Oil Company Sends Cleanup Crews To Ventura

About 30 oil spill cleanup crew members picked up tar balls from beaches in the Pierpont area of Ventura Friday.

Plains All-American Pipeline decided not to wait for samples to be tested to determine whether the 100,000-gallon spill from its pipeline is responsible for the fouled beaches.

Rick McMichael, director or operations, said the company was expanding the cleanup effort to beaches in Ventura County out of an abundance of caution.

At the latest briefing, company spokesman Patrick Hodgins was asked about politicians who have criticized the initial response. Hodgins said he did not think the response was insufficient.

Planning for a future spill like this one coincidentally was the topic of a meeting and training between Plains All-American Pipeline workers and firefighters at Station 18 in Gaviota the very morning of the May 19th spill. Firefighters said they left that meeting to check on a report of an oily odor. When they found oil flowing into the ocean, they called Plains workers back at their station to let them know.

It appears Plains employees already knew about pressure problems in the pipeline. A section was removed and sent to a test site in Ohio on Thursday. The oil company would not comment on unconfirmed reports that the section of pipe had a small hole in it.

A new section of pipe will be installed this weekend but that doesn’t mean oil will move through the pipeline anytime soon.

Charges could be filed against the company. And California has no cap on fines.