Ventura Oil Spill Cleanup Continues

Efforts to clean up last month’s oil spill in Ventura could take several more weeks.

More than 150 workers are now actively cleaning up the oil.

“Crimson Pipeline, as far as the unified command structure is here and dedicated to the cleanup and restoring the environment to the way it was,” said the spokesperson for Crimson Pipeline, Matt Simmons.

The estimated 45,000 gallons of spilled crude oil came from a Crimson Pipeline valve that was undergoing maintenance in Hall Canyon.

It traveled 620 yards down a dry barranca, but thankfully it was stopped before it reached the ocean, thanks to the help of an alert resident who noticed the oil spewing early that morning and called authorities.

“The spiller is responsible for paying for all costs for the cleanup There is no road map for cleanup response. We will go through the different phases of cleanup and at the end we will put the environment back to whole again,” said Cindy Murphy with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response.

While the cleanup effort continues, neighboring residents are dealing with living in a work zone and the smell of crude oil.

“We definitely had the smell, and we do, depending on the way the wind is blowing, we still get the smell, and in our house as well as out here,” said Shanon Burke.

The Grove Incident Unified Command says the results of ongoing air monitoring and sampling indicate that the air is safe to breathe in the community surrounding Prince Barranca.

No word on when the cleanup effort will finish. The pipeline was restarted on July 1, after the State Fire Marshal’s Office determined that the integrity of the line was not in question.

For any safety concerns, contact the Grove Incident Neighborhood Response at 805-833-0177.

Residents wishing to file a claim can do so via email at claims@crimsonpl.com
or by calling 562-285-4128.