Local News in Brief : Fuel Slick Cleanup Put Off

State agencies say they have had to delay for one month the cleanup of a massive fuel slick beneath Chevron’s El Segundo oil refinery.

The state Department of Health Services surprised and angered Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board members last week by asking for the last-minute delay before ordering the ambitious fuel recovery plan. Health officials also warned that the Chevron plan might require a special permit that could take a full year to process, but later said the delay should not extend beyond 30 days.

Chevron, which says it is eager to begin the cleanup, plans to recover millions of barrels of leaked fuel that lie about 20 to 100 feet below the 1,000-acre refinery and under small portions of Manhattan Beach and El Segundo. The fuel forms a layer up to 12 feet thick atop the ground water.

The project involves pumping a fuel-water mixture out of the ground, separating the fuel and then injecting the water back into the same aquifer.

Health officials said the delay was due to a state law requiring a permit to dispose of hazardous materials. In this case, the water that would be injected might qualify as a hazardous material because it would still be contaminated after separation from the fuel.