A roughly 2.5-mile-long oil sheen has been spotted off the coast of Huntington Beach and the U.S. Coast Guard and other state agencies were working to determine the source Friday but Long Beach officials don’t believe it will affect city beaches.
The city released a statement Friday afternoon saying that multiple departments were monitoring the situation but based on current weather conditions the oil sheen was not expected to affect local waterways in Long Beach.
The sheen was first detected Thursday evening about 1.5 miles off the coast of Huntington Beach, according to a release from the Coast Guard. The agency’s Pollution Responders are investigating the spill but haven’t determined its source.
The sheen spans about 2.5 miles and is roughly 2.8 miles off the coast of Huntington Beach near platforms Emmy and Eva.
“We’re not sure what it is, if it’s coming from natural seepage or if it came from the platform,” said Richard Uranga, a Coast Guard spokesperson; the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Spill Prevention is also investigating the sheen.
Uranga could not immediately say who owns and operates those platforms but said the operator is working with investigators.
Platform Eva is the closest to Long Beach and sits just south of Bolsa Chica State Beach. It’s unclear if normal tidal activity would push the sheen toward Long Beach but there have already been some reports of tar balls spotted in Huntington Beach, although authorities are unsure if those are tied to the sheen.
In 2021, multiple oil incidents were reported off the coast of Huntington Beach with the largest leak in October of that year being linked to a leaking pipeline that carried crude oil to a processing plant in Long Beach.
The leak resulted in about 25,000 gallons of oil being released into the ocean through the ruptured pipeline that was owned by AmplifyEnergy Corp. In April, a federal judge finalized a $50 million class action settlement between AmplifyEnergy and fishers, property owners and the city’s tourism industry.
AmplifyEnergy issued a statement Friday saying it doesn’t believe the oil sheen is connected to its operations.
“At this time, we have no indication that this sheen is related to our operations,” the statement said. “We will continue to cooperate with the U.S. Coast Guard and other relevant authorities and provide support in any way we can.”
Reporter Alicia Robinson also contributed to this story.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify the title of Richard Uranga, who is a U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson and with additional information from the city of Long Beach.