an oil slick along the coast of Refugio State Beach in Goleta, California. Lucy Nicholson / Reuters
    Volunteers carry buckets of oil from an oil slick along the coast of Refugio State Beach in Goleta, California. Lucy Nicholson / Reuters
  • A helicopter coordinates ships below pulling booms to collect oil from the spill. Michael A. Mariant / AP Photo
    A helicopter coordinates ships below pulling booms to collect oil from the spill. Michael A. Mariant / AP Photo
  • Clean-up crews work at the site of an oil spill at Refugio State Beach. Michael A. Mariant / AP Photo
    Clean-up crews work at the site of an oil spill at Refugio State Beach. Michael A. Mariant / AP Photo
  • A pelican covered in oil sits on a beach about a mile west of Refugio State Beach. Kenneth Song / The News-Press via AP
    A pelican covered in oil sits on a beach about a mile west of Refugio State Beach. Kenneth Song / The News-Press via AP
  • Workers clean up after an underwater oil pipe ruptured spilling an estimated 21 thousands gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean near Refugio State Beach. Michael Nelson / EPA
    Workers clean up after an underwater oil pipe ruptured spilling an estimated 21 thousands gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean near Refugio State Beach. Michael Nelson / EPA
  • Citizen volunteers clean up a contaminated beach after the spill. Michael Nelson / EPA
    Citizen volunteers clean up a contaminated beach after the spill. Michael Nelson / EPA
  • Oil flows toward the ocean from the inland oil spill near Refugio State Beach. The largest oil spill ever in US waters at the time occurred in the same section of the coast where numerous offshore oil platforms can be seen, giving birth to the modern American environmental movement. David McNew / Getty Images / AFP
    Oil flows toward the ocean from the inland oil spill near Refugio State Beach. The largest oil spill ever in US waters at the time occurred in the same section of the coast where numerous offshore oil platforms can be seen, giving birth to the modern American environmental movement. David McNew / Getty Images / AFP
  • An oil-covered lobster lies dead on the beach. David McNew / Getty Images / AFP
    An oil-covered lobster lies dead on the beach. David McNew / Getty Images / AFP
  • Oil washing ashore in the Pacific Ocean following the spill. MIKE ELIASON / SANTA BARBARA COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT / EPA
    Oil washing ashore in the Pacific Ocean following the spill. MIKE ELIASON / SANTA BARBARA COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT / EPA
  • Buckets filled with oil sludge are placed near a contaminated beach. Michael Nelson / EPA
    Buckets filled with oil sludge are placed near a contaminated beach. Michael Nelson / EPA
  • In this February 7, 1969 photo, workers collect oil-soaked straw from the beach at Santa Barbara Harbor, California, following a leak from an off-shore well that covered area beaches. Cleanup crews fanned out again on Wednesday, May 20, 2015, after thousands of gallons of crude oil spilled from a broken pipe and flowed into the Pacific Ocean along the same stretch of coastline as the 1969 spill, which was the largest ever in US waters at the time. AP Photo
    In this February 7, 1969 photo, workers collect oil-soaked straw from the beach at Santa Barbara Harbor, California, following a leak from an off-shore well that covered area beaches. Cleanup crews fanned out again on Wednesday, May 20, 2015, after thousands of gallons of crude oil spilled from a broken pipe and flowed into the Pacific Ocean along the same stretch of coastline as the 1969 spill, which was the largest ever in US waters at the time. AP Photo

Business

California oil spill – in pictures

Liz Claus

May 21, 2015

  • English
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A pipeline ruptured along the scenic California coastline on Tuesday, spilling some 21,000 gallons (79,000 litres) of oil into the ocean and on beaches before it could be secured.

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