Greka Oil Spill: More gallons spilled than thought, little impact on nearby wildlife

Melissa Mecija
KSBY 6
12/17/2007

Crews are trying to beat the rain as they clean up the latest Greka oil spill in North Santa Barbara County.

The bad news-that spill is much larger than previously estimated. The state Department of Fish and Game now says at least 44,730 gallons of crude oil spilled at the Greka Energy facility December 7.

They hope to finish cleanup by Wednesday. A spokesman says at the very least, misdemeanor pollution charges will be filed against the company.

The latest number is up from the previous 33,600 gallons estimated. Fish and Game officials say when cleanup is done, they are certain the final total will be even higher.

The creek, once filled with crude oil, is now in the last phase of the cleanup process. Crews now dig out the contaminated soil and place it in bags for disposal. But it has not been easy.

"There was more oil spilled than originally thought and the fact that the oil is so thick and viscous, that makes it a little harder to clean up," said Melissa Boggs, an environmental scientist with the Department of Fish and Game.

Boggs says, so far, there is little impact to any nearby wildlife. They only discovered one oiled lizard. But the process is far from over.

"We will continue to monitor, we will most likely require some restoration, and erosion control measures," Boggs said.

A Greka Energy spokesman says despite the pictures of this thick oil running about half a mile down this dry stream, it isn't as bad as it looks.

"If you're going to have a spill, this is about as benign as it gets," said Greka Energy representative, Mike Stoker.

Stoker adds failed equipment caused the spill, but they do what they can to prevent this from happening.

"No matter what we do, there's no legislator, there's no politician that can wave a magic wand [and] has a magic solution to eliminating spills 100 percent," Stoker said.

A spill nobody wants to see happen again.

Greka Energy has faced about 250 citations from the Air Pollution Control District over the past eight years. Most recently, county fire filed more than 25 code violations at the facility. But Greka says they are still in operation within the approval of all environmental agencies.

Any formal charges against the company won't be filed until the full investigative and biological reports by Fish and Game are complete.