a key witness gave false or misleading testimony. she went missing in 2001 and the case became a national sensation when a romance with then congressman gary condit was revealed. he was ruled out as a suspect. a popular southern california beach remains closed this morning. the latest stretch plagued by tar balls. workers are trying to clean up the goo awaiting tests to see if it came from last month s oil spill that was 100 miles away. more from brandi hitt. another southern california beach is shut down as tar washes ashore. the beach remains closed at this juncture. last week manhattan beach was hit, now long beach where the brown pelican was found covered in tar. cleanup crews have collected at least 55 gallons of the muck which is a much different consistency than the naturally occurring tar below that seeps from the ocean floor. this is what s causing us concern now. tests are underway to determine if this mess is tied to last month s oil spill in
the discovery of tar balls and clumps of oil on more beaches in southern california is prompting new concerns. beaches in ventura county have reopened after the u.s. coast guard and other agencies collected samples yesterday. officials are trying to figure out if the substance is related to the oil spill in santa barbara earlier this month. officials are also testing sample was nearby beaches that washed ashore this week. joining me now, chris richard, usa today s l.a. bureau chief. with a welcome back to the show what s the latest on the investigation into the accident? well, there s a lot of activity going on. it s a tough slog at this point. they ve recovered quite a number of birds and sea mammals that are under care at this point. and as you pointed out, they re investigating what s going on with these tar balls that are turning up in these beaches in ventura and then down in los angeles county at manhattan beach. they re still trying to discover the source of those. chris
have a huge oil spill to the north. do the tar balls like this appear all the time on southern california beaches? are they not related? they want to be absolutely sure. remember there s an area up there that s had oil seep certainly nothing on this scale. the state wildlife officials who i talked to yesterday indicated they re trying to be very careful in not trying to pinpoint blame at this point until they know for sure. yeah. look at this. if t does seem that there s activity going on with oil that wasn t happening on the beaches a month ago. absolutely. the coast guard, as you know, is defending itself big time after being criticized for not starting the cleanup process soon enough. plains all american, the company that owns the pipeline issued a press release last night outlining steps it had taken to remove the oil. first of all how much progress have maythey made? they have 1,400 workers now,
nearly seven miles of los angeles area beaches were closed today after a wave of tar balls washed ashore yesterday morning. the biggest chunks were the size of footballs. it s not unusual to find some tar along the beaches there. there are some natural seeps on the ocean floor. you about it s not usually this much tar. the source of these tar balls was described today in the local press as a mystery and it s being investigated, but there is the matter of the major oil spill that happened last week on the california coast near santa barbara when the oil pipeline burst and dumped out what the pipeline company says is about 100,000 gallons of crude. that leaked oil across 10 square miles of oceans, but that still happened 100 miles north of where this gunk washed up today in l.a.
$80 a month. for 10 gigs. and $15 per line. stop by or visit us online. and save without settling. only on verizon. nearly seven mielgs of los angeles area beaches were closed today after a wave of tar balls washed ashore yesterday morning. the biggest chunks were the size of footballs. it s not unusual to find some tar along the beaches there. there are some natural seeps on the ocean floor. you about it s not usually this much tar. the source of these tar balls was described today in the local press as a mystery and it s being investigated but there is the matter of the major oil spill that happened last week on the california coast near santa barbara when the oil pipeline burst and dumped out what the pipeline company says is about