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HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) – One of the largest oil spills in Southern California’s recent history tainted popular beaches and killed wildlife as crews rushed Sunday to contain crude before that it does not spread more in protected wetlands.
At least 126,000 gallons (572,807 liters) of oil have spilled into the waters off Orange County, according to a declaration from the town of Huntington Beach.
“The spill significantly affected Huntington Beach, with substantial ecological impacts on the beach and in the wetlands of Huntington Beach,” the statement said.
The oil sparked miles wide in the ocean and washed up on the shore in sticky black blood cells with dead birds and fish. Crews led by the U.S. Coast Guard have deployed skimmers and floating barriers called booms in an attempt to stop further incursions into the wetlands and Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve.
The smell of petroleum permeated the air throughout the region, said Katrina Foley, Orange County supervisor.
“You get the taste in your mouth just from the vapors in the air,” she said.
The closure stretched from the Huntington Beach Pier nearly four miles south to the Santa Ana River Pier in the midst of summery weather that would have brought beachgoers to the Broad Beach for the volleyball, swimming and surfing. Yellow warning tape was threaded between the lifeguard towers to keep people away.
Authorities canceled the last day of the annual Pacific Air Show, which typically draws thousands of spectators to Huntington Beach, a town of about 199,000 residents about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of downtown Los Angeles. The show featured flyovers of the US Navy Blue Angels and US Air Force Thunderbirds.
The oil slick came from a broken pipeline connected to an offshore oil rig known as Elly, Foley said on Twitter. Elly is connected by a footbridge to another platform, Ellen, located just over 8.5 miles (about 14 kilometers) off Long Beach and operated by Beta Operating Company, according to the federal government. Office of Environmental Safety and Enforcement. Beta and its parent company, Houston-based Amplify Energy Corp., did not immediately return phone messages and emails seeking comment.
Foley said Newport Beach Mayor Brad Avery told him he encountered the oil spill while in a boat returning to the mainland from Santa Catalina Island. “He saw dolphins swimming in the oil,” Foley tweeted.
The Huntington Beach statement early Sunday said that “although the leak has not been completely stopped, preliminary patches have been made to repair the site of the oil spill”, with additional repairs planned.
The spill comes three decades after a massive oil spill hit the same part of the Orange County coast. On February 7, 1990, the tanker American Trader crashed its anchor off Huntington Beach, dumping nearly 417,000 gallons (1.6 million liters) of crude. Fish and approximately 3,400 birds were killed.
In 2015, a ruptured pipeline north of Santa Barbara sent 143,000 gallons (541,313 liters) of crude oil gushing out onto Refugio State Beach.
At a press conference on Saturday night, Orange County officials expressed concern over the environmental impacts of the spill and hoped crews could stop the oil before it spilled into sensitive wetlands.
“We have worked with our federal, state and county partners to mitigate the impact that could be a potential environmental disaster,” said Huntington Beach Mayor Kim Carr.
The region is home to threatened and endangered species including a plump shorebird called a snow plover, the California Humpback Whale and Humpback Whale, a fishing industry and migratory birds on the Pacific Flyway. .
“The coastal areas off southern California are really rich in wildlife, a key biodiversity hotspot,” said Miyoko Sakashita, director of the oceans program at the Center for Biological Diversity.
The effects of an oil spill are far reaching, environmentalists said. Birds with oil on their feathers cannot fly, cannot clean themselves, and cannot monitor their own temperature, Sakashita said. Whales, dolphins and other sea creatures can have difficulty breathing or die after swimming in oil or breathing toxic fumes, she said.
“The oil spill shows how dirty and dangerous oil drilling is and how oil gets into the water. It’s impossible to clean it up so it ends up washing up on our beaches and people come in contact with it and wildlife come in contact with it, ”she said. “It has lasting effects on animal husbandry and reproduction. It’s really sad to see this large oiled sample.
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