Crews Clean Oil in L.A. River From Ruptured Pipeline

Crews cleaned oil in the Los Angeles River from the San Fernando Valley to Long Beach Monday, while Ventura Boulevard in Encino was reopened to traffic after the leak of at least 70,000 gallons of crude oil from an underground Mobil Oil Co. pipeline.

But officials said it will take weeks to clean up from the leak, which occurred about 4 a.m. Saturday at the intersection of Ventura Boulevard and Woodley Avenue.

Wildlife experts were also attempting to save endangered water birds and assess the environmental impact of the spill.

“The oil is still out there up and down the river,” said Lt. Reed Smith, the state Department of Fish and Game’s spill response coordinator. “It’s going to take about three weeks to clean up.”

The oil bubbled up through the pavement for an estimated four hours before Mobil could repair the break in the 10-inch pipe, which runs 180 miles from Bakersfield to the company’s refinery in Torrance.

Cause Not Determined

The cause of the rupture, which occurred in an 18-year-old section of the pipeline, has not been determined, Mobil spokesman James A. Carbonetti said. In April, 1986, the same pipeline leaked about 5,000 gallons of crude oil after a rupture caused by corrosion occurred in Granada Hills, he said.

The Mobil line, including the section that leaked Saturday, passed a state test about two years ago, said Robert Gorham, associate pipeline safety engineer in the state fire marshal’s office.

Gorham said the Mobil line is one of four or five long-distance pipelines that travel into Los Angeles County. There are an estimated 2,500 miles of underground pipelines, mostly carrying crude oil, throughout the Los Angeles area, he said.

Monitoring equipment alerted Mobil technicians to the break immediately and the pipeline was electronically stopped within four minutes, authorities said.

“Unfortunately, the pipeline starts going uphill in that area and all the oil that was going up came back down and leaked out,” said Miguel Garcia of the county Health Department’s hazardous materials unit. “We estimate 70,000 to 90,000 gallons leaked out, maybe more.”

Flow Was Stopped

Twenty absorbent “booms,” which float on the surface and collect oil, are at work at eight locations on the concrete-lined bed of the Los Angeles River between Encino and Long Beach.

Fish and Game officials said the flow of oil on the river was stopped before the mouth of the river in Long Beach. “It has not come in contact with any marine waters,” spokesman Patrick Moore said.

Mobil has hired a crew of boats equiped with oil skimming devices to be on standby at the mouth of the river should any oil move farther. So far, Carbonetti said, the total cost of the cleanup is an estimated $1 million.

Fish and Game officials said 20 mallards and other birds were captured and were being cleaned at a Los Angeles animal shelter. Authorities gave the birds a 60% chance of surviving.

“Waterfowl from up river seem to be collapsing first,” Smith said. “Other birds from down near Long Beach have come in contact with the oil but are still flying. They will be feeling the effects in the next few days.”