LA EcoExplorersProtecting Wildlife Begins Uphill
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1 · An animal in trouble

This pelican got caught in an oil spill.

Sticky oil spread across the water and got stuck all over its feathers.

Pelican feathers normally fit together like a waterproof coat. Oil pulls them apart, so cold water reaches the bird's skin. The pelican can become cold and exhausted, struggle to fly or find food, and swallow oil while trying to clean itself.

And this pelican is only one of many animals an oil spill can hurt.
WILDLIFE CLUE · OIL COATING
A pelican heavily coated in black oil resting on wet sand
What oil damage can look like
The mystery:  the spill injured ocean wildlife—but it did not begin in the ocean.
Black oil coating rocks and sand along an ocean shoreline
2 · How a spill begins

The oil on this pelican came from a spill.

An oil spill happens when oil escapes from a pipe, tank, ship, or machine and spreads onto land or water.

Broken pipeLeaking tankDamaged shipEquipment failure
Once oil is loose, it does not stay put.Gravity, drains, streams, and ocean currents can carry it far from where the spill began—into places where animals swim, eat, and rest.
One failure can send oil far from its source—and into the path of wildlife.
3 · Follow the oil uphill

One broken pipe. A path all the way to the ocean.

This was the Refugio oil spill—the same spill that coated the pelican you met at the beginning. On May 19, 2015, buried Oil Pipeline 901 ruptured near Refugio State Beach. Corrosion had slowly thinned part of the pipe wall.

More than 123,000 gallons escaped.About 53,000 gallons reached the Pacific. Tar balls were later found as far south as Los Angeles County.
Watch the spill animate automatically from the rupture to the beach and ocean. The route loops so you can follow it again.
Pipeline → hillside → culvert → beach → current → wildlife
REFUGIO SPILL CASE FILE
WHERE THE SPILL STARTED + HOW FAR IT REACHED
Black dots show the coastal observation range. They are densest near Refugio and continue south to the Los Angeles County coast.
Aerial view of the Refugio coast with Highway 101, the railroad, beach, ocean, and hillside
THE SPILL ANIMATION LOOPS AUTOMATICALLY
4 · Inside the drop

What is in oil?

Crude oil is a mixture, not one chemical. It is made mostly of hydrocarbons—molecules built only from carbon (C) and hydrogen (H).

Dark oil blob sitting on beach sand
One blob, many chemicals: even a single patch of oil can contain many different hydrocarbons mixed together.
HYDROCARBON SORTER
Same two building blocks. Many different molecules.6CCarbon · 12.0111HHydrogen · 1.008
Crude oil looks like one blob, but it hides many different hydrocarbons inside it.
Open the mini slideshow
MINI SLIDES

Tap the single drop. Then move through 4 mini slides to meet light, medium, heavy, and ring-shaped hydrocarbons.

5 · Wildlife impact

How oil hurts wildlife

Oil can coat animals on the outside—or poison them when it gets inside.

Seal being cleaned after oil exposure
Sea turtle being cleaned after oil exposure
Brown pelican coated in oil

It's not just oil spills

Oil sheen flowing into a storm drain
1
Streets + runoffOil can hide on streets, then rain sweeps it into storm drains.
View of the Port of Los Angeles with cargo ships and haze
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Ports + shipsShips and port machines burn and spill fuel, adding pollution to air and water.
Los Angeles skyline under visible smog
3
Smog + exhaustCar and fuel vapors can help make LA smog.
Oil-contaminated soil held in a person's hand
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Soil + plantsOil can soak into soil, hurting plants and the animals that depend on them.
Solar panels and wind turbines showing a cleaner-energy future
7 · The bigger goal

A cleaner future means using less oil.

The best long-term fix is not just cleaning up pollution after it happens. It is building a world that depends less on fossil fuels in the first place.

What would that fix do?

It would mean less smog in the air, less oily runoff on streets, fewer spills, cleaner soil and water, and safer homes for wildlife.

How can we do it?

Use more clean energy, electrify cars and buses, waste less fuel, and keep replacing old oil-and-gas systems with cleaner choices.

More solar + wind Cleaner transportation Less fossil fuel

Sources and science notes

This story uses rounded figures and kid-friendly explanations. The central facts come from official damage assessments, public-health agencies, and environmental science sources.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife · Refugio spill assessment

Official location, release summary, damaged resources, and the documented range from Refugio south to the Los Angeles area.

NOAA Office of Response and Restoration · Refugio shoreline photograph

Historical photograph of oil-blackened rocks at Refugio State Beach by Bill Stanley.

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service · Refugio Oil Spill Restoration

Overview of the spill, injured resources, and restoration work.

U.S. Department of Justice · Refugio natural-resource settlement

Official summary of the release, environmental injury, and restoration settlement.

National Transportation Safety Board · Line 901 rupture report

Pipeline failure, corrosion, volume, route through the culvert, and emergency response.

NOAA Ocean Service · How oil impacts marine life

Coating, ingestion, inhalation, habitat damage, and the sensitivity of eggs and larvae.

CDC · Benzene facts

How benzene behaves, exposure routes, and health effects.

ATSDR · What are PAHs?

Sources, ring structures, persistence, and health significance of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

California Water Boards · Stormwater program

How runoff carries pollutants and how stormwater controls can interrupt the route.

La Brea Tar Pits · Why there is asphalt in Los Angeles

Natural petroleum seepage from the Salt Lake Oil Field.

Risk is specific: finding “hydrocarbons” does not by itself prove that a beach is unsafe. Risk depends on the exact chemical, concentration, exposure route, and length of exposure. Current closures and advisories should guide real-world decisions.