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By Gregory W. Griggs
Los Angeles Times
February 3, 2006
Crews are
scheduled around the clock this weekend to clean up a spill
that released more than 200 gallons of crude from an oil field
in the Ventura County backcountry.
A leak in a pipe linking storage tanks at a Vintage Petroleum
facility north of Fillmore was detected during a regular
inspection Tuesday afternoon. The spill flowed into Tar Creek,
a tributary of Sespe Creek.
Government officials and biologists insist the spill of only
about five barrels — along with 50 barrels of oil-laced
groundwater, or about 2,100 gallons — poses no immediate
threat to endangered species in the area.
But environmentalists worry that such a spill just a few miles
from Tar Creek's junction with Sespe Creek could pose
long-term problems for endangered and threatened species, such
as the California condor and steelhead trout.
"Any time you introduce hundreds of gallons of oil into a
relatively pristine ecosystem, you're going to have
significant impacts," said Jeff Kuyper, executive
director of Los Padres ForestWatch, a nonprofit group that
monitors land use in the national forest.
The forest, which includes the famed Big Sur coastline,
stretches from Monterey County into northern San Luis Obispo
County and Ventura, Santa Barbara and Kern counties.
The spill, blamed on a leak caused by recent cold weather,
occurred in a developed oil field northwest of Hopper
Mountain, an area that includes federal and private land
within the forest's borders. Although original estimates
suggested it could take up to three weeks to clean the three
miles of creek despoiled by the spill, a company
representative said Friday the job should be completed late
next week.
"We regret that this happened. Our employees out there
work so hard to avoid this type of thing. We'll figure out
some preventative measures" to avoid a recurrence, said
Jan Sieving, spokeswoman for Occidental Petroleum, which
acquired Vintage last year.
About 40 people — Occidental staff and workers from its
subcontractor, Rancho Dominguez-based Advanced Cleanup
Technology Inc. — are using berms made of earth, vacuum
trucks, absorbent pads, flotation devices and a boom to clean
up the crude, described as having the consistency of motor
oil. A second, backup boom is installed a mile from the Sespe
to try to ensure that oil doesn't get through to the bigger
creek.
The company will probably replace a 30-foot section of the
1-mile-long pipeline, but if an inspection determines that
more work is needed, the entire line could be upgraded,
Sieving said.
Initial fears about the spill occurring close to the Sespe
Condor Sanctuary seem to be unfounded, according to Kathy Good
of the U.S. Forest Service.
"There is no immediate threat," Good said.
"Condors do drink water and bathe at a location close to
the intersection of Tar and Sespe creeks, but the area they
frequent is several miles downstream."
Mark Hall, manager of the Hopper Mountain National Wildlife
Refuge, said only two of 28 condors known to be in the area
regularly roost near the spill location.
But David Pritchett of the Southern California Watershed
Alliance said people who care about fish habitat are concerned
about all spills.
"Oil in the water is bad for fish," Pritchett said.
"Of real concern is that gooey oil will cover up the
gravel in the streambeds, which is where the fish spawn. And
too much oil in the water is toxic."
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greg.griggs@latimes.com
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