1969 Santa Barbara oil spill the platform since Unocal sold its Santa Barbara Channel operations in 1996. 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill The Santa Barbara oil spill occurred in January and February 1969 in the Santa Barbara Channel, near the city of Santa Barbara in Southern California. It was the largest oil spill in United States waters by that time, and now ranks third after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon and 1989 Exxon Valdez spills. It remains the largest oil spill to have occurred in the waters off California. The source of the spill was a blow-out on January 28, 1969, from the coast on Union
Refugio oil spill the water. After struggling to find the leaking pipeline, workers located Line 901 where it had leaked and flowed into the storm culvert around 1:30pm. Clean-up efforts didn't begin for 16 to 18 hours. Company officials in Bakersfield who were responsible for notifying the National Response Center did not do so until 2:56pm. The Center, staffed by United States Coast Guard officers and marine science technicians, is the sole federal point of contact for reporting all hazardous substances releases and oil spills. An oil spill triggers mandatory federal notification requirements in a timely manner but company officials said they were