United States Environmental Protection Agency
Region IX
POLLUTION REPORT

Subject: 

On March 12, 2008, EPA OSC Robert Wise, START and SBCo Petroleum visited the Greka Oil and Gas Williams B Lease Tank Farm.  The Williams B Tank Farm is an idle tank farm that was never brought into service by Greka.  The tank farm consists of six 10,000 gallon above ground storage tanks (ASTs), two 10,000 gallon Baker tanks, a horizontal heater treater and a vertical heater treater.  There was no secondary containment around the tank farm.  The tank farm is bordered on the west by a wash that drains into Cat Canyon Creek.  To the north of the site is Cat Canyon Creek.  Cat Canyon Creek drains to Sisquoc Creek, which drains to the Santa Maria River, which drains to the Pacific Ocean.

With the exception of horizontal heater treater all of the tanks contained petroleum material (liquid oil, oily sludge, oil water or oily tank bottoms).  All tanks except for the horizontal heater treater were actively leaking in multiple places.  The ground around the six 10,000 gallon ASTs was heavily saturated with oil.  The ASTs were missing man way covers, heavily corroded, and full of holes.  Several of the ASTs were also missing tops.  The vertical heater treater was actively leaking through a valve in the tank.  The horizontal 10,000 gallon Baker tanks contained a heavy asphaltic oil material and possibly water.  One tank contained oily sludge approximately three feet from the bottom.  This tank was heavily corroded above the oil line, had numerous holes, was open on the top, and was bulging on the ends and sides.  The second horizontal tank was 3/4 full and had a thick oil pad on the surface.

On March 19, 2008, OSC Wise issued a Clean Water Act 311(c) order to Greka for the William B Tank Farm.  The Order directs Greka to remove the oil from the tanks, demolish the tanks and remove soil contamination to a depth of three feet bgs.  

7/8/09 - 8/20/09
Confirmation sampling activities were continually delayed by Greka until 7/8/2009.  OSC Musante was present to oversee the collection of samples.  One sample, "Baker Tank #1", was collected from the former Banker Tank area to be analyzed for Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH) by EPA 8015 and VOCs by EPA 8260B.  One composite sample, "Tank Batt. #1", was collected from the area of former Stock Tanks A-F to be analyzed for TPH by EPA 8015.  

Analytical results were received by EPA on 7/28/09.  TPH concentrations for sample "Tank Batt. #1" were below the cleanup action level of 1,000 ppm total TPH.  Sample "Baker Tank #1" was non-detect for VOCs, but was above the cleanup action level for TPH with a concentration of 1,100 ppm.  OSC Musante informed Greka that additional soil removal was required in the former Baker Tank area.

On 8/5/09, Greka excavated approximately 6 cubic yards of soil from the former Baker Tank area into Roll-Off Bins.  A confirmation sample was collected on 8/11/09 and submitted for TPH analysis by EPA 8015.  Analytical results for this sample received by EPA on 8/20/09 showed TPH concentration below the cleanup action level of 1,000 ppm.  

12/9/09 - 2/9/10
On 12/9 and 12/10, the remaining two Roll-Off Bins at the site were transported for disposal to the Waste Management Kettleman Hills Facility.  OSC Musante coordinated with Greka on the preparation of a final report, as required by the CWA 311(c) Order.  On 2/9/2010 OSC Musante received the "Williams B Tank Demolition" final report, dated 12/16/2009.

The Final Work Plan has been posted to the Documents section of the website.  Planned removal actions include:
• Conduct pre-demolition permitting and characterization.
• Remove contents of the six ASTs, two Baker tanks, and two heater treaters.
• Demolish, transport, and dispose of the tanks.
• Excavate contaminated soil beneath the tanks and in other parts of the Site, and
backfill the completed excavations with clean imported soil.
• Transport and dispose of the tank contents and soil from excavation.
• Conduct post-removal sampling to confirm the cleanup of affected areas.
• Evaluate the two onsite production wells to determine if they pose a threat of
discharge, and to make repairs as necessary.

All planned removal actions have been completed.

A total of 21 Roll-Off Bins were transported for disposal to:
Waste Management - Kettleman Hills Facility
36251 Old Skyline Rd., Kettleman City, CA 93239

A total of 10 end dump loads were transported for disposal to:
McKittrick Waste Treatment Site
56533 HWY 58 West, McKittrick, CA 93251