California investigators seek source of mystery oil spill

By: TIM MOLLOY - Associated Press | Thursday, January 20, 2005 9:43 PM PST ∞

LOS ANGELES -- Investigators are testing oil wiped from the slick bodies of birds in an attempt to determine the origin of a mysterious oil spill somewhere between Venice and Santa Barbara County.

More than 1,100 birds have been brought to the Los Angeles Oiled Bird Care and Education Center in San Pedro, and a sea lion was taken to a nearby marine mammal center.

Possible sources of the spill include pipes broken in mudslides, natural seepage exacerbated by seismic activity, or even cars and trucks submerged in floods, officials said.

"We've done several overflights. We haven't been able to find any source at all," said Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer Lance Jones.

Finding a source is especially difficult because there doesn't seem to be one spot in the water with a high concentration of oil. State wildlife officials were only tipped off to the problem when oil-coated birds were found on shore.

"Unlike a lot of spills, there isn't a big oil slick out in the bay," said Dana Michaels, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Fish and Game's Office of Spill Prevention and Response. "This is a real mystery."

A total of 1,141 live birds had been taken to the center in San Pedro. Of those, 366 died or were humanely euthanized, Michaels said.

The center also received 246 dead birds, all of which were "visibly oiled," Michaels said.

At the center's cleaning stations, volunteers patiently wash them with soap and scrub them clean with toothbrushes.

Most of the birds at the center are Western grebes, which are hard to clean because they are sensitive to being handled. Grebes, which live entirely on the water and build nests out of floating debris, are slender black-and-white birds, usually about 2 feet long, with long necks and long, pointed bills.

Rescuers have also found 13 endangered brown pelicans -- large, stocky diving birds that are about 4 feet long. They were to be taken to Sea World in San Diego for further treatment.

Investigators are intrigued by the timing of the spill, which coincided with heavy rains and mudslides.

"It could just be from the heavy runoff that washed dirt down and maybe old oil that was spilled from production sites or some really old wells," Michaels said.

A mudslide in Ventura County broke a pipeline and released an estimated 1,050 gallons of oil, said Michaels, who noted that early estimates are often wrong in oil spills.

The company that runs the pipeline shut it down, but that rendered its sensors incapable of detecting any other spills, Michaels said.

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