Beaches Looking ‘a Lot Better’ : Oil spill: Another mile-long stretch reopens in Newport. Officials in charge of cleanup say a much bigger area could be cleared for public use again by the weekend.

Authorities opened another mile of Orange County beach Tuesday, pronouncing it sufficiently swept of the crude that spilled from a punctured oil tanker two weeks ago. But most of the shoreline remained closed as crews continued to clean seaside jetties and unearth hidden pockets of oil-stained sand.

As the oil spill that smudged about 20 miles of coastline continued to ebb, officials began talking optimistically about having broad stretches of shoreline reopened by the weekend if the cleanup continues apace.

“We’re making good progress,” said Coast Guard Capt. James Card. “The beaches as a whole look a lot better than they did a week ago. In the next couple days there should be some more beaches opened up.”

About three miles of shoreline are open now in Newport Beach, while a stretch of nearly four miles of beach in the north half of the city remained closed. All of the oceanfront in Huntington Beach is still closed.

But remnants of the spill continued to hound some sections of the coast. Huntington Beach had light staining on about half a mile of shoreline straddling Beach Boulevard. Newport Beach reported some light oil sheen near the Santa Ana River, which was protected by an absorbent boom stretched across its mouth. Small tar balls were scattered randomly on the sand at Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach.

“Now we’re playing hide and seek with sections of oily sand,” said Jim Marino, a spokesman for British Petroleum, the firm that owned the oil that was spilled Feb. 7 from the tanker American Trader. “Our pledge is the same as it’s always been. We’ll be here as long as the oil is.”

Peter Leathard, president of Southwest VECO Inc., which supplied most of the crews for the beach cleanup operation, said Tuesday that the beaches are essentially oil-free. And he defended the decision to reduce the size of cleanup crews from more than 1,300 last week to the 320 working Tuesday.

“Everything that I hear indicates that this spill is under control and that the beaches are in good shape,” he said. “We have completely wound down.”

But the number of birds affected by the spill continued to grow. By Tuesday afternoon, 370 had been found dead, and another 444 oil-stained birds had been treated at wildlife rescue centers set up during the spill.

Meanwhile, the investigation of the accident continued, focusing on how the ship impaled itself on its own anchor while it tried to moor at an offshore oil-pipeline berth about 1 1/3 miles off Huntington Beach. Some authorities have speculated that the ocean in the area may be shallower than indicated on navigational charts, allowing the ship to hit the anchor as it rested on the sea bottom.

Officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Tuesday completed their first full day of a survey to measure the ocean depth at the site of the spill.

The navigational charts, which show a minimum ocean depth of 51 feet in the vicinity, have not been updated since 1975. Lt. Cmdr. Samuel P. DeBow Jr., of NOAA, said a number of factors, including unreported boat wrecks and shifting sand, could have created underwater obstructions since that time.

The NOAA survey is expected to be completed Friday, but then the data will have to be adjusted for tidal patterns before being submitted to Coast Guard officials for their investigation into the spill.

Tuesday’s survey efforts were marred by electronic interference between the NOAA boat and another survey boat working in the area at the same time, DeBow said.

Both boats were using the same type of electronic equipment to ascertain their position in relation to the oil spill, DeBow said. The resulting interference made it difficult for the NOAA boat to determine its exact position, rendering it unable to accurately perform the measurements it needed, he said.

The problem was resolved by Tuesday afternoon when the private vessel Sea Watch, on contract to a Santa Fe Springs refinery where the spilled load of crude was headed, finished its work and left the area at the request of NOAA. DeBow estimated the survey would be delayed about one day because of the problem.

Meanwhile, state and federal officials gave the green light to employ a system that uses warm sea water to wash off oil-stained rock jetties, Newport Beach Fire Capt. Ray Pendleton said. Absorbent wrap is placed at the base of the rocks to ensure that the oil-tinged water does not flow back into the sea.

The warm-water wash, which was tested on a stretch of jetty in Newport Beach, is “the most expeditious and environmentally sound way of removing the oil,” Pendleton said.

Officials ruled out high-temperature steam cleaning equipment, which was used to clean rocks after the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, because of its potentially harmful effects on sea creatures lurking amid the rocks.

With areas tainted by the oil spill continuing to diminish, Newport Beach city officials decided to open the beach south from the Newport Harbor jetty through the city limit in Corona Del Mar, Pendleton said.

On Monday, city officials opened a stretch of sand between the west harbor jetty and 15th Street, the first to open since the spill closed sections of shoreline from Seal Beach to Laguna Beach.

Even as the beach heals, several agencies are pressing ahead with inquiries into the spill.

Officials with the State Lands Commission said Tuesday that the agency, which oversees the uses of state lands including leases for 16 offshore tanker moorings, plans to hold a formal inquiry at Huntington Beach City Hall during early March.

Robert C. Hight, chief counsel for the commission, said the agency wants to call witnesses in an attempt to assess the cleanup operation, environmental impacts and what can be done in the future to improve the emergency response to oil spills.

During the one-day hearing, the commission staff plans to call witnesses from British Petroleum, ship owner American Trading Transportation Co., private oil spill cleanup operations such as Clean Coastal Waters, and a host of state and federal agencies that have been assigned to the oil spill.

Meanwhile, the Laguna Beach City Council unanimously endorsed two pieces of pending state and federal legislation to toughen penalties for oil spills and provide more money for cleanup efforts.

Federal oil spill legislation would require tankers to have double hulls and establish stringent protections against oil spills. The state measure would mandate more extensive tanker safety measures and inspections, create a corporate-financed superfund for oil spill cleanup and require stiff fines and criminal penalties for spills.

Times staff writers Jim Newton and Dan Weikel contributed to this report with Wendy Paulson and Leslie Herzog.

Beach Cleanup The oil spill cleanup continued winding down Tuesday as another mile of Orange County beach opened. Of 20 miles stained by crude, three are now open and more may be opened by the weekend. Clea1853190176 Huntington Beach Beach still closed from Anaheim Bay in Seal Beach to 15th Street in Newport Beach. Newport Beach Containment booms also placed across entrance to Upper Newport Bay. Containment booms have not been removed from mouth of Santa Ana River. Corona Del Mar Beach open from 15th Street in Newport Beach down to southern end of spill area at Crystal Cove State Beach.