Beach, Harbors Open as Traces of Oil Slick Fade

With all but the last traces of Alaskan crude oil out of Orange County’s coastal waters, local governments took their first steps toward normalcy Monday, opening about two miles of beach and the channels into Newport Harbor, Huntington Harbor and Anaheim Bay.

Shortly after 2 p.m., the first boat in nearly two weeks to set sail from Newport passed through the harbor entrance and out to sea. Anaheim Bay was opened 30 minutes later and the harbor shortly after that.

Word of the beach reopenings spread slowly from the northwestern breakwater of Newport Harbor to 15th Street in Newport Beach, but by late afternoon about 100 people gathered near the shore in Newport to walk the sands and survey the progress of the cleanup.

“I’m relieved at this point to see that it’s not worse,” said Debi Layne, 36, of Newport Beach. Still, she added: “I wouldn’t go in it. I don’t think I’ll let him (her 9-year-old son, Chaz) go in it for six months.”

Some beaches, such as those in Huntington Beach and Bolsa Chica, will remain closed for at least a few more days. But others may open as early as today, and officials boasted that the cleanup efforts from the Feb. 7 oil spill are now well in hand.

“It looks pretty good from Huntington down to Newport,” said U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Tim Rowe. “The beaches look clean, and things are starting to reopen.”

Beaches and harbors along a 15-mile stretch of Orange County coastline have been closed for nearly two weeks, since the tanker American Trader punctured its hull with its own anchor while approaching an offshore oil pipeline off Huntington Beach. The accident dumped 394,000 gallons of oil into the ocean, and forced officials to launch a cleanup effort that included 1,300 workers at its height.

By Monday, the cleanup crews were down to 200 workers, and state, local and federal officials monitoring the slick agreed that the effort had paid off.

“The beach looks clean, the water looks clean. What we’re talking about at this point is a little spotting,” said Dennis Williams, an information officer for Huntington Beach.

Meanwhile, officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration began their effort to measure the ocean depth at the site of the spill so Coast Guard investigators can determine the accuracy of navigational charts for the area. Those charts have not been re-surveyed since 1975, and their accuracy is a central point in the Coast Guard’s investigation of the oil spill.

The charts for the area indicate a minimum depth of 51 feet at low tide. The American Trader, which was fully loaded at the time of the accident, had a draft of 43 feet when it approached the mooring, according to officials from American Trading Transportation Co., which owns the ship.

“I would like to find out how deep the water is,” Coast Guard Capt. James C. Card, the federal on-scene coordinator for the cleanup, said during a press briefing at the Coast Guard Marine Safety Office in Long Beach. “All I have on the depth is what is on the chart.”

The American Trader, which left Long Beach Harbor on Sunday, steamed for San Francisco, where it will be dry-docked and its hull repaired. The 811-foot tanker, now empty, is scheduled to arrive at the shipyard Wednesday or Thursday.

Times staff writers Jim Carlton, Wendy Paulson, Shannon Sands and Michelle Nicolosi contributed to this report.