OK, folks. This oil spill trend is getting out of hand.

The latest oil spill incident was last week off the coast of California. American Trader, an 811-foot British Petroleum tanker was apparently somehow gashed by its own anchor as it attempted to moor near a pipeline.

The ship spilled more than 300,000 gallons of crude oil along the coastline near Huntington Beach and created a 10-mile oil slick which is quickly floating toward the Bolsa Chica Wetlands, a scenic marine wildlife habitat south of Los Angeles.

The Califorina Fish and Game Department reports that it has recovered more than 50 injured, oil-soaked sea birds, 12 of which have since died.

Hundreds of clean-up workers are on the job and doing what they can and hundreds more are on call, but it sure would have been nice if the whole thing could have been prevented in the first place.

Since the Exxon Valdez spill last year, there have been calls for safety improvements on oil tankers and tougher penalties for oil companies involved in accidents. Also, there’s talk now of federal legislation requiring all tankers to have double hulls and bottoms as an extra measure of protection.

Oil companies are fighting this legislation, but 10 miles of crude and 50 or so oil-soaked birds should weaken any arguments.