California’s governor declares emergency after oil spill

Californian Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Santa Barbara county on Wednesday, after a pipeline rupture spewed crude oil on land and in the ocean.

“This emergency proclamation cuts red tape and helps the state quickly mobilize all available resources. We will do everything necessary to protect California’s coastline,” Brown said in a statement on Wednesday.

The amount of oil spilled could be as high as 105,000 gallons, according to calculations released Wednesday by the team responding to the environmental crisis, though they said this presents the worst case scenario.

A statement from the team said an investigation is underway to determine the cause of the oil pipeline rupture and the exact quantity of oil leaked.

The incident has left a black oil slick across land and into the sea at Santa Barbara, north of Los Angeles.

By early Wednesday, the cleaning crew had recovered 6,868 gallons of oil.

The Plains All American Pipeline company has yet to complete excavations to uncover the rupture point in its pipeline, installed in 1987.