Cleanup costs for Santa Barbara oil spill hit $62 million

Oil spill cleanup crews.
(Image credit: David McNew/Getty Images)

The work isn't done yet, but Plains All American Pipeline has already spent $62 million on efforts to clean the oil spill that marred the coast of Santa Barbara, California, May 19.

Patrick Hodgins, the company's on-scene coordinator, told The Associated Press it's costing about $3 million a day, and there is no timetable for when the cleanup will be finished. So far, 76 percent of 97 miles of coastline have been cleared, and crews are using tools to scrape oil off rocks, a time consuming process. "The responsibility here it to get it cleaned up as quickly as possible," Hodgins said.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.