California oil spill damages wetlands
HUNTINGTON BEACH: A large oil spill off the southern California coast left fish dead, birds mired in petroleum and wetlands contaminated, in what local officials called an environmental catastrophe.
The US Coast Guard, heading a clean-up response involving federal, state and city agencies, on Sunday announced the start of an aroundthe-clock investigation into how the spill occurred.
An estimated 126,000 gallons (about 572,000 litres), or 3,000 barrels, had spread into an oil slick covering approximately 33 square kilometres of the Pacific Ocean since it was first reported on Saturday morning, Kim Carr, the mayor of Huntington Beach, told a news conference.
She called the spill an “environmental catastrophe” and a “potential ecological disaster”.
The beachside city, about 65 kilometres south of Los Angeles, was bearing the brunt of the spill.
Ms Carr added: “Our wetlands are being degraded and portions of our coastline are now covered in oil.”
The spill was caused by a breach connected to the Elly oil rig and stretched from the Huntington Beach Pier down to Newport Beach, an area popular with surfers and sunbathers.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife ordered a fishery closure for coastal areas affected by the massive oil spill.
The closure will extend from Huntington Beach to Dana Point for the coastal areas, and it will extend up to 10 kilometres off the coastal points for the offshore area, the department said late on Sunday.
Ms Carr said the oil rig was operated by Beta Offshore, a California subsidiary of Houston-based Amplify Energy Corporation. Calls to Beta and Amplify seeking their comment on the matter went unanswered.
Ms Carr, in her remarks, added: “In the coming days and weeks we challenge the responsible parties to do everything possible to rectify this environmental catastrophe.”
Amplify Energy CEO Martyn Willsher said at a press conference in Long Beach that the pipeline had been shut off and remaining oil suctioned out.
He said divers were still trying to determine where and why the spill occurred.