The State - News from Dec. 30, 1988

The federal government sued Chevron USA, contending that the oil company discharged excessive amounts of pollutants into the ocean from a drilling platform in the Santa Barbara Channel. In a civil suit filed in Los Angeles federal court, the government said Chevron had repeatedly violated the Clean Water Act by exceeding permissible discharge limits of oil, grease, residual chlorine, silver and phenol from Platform Grace off the coast. The lawsuit said a permit issued by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1979 imposes strict limits on the amounts of pollutants that can be discharged and requires procedures to be followed in making reports to the regulatory agency. The suit was filed by the Department of Justice environmental enforcement unit.