Record $3.2-Million Settlement OKd Over Spill

OXNARD — The company responsible for the worst oil spill in Ventura County history agreed Thursday to a record $3.2-million civil settlement stemming from the 84,000-gallon discharge of crude oil into a freshwater lake at McGrath State Beach three years ago.

The settlement is the largest ever involving an oil spill in Ventura County, according to Vivian Murai, a staff attorney with the state Department of Fish and Game’s Office of Oil Spill Prevention & Response, formed in 1990.

The agreement, announced by the office and Taft-based Berry Petroleum Co., comes a little more than three years after the spill.

In December 1993, a ruptured underground pipeline spilled more than 2,075 barrels of crude oil into McGrath Lake. More than 160 birds were killed, and the spill damaged nearly seven miles of beach, dunes and wildlife habitat surrounding the lake, located southwest of Gonzales Road and Harbor Boulevard.

“Our top priority with this settlement was obtaining adequate funding for restoration of the natural resources injured as a result of the spill,” said Pete Bontadelli, OSPR program administrator.

At least $1.3 million of the settlement will be used for restoration projects in the affected area, to be conducted by state and federal agencies; $1.025 million will be paid to agencies in charge of clean water and protecting endangered species. About $210,000 will go to implementation of a restoration plan, and another $620,000 will go toward cleanup and other costs related to the spill.

“We’re just happy to have this unfortunate incident behind us,” said Jerry Hoffman, president and chief financial officer of Berry Petroleum. In August 1994, the company paid $600,000 in fines and, along with one of its foremen, pleaded no contest to criminal charges associated with the spill.

Hoffman said the company has already spent about $10 million to mop up the oil. He estimated the total costs to the company from the spill will be about $15 million.

However, he added, Berry’s insurance policies have paid the oil firm about $10.9 million in connection with the spill.

The pressurized pipeline first ruptured Dec. 16, 1993, spilling 40 gallons of oil that day. But the spill was not reported, and the pipeline remained in use until a major rupture Dec. 21, which leaked for days before being discovered, according to Glen Reiser, a private attorney hired by the Ventura County district attorney’s office to prosecute the criminal case.

“This was a mammoth oil spill. It was unprecedented in Ventura County,” Reiser said.

Reiser, who was not part of the negotiations leading up to the settlement, said he hopes at least part of the $1.3 million for restoration will be used to divert agricultural waste water from McGrath Lake into a drainage ditch that runs along Doris Avenue. Local farmers estimated that project would cost about $400,000, he said.

“One of the district attorney’s positions to make McGrath Lake a truly viable preserve for birds and wildlife was to modify the drainage into the lake,” Reiser said. “Then the lake would be in better condition than it was before the spill.”

Early on, Berry Petroleum officials said the lake, located on state parkland, was an unnatural agricultural deposit pond. However, historical documents show it to be a natural freshwater lake, Reiser said.

The water quality has been downgraded since the 1930s, when farmers began draining their runoff into it, he said.

“The $1.3 million will help in restoring the lake to pre-spill condition. But if it’s ever to rebound to its natural condition, something is going to have to be accomplished with respect to the drainage,” Reiser said.

Officials in charge of investigating oil spills in Ventura County admit they often do not have the money to document each spill in person, and they often rely on the oil companies to be their own watchdogs.

For example, between 1988 and 1993, the state Division of Oil and Gas, the chief agency responsible for looking into such incidents, responded to only one-third of the on-land oil spills larger than 100 barrels.

Environmentalists say the oil companies are not reliable sources for oil spill reporting. However, Division of Oil and Gas officials say company reports seem fairly accurate.

Officials say the majority of spills occur on lease properties and are contained in berms.

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McGrath Lake Oil Spill

Berry Petroleum Co. agreed Thursday to pay $3.2 million to cover the cost of repairing damage caused when a pipeline ruptured in 1993, spilling 84,000 gallons of crude oil into McGrath Lake. The company already paid a criminal penalty of $600,000, and officials said cleanup efforts to date have cost an additional $10 million.