Massive Oil Spill Washes Up on Southern California's Beaches

California beaches in Northern Orange County were closed and wetlands contaminated by a huge oil spill caused by a broken pipeline off the coast, local authorities warned today.

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About 3,000 barrels of oil leaked from the pipeline and washed up on beaches and wetlands in Huntington Beach, a popular spot for Southern California surfers and beach goers. The beach's ocean and shoreline have been closed indefinitely, the city said in a statement Sunday.

Beta Offshore Co., which operates three offshore oil platforms in the area, is responsible for the spill and is working on repairs and cleanup, and on Sunday “we began to find dead birds and fish on the shore,” the Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley tweeted.

The slick — which has already made landfall — extended for about 10 kilometers between the Huntington Beach pier and Newport Beach, whose residents were advised to stay away from beaches due to toxicity.

This “could last for weeks or months,” Huntington Beach Mayor Kim Carr told the media, regretting the “potential ecological disaster.”