Crews Mop Up 10,000-Gallon Oil Leak in Flood Channel

Cleanup crews skimmed light-crude oil from a Long Beach flood control channel Tuesday, a day after an estimated 10,000 gallons of petroleum seeped from a ruptured pipeline and endangered wildlife in the area.

Soaking up the spill and vacuuming it into oil tanker trucks became the top priority after several booms set up along Los Cerritos Channel contained the black ooze Monday, authorities said.

Only a small amount of oil has passed the southernmost boom at Atherton Street, where the paved portion of the waterway ends and an estuary begins that carries runoff toward Alamitos Bay, Long Beach Fire Capt. James Watson said.

Officials from several agencies aiding the cleanup said they had not determined why Arco’s 68-year-old pipeline, inactive for several months, cracked near Spring Street and Clark Avenue about 6 a.m. Monday.

An Arco spokesman said the company has acknowledged responsibility for the spill and will pay all cleanup costs.

Workers also spent the day scrubbing and caring for more than two dozen birds, most of them young mallard ducks caught wading in the oily channel, officials from the state Department of Fish and Game said.

Chief Shawn Lootens of the Coast Guard’s Marine Environmental Protection Division expressed concern that more fowl could become soiled.

“All the oil is contained, but that doesn’t mean birds can’t land on it,” he said.

More than 100 workers have joined the cleanup since oil from the 10-inch diameter pipe surfaced next to a Spring Street gutter and residents reported a strong petroleum odor.

Fire, city and Coast Guard crews responding to the calls excavated the site and found a three-foot crack along one of several pipelines that run along the street. It was determined to be Arco’s line from Huntington Beach to a South Bay refinery when other oil companies shut off their flows and the ooze continued, Arco spokesman John Thom said.