Huntington Beach : Oil Company Officer Fined in Pollution Case
A Huntington Beach oil company officer has been fined $255 and ordered to pay about $500 in cleanup costs after pleading guilty to polluting California waters, a state Fish and Game Department spokesman said Tuesday.
Department spokesman Pat Moore said that DFG Warden Jan Yost cited Brayton Petroleum Inc. last Oct. 13 after about 60 gallons of crude oil spilled from a defective pump in an oil field near Beach and Adams boulevards. The spilled oil flowed into a nearby storm drain that empties into the ocean.
The spill was not reported until four days later when authorities were notified by employees of a neighboring business, Yost said, adding that about five gallons of crude oil may have entered state waters as a result.
Company representative George Brayton of Huntington Beach entered a guilty plea before Judge Randall L. Wilkinson in Central Orange County Municipal Court. The misdemeanor offense can be punishable by fines of up to $2,000 and one year in county jail.
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