Official Accuses Firm of Dragging Feet on Oil Cleanup

The state’s top environmental enforcement officer for the Huntington Beach oil spill Wednesday accused British Petroleum of dragging its feet all along in cleaning up the Orange County shoreline, as well as exaggerating its efforts.

Since Feb. 7, when the tanker American Trader spilled 394,000 gallons of crude oil owned by the company, “It’s been difficult to get specific commitments” from the company, said Reed Smith, a patrol lieutenant for the state Fish and Game Department.

“There were things that they said they would do but just weren’t done,” Smith said. “Day after day it seems something comes up we thought was being done that wasn’t done.”

Smith’s comments came a day after the Coast Guard commandant praised British Petroleum for being a “good corporate citizen” in helping clean up the spill in textbook fashion.

But Smith cited examples to the contrary. Chief among these, he said, was that nine days after the spill--when beaches were still thick with oil--British Petroleum indicated it would begin to pare down its cleanup crews. Two days later, however, the oil company pulled out all 900 workers, Smith said, and sent its primary cleanup manager home to Louisiana.

Smith said that after he and other officials complained, British Petroleum returned about 400 workers to the shore. Still, he said, the temporary shutdown resulted in additional damage to marine life.

British Petroleum spokeswoman Marcia Meermans strongly denied Smith’s allegations. The oil company “has been committed to assisting with the spill cleanup since Day 1 and we’re committed to remain here till the job is done,” she said.

So far, the company has spent $12 million on the cleanup.

Meermans said crews have been on the beach daily since the spill, and that the cleanup manager, Jim O’Brien, had intended all along to return from Louisiana after a brief visit.

“All our actions have always been reviewed and approved” by the oil spill command group that includes Smith, she said.

According to Smith, the company’s problems with the cleanup effort began about three days after the spill when oil executives pledged to place rubberized booms at the entrance to a large Newport Beach wildlife refuge called the Back Bay.

“We believed it to be done and they said, ‘We’ll do it tomorrow.’ And then it never was,” he said.

In another instance, state officials on Feb. 15 asked British Petroleum to wash oil-covered rocks along the Santa Ana River with warm water. “The oil removal there got started a lot later than we asked for it, perhaps Friday, Feb. 23,” Smith said.

Meermans countered that operations were “slowed somewhat” by foul weather.