Slick’s Ecological Toll Undetermined : Environment: Thick-skinned whales won’t be hurt, but several birds already have died from the oil. A full analysis of the damage may be months away.

The 40-foot-long gray whale slid peacefully through murky water the color of tea, apparently oblivious to the puddle of oil on all sides.

Thick skin was expected to protect the migrating whales that crossed into the spreading oil slick off Huntington Beach. But shore birds, sea lions and other marine life may not be so lucky.

By late Thursday afternoon, more than 25 oil-covered sea gulls, grebes and other shore birds had washed ashore, eight of them dead.

“Most of the birds (killed by the oil) will sink or drift farther offshore, so counts of beached birds are notoriously unreliable,” said Richard Veit, a UC Irvine marine ecologist. “This kind of spill certainly has the potential to kill thousands of birds.”

Less visible, but possibly more threatened, were the tinier links in the aquatic food chain--the anchovies, mussels, barnacles and other animals that provide food to birds and fish.

A full analysis of the ecological damage from the spill may be months away. Federal emergency officials, kept busy Thursday trying to contain the spill, have not yet been able to review the environmental toll.

“We just don’t have a good assessment yet,” said Terry Wilson, spokesman for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in San Francisco.

The most critical period in determining the extent of environmental damage will be the first 24 hours after the spill, said Allan Schoenherr, a biological sciences professor at Fullerton College.

“That’s when the most poisonous chemicals are released (from the oil)--the volatile chemicals, the stuff that vaporizes and that you smell when you put gasoline in your car,” Schoenherr said. “After that it evaporates, and what’s left is a lot less ecologically damaging but a lot more messy--a frothy, foamy chocolaty goo that can form.”

At the National Marine Fisheries Service, wildlife biologist Joe Cordaro said whales, dolphins and porpoises should not be hurt by the oil, in part because they can swim away from it, but also because their skin will not absorb it.

The Orange County coastline does not have many sea otters, which often are very vulnerable to oil spills, Cordaro and other experts said. Harbor seal pups, which are more common, would be susceptible to the oil slick because of their downy coat, but the birthing season is not until March. “We’re lucky,” Cordaro said.

But one environmentalist questioned Cordaro’s contention that whales would survive the spill. Mark Palmer, conservation director at Ocean Alliance in San Francisco, said that at least 12 gray whales died during the oil spill last year at Prince William Sound and another 12 killer whales that were being studied there disappeared and were presumed dead.

Palmer said the deaths have remained a mystery. He speculated, however, that oil may somehow get into a whale’s blow hole.

Schoenherr said the local population of sea lions may be endangered--especially if the spill moves north to rocky coastal areas where the sea lions often congregate. The oil mats their fur, making them greatly susceptible to the cold and less buoyant, he said.

Also, marine biologist Tom Lewis noted, seals and sea lions could become ill if they ingest fish contaminated with oil.

Also of concern Thursday was the threat of waves or wind pushing the oil slick into the sensitive Bolsa Chica wetlands and other estuaries along the Orange County coast--Upper Newport Bay, the Huntington Wetlands reserve at the mouth of the Santa Ana River and the Seal Beach National Ecological Reserve.

At Bolsa Chica, at the north end of Huntington Beach, the oil could be devastating to thousands of birds that nest and breed in the salt marshes that form one of California’s largest ecological reserves, officials said.

The California brown pelican, California least tern and the light-footed clapper rail all are endangered species in the wetlands. The salt marsh bird’s beak, an endangered plant species, also is found in the marshes.

But the oil would have to somehow get past rubberized booms placed at the entrances of the estuaries and actually enter them to threaten those endangered species, officials said. Only the brown pelican forages out to sea for its food.

Officials were reassured that only the brown pelican is in the area right now. The other birds are not nesting or breeding now in the Orange County estuaries, Harper said.

Animal rescue teams from Sea World in San Diego stood by Thursday to help save any injured birds.

“You’ve opened a Pandora’s box if it washes into any of our bays,” said Sylvia Gallagher, bird information chairman for the Sea and Sage Chapter of the Audubon Society. “These are irreplaceable estuaries. It really would be a disaster if it would get into any of these estuaries because there are so few estuaries left in Southern California.”

What Went Wrong? About 30 times a year an oil tanker pulls up to the mooring off Huntington Beach to off-load oil for the Golden West Refining Co. On Wednesday, riding in heavy swells, the American Trader spilled about 300, 000 gallons of crude oil while attempting to anchor there. Normal Berthing Seven “anchor” buoys mark the mooring for Golden West Refining Offshore Mooring. To berth, a tanker travels north, parallel to the shore. The tanker backs into the mooring. After lining up and being secured to the seven anchor buoys, the tanker connects with an underwater pipeline. Wednesday’s Approach As the American Trader moved past the seven buoys, it dropped its port-side anchor first (A). As the tanker moved past the mouth of the berth, it dropped its starboard anchor (B). After its anchors were set, it began the berthing maneuver. Backing In Pulling on its anchors and using its engines, the American Trader began the complicated maneuver of turning and moving its stern toward the shore. the accident occurred sometime during this maneuver. Normally, the tanker would be secured to the buoys. Hose Buoy The hose buoy holds a 12-inch rubberized hose connected to the underwater pipeline. Oil is piped through it to Golden West refinery on land. Did it Hit Bottom? The tanker, sitting in roughly 60 feet of water, had only about 20 feet of water below its keel. The president of American Trading Transport Co. has speculated that the loaded tanker hit bottom and ruptured its hull on its own anchor. By late Thursday, 300,000-gallon spill from American Trader had spread to Newport Beach.

SPILL CLEANUP: SKIMMING THE OCEAN Largest “‘skimmers” to respond to the spill are advanced vessels which collect and recover oil in one system. Other systems usually use smaller boats to deploy booms which contain the oil and the recover the oil by placing skimmers into the middle of the patch. 1) DEPLOYING THE BOOMS--Two 50-foot arms extend off both sides of the boat. These arms deploy the booms which have a two-and-a-half foot skirt made of rubberized material. The booms are positioned into U-shapes behind the arms. 2) MOVING THROUGH THE OIL--The vessel moves directly through the middle of an oil patch at about two knots. With both arms extended, the vessel can clean a path about 145 feet wide. 3) SKIMMING THE OIL--At the apex of each U-shaped boom, the oil is collected in a small enclosure. The oil moves from the surface and is transported to the vessel for separation from the seawater. 4) SEPARATING OIL AND WATER--The oil and seawater are transported to a holding tank on board the vessel. The mixture is then separated (using gravity), and the seawater is returned to the ocean. Each vessel can store only about 1,200 barrels of recovered oil. OFFSHORE SKIMMER The advanced Offshore Skimmer has six four-inch hoses at the back of the boom which collect the oil as the boat travels through the spill. This system speeds up the recovery of oil by combining both the collection and removal of oil in one operation.

Source: Clean Coastal Waters

TANKER SPILL (Southland Edition) The American Trader, operated by British Peroleum Co., arrived in Long Beach Jan. 29, from Valdez Alaska with a load of crude oil.

It then took on 23-million gallons of oil from a supertanker moored off Long Beach and, at 1 p.m. Wednesday, headed for the pipeline station off Huntington Beach.

At about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, the ship’s own anchor apparently tore a gash in the hull puncturing No. 1 and 2 cargo holds on the starboard side and causing the spill.