A huge oil spill off the coast of California has killed local wildlife and is threatening to damage nearby wetlands. A mammoth clean-up effort involving many volunteers is still ongoing.
The leak was first reported on Saturday 2 October, and was thought to have been caused by a leak in a pipeline that connects an offshore oil rig to the Californian coast, approximately 65 km from Los Angeles.
The areas of Huntington Beach and the nearby Talbert Marsh wetlands are home to many bird species, including pelicans, great blue herons and the endangered Californian least tern.
It has been estimated that at least 480,000 litres of crude oil has leaked out of a break in the pipeline, about 8 kilometres from the shore. Clean-up efforts have been intense, and are expected to continue for weeks, and 32 km of beaches in the area have been closed to swimmers and surfers.
This is the largest spill in the area since 1990, when an oil tanker ran aground and released 1.6 million litres of crude oil that killed many fish and birds.
3 October 2021
Huntington Beach lifeguards keep people out of the water while cleanup boat crews put booms around the oil slick. Crews raced to contain the damage from the spill off the Orange County coast that left crude spoiling beaches, killing fish and birds and threatening local wetlands. Photo byAllen J Schaben/Los Angeles Times/Getty ImagesOil is washed up on the sand of Huntington State Beach, forcing the closure of the Great Pacific Airshow, with authorities urging people to avoid beaches in the vicinity. Photo by Nick Ut/Getty ImagesA close-up image of oil flowing through the Talbert Channel, gathering on an absorption boom that helps stop the flow into the ecologically sensitive Talbert Marsh. Photo byAllen J Schaben/Los Angeles Times/Getty ImagesOil globules line the beach from the incoming tide while a major oil spill washes ashore on the border of Huntington Beach and Newport Beach at the Santa Ana River Jetties.Photo by Allen J Schaben/Los Angeles Times/Getty ImagesOil floating in the water, right, from an oil spill from an offshore rig is contained behind booms near the inlet at Talbert Marsh Wetlands in Huntington Beach. Photo by Leonard Ortiz/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register/Getty ImagesA boat tows a boom that will act as a barrier in an attempt to contain the oil spill on Huntington Beach. Photo byAllen J Schaben/Los Angeles Times/Getty ImagesA warning sign is posted near oil washed up on Huntington State Beach warning of the large oil spill from an offshore oil platform on 3 October 2021 in Huntington Beach, California, USA. Photo by Sefa Degirmenci/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
This aerial picture shows environmental response crews cleaning up oil that flowed near the Talbert marsh and Santa Ana River mouth, creating a sheen on the water. Talbert Marsh is a 10 hectare (25 acre) wetland reserve that serves as a rest stop for migrating birds as they head south for the winter. Photo by Patrick T Fallon/AFP/Getty ImagesCleanup crews spread out across the beach as they begin cleaning up oil in the sand on Huntington State Beach. Photo by Allen J Schaben/Los Angeles Times/Getty ImagesA bird eats a dead fish on the beach. Photo by Patrick T Fallon/AFP/Getty ImagesAn aerial view of the patterns of water pollution after the oil spill polluted the Santa Ana River-mouth on the border of Huntington Beach and Newport Beach. Photo by Allen J Schaben/Los Angeles Times/Getty ImagesA worker with Patriot Environmental Services mops up oil at Talbert Marsh in Huntington Beach. Photo by Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register/Getty ImagesAn aerial view of booms placed to help stop the oil spill from spreading further into the Talbert Marsh in Huntington Beach. Photo by Allen J Schaben/Los Angeles Times/Getty ImagesBolsa Chica State Beach, north of Huntington Beach, is closed as a beach-cleaning volunteer helps to clean oil from the sand.Photo by Ron Lyon/ZUMA Press Wire/ShutterstockDr Duane Tom, of Oiled Wildlife Care Network, UC Davis, inspects an oiled Sanderling shorebird at the Wildlife & Wetlands Center in Huntington Beach. Photo by Allen J Schaben/Los Angeles Times/Getty ImagesEnvironmental volunteers continue cleanup oil and residue that has washed ashore at Bolsa Chica State Beach. The pipeline oil spill has resulted in beach closures along a twenty mile stretch of Orange County.Photo by Ron Lyon/ZUMA Press Wire/ShutterstockAn aerial view of shorebirds feeding amidst the oil spill on Huntington State Beach. Photo by Allen J Schaben/Los Angeles Times/Getty ImagesCleanup crews spread out across the beach as they begin cleaning up oil in the sand. Photo byAllen J Schaben/Los Angeles Times/Getty ImagesBooms float in the Talbert Marsh as workers try to limit the spread of oil from the spill. Photo by Jeff Gritchen/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register/Getty ImagesA worker in a protective suit cleans oil in the Talbert Marsh wetlands. Photo by Mario Tama/Getty ImagesCleanup workers in protective suits prepare to depart the closed Huntington State Beach as a storm approaches. Photo by Mario Tama/Getty ImagesWork crews finish for the day after cleaning oil from Bolsa Chica State Beach, north of Huntington Beach, California, USA. Photo by Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images
5 October 2021
An aerial view of environmental oil spill cleanup crews picking up oil chucks off the beach. Photo by Allen J Schaben/Los Angeles Times /Getty ImagesAn environmental oil spill cleanup crew member uses a net to collect chucks of oil from Huntington Dog Beach. Photo by Allen J Schaben/Los Angeles Times /Getty ImagesContainer ships and an oil derrick are visible on the horizon as environmental oil spill cleanup crews search the beach, cleaning up oil as they go.Photo by Allen J Schaben/Los Angeles Times /Getty ImagesMembers of a Coast Guard flight crew look out of the rear hatch of an airplane as it flies over the Orange County coastline in search of oil on the water. Photo by Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times/Getty ImagesWorkers clean oil from the sand south of the pier in Newport Beach, California, as two beachgoers watch on. Photo by Jeff Gritchen/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register/Getty Images
James Cutmore is the picture editor of BBC Science Focus Magazine. He has worked on the magazine and website for over a decade, telling compelling science stories through the use of striking imagery. He holds a degree in Fine Art, and has been nominated for the British Society of Magazine Editors Talent Awards, being highly commended in 2020. His main areas of interest include photography that highlights positive technology and the natural world. For many years he was a judge for the Wellcome Trust's image competition, as well as judging for the Royal Photographic Society.
TOPSHOT - This aerial picture taken on October 4, 2021 shows environmental response crews cleaning up oil that flowed near the Talbert marsh and Santa Ana River mouth, creating a sheen on the water after an oil spill in the Pacific Ocean in Huntington Beach, California. (Photo by Patrick T. FALLON / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)
