Feds Take Over Oil Spill Cleanup at Greka Site

Concerned that the spilled oil is contaminating federal waterways, the EPA mobilized contractors who began work today at Greka's Bell Lease, located at 6801 Palmer Road in Santa Maria.

Greka has been responsible for three spills at the Bell Lease site since last summer, totaling at least 29,000 gallons of crude oil and oily water.

The EPA is assuming control now because Greka has violated the EPA's "Order for Removal, Mitigation, and Prevention of a Substantial Threat of Oil Discharge," which addresses the company's January 29 oil spill from a corroded pipe at the Bell Lease.

The oil migrated 1.2 miles downstream into Sisquoc Creek, a tributary to the Santa Maria River which feeds into the Pacific Ocean.

Oil spill lingers at Greka's Bell Lease site on Palmer Road in Santa Maria, California. (Photo courtesy EPA)

"The EPA is stepping in to prevent further harm to the environment," said Daniel Meer, chief of the Response, Planning and Assessment Branch for the Superfund Division in the EPA's Pacific Southwest region.

"We have given Greka Oil and Gas every opportunity to properly conduct this cleanup under federal oversight, but they have failed," said Meer. "So, the EPA will take over at the Palmer Road lease; the federal government will then seek reimbursement of those costs from Greka."

At the direction of the EPA, and with EPA oversight, Greka has been engaged in cleanup efforts at seven recent spill sites, most in Santa Maria, one in Los Olivos.

At the Bell Lease, Greka has failed to remove petroleum and contaminated soil from the environment. As of February 1, the EPA barred Greka from manually removing the oil from Sisquoc Creek due to "inefficient cleanup methods." Their contractor continued to conduct the cleanup, but on March 14, Greka dismissed the contractor "due to financial reasons," the EPA said.

Greka retained another contractor to complete the cleanup, but oil remains in the creek. The threat of a discharge of oil to waters of the United States is not acceptable and must be addressed immediately, Meer said.

In a statement issued today, Greka argued that the EPA's assessment was inaccurate and misleading. Greka said it replaced the original contractor with another environmental cleanup company but the EPA rejected that company's health and safety plan.

Meer says Greka failed to submit a work plan to the EPA addressing the causes of the spill and presenting plans to halt oily discharge and prevent recurrences no later than February 28, and a sampling plan no later than February 14. Neither plan has been submitted.

Additionally, Greka informed the EPA that it will not be submitting a work plan today for removal of oil and solids from the facility wastewater ponds, as required by the Order. The law allows for fines of up to $32,500 per day, for each violation. Greka may face such fines.

Greka's spills have been frequent and damaging. At the company's Bradley 3 Island Lease, a production site with wells, storage and separation facilities, oil pits and water injection facilities, accumulations of oil were observed in oil pits, catch basins and uncontained areas during a January inspection, and the company was ordered to clean them up.

On January 24, during heavy rain, an inspector saw the facility discharging oily water out of a containment area into a creek that provides habitat for the endangered tiger salamander.

Two days later, during a heavy rainstorm, a power pole came down inside the facility, releasing PCB-contaminated oil. The oil migrated throughout the site and flowed into the adjacent creek, as documented by sampling.

Most recently, on March 12, EPA Superfund inspector Robert Wise visited Greka's Williams B Lease Tank Farm, an idle tank farm that was never brought into service by Greka. Eight 10,000 gallon storage tanks were found to be actively leaking in multiple places - the ground around them saturated with oil.

Wise issued a Clean Water Act order directing the company to remove the oil from the tanks, demolish the tanks and remove the contaminated soil. Instead, Greka piled dirt around the tanks that does not meet the requirements of federal or local regulations.

The Santa Barbara County Fire Department has informed Greka officials that it will order the Williams B Lease Tank Farm to be abandoned.

Broken equipment and cracked tanks at Greka properties have released at least 500,000 gallons of oil and contaminated water in total. The Santa Barbara County Fire Department says it has responded at least 400 times to Greka oil spills and gas leaks.

"The county fire department continues to single out Greka and make every attempt to generate negative coverage," said Greka Energy President Andrew DeVegvar in a statement.

DeVegvar took over as president on January 15 and immediately offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for "sabotage" that resulted in recent oil spills at the company's Bell-Palmer Road and Zaca-Davis facilities.

An investigator hired by the company said he found evidence that someone tampered with a primary water injection pump at the Palmer Road facility, shutting it down and causing a spill on December 7, 2007.

The EPA continues to work with members of the California Department of Fish and Game, the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, the U.S. Coast Guard's Pacific Strike Team, and Greka Oil and Gas, the responsible party, to contain and clean up Greka's multiple recent oil releases, to prevent further harm to the environment.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2008. All rights reserved.