Plains All American Pipeline, the company which owns the pipeline at the centre of an oil spill off the coast of California, on Monday downgraded the amount of oil it says spilled in a worst-case scenario.
The company said the estimate of the worst-case volume of oil released was up to 101,000 gallons – about 4,200 gallons less than previously believed.
Plains All American is still cleaning up the spill along the Santa Barbara County coastline and recovering oil from the pipeline, so the calculations are not final.
Oil blackened beaches in the area and created a 10-square-mile slick in the ocean after the onshore pipeline leaked on 19 May.
The US coast guard said on Monday that the spill had killed one sea lion, nine pelicans and untold numbers of fish.
El Refugio and El Capitan beaches are closed until 4 June.
Comments (…)
Sign in or create your Guardian account to join the discussion