Legislator Warns Oil Company That Mere Cleanup Isn’t Enough

A key legislator on Wednesday warned executives of British Petroleum America Inc. that the state expects more from the company than merely a cleanup effort as a result of the Huntington Beach oil spill.

Sen. Barry Keene (D-Benicia), chairman of the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture, warned BPA officials that the oil industry should stop trying to block legislation aimed at restricting tanker traffic off the California coast--or face the consequences.

“It is important that you walk away from here knowing that we expect the oil industry to be committed to helping us to protect our beaches and our coastline,” Keene said.

“If not, I can only promise you that there is going to be hell to pay. Politically, the forces are building up against your industry.”

The oil executive who received the lecture, Patrick S. Presley, director of BPA West Coast affairs, replied: “We intend to continue to be part of the solution. We want to work with you in the Legislature.”

After Presley emphasized that his company has given its “No. 1 priority tag” to the cleanup of the Orange County beaches as a result of the Feb. 7 American Trader tanker spill of BP oil, Keene replied:

“Responsibility does not begin and end with this spill. It is not enough . . . to take the kind of action that has been taken, and I appreciate that action you have taken. But you are duty-bound, your company especially and also the entire industry, not to block legislation, but to help us pass legislation to provide necessary public and marine protection--or you can’t be the good corporate citizen that you are proclaiming to be.”

One bill pending in the Assembly, for instance, would set up a special state office to respond to oil spills, would require safety and emergency plans at every oil transfer terminal in California, provide for a vessel traffic service system by 1994, and create an oil spill cleanup superfund to be financed by fees paid by tanker operators.

BP America officials estimate that the cost of cleaning up the Huntington Beach oil spill is running about $750,000 a day.

Also appearing before the joint legislative committee was Peter Bontadelli, director of the state Department of Fish and Game, who said there is a definite statewide need for “a significant increase in cleanup capacity” in case of another offshore oil spill.

Bontadelli said this point will be underscored in a departmental report on the Huntington Beach spill that will be presented to Gov. George Deukmejian and the Legislature soon after March 15.

Asked how this increased cleanup capacity could be financed, he suggested that oil companies be asked to contribute to a fund so that no additional state costs would be involved.

Bontadelli also said the state has been “lucky” in the Orange County oil spill.

“We were extremely fortunate this spill happened in an area of high accessibility and the weather was good,” he said. “If it had occurred elsewhere in the state, it could have been a much greater problem.”