Wanted: cleanup volunteers for Santa Barbara oil spill

If you live around the large 10-square mile oil slick in Santa Barbara County, and have wanted to help in the cleanup efforts there, your light just turned green.

And, while you may be ready to hit the beach with buckets and shovels in hand, you can’t just show up.

You have to be at least 18 years old and fill out a registration form. And then once you’re pre-registered, you have to attend one hazard safety training workshop before heading out to the beach.

100 slots are open for each session.

The next 4-hour session will be Thursday, from 8 until noon and 1 until 5 in the afternoon.

Cleanup days include tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday.

Click here for the sign-up website.

Meanwhile, company officials from Texas-based Plains All American Pipeline announced they are in the early, planning stage of excavating the broken section of a pipeline that ruptured on May 19 and spilled the oil along the Refugio and El Capitan State Beaches.

There’s no word on when that excavation may begin.