A recent string of onshore oil spills from pipeline and storage facilities in California have kindled moves by politicians to tighten reporting standards for state pipelines and toughen penalties for noncompliance.
Currently, the state relies on the oil industry to report spills in a timely manner.
In another development involving petroleum spills in California, Unocal Corp. has protested potential penalties of $92 168 million that could come from civil charges brought by California's Attorney General over what may prove to be the biggest petroleum spill in state history (OGJ, Apr. 4, p. 38).
NEW RULES
California Assemblyman Jack O'Connell, speaker pro tempore, is working on new legislation to strengthen spin reporting requirements, clarify who is responsible, and expand penalties for not complying.
J. Lisle Reed, Pacific regional director of the U.S. Minerals Management Service, endorsed an idea from Ventura County supervisors to create a panel of specialists to explore methods ensuring greater pipeline safety because "there's too many leaks and things occurring."
Recent spills cited by O'Connell include:
A Mar. 16 spill of about 350 bbl from a pipeline at Mobil Corp.'s processing facility at Ellwood Beach, next to where the company proposes to use extended reach drilling from an onshore site to tap reserves in state waters. Mobil notified government agencies of the spill, but the public was not informed for several days, O'Connell said.
- A Berry Oil Co. pipeline rupture of 2,000 bbl of crude in late December 1993 in Ventura County (OGJ, Jan. 24, p. 25) that went unreported for days.
- An underground condensate spill in the School Canyon area of Ventura oil field, estimated at 8,000 13,000 bbl. State Fish and Game officials alleged Texaco Inc. was responsible for the leak, first reported in January 1993, and raided Texaco's offices to seize evidence this past March. Although Texaco will clean up the spill, it denies responsibility and denies allegations it knew about the spin prior to reporting it.
- A spill of at least 715 bbl of crude and contaminated water overflowing from Unocal collection tanks on Sulphur Mountain in Ventura County. Unocal believes the spill occurred as a result of seismic activity in the area that released natural oil seepage from the mountain, which trickled into Unocal's collection tanks. Although Unocal reported the spill Mar. 12, state officials said the company down-played the event, claiming it was contained.
UNOCAL
Unocal called potential penalties for the 111,000 200,000 bbl spill of kerosine/diesel diluent mix in Guadalupe field, San Luis Obispo County (OGJ, Mar. 14, p. 36) "grossly overstated."
"We expect to pay civil penalties that will amount to only a small fraction of the total penalties sought by the Attorney General," said Unocal Executive Vice Pres. John F. Imle.
Unocal earlier paid an initial $1.5 million in fines after pleading no contest Mar. 15 to three criminal charges (OGJ, Mar. 21, Newsletter), representing a daily penalty for failure to report the leaks.
The state attorney general's 23 count civil suit, filed Mar. 23, does not seek specific amounts, but one statute levies as much as $840/bbl and $250,000/violation.
Imle assured stockholders that the fines and burgeoning expense of cleaning up the product spilled over a 36 year period won't have "a material effect on the financial condition of the company."
Copyright 1994 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
