Massive California Oil Spill Sends Crude Onto Orange County Coast, Killing Marine Life and Birds

A massive oil spill off the California coast began washing ashore at Huntington Beach over the weekend, with at least 126,000 gallons of the oil creating a 13-square-mile slick that continued to grow.

According to The New York Times, a pipeline failure off the coast of Orange County created one of California's largest oil spills.

Dead fish and birds started floating ashore in some places as cleanup crews tried to contain the oil spill that had already extended from Huntington Beach to Newport Beach.

Officials said it was not immediately clear what caused the leak. They noted that it involved a failure in a 17.5-mile pipeline connected to an offshore oil platform called Elly, operated by Beta Offshore.

During a news conference on Sunday, Mayor Kim Carr of Huntington Beach said the spill was one of "the most devastating situations" they had faced over the decades.

Carr added that they had not yet received confirmation that the leak has been completely capped.

Martyn Willsher, the chief executive of Amplify Energy Corp., said that the pipeline had been "suctioned" at both ends and that the spill may have reached 126,000 gallons. Amplify Energy Corp. owns Beta Offshore.

He noted that they do not expect it to be more as it is the capacity of the entire pipeline.

The Coast Guard said the initial report of the oil spill came early Saturday morning. In a statement on Sunday, Newport Beach officials said that oil had been detected along the shoreline and urged people to avoid contact with ocean water and oiled areas of the beach.

Oil Spill's Impact

Katrina Foley, the Orange County supervisor, said the impact on the environment is irreversible, Aljazeera reported. Foley added that the oil spill had managed to infiltrate the Talbert Marsh on Sunday, causing significant damage. Talbert Marsh is a large ecological reserve.

The county's supervisor also said that you could "get the taste to your mouth just from the vapors in the air" as petroleum stench spread through the air in the area.

Foley also tweeted that Newport Beach mayor Brad Avery has seen dolphins swimming through the oil. Foley noted that Avery told her he encountered the oil spill while in a boat traveling back to the mainland from Santa Catalina Island, The Guardian reported.

Huntington Beach officials said they had deployed skimming equipment and booms to prevent the oil from flowing into the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve and the beach's wetlands.

The Coast Guard has also been working with local and state agencies, together with flying planes, to review the spill.

History of Oil Spill in California

A huge oil leak was also encountered by the Orange County coast three decades ago. The oil tanker American Trader ran over its anchor off Huntington Beach on February 7, 1999, which has spilled 417,000 gallons of oil. Thousands of fish and birds were killed.

In 2015, a pipeline north of Santa Barbara had been ruptured and leaked 143,000 gallons of oil onto Refugio State Beach.

Ben Smith, a biologist and environmental consultant for Orange County, said that Huntington Beach is home to many bird species such as gulls, willet, long-billed fletcher, and reddish egret, among others.

Smith noted that those species of birds are a rarity on the west coast. Smith said that there's tar everywhere, adding that by now, people would have thought they had it figured out to prevent it from happening, "but I guess not."

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Written by: Mary Webber

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