Major oil spill fouls Californian beaches

LOS ANGELES－A massive oil spill off the Orange County coast in Southern California prompted the closure of a beachfront area on Sunday, prompting authorities to mitigate the fallout that caused "substantial ecological impact".

As of Sunday, the oil plume from the 126,000 gallon (480,000 liters) spill of postproduction crude was estimated to be 10-kilometer long and stretched along the popular shorelines of Huntington Beach and Newport Beach, said Huntington Beach city authorities in a statement.

"The spill has significantly affected Huntington Beach, with substantial ecological impact occurring at the beach and at the Huntington Beach Wetlands," the statement said.

According to the United States Coast Guard, the spill started around 9 am on Saturday.

The spill was caused by a breach connected to the Elly oil rig and stretched from the Huntington Beach Pier down to Newport Beach, a stretch of coast popular with surfers and sunbathers. The oil rig was operated by Beta Offshore, a Californian subsidiary of Houston-based Amplify Energy Corporation.

Amplify Energy CEO Martyn Willsher said at a news conference in Long Beach that divers were still trying to determine where and why the spill occurred.

In the predawn hours of Sunday, oil and dead animals had begun washing up on Huntington Beach, a city of around 200,000 people located about 60 km south of Los Angeles, tweeted Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley.

"We've started to find dead birds and fish washing up on the shore. We are deeply concerned by the events today," she said.

"The ramifications will extend further than the visible oil and odor that our residents are dealing with at the moment. The impact to the environment is irreversible."

Wildlife threatened

At a news conference on Sunday afternoon, officials warned residents not to touch or try to save any wildlife themselves, but to instead call local authorities to alert them on animals affected by the oil.

"At this time, we have scout teams out on the beaches, surveying, assessing the beaches for any wildlife that may be impacted or oiled," said Lieutenant Christian Corbo of California's Office of Spill Prevention and Response.

Coast Guard captain Rebecca Ore acknowledged during the news conference that the situation "is very upsetting for citizens here in Southern California".

Residents were warned to steer clear of the shoreline, and the ocean was closed to swimming and surfing "due to potential contamination," said the city, adding that the final day of the Pacific Airshow had been canceled.

The Coast Guard ran point on a unified command of federal, state, county and city agencies established to tackle the spill, with fire and marine safety personnel deployed to implement environmental containment efforts.

"The leak has not been completely stopped, preliminary patching has been completed to repair the oil spill site," said the city in a statement. "The size of the spill demanded prompt and aggressive action."

The last major oil spill to hit the Southern California area was 30 years ago. In 1990, the American Trader oil tanker spilled 417,000 gallons of crude, killing fish and approximately 3,400 birds and polluting popular beaches along the Orange County coast.

Agencies - Xinhua