Shop owners hope business will bounce back quickly, but they fear it could take longer. In Huntington Beach, shops selling everything from bikinis to stars-and-stripes boogie boards to sand toys and fishing gear have taken an economic hit since the spill. His skin, even now, is still itching, he said. 2, when he said he wound up in an oil slick. Rinehart headed out to surf but said he decided not to go in after the smell of dead fish near the pier gave him pause. Still, there were far fewer people in the ocean than usual, said Sean Rinehart, a 49-year-old surf instructor and chef from Huntington Beach. Surfers in wetsuits jogged to the shore carrying their boards, eager to return to the waves, some after being shooed away over the weekend by lifeguards on jet skis. On an overcast Monday, a handful of people played volleyball and residents walked, jogged and biked on a path along the beach. Officials have said the cause remains under investigation, and they believe the pipeline was likely damaged by a ship’s anchor several months to a year before it ruptured.
2, a day after residents reported a petroleum smell in the area. The shoreline in nearby Newport Beach also was reopened Monday after water quality testing revealed no unhealthful levels of oil-related toxins, said John Pope, a city spokesman.Ĭoast Guard officials said a pipeline owned by Houston-based Amplify Energy that shuttles crude from offshore platforms to the coast leaked at least about 25,000 gallons (95,000 liters) and no more than 132,000 gallons (500,000 liters) of crude oil into the ocean. The environmental impact on sensitive wetland habitats has been less severe than initially feared, but advocates say they are concerned about the long-term effects of the spill. The ocean has been closed, a popular air show canceled, fisheries shuttered and local shops have been walloped. This surf-loving city of 200,000 people and nearby coastal communities have been reeling from the spill. It’s like, you know, if somebody was a jogger or something. “There’s lots of guys out, so I figure it’s probably alright, and I guess they tested it,” Boyack said, while rinsing off at an outdoor beach shower. That was good enough for Andrew Boyack, a 54-year-old commercial photographer, who usually surfs the waves in his hometown three or four times a week but has stayed out since the spill. The reopening of Huntington Beach - dubbed “Surf City USA” - came far sooner than many expected after a putrid smell blanketed the coast and blobs of crude began washing ashore.Ĭity and state park officials decided to reopen the shoreline in Huntington Beach after water quality tests revealed no detectable levels of oil-associated toxins in the ocean. (AP) - Surfers and swimmers returned to the waves Monday at a popular Southern California beach that was shut for more than a week after an undersea pipeline leaked crude oil into the ocean.