Oil Slick Remains a Threat to Island, Coast Guard Says
The Coast Guard continued Friday to monitor an oil slick that drifted in the vicinity of a marine sanctuary at San Miguel Island.
The slick was reported 12 miles from the island Friday, but the Coast Guard warned that wind conditions could change and the island is not out of danger.
Ten-foot waves and 35-m.p.h. winds halted all efforts to clean up the slick for the second day. But rough seas also reduced the size of the slick and some of the oil was absorbed into the ocean, Coast Guard spokesman Charles Crosby said. The slick is made up of several patches of less than one mile across each.
San Miguel, part of the five-island Channel Island National Park, is home to about 10,000 seals and sea lions, 11 species of birds and hundreds of pristine tide pools.
Oil continued to bubble up from the freighter Friday, but at a slower rate than previous days, Crosby said. The Pac Baroness, a Liberian bulk carrier, collided with a car-carrying ship early Monday and sank 11 hours later. It had about 386,000 gallons of fuel aboard when it sank.
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