May 17, 2016:

In California, a grand jury indicted Plains All American Pipeline on 46 criminal charges, including four felony counts. The company and one employee, environmental and regulatory compliance specialist James Buchanan, was also charged with misdemeanor violations for failure to provide timely notice of the oil spill to the Office of Emergency Services. And, the company was charged with three dozen misdemeanor charges due to the spill's impact on birds and mammals.

Plains All American Pipeline responded by saying the criminal charges are unwarranted and that the spill was just an "unfortunate accident".

Pipeline company indicted in Santa Barbara County oil spill | Los Angeles Times

Feb 17, 2016:

In a document entitled "Preliminary Factual Report Plains Pipeline, LP, Failure on Line 901" the U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) announced it's preliminary findings regarding the May 20, 2015 Plains All American Pipeline oil spill, concluding that the root cause of the spill was external corrosion of the pipe.

Pipeline corrosion caused Santa Barbara oil spill, federal officials say | Los Angeles Times

Oct 8, 2015:

California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a package of three legislative bills relating to oil spills.

The first bill, SB 295, requires the state fire marshal to inspect all intrastate pipelines under its jurisdiction once a year.

Bill AB 864 requires oil pipelines in environmentally sensitive areas be fitted with remote leak detectors and automatic shut-off valves. For replacement pipelines in ecologically sensitive areas in the coastal zone, the measures must be in place by January 1, 2018. Existing pipelines must be retrofitted by January 1, 2020, and plans for the retrofitting must be submitted by July 1, 2018.

Bill SB 414 enlists commercial fisherman and other boat operators in spill areas and provides them with oil containment gear, in hopes of speeding up the response to spills.

Gov. Jerry Brown overhauls oil pipeline laws after Santa Barbara spill | Los Angeles Times

Jun 22, 2015:

Tarballs have been appearing on beaches in Ventura and Los Angeles counties (south of the spill). According to lab results, some of these tarballs originated from the original spill area.

Some tarballs on L.A. County beaches came from Santa Barbara oil spill | Los Angeles Times

Jun 8, 2015:

About 44% of the 96.5 miles of shoreline which include Santa Barbara and Ventura counties has been cleaned of oil from the May 20, 2015 spill.

136 birds and 67 mammals have been found dead.

The results of the inspection of the broken pipe sent to the U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration revealed that "corrosion had eaten away nearly half of the pipe's metal wall", the pipeline had "'extensive' external corrosion", the thickness of the pipe wall at the site of the break "had degraded to an estimated one-sixteenth of an inch", and there was a "6-inch opening along the bottom of the pipe where it broke".

Plains All American Pipeline has 60 days to inspect a different pipeline, Line 903, which transports oil 128 miles from Santa Barbara County to Kern County.

Source:

Serna, Joseph; Panzar, Javier. (Jun 8, 2015). "44% of coastline clean after Santa Barbara County oil spill, officials say". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2015-06-14.

May 22, 2015:

Officials with the U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration issued a Corrective Action Order ordering Plains All American Pipeline to:

• Shutdown operations and make safety improvements on Line 901 (the pipeline that failed)
• Empty and purge any remaining oil from Line 901
• Perform a comprehensive review of Line 901
• Verify maximum operating pressure records for Line 901
• Complete mechanical and metallurgical testing, and a "Root Cause Failure Analysis" on the failed pipe
• Complete an "Emergency Response Plan and Training Review"
• Develop an operations restart plan
• Restart operations on Line 901 with only 80% maximum operating pressure

This pipeline is the only large transmission pipeline in Santa Barbara County without an automatic shutdown valve. The reason for that goes back to a 1988 court ruling that allows Plains to operate the pipeline without that kind of valve in place. Apparently, normal pressure changes in pipelines can cause false valve shutdown alarms. False alarms would require manual surveillance and cost more money, so Santa Barbara County opted to forgo automatic shutdown valves in exchange for the right to inspect and regulate other aspects of the pipeline's operations.

Source:

Panzar, Javier; Cart, Julie; Barboza, Tony. (May 22, 2015). "Feds order company involved in California oil spill to test, study pipe". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2015-05-24.

(May 22, 2015). "U.S. Department of Transportation Issues Corrective Action Order to Plains Pipeline, LP". PHMSA. Retrieved 2015-06-14.

May 20, 2015:

An underground pipeline operated by Plains All American Pipeline ruptured and released up to 105,000 gallons of crude oil and over 20,000 gallons of crude oil into the ocean in Santa Barbara, California county near Refugio State Beach.

Two separate oil slicks are stretching for a combined distance of nine miles. Refugio and El Capitan State Beaches are closed for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend.

The cleanup effort is being supervised by the U.S. Coast Guard, and managed by Patriot Environmental Services.

105,000 gallons of oil may have spilled in Santa Barbara County | Los Angeles Times

Santa Barbara oil spill: Pipeline operator has long record of problems | Los Angeles Times

More:

• California: Cleanup of Oil on Beaches Has Cost $69 Million, Company Says | The New York Times
• Firm in California Oil Spill Called a Rupture ‘Unlikely' | The New York Times
• Santa Barbara oil pipeline leak rekindles memories of 1969 disaster | Los Angeles Times
• Latest oil spill echoes 1969, but with less of the political fallout | Los Angeles Times