Oily ‘Mousse’ Washes Ashore Near Tide Pools

As an extensive effort to mop up the last of the 394,000-gallon oil spill was being scaled back Friday afternoon, a light foam of oil began washing ashore between Crystal Cove State Beach and Abalone Point.

The news sent local officials and about 40 cleanup workers scrambling to keep the oil, which was spilled last week, from entering the tide pools that teem with sea life along the rocky coastline.

“It looks like the consistency of chocolate mousse, only a little foamier,” said Bob Scruggs of the Laguna Beach Fire Department, who is coordinating the response for the South County beach cities. “It’s really hard to clean out of there with the tide action.”

The effort ended a short time later, however, because, officials said, it was too dark to continue working in that remote stretch of beach.

Cleanup work crews were reduced Friday to about 600 people throughout the affected area, down from the more than 1,200 that had been working Thursday. Only three skimmers remained to take oil off the ocean service, whereas there had been dozens earlier in the week.

The oil, Alaskan crude, spilled from the tanker American Trader Feb. 7 after the ship’s own anchor gashed its hull in the waters off Huntington Beach.

Officials said, however, that they are keeping many cleanup workers on call over the weekend because there is a threat of rain. An Alaskan cold front that has been moving south this week is expected to arrive in the Southland, dumping as much as an inch of rain on the area.

That would be bad news for those concerned about keeping the oil-tainted seawater from leading to the environmentally sensitive Huntington Beach wetlands. Environmentalists and cleanup workers have been keeping a watchful eye on a temporary earthen dam built last week to keep the oily water from the mouth of the Santa Ana River, which leads to the wetlands. Officials decided to breach the dam to the Talbert Channel on Friday by lowering it four feet. This was done, they said, because any storm water could cause flooding upstream. But lowering the dam is a calculated risk to the wildlife on the other side of the marshlands that the dam was designed to protect.

“It’s a gamble,” said Gordon Smith, director of the Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy. “I’m concerned that if we have a really heavy storm, it will sweep the berm away. It could wash out completely and leave us exposed to a considerable amount of oil on the rocks.”

The spill has so far affected 14 miles of beach and forced closures of the entrances to the Newport and Huntington harbors in Orange County and the Long Beach Marina in Los Angeles County. Officials say some of the beaches along that 14-mile stretch will not reopen to the public until next month at the earliest.

“Right now, all we’ve been able to say is they’ll be open March 7,” Huntington Beach lifeguard Steve Reuter said. “Seal Beach is open, so if you want to surf, go to Seal Beach.”

Newport Beach Fire Department Capt. Ray Pendleton said, “If we allowed people back on the beaches, we’d have a problem with them trampling the oil into the sand.”

Pendleton also said visitors would be in the way of cleanup equipment still on the sands. “We don’t want to get someone run over by any of these front loaders.”

Coast Guard officials flew over the area several times Friday to survey the damage. They saw a light sheen extending from Huntington Beach to Reef Point near Corona del Mar, they said. The slick was concentrated in an area about two miles south of Huntington Beach, although fingers of oil spread out from that spot.

Of the three skimmers, one was working off Reef Point and two others were moving between Huntington Beach and Newport Beach.

“It’s real light,” Coast Guard Petty Officer Carolyn Feldman said of the oil. “They’re just trying to pick up what they can.”

The sheen indicates a very light transparent oil, officials said. Such a light layer is difficult for the skimmers to pick up.

Officials also said that “extra-light oil” is still washing up on Bolsa Chica State Beach and that there continues to be “light contamination” from the Santa Ana River in Huntington Beach to 55th Street in Newport Beach.

Feldman said her office has received dozens of calls asking whether the cruise, whale-watching and fishing boats still inside the booms would be allowed to go out during the weekend, she said. The answer, so far, is no. However, the entrances to the Alamitos Bay and the San Gabriel River between Seal Beach and Long Beach were reopened Thursday.

Feldman advised that boaters listen to radio reports on Marine Channel 22 for updated information.

Although the cleanup crews have been scaled back, Huntington Beach Mayor Tom Mays said at a press briefing Friday morning that “this disaster is far from over.” He predicted there will be several more weeks of cleanup work.

At the briefing with Mays was State Controller Gray Davis, who called on Gov. George Deukmejian to declare a disaster. The governor said earlier in the week that private efforts have been so successful in cleaning up the spill that there is no need to declare a disaster.

“I cannot believe he has not shown the interest or the compassion or the humanity to drive 15 minutes down here from his home in Long Beach to see the situation,” Davis said.

Tony Kozlowski, a spokesman for British Petroleum, whose oil the tanker was carrying, said the remaining work crews are concentrating their efforts along the shores of Newport Beach.

Kozlowski said there were 270 crew members working in Newport Beach, 90 in the area between the Santa Ana River and Newland Street in Huntington Beach, 35 at the mouth of the Santa Ana River and 75 at Crystal Cove just south of Huntington Beach. The remainder were scattered in other areas.

Kozlowski also said Friday that the cleanup has cost the company about $10 million so far.

Pete Weisser of the state Fish and Game Department said that 224 birds were killed because of the spill but that 384 have been rescued.

Federal officials have been looking at the episode to determine whether criminal charges should be filed. Coast Guard Cmdr. Scott Porter said Justice Department representatives have been visiting the area all week to get updates on the various investigations into the incident.