Investigators are looking into the possibility that a ship’s anchor may have been the cause of a massive oil leak off the coast of Huntington Beach, California that has already dumped 126,000 gallons of heavy crude into the ocean, the Associated Press reports.
The company that runs the pipeline and three oil platforms offshore, Amplify Energy, said that it hired divers to inspect more than 8,000 feet of pipeline to identify the location and the cause of the leak. The leak is located at an area cargo ships transit going in and out of the ports at Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Environmentalists are heartened by reports that wildlife seems to have been largely spared by the oil spill. Only four birds have been found contaminated; three of them were cleaned but one as put down. State officials say the popular beaches at Huntington Beach and Long Beach will be closed for weeks, possibly months, to facilitate cleaning.