Multiple agencies are investigating the cause of an oil spill off of the coast of Huntington Beach following reports of tar balls washing ashore on the sands of Dog Beach. Hetty Chang reports for the NBC4 News on March 8, 2024.
State officials are investigating an oil spill off the coast of Huntington Beach Friday morning.
Investigators from the California Governor’s Office Emergency Services filed a hazardous materials spill report, detailing an overflow of petroleum coming from an offshore platform belonging to Beta Offshore.
Beta Offshore operates three oil platforms in federal waters off the coast of Long Beach, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior.
A Unified Command consisting of the U.S. Coast Guard, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's Office of Spill Prevention and Response and the Orange County Sheriff's Department confirmed Platform Elly, which is owned by Beta Offshore, was where the "discharged of produced water" was reported. But the United Command said the investigation into the cause was still ongoing.
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"Still, the characteristics of the produced water from Platform Elly do not align with what was observed from the sheen. At this time, we do not believe the sheen and the discharge are related.''
The state’s report also noted that once the petroleum leak was detected Thursday night, Beta Offshore shut down the line and deployed a boat to check for an oil sheen.
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The Coast Guard confirmed the report, saying the Orange County Sheriff’s Department located a sheen of 1.5 miles off of Huntington Beach. The sheen is 2 to 2.5 miles long.
Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley also confirmed the oil spill report, posting on social media that she was informed by an emergency response team.
In response, Amplify Energy, which owns Beta Offshore, released the statement, saying it is aware of reports of the oil sheen.
"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."
This story has been updated to reflected the latest information from investigators.
