Oil Stains 12 Miles of Orange County Coast : Environment: Tanker spill now threatens major wildlife refuges. Winds complicate cleanup efforts as slick moves as far north as Seal Beach.

Driven by shore-bound winds, the slick from a 300,000-gallon oil spill reached miles of new beaches in Orange County on Friday, threatening major wildlife refuges and confounding cleanup crews working frantically to contain the disaster.

The brown and black goo was reported washing ashore as far north as Seal Beach, near the sensitive Bolsa Chica wetlands and a federal wildlife reserve at the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station. Both are prime nesting habitats for dozens of birds, including some of the state’s largest concentrations of least terns and light-footed clapper rails, both endangered species.

“The worst of it is here,” said Huntington Beach Mayor Thomas J. Mays after touring the coast by helicopter at dusk Friday. “When I was flying over the city between Beach Boulevard and the lifeguard headquarters, it looked black down on the beach as the stuff rolled in.”

Oil was reported washing ashore at various locations along a 12-mile stretch of coastline as portions of the widening slick broke away. Several fingers of the slick were within two miles of Long Beach Harbor, Coast Guard officials said.

Newport Harbor remained closed, but by late Friday the 18-square-mile slick had reversed its course, heading north toward the wetlands at Huntington Beach and Seal Beach where officials feared that protective booms might not contain the advancing oil.

Bulldozers were used to build a sand dike at the Santa Ana River mouth near the Huntington Beach wetlands, and flushing channels that lead to the Bolsa Chica wetlands, farther north, were sealed shut. Biologists warned that the oil could devastate wildlife in the nesting areas if any infiltrates the fragile coastal estuaries.

“The potential for damage and harm is enormous,” said Victor Leipzig, executive director of the Bolsa Chica Conservancy.

Experts also predicted that the spilled oil may also start emulsifying, thereby doubling in volume.

Meanwhile, investigators revealed Friday that an anchor punctured the hull of the tanker American Trader at least twice as the 811-foot vessel positioned itself to connect with an oil pipeline in water so shallow that the ship could have struck the bottom. However, no oil leaked from the second gash in the tanker, officials said.

“It looks like it (the ship) rode up over its anchor and punctured on it,” Coast Guard Adm. J. William Kime told reporters.

Coast Guard officials said divers late Thursday found the second hole near the starboard bow of the U.S.-registered tanker.

The ship, laden with millions of gallons of oil, attempted to position itself off Huntington Beach to unload its cargo of crude to send to a mainland refinery when one of its 12-ton anchors punctured the hull, exposing two of the oil-filled holds.

Marine experts said Friday that a ship striking its own anchor is the mariner’s equivalent of shooting oneself in the foot.

“That’s pretty embarrassing when you hit your own anchor,” said George Oberholtzer, director of the National Spill Control School at Texas State University in Corpus Christi.

Operators of the American Trader, supervised by Coast Guard officials, were pumping out the remaining oil in the damaged holds Friday to prevent further spillage.

At dawn Friday, professional cleanup crews in gloves and yellow slickers were scattered along a half-mile stretch of sand near Newport Pier. Many residents, angered at the tanker accident and the threat to local beaches, joined the effort, wading into the surf line and dabbing the fouled waters and sand with absorbent cloth pads.

At one point, volunteers outnumbered paid workers, creating problems and prompting officials to issue a public plea to stay away from local strands, most of which were closed from Newport to Huntington Beach.

“It is very disturbing to see this and to experience it,” said Patti Harris, a Costa Mesa resident. “I feel as though my personal environment has been violated. Now, maybe with all the (media) coverage, politicians will get off their duffs and protect us.”

In a lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court on Friday, two state sportfishing organizations blamed British Petroleum and tanker owner American Trading Transportation Co. for causing more than $1 billion in damage to wildlife and beach property.

The Sportfishing Assn. of California and United Anglers of California alleged that the shipping company and British Petroleum were negligent and have held back resources in the cleanup effort to save money. The suit seeks an unspecified amount in damages.

Denny Lehman, a risk manager for British Petroleum, denied the allegations Friday night, contending that “both companies have committed substantial resources to clean up the oil spill.”

At least nine skimming vessels worked to recover the oil. But by late Friday only 7%--about 500 barrels--of the oil patch had been scooped up, and experts predicted that at some point, much of it would probably come ashore.

Officials said 60% of the slick was still drifting off the coast, and it would take days--if not weeks--to clean it up under the most ideal conditions--if ocean waters stay relatively calm and winds light.

“The incident is tragic,” said John Turner, director of the U.S. Interior Department’s division of wildlife services, who was at Huntington Beach State Park. “There’s a considerable amount of spill out there. You don’t ever become adequately prepared to clean up the area. Nobody could ever become adequately prepared to clean up real stuff. It’s that hard.”

At least 49 birds were found fouled by oil and taken to a wildlife aid station as of Friday. A dozen or so of those have died, officials reported.

During a press tour Friday morning, about 30 oil-fouled seals were perched on some of the cylinders in the pipeline mooring area, which contained some of the thickest and most concentrated portions of the spill.

Meanwhile, officials said they have not determined who is responsible for the spill. But the investigation is continuing into the events surrounding the mooring of the 21-year-old tanker.

Tanker crew members told investigators that the American Trader drifted back over the anchor, and the chain apparently wrapped around the bow, according to Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Alan Carver. As the crew raised the anchor to try another mooring, officials believe it struck the hull on the starboard side, leaving a three-foot gash and two other holes.

Mooring a tanker for unloading is a two- to three-hour process that involves coaxing the ship into a 700-foot-wide, U-shaped cluster of seven buoys. During the operation, the ship typically cuts across the mouth of the “U,” laying one anchor, then the other, before reversing its engines to swing the stern into the slot.

A mooring master, the equivalent of a pilot, directs the procedure from the bridge of the tanker and is assisted by a mooring launch cruising the waters around the ship.

John E. Keon, 41, of San Jacinto was the mooring master aboard the American Trader when the spill occurred. Coast Guard officials said that Keon and Capt. Robert La Ware tested negative for alcohol use and that results of drug tests are pending.

Keon, who is self-employed, has worked as a pilot at the Huntington Beach mooring for five years. He has been a sailor for almost 20 years.

“I can tell you one thing, the guy wasn’t drunk,” said Bill Freese, who lives half a block from Keon. “I have never seen him with anything stronger than a cup of coffee. He is very dedicated, a real family man and a churchgoing guy.”

La Ware, who has worked for American Trading Transportation Co. for 30 years, is an experienced captain on the West Coast. Contacted at the ship Friday afternoon, La Ware declined to comment except to say, “I’m holding up just fine, thanks.”

Officials said Friday that the draft of the tanker was 42 to 47 feet below the water level. Its anchors are at least 10 feet long, and the ship was attempting to moor at low tide just before 5 p.m. Wednesday when the water depth was “50-plus feet,” a Coast Guard official said. “It had the potential of being right on the bottom.’

The water’s depth around the mooring can range from 52 to 75 feet, depending on the swell and tide. Tidal charts indicate that the low tide was 1.3 feet below normal at 4:06 p.m. Wednesday, shortly before the spill.

British Petroleum, operators of the vessel, said Friday that its crews had already gathered 800 trash bags full of oil-soaked cleanup pads from the beach. Spokesmen said they may ask volunteers to stop helping in the cleanup because of liability problems.

Also on Friday, federal and state officials ruled against the use of toxic chemical dispersants to break up the slick.

SEA LIFE HOTLINES

Call the numbers below if you find a marine mammal or sea turtle affected by the oil spill.

Live Whales and Dolphins Sea World Department of Animal Care (619) 222-6363 (619) 222-6362 (after hours) Dead Whales and Dolphins Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History Division of Mammals (213) 585-5105 (24-hour hot line) Live Seals, Sea Lions, Sea Otters Friends of the Sea Lion Marine Mammal Rehab Center (714) 494-3050 (714) 661-4070 (after hours) Dead Sea Otters U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Endangered Species Recovery Office (805) 644-1766 (714) 846-3280 (after hours) Live or Dead Sea Turtles and Dead Seals, Sea Lions National Marine Fisheries Service Protected Species Management Branch (213) 514-6665 (714) 846-3280 (after hours) HOW THE ANCHOR HIT The American Trader was maneuvering into a sea berth off Huntington Beach to offload oil when it apparently smacked its anchor, ripping two holes in its hull, spilling 300,000 gallons of crude oil. 1. Swells rocked ship in shallow water. 2. The vessel drifted over port anchor, wrapping the chain around its bow. As crew raised port anchor, officials believe it struck starboard side of hull, leaving three-foot gash and another hole. 3. Some veteran pilots suspect the tanker struck the anchor as it rested on sea floor in shallow water. Source: U.S. Coast Guard, news reports

Research: Eric Bailey