Local vessels and students respond to Huntington Beach oil spill

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Boaters in the Santa Barbara Harbor weren't surprised to see Danny Castignola's tug boat missing from its slip.

Castignola Tug Services headed to Huntington Beach to help with the oil spill response this week.

Steve Worthington said Danny is that kind of guy.

"That would be pretty typical Danny, very helpful, friendly guy, just goes out of his way to help people, good man."

Plein air artist Kelly Rangel said she feels bad for Huntington Beach residents and wildlife.

"It just reminded me of 1969 when my family had a boat down here and we were always here in the harbor my son was a newborn baby and there was oil everywhere," she said.

Marine Spill Response Corporation vessels from Ventura Harbor are also assisting.

Capt. Paul Amaral of TowBoatUS said Ocean Guardian is just one of the MSRC boats there.

There are also local wildlife rescue workers caring for the oiled birds.

Cal State University Channel Islands (CSUCI) environmental science professor Sean Anderson is usually teaching classes on the Camarillo campus, but this week he has been commuting to Huntington beach with some of his students.

He also taught some classes virtually.

"We explained how the booming was working with the oiling of beaches."

They will doing experiments with the sample from the spill.

"We were doing monitoring ourselves, looking at the oil arriving, getting samples for our own experiments, looking at the impacts of this particular spill."

He also responded to the most recent Refugio spill.

"We really really appreciated all the help from our friends in Orange county and across the state and the nation when we had our most recent Refugo spill, and its been an honor to be able to go back and do something, a return of a favor, that they supported us and we are thankful for the opportunity to help those folks, help them understand what's going and lend a hand."

Anderson said the research will help them get a better handle on the spill.

There are similarities to the Refugio spill in the amount of oil spilled, although the local pipeline that ruptured in 2015 was on land and poured down the cliff into the ocean.

The recovery for wildlife and the economy is just getting started.