Unusual Amount of Oil and Tar Reported on Beaches Across South Coast 

[Updated: Fri., July 17, 2026, noon]

When Caden McQueen was heading down Santa Barbara’s Milpas Street for a Thursday-morning stroll on East Beach, the stench of petroleum caught his attention. “The smell was intense,” he said. 

As he approached the shoreline, he saw clumps of crude oil washing up onto shore from the breaking waves, some as big as tennis balls. McQueen noticed two swimmers rinsing off in the showers next to Cabrillo Pavilion, and “the water running away from the washing station was blackish brown. It was really quite appalling.”

[Click to expand] Tar on East Beach just after 9 a.m. on 7/16. | Credit: Courtesy Caden McQueen

Carrie Giesy noticed a similar phenomenon yesterday at Santa Claus Beach in Carpinteria, writing in to the Independent’s tip line that “a huge oil slick rolled in and completely covered the shoreline with giant globs of tar.”

The City of Carpinteria issued a beach alert Thursday acknowledging that there is a more-than-usual amount of tar and oil on the city’s beaches, attributed it to natural seeps, and said that a beach remediation response will not be initiated.

“We advise beach users to practice caution and avoid areas where oil and tar are prevalent,” the alert reads. 

A report from about 10 a.m. Thursday, submitted to California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CalOES), from a surfer at Shoreline Park said that they had to get out of the water because their body and surfboard were covered “head to toe” in oil, and that “hundreds of oil slicks spreading 50ft x 100 ft and 50ft x 200ft” can be seen from the shore to a mile off the coast.

Heal the Ocean Executive Director Karina Johnston says that they have been receiving multiple reports both yesterday and today and that their field advisor Harry Rabin has been visiting beaches across the county to assess the situation.  

Rabin said that he and his team have been looking for a potential source of the black tar, and he “think[s] it came from Coal Oil Point” near Isla Vista.

“We definitely share the concerns of the community members who have reported to us, and we’ve definitely passed those along to all the appropriate agencies,” Johnston said.

U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Kelsey Underwood said that her agency is working alongside the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (CDFW) Office of Spill Prevention to assess the tar on the beaches, and that CDFW teams took samples of oil off of Carpinteria State Beach this morning to verify where the tar is coming from.

Eric Laughlin from CDFW’s Office of Spill Prevention said that the samples have been sent off to a petroleum chemistry lab in Sacramento where they “will be analyzed and compared against known samples of oil to determine if a source match can be made.”

The Independent has gotten reports of oil impacting beaches in Carpinteria, Montecito, and Santa Barbara, and according to Johnston, “it does seem to extend farther up the coast — farther north — but we’re not sure exactly the magnitude or extent of it at the moment.”

Just this Thursday, private citizens have reported tar on the sands of Shoreline Park, Miramar Beach, Summerland Beach, Padaro Beach, Hammond’s Beach, and Carpinteria Beach, according to records from CalOES.

As of now, there are no plans to remove the tar from the beaches. “There is no method of funding for natural seep clean-up,” said Petty Officer Underwood. According to the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund — created in the 1990 and collects money from barrel taxes and other pollution funds — there has to be a responsible party in order for money to be accessed and used for beach clean-up.

However, Chief Warrant Officer Paul Ricketson later said that in rare instances, the fund can be used to clean up natural seepage. But if it is used too frequently, the nationwide fund would soon be depleted.

Editor’s Note: A quote from the beach alert issued by the City of Carpinteria originally attributed beach remediation to the city, but it is not the city’s responsibility to clean tar from the beaches. Also, a quote from City of Carpinteria Environmental Program Manager DeLayni Millar was removed from this story after a request was made to not be quoted on beach safety. Additional information on the oil spill fund was added on July 17, 2026.