The May 19, 2015 oil spill by Plains All American Pipeline near the Refugio Beach park is said to have spread more than a hundred miles along our beaches. The most obvious signs of it still visible from the air now are on beach rocks between Refugio and El Capitan.
4098 Rock Party
Rock cleaning parties like this are scattered along many beaches, as crews of white suited workers sprawl chatting as they scrub tar off and bag it for disposal.
4072 Slow & Steady
Where there had been many boulders wearing dalmatian decorations of tar, now most have been cleaned nearly back to their pre-spill appearance. Thousands of bags filled with tar from boulders, beaches, and boats collecting it off the water are being trucked away.
4052 Bag Brigade
Even after all this work by hundreds of people, there’s still far more oil and tar on our local waters than we’ve seen before. Some or all of it may be due to increased natural seepage due to pressure buildup deep beneath the sea floor when oil production was shut down.
3920 6/15/2015 Tar Globs
John & Anne Wiley 
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