A massive oil spill off Southern California has local officials bracing for an 'environmental catastrophe' as the Coast Guard races to clean up the leaked heavy crude oil and prevent it from further infiltrating the region's fragile marshlands.
has local officials bracing for an "environmental catastrophe" as the Coast Guard races to clean up the leaked heavy crude oil and prevent it from further infiltrating the region's fragile marshlands.
"We've already seen oiled fish and birds wash up on shore," said Laura Deehan, the state director of Environment California, a nonprofit organization that lobbies for environmental legislation. "We know that when this thick, goopy oil gets into places, it's really hard to clean up."into the Pacific Ocean on Sunday, affecting nearly 25 miles of the coastline in Orange County from Dana Point to Huntington Beach.
Local officials said Sunday that oil seeped into Talbert Marsh, a 25-acre wetlands reserve that is one in a chain of marshes along Huntington Beach. Talbert Marsh is a crucial rest stop for thousands of birds as they migrate south over the winter, and it is home to around 90 species of birds throughout the year.
Inlets to the marshes are closed to prevent more contaminated saltwater from seeping in. Villa said the channels will eventually need to be reopened for life in the habitats to survive."If we don't get that saltwater coming in, then plants and animals are going to start dying in the water, because the water won't have enough oxygen in it," he said.
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