SEATTLE - An oil spill spread out over Puget Sound on Thursday, covering an area of several square miles of water just north of the port city of Tacoma, Washington state officials said.
The source of the black oil spill, spotted about 30 miles south of Seattle, and its composition had not yet been identified, said Larry Altose, a spokesman at Washington State's Department of Ecology.
"We are trying to determine the source of the oil," Altose said, "this is turning out to be quite a large oil spill."
Altose said that the oil could harm the habitat for herring, a key food source for the salmon that return to rivers through Puget Sound, ahead of their fall breeding season.
Aerial footage showed the oil spill spreading through Tacoma's Commencement Bay, Vashon Island and nearby beaches. Tacoma is the largest container port in the Northwestern United States.
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