The federal government will offer disaster loans to businesses harmed by an oil spill that shut down Southern California shorelines earlier this month, it was announced Wednesday. The U.S. Small Business Administration approved disaster assistance in the form of low-interest loans for Orange County, where the spill took place, along with nearby Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties. Shoreline cleanup crews pick up tar balls that have washed ashore along the beach at Crystal Cove State Park in Laguna Beach on Thursday, October 14, 2021. About 25,000 gallons (94,635 liters) of crude oil leaked from a broken pipeline off of Huntington Beach, closing down the shore in self-proclaimed "Surf City USA" for more than a week. Federal investigators are looking into whether a container ship anchored during a January storm may have dragged the anchor, snagging the pipeline.