Spill Carries Mix of Oil, Water Into Sea Channel

A pipeline carrying water laced with crude oil sprung a leak Thursday morning near Los Angeles Harbor, creating a 15-foot-wide oil slick in the Dominguez Channel before workers could shut off the flow, authorities said.

About 10 barrels--520 gallons--of liquid from a water injection pipeline owned by Union Pacific Resources leaked onto the ground on Henry Ford Avenue, spilled into a sewer and coursed out into the channel, according to a spokesman for the Los Angeles City Fire Department. The oil that went into the channel amounted to about a gallon’s worth, according to a Union Pacific spokesman.

Firefighters were called to the scene after Union Pacific workers detected a drop in pressure in the pipeline and found the leak about 10:30 a.m., officials said. Firefighters helped workers turn off the pipeline and set a boom around the oil slick. A cleanup crew was expected to remove the oil by late Thursday.