The oil had already killed or poisoned untold numbers of birds, fish and mammals, despoiling their habitat for perhaps years to come.
The stench of petroleum permeated the air of Huntington Beach’s Talbert Marsh on Sunday as crews in small boats and sealed inside protective uniforms heaved absorbent pads laden with oil as thick as brownie mix into plastic bags.
By 10 a.m., a rainbow sheen of oil and gooey patches 6 feet across were backing up against yellow booms installed at seven locations to facilitate cleanup and preserve the wetlands that remain a critical link along the migratory bird route called the Pacific Flyway, which birds travel from North America to South America.
“When are people going to wake up and realize that drilling offshore of Southern California is crazy?” he grumbled.An oil slick believed to have originated from a pipeline leak has hit Huntington Beach, closing a stretch of beach and raising grave wildlife and environmental concerns. Orange County firefighters deployed floating barriers known as booms to try to stop further incursion into the waterways. But the oil had already killed or poisoned untold numbers of birds, fish and mammals, despoiling their habitat for perhaps years to come.
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