Santa Barbara receives $2.5 million settlement for oil spill damages

Santa Barbara City Council members will adopt a resolution to accept $2.5 million from its claims against Plains All American Pipeline.

The city submitted a claim on May 19, 2016 for compensation under the federal Oil Pollution act for losses in its tourism industry following the oil spill.

“People kept talking about the Santa Barbara spill. It was on Memorial Day Weekend in particular that was a hard hit. The whole area of course, but in terms of the actual dollar amount spent on marketing to say that our beaches were okay, the loss of revenue in our hotels and sales tax. Those were real losses,” said Mayor Helene Schneider.

City council hopes to appropriate the money for two different infrastructure projects. $1.5 million dollars will be used for city parks or beaches, specifically for the Cabrillo Arts Pavillion and Bathhouse renovation project. The remaining $1 million will go towards the One Thousand Steps project.

“I think it’s good news. I think it should be done for the pubic,” said Glyn Martyniuk, a Santa Barbara resident.