As efforts to clean up debris from an oil leak off the Orange County coastline extend into a third week, officials continue to cite the need for more transparency. In order to help the community get answers, U.S. Representative Katie Porter announced she will be one of three lawmakers co-hosting a joint congressional hearing on the oil leak in Irvine on Monday, Oct. 18.

The oil leak discussion will be held at the Irvine Ranch Water District on Monday, Oct. 18 at 9:00 a.m. and will be co-hosted by Porter, Congressman Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach), and 49th District Rep. Mike Levin.

On Thursday, Porter, a former professor at UC Irvine, and a resident of the city, used Twitter to spread the word, adding that as chair of the Natural Resources Committee, she hopes she can do more to get the community more information regarding the causes of the oil leak.

On Wednesday, Oct. 13, President Joe Biden announced that the Port of Los Angeles would return to 24-hour operations.

“Today we’ve got some good news that’s going to help speed up the delivery of goods, all across America,” Biden said. “After weeks of negotiation and working with my team… the port of Los Angeles announced today, that it’s going to begin operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

In Huntington Beach, Rep. Michelle Steel said she was happy to see Biden take initiative, but wanted the president to go a step further with a disaster declaration over the spill.

“Good to see @POTUS finally taking steps to solve the port backlog that likely led to the OC oil spill. Now he must make a disaster declaration. Unlike my opponent who is focused on political theatrics, I’m focused on finding timely and pragmatic solutions,” Steel Tweeted on Oct. 13.

As of Thursday, Oct. 14, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response and the U.S. Coast Guard continued to work on clean up with Amplify Energy Corp., with the help of more than 1,000 volunteers.

While the cause of the oil leak is still under investigation, U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Rebecca Ore said the agency had determined that a 4,000 foot section of an oil pipeline was laterally displaced by more than 100 feet.

“We’ve determined that 4,000 feet of the 17.7 mile pipeline has been displaced, and it has been laterally displaced by 105 feet,” Ore said during a press conference on Oct. 7. “What they further located was a 13-inch split in that pipe, on the side of that pipe that is a likely source of a release of oil.”

Ore added that oil is not being released from that split in the pipeline.

When the oil leak was first reported on Oct. 1, the amount of crude oil was estimated to be upwards of 126,000 – 144,000 gallons. However, as of Thursday, Oct. 14, officials updated the estimated amount of the oil leak to be closer to 25,000 gallons, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Orange County beaches between Sunset Beach and Dana Point were closed on Tuesday, Oct. 4 and California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a state of emergency due to the oil the following day.

Beaches in Orange County have since reopened on Monday, Oct. 11, as Unified Command has indicated the contamination levels did not pose threat to public health:

“Sampling teams have conducted water and sediment samples from all sites identified in both Orange and San Diego counties. The water and sediment data received from Orange County samples do not indicate a public health concern for short-term exposures from the use of beaches in the county. This recommendation does not apply to fishing and harvesting activities, which are being addressed by the Seafood Sampling and Analysis Plan. Laboratory analyses for San Diego are expected to be completed in the coming days.”

The official cause of the oil leak is still under investigation.

The Irvine Ranch Water District is located at 15600 Sand Canyon Ave.

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