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Ventura pipeline spills 700 barrels of oil

Firefighters and hazmat team halt spill's progress toward ocean

Ventura County Firefighters and a hazmat team quelled oil from a burst pipeline this morning, lowering the estimated size of the spill from up to 5000 barrels earlier in the morning to the current projection of 700 barrels. The Ventura County Firefighters have since tweeted that the forward flow has been stopped and did not reach the ocean, with no residents needing to evacuate.

The leak was spotted in a pipeline owned by Crimson Pipeline around 5:30 a.m., and the spilt oil belongs to Aera Energy. The pump in the pipeline was promptly shut down, preventing more oil from being released. Aera spokeswoman Cindy Pollard told the LA Times that Aera was willing to work with Crimson to resolve the issue.

The spill started near the 101 and Prince Barranca waterway, about an hour south along the coast from Refugio Beach, where the Santa Barbara Oil Spill occurred last year. The 29,400 gallon Ventura spill is currently measuring up to be about one fifth of the 143,000 gallon Santa Barbara disaster. While the oil in Ventura has flowed about a half mile down the Barranca, it did not reach the ocean.

According to the UC Davis Oiled Wildlife Care Network, 204 birds and 106 marine mammals were killed by the Santa Barbara spill. Wildlife casualties have yet to be reported in the Ventura accident.

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