Balls of what appear to be oil wash up ashore Los Angeles beaches. Photo: Lori Bently/KNBC
For the second time in as many weeks oil has been found along California beaches. This time it’s a stretch of beach between Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach, two towns to the southwest of Los Angeles, that has been closed down after an oil slick washed ashore.
Small globs of what’s believed to be oil were spotted from The Strand, a boardwalk that stretches across the area, midday Wednesday. A US Coast Guard officer described the substance as oil patties or oil balls, while lifeguards, the L.A. County Department of Beaches and Harbors and other agencies work to collect samples and determine the exact substance as well as its source. As of early Wednesday evening it hadn’t been determined if the slick has any connection to last week’s spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, if it’s the result of a new spill nearby, or just a natural occurrence.
