HUNTINGTON BEACH, California — No recoverable oil remains in the water after a sheen was reported off the coast of Southern California, but the cause remains unclear, officials said Saturday.
Authorities discovered the four-kilometre-long oil sheen on Friday morning. Crews recovered about 85% of it, about 85 gallons (322 liters), on Friday.
By the time emergency responders conducted flights over the area on Saturday, they could no longer see any recoverable sheen, the Coast Guard and Huntington Beach officials said in written statements.
There were some tar lumps along the beach, but not enough to warrant a closure, and there appeared to be no public health risk from consuming fish from the area, authorities said.
The coastguard said three live birds – a cormorant, a diver and a grebe – were found smeared with oil and are being treated.
Authorities had said there were no reports of spills or spills from oil platforms operating offshore and the sheen did not appear to be increasing, leading them to suspect it was a one-time spill or natural leak of oil into the ocean went. Ordinary.
Local officials were keeping a close eye on reports following a 2021 leak in an offshore pipeline that caused gobs of crude oil to wash up in Huntington Beach, a surf-friendly city about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles.