On June 22, 2005 an oil spill was discovered in a tributary to the Placerita Creek in Santa Clarita, CA. The spill was traced by Los Angeles County Fire to the Petro-Resouces, Inc. (PRI) USL Lease crude oil production field. The release was caused by a landslide that damaged a pipeline from a oil storage tank. The landslide is believed to have resulted as a result of recent siesmic activity in Southern California.
Approximately 1000 gallons of heavy crude (asphalt-like) and an unknown amount of produce water was released. The oil originated from a production field tank. The crude migrated from the break into creek bed at the bottom of a ravine. The ravine is in a coastal sage scrub habitat (Zone 1). According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), this habitat may be the home to the Coastal California Gnatcatcher, a Federally Threatened Species pursuant to the Endangered Species Act. The oil followed the creek bed into a 48" diameter subterranean storm drain (Zone 2). The storm drain passes beneath a residential subdivision. The oil continued to migrate through the storm drain through an outfall into a creek bed in a riparian habitat that is a tributary to Placerita Creek (Zone 3). The oil migrated down the creek bed, but did not enter the Placerita Creek. Placerita Creek drains into the Santa Clara River. The Santa Clara River is the home to several Federally Listed endangered species.
The lease/land owner PRI has retained a cleanup contractor and is currently conducting removal operations.
An FOSC and START responded to the spill. A unified command was set up with the California Department of Fish and Game (CADFG) to manage the incident.
PRI's contractor continued to remove petroleum, contaminated soil, debris and runoff from the storm drain. After approval from the FOSC and the CADFG Warden, PRI removed a large amount of vegetation from Zone 3 to allow access for heavy equipment to remove the contamination.
Due to the large quantity of surface runoff impacting the contaminated storm drain, PRI's contractor brought in a large trailer mounted pump to remove water from the catch basin to prevent overflow of the catch basin.
PRI's contractor also began the decontamination of the subterranean storm drain. Approximately 500 feet of storm drain has been decontaminated.
Exposed oil in Zone 1 was covered with visqueen to prevent wildlife from entering the oil.
Booth PRI's contractor and the START conducted air surveillance in the residential areas adjacent to the spill. No elevated concentrations of volatile organic compounds were detected.
EPA's Community Relations Officer from the Los Angeles EPA office distributed fact sheets to the subdivision. A copy of the fact sheet can be found at www.epaosc.net/pri.
1. Removal of all contaminated soil and vegetation in Zones 1 and 3.
2. Restoration of any altered stream beds.
3. Decontamination of the storm water collection system.
1. Completion of the decontamination of Zone 3.
2. Decontamination of the storm drain.
3. Removal of vegetation in Zone 1 to allow for oil removal.
1. PRI is currenly in violation of a Bureau of Land Mangement Order to remove all equipment from the lease and to mitigate any environmental issues.
2. Action level for soil cleanup in the creek beds.
3. PRI will be issued a Clean Water Act Section 311 Order.
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