California Beaches Reopen After Oil Spill
Newsy
Officials in Huntington Beach are still warning people to stay away from areas that smell of oil and not to touch anything that has oil on it.
A Southern California beach that was closed more than a week ago because of a leak of crude oil from an undersea pipeline reopened Monday, far sooner than many expected.
City and state beaches in Huntington Beach reopened after water quality tests revealed no detectable levels of oil associated toxins in the ocean water. Early Monday morning, surfers bobbed in the waves and people walked along the shoreline, some with dogs jumping and playing in the water.
The reopening came after weekend visitor Richard Beach returned to the waves in Huntington Beach with his bodyboard — until lifeguards on jet skis chased him out on Sunday. He trekked back across the beach, passing workers in hazmat suits tasked with clearing the sand of sticky, black blobs that washed ashore after the spill.
