Pipeline Burst Off Santa Barbara Sends Oil Into Sea

(Credit: KTLA)

A potential hazardous situation for sealife off the Pacific Ocean coast of Goleta in Santa Barbara is due to an oil spill today.

From Los Angeles TV station KTLA:

Multiple local news outlets reported a pungent smell from spilled oil, and county Fire Department officials told outlets the spill originated on land but said the flow had been stopped.

U.S. Coast Guard crews were responding to an “unknown sheen” at Refugio, the guard’s Los Angeles/Long Beach office Twitter account stated.

The sheen was from a ruptured pipeline on the shore side that had been “secured,” the Coast Guard office later confirmed in a tweet.

County fire and emergency officials were responding to the 4-mile-wide slick, the Coast Guard said.

This story is developing.