Newsela Science About 126,000 gallons of oil spilled along Calif. coast in “potential ecological disaster” October 13, 2021 Around 573,000 liters (126,000 gallons) of crude oil has spilled from a ruptured pipeline off the California coast and begun washing up on beaches and wetlands, along with several dead animals. The U. S. Coast Guard reported the spill at 9 a. m. local time on October 2 after boaters noticed a sheen on the ocean surface, according to CNN. The oil slick now covers around 33.7 square kilometers (13 square miles) and has begun washing up on the shoreline between Huntington Beach and Newport Beach, causing widespread beach closures that could last for weeks or months, according to Reuters. "In a year that has been filled with incredibly challenging issues, this oil spill constitutes one of the most devastating situations that our community has dealt with in decades," Kim Carr, the mayor of Huntington Beach, told the Associated Press. She also described the spill as an "environmental catastrophe" and said that it could become a "potential ecological disaster." Officials believe the oil originated from a leak in an underwater pipeline connected to an offshore drilling facility owned by Beta Offshore, a subsidiary of Houston-based Amplify Energy. The company has shut off the pipeline and suctioned out all the remaining oil to prevent further spillage. The company also sent a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to the site to determine exactly what went wrong, according to an Amplify Energy statement. A wide-scale clean-up including both federal and state agencies is now well underway. "This response is currently a 24/7 operation and response efforts are scheduled to continue until federal and state officials determine that the response to the crude oil spill is complete," the U. S. Coast Guard told CNN. Zoom-in Image 1. Cleanup contractors deploy skimmers and floating barriers known as booms to try to stop further oil crude incursion into the Wetlands Talbert Marsh. Photo: Ringo H. W. Chiu/AP However, ther Newsela's Write Prompt
Identify the tone of the text. Which words or phrases help you determine the tone? Identify sections of the text where the writer is implicitly suggesting this tone.