Tar balls close Southern California beaches, oil spill link probed

[WorldNews]

By Alex Dobuzinskis LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A second stretch of Southern California shoreline has been closed after masses of tar balls washed ashore, and authorities said on Thursday they were looking into whether the sticky blobs were linked to a recent oil pipeline spill. The shoreline closure in Long Beach, south of Los Angeles, follows a similar problem last week on a 6-mile (10-km) stretch of beaches just to the north in the South Santa Monica Bay area. Tar balls are a naturally occurring phenomenon on beaches in the region, but officials say the high numbers in recent days have raised questions about their origin.

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