Nearly seven miles of popular Los Angeles coastline remain closed Friday after mysterious balls of oil — some as large as footballs — began washing ashore Wednesday.
The substance was first spotted around 10 a.m. on Wednesday by lifeguards at Manhattan Beach, though officials are unsure exactly when the balls began washing ashore. Cleanup crews were dispatched, and worked into Thursday night to clean the beaches. They hope that the cleaning will be complete in time to reopen the beaches for the weekend. As of Friday, officials reported no new balls had been seen on the shore.
The origin of the substance — thought to be oil or tar balls — remains unknown. Officials aren’t ruling anything out — the balls could be coming from a nearby refinery, offshore oil tanker or the Santa Barbara oil spill last week, a disaster that sent up to 101,000 gallons of oil into the ocean and surrounding environment. Coast Guard and state officials collected samples of the tar and water, hoping to run tests in order to figure out where it came from, but they note that the results of those tests could take days.
The Coast Guard did not find evidence of a potential spill from the nearby oil tanker. Tar balls can happen naturally, and some locals told NBC News that they had seen a substance like this on the beaches before, though never in this amount. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), tar balls can also happen after oil spills, when wind causes the oil slick to break up and mix with water, forming a sticky, pudding-like substance. For years after the BP oil spill, locals reported finding tar balls along Gulf Coast beaches.
Officials judged the amount of oil to be around one or two barrels — a tiny amount compared to the Santa Barbara spill that created a 10-square-mile slick of oil. In Los Angeles County, the affected area is about 30 cubic yards, according to the Associated Press.
Still, officials warned the public of health risks associated with the oil balls, cautioning that contact with petroleum products can irritate the skin and cause long-term health issues. Beach-goers were barred from entering the water Thursday, though a few intrepid surfers attempted to dodge the ban before being asked to leave.
The the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has said that no wildlife has been harmed from the oil balls. The Santa Barbara oil spill, however, is still affecting sea lions, seals, birds, and other California wildlife.