A pipeline breach occurred about 5 miles off the coast of Huntington Beach, Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley said Sunday.
“These are wetlands that we’ve been working with the Army Corps of Engineers, with the Land Trust, with all the community wildlife partners to make sure to create this beautiful, natural habitat for decades. And now in just a day, it’s completely destroyed.”
“We are fully committed to being out here until this incident is fully concluded,” Willsher said, adding the company is working with numerous local, state and federal agencies on recovery efforts.
“Our employees live and work in these communities, and we’re all deeply impacted and concerned about the impact on not just the environment, but the fish and wildlife as well,” Willsher said. “We will do everything in our power to ensure that this is recovered as quickly as possible, and we won’t be done until this is concluded.”
An oil sheen was first reported to the US Cost Guard shortly after 9 a.m. Saturday morning, the Coast Guard said in a press release.
“It’s probably been leaking longer than we know,” Foley told CNN Sunday.
Willsher said his company notified the Coast Guard Saturday morning when employees were conducting a line inspection and they noticed a sheen in the water.
The spill — equal to about 126,000 gallons of post-production crude — is a “potential ecological disaster,” Huntington Beach Mayor Kim Carr said Saturday.
“Currently, the oil slick plume measures an estimated 5.8 nautical miles long, and runs from the Huntington Beach Pier down into Newport Beach,” the press release said.
Willsher told reporters Sunday the facilities operating the pipeline were built in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Amplify has owned the pipeline for about nine years. There are about 17.5 miles between the pipeline and shore, Willsher said.
“It is about 4 ½ miles off shore where the potential source of the leak occurred. It is heavy crude oil that is pumped through that pipeline,” he said.
The Coast Guard has classified the situation as a major oil spill, Huntington Beach Marine Safety Chief Eric McCoy said.
Huntington Beach officials canceled the final day of the Pacific Airshow and are encouraging people to stay away from the Santa Ana River Trail, Talbert Park and Talbert Marsh areas and the beaches in the impacted areas to prevent contact with potentially toxic oiled areas.
Foley urged residents to avoid the area.
“Please don’t go down and try to help. We’re not taking volunteers yet,” she said. “If you do see oiled wildlife call 1-877-823-6926. That’s the best way to help.”