Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
March 28, 2008
4. Water Quality -
Small refinery has reputation as state's biggest polluter
It has spilled more than 500,000 gallons of oil and contaminated water since 1999
San Francisco Chronicle – 3/28/08
(03-28) 04:00 PDT Los Olivos, Santa Barbara County -- When a Firestone Vineyard employee discovered oil trickling down a creek in January in this wine country town, the source of the contamination was no surprise to firefighters.
Of 21 refineries in California, Greka Oil & Gas Inc. is the fourth-smallest producer, but the state's biggest inland oil polluter, according to state officials.
Broken pumps, busted pipes, overflowing ponds and cracked tanks at Greka installations have spilled more than a half-million gallons of oil and contaminated water since 1999, fouling the water, soil and air in the Southern California county many consider the birthplace of the nation's environmental movement.
Over the past nine years, the Santa Barbara County Fire Department has responded at least 400 times to oil spills and gas leaks at Greka, resulting in fines, citations, federal and local prosecutions and investigations by the Environmental Protection Agency and state Fish and Game.
"I've been in the hazardous materials business for 20 years and this is the worst oil company I've ever seen," said Robert Wise, who works at EPA's Superfund division.
The company says it is a victim of sabotage - a claim local and federal authorities dispute - and overzealous regulators.
"To say that Greka is a major polluter is a joke," said President Andrew deVegvar. "To the extent to which we're being portrayed as some kind of Darth Vader of the oil industry is not appropriate."
While the company has been fined more than $2.5 million over the years, authorities are losing patience with Greka. This winter the
Political connections
Some conservationists and others suspect Greka's political connections - along with piecemeal regulation by overlapping agencies and weak inland oil spill laws - have allowed it to continue operating. Greka leases land from current and former county supervisors; another former supervisor is on the Greka payroll.
That the spills are happening in
The mountainous coastal area, dotted with boutique wineries and the ranches of former President Reagan and Michael Jackson, was a catalyst for the environmental movement. A disaster at a Union Oil Co. platform in 1969 coated miles of beaches with oil, killed thousands of birds and helped lead to the Clean Water Act and a moratorium on offshore drilling.
Greka set up shop in
From 1999 to 2007, the Santa Barbara Air Pollution Control District inspected Greka facilities 855 times and issued 298 violations. During that period, 203 Greka spills threatened or polluted state waters 20 times, according to Fish and Game.
'Biggest problem'
"Right now, I can't think of anybody that is worse than Greka," said Steve Edinger, assistant chief of Fish and Game. "They are the biggest inland oil pollution problem we are dealing with across
The district attorney cited Greka for 104 violations in 2004 after employees were allegedly caught trying to tamper with old pollution-belching engines. Greka settled with the county for $675,000.
DeVegvar has said the number of incidents is not out of line with those of other producers when looked at on a per-well basis. But the EPA's Wise said that is true only if Greka wells that aren't in use are counted, too.
Greka has spent tens of millions of dollars in upgrades, deVegvar said. The company recently said it was tightening security, and in January announced an environmental initiative called Greka Green. But just a day later, it was hit with an 8,400-gallon spill.
Brooks Firestone, whose family leases land to Greka, was one of two members of the
Days later, Greka spilled more than 190,000 gallons of oil and contaminated water on the land it leases from the Firestone estate. Since that spill, Firestone, who insists he hasn't given Greka any advantages, has withdrawn from deciding matters related to the company.#
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/28/BA17VRL8L.DTL
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