Crews work to clean California beach fouled by oil pipeline spill

By Alan Devall GOLETA, Calif. (Reuters) - Cleanup crews fanned out across an oil-fouled California beach on Wednesday to scoop up gobs of petroleum spewed from a burst pipeline in what may be the biggest oil spill to hit the pristine but energy-rich Santa Barbara coastline in 46 years. As much as 2,500 barrels (105,000 gallons) of crude oil was released in Tuesday's rupture, according to a "worst-case scenario" presented by the pipeline company, five times more than was initially estimated. Plains All American Pipeline said it calculated that up to a fifth of the total spill had reached the ocean.

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