Tar Washes Ashore at Zuma Beach

Large globs of tar washed ashore today at Zuma Beach, and samples of the pancake-sized petroleum were to be tested for their source.

Los Angeles County lifeguards reported seeing the black substance at the high tide line just after sunrise. Surfers reported the highest concentration of goo was near Tower 2, just west of Point Dume.

Workers from the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors raked the sand and removed it in the morning. The beach was not closed.

Coast Guard oil spill specialists assumed command of the scene, and called in wildlife experts from the state and federal governments and county health experts.

A Coast Guard official in Los Angeles said samples of the oil were collected by state wildlife officials and were to go to Sacramento for chemical analysis.

The oil came five days after globs began washing ashore 25 miles up the coast in Ventura, and 10 days after large amounts of similar globs caused an 11- mile stretch of beaches on the southern part of Santa Monica Bay to be closed for cleanup.

Tests were underway to determine if that oil was related to the spill of about 21,000 gallons of crude oil from a pipeline at Refugio Beach, 10 miles west of Santa Barbara, on May 19.

Oil also washed ashore at Ventura and Oxnard Friday, prompting hazmat crews to rake the beaches there. Plains All American Pipeline, which owns the broken pipeline near Refugio, sent crews to Oxnard out of what the company said was an abundance of caution.

Officials had predicted the Refugio oil would not spread as far east as Santa Barbara harbor. It is not unusual for oil to wash ashore in Southern California, from natural oil seeps in the ocean floor, or from passing ships.

No results on any of the chemical analysis has been released.

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City News Service

Photo: file photo of South Bay oil balls, courtesy of Los Angeles County Lifeguards

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