Oil Spill Fouls L.A. Harbor, Threatens Cabrillo Beach Area

More than 12,000 gallons of crude oil spilled into the Los Angeles Harbor through a faulty drain valve at the Mobil Oil dock early Saturday, coating the water with a slick, black film for two miles south to the ocean breakwater and threatening the Cabrillo Beach marina to the west.

Ten thousand feet of floating booms were erected in the harbor Saturday to absorb the oil and contain the spill, and Coast Guard officials said cleanup efforts would probably continue through Monday.

“We’ve requested vessels in the area to reduce their speed, so they don’t break up (the spill) anymore,” a Coast Guard spokeswoman said.

Spreading West

Coast Guard investigator Larry Bauerlein said the tide and winds initially kept most of the oil confined to the main channel area, but by afternoon it had begun spreading west and lifeguards at Cabrillo Beach were reporting “a heavy sheen of oil” on the water.

“We’re really concerned about Cabrillo Beach,” said Mobil spokesman Jim Carbonetti. “We’re trying to take preventive measures to protect that area.”

Near the Coast Guard station in the harbor’s main channel, cleanup crews were busy spraying streams of water to push the oil inside the booms, then removing it with huge vacuum pumps.

Bauerlein said the cleanup would cost Mobil “tens of thousands of dollars.” Mobil had no estimate of the cost.

Carbonetti said Mobil employees plucked two sea gulls with oil-coated wings from the water near the dock and took them to an animal shelter to be cleaned and examined.

No other injuries to sea life were reported, but marine biologist Carol Ball of the Cabrillo Marine Museum said several varieties of fish and birds that live in the area could be endangered if the oil contaminates the food chain.

Faulty Valve Cited

The oil had apparently leaked into the water for six hours before it was discovered by Mobil Oil employees Saturday morning, Bauerlein said.

A barge had unloaded crude oil into storage tanks at the dock late Friday night, and it was a valve on one of the pipes leading into the tanks that malfunctioned, he said.

Several Coast Guard and Navy vessels were “contaminated” when they were coated with a thick film of oil, Bauerlein said.