Governor declares emergency as California cleans oil spill

The governor of California declared an emergency as crews scrambled to contain an oil slick and clean up popular beaches after a pipeline rupture dumped thousands of gallons of oil into the ocean.
 
A day after the spill near Santa Barbara, northwest of Los Angeles, the US Coast Guard said helicopter overflights had shown the slick stretched some nine miles (14 kilometers) along the Pacific Ocean coast.
 
The spill caused governor Edmund Brown to declare an emergency in the Santa Barbara area May 20, in order to "quickly" send specialized teams to clean up the hazardous leak.
 
"We will do everything necessary to protect California's coastline," Brown said in a statement alongside the emergency proclamation.
 
Teams of white-clad workers used rakes, trucks and pads to scoop up thick oil covering the sand on the Refugio Beach, where a campground was evacuated.
 
A number of government environmental clean-up crews have been mobilized to survey and test the area by aircraft and boat.
 
The spill was estimated at up to 105,000 gallons (400,000 liters), of which some 21,000 gallons of crude oil may have leaked into the ocean, according to an official update Wednesday afternoon.
 
Santa Barbara area beaches would normally be preparing to host thousands of visitors for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, but the affected area was out of bounds.
 
A nearby beach has been closed for at least a week and a fishing ban has been imposed by authorities one mile east and west of the spill site.
 
The leak -- which began around midday on May 19 --was caused by a Plains All American Pipeline, which stopped the flow of oil, the company said.
 
It said the oil reached the ocean through a...