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Oil Spill Threatens North County Beaches

By Ed Joyce / Reporter,  KPBS Public Broadcasting
Published June 1, 2007 at 12:50 PM PDT
This story was published more than 17 years ago.

Several popular North San Diego County beaches are closed because of a fuel spill. The spill was spotted five miles off the Encinitas coast yesterday and is now close to beaches. The Coast Guard is in

Oil Spill Threatens North County Beaches

(Photo: Todd LeVeck-Malmi )

Several popular North San Diego County beaches are closed because of a fuel spill. The spill was spotted five miles off the Encinitas coast yesterday and is now close to beaches. The Coast Guard is investigating the source of the spill. KPBS environmental reporter Ed Joyce has more on cleanup efforts.

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The Coast Guard says the slick is about one mile wide and four miles long. The spill, estimated at between 500 and 1,000 gallons, is about 100 yards from the shoreline between Leucadia and Encinitas.

Coast Guard Lieutenant Jereme Altendorf says it's most likely diesel fuel. He says crews are now using oil booms to collect and absorb the petroleum-based spill.   And ocean vegetation is helping too.

Altendorf: The kelp beds are acting as a natural block to the shoreline and with the tide coming in it managed to coalesce and collect there.

He says crews will work until sunset. Altendorf says some of the fuel has reached the shore. A San Diego County Haz-Mat team works that end of the cleanup. But what people notice most is the smell.

Encinitas Lifeguard Robert Veria says fumes from the spill are drifting on shore and in the city.

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Veria: Petroleum products are not a very good thing to ingest, it's not a good thing to get in your eyes, breathe in, get on your skin. So basically water contact as long as this is in the water is our primary concern. What's more disturbing I think for most folks is that it actually has a fume and at times the fume can be very strong.

Short-term exposure to fumes can make people dizzy, but there's no reports of anyone becoming sick. Beaches from Leucadia to South Encinitas are closed, including Grandview, Beacon's and Moonlight Beach. The beaches are expected to remain closed through tomorrow.

The Coast Guard says they expect minimal effects on wildlife. The oily sheen on the water was reported yesterday morning by a boater. The Coast Guard is checking records to identify which ships were nearby over the past two days. The spill also caused the cancellation of a surf contest tomorrow at Moonlight Beach.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce
Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.
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