LAGUNA BEACH : Tar Balls Prompt Oil Spill Rumors
Small clusters of tar have washed ashore on Main Beach over the past few days, causing no serious environmental problems but triggering false reports of an oil spill, according to lifeguards here.
“I’ve gotten four or five calls today about this (rumor),” Main Beach lifeguard Jeff Jerger said Friday. He added that there had been no reports of any petroleum accidents at sea or other oil spills.
“There’s no oil slick,” Jerger said. “The only thing that has happened is that these tar balls are coming in. There are just little bits here and there.”
Tar balls often form in Southern California waters. Petroleum under the ocean floor sometimes oozes out, rising to the ocean surface in small, sticky gobs, which then wash ashore, Jerger said.
Jerger said the tar balls at Main Beach have caused “no real, major problem.” At worst, he said, the gobs of tar are a nuisance for swimmers who step on them, he said.
The beaches remained open Friday and there was no threat of closure, he said.
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