Progress Reported in Cleanup Efforts : Spilled Oil Washes Onto Cabrillo Beach

Oil that spilled into Los Angeles Harbor from a Mobil Oil dock was carried by the tide onto Cabrillo Beach on Sunday, but the Coast Guard said workers hired by the oil company nevertheless were making progress in the cleanup.

Coast Guard Ensign Beverly Carter said tractors would be brought in to remove the oil from the beach. While much of the spill remained confined to the main channel, she said, a “light sheen of oil” drifted with the tide Sunday between the breakwater and the beach.

Thomas Lewis, a marine biologist at the Cabrillo Beach Marine Museum, said oil could be seen on the beach and in the water Sunday. “It’s pretty bad,” he said.

The oil stained rocks and jetties, he said, and could easily endanger marine life, such as crabs that live on the rocks. Lewis said he checked a small mud flat area Sunday where birds congregate, and none of the birds appeared to have been touched by the oil. Mobil employees found two sea gulls with oil-coated wings Saturday and took the birds to an animal shelter for care.

Petty Officer James MacPherson said the harbor channel remains open to boat traffic, but mariners have been advised to operate at reduced speed.

Jim Carbonetti, spokesman for Mobil Oil, said Sunday that from 12,000 to 16,000 gallons of oil leaked into the harbor early Saturday. Eighty workers hired by Mobil were engaged in the cleanup effort Sunday trying to limit the damage.

Carbonetti said 10,000 feet of floating booms were placed in the water to absorb the oil and contain it so that the oil could be skimmed off by specially equipped boats. He said the cleanup could take several days.

The Coast Guard said the spill occurred after a barge unloaded crude oil into storage tanks at the dock and a valve leading into the tanks malfunctioned. Oil company employees discovered the leak about six hours after it began.