There Will Be (Bad) Blood over Toro Creek Oil Spill
Santa Barbara County DA Takes County Counsel to Court in Showdown over Leaking 19th-Century Oil Well
First responders in Santa Barbara County celebrated New Year’s Day by working to contain an oil spill oozing from an abandoned open-pit oil-mining operation dating back to the 19th century up Toro Creek high in the foothills overlooking Montecito and Summerland. This year’s drenching winter rains appear to have overwhelmed the carrying capacity of an improvised pipeline and catch-basin created 25 years ago to keep the oil from dribbling out of that unpluggable pit — at a rate of 30 gallons a day — and creeping into the nearby creek and washing downstream with the rushing rains.
As of this writing, it remains uncertain just how much oil got into the creek. But reportedly none has been observed south of Highway 192 along Toro Canyon Road.
By Sunday afternoon, teams of first responders — representing firefighters from multiple fire agencies, county Public Works employees, and workers with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife were busy digging dams, laying booms to block the flow of oil-soaked water, and laying down reams of oil-absorbent material.
