Countywide : County OKs Disaster Plan for Oil Spills

Ventura County now has an emergency response plan for county agencies to follow if an oil spill occurs in the waters off Ventura County.

The County Board of Supervisors approved the plan Tuesday and included it in the county disaster plan.

The county is the second in the state to establish such a plan identifying its role in an oil accident, according to Karen Guidi, senior program administrator in the Sheriff’s Department office of emergency services.

If a spill occurs, the Coast Guard and the state Department of Fish and Game, along with whoever caused the spill, are responsible for coordinating the response and cleanup, she said.

The county’s role is to offer assistance as it is requested, supplying personnel and equipment to clean the shoreline and safeguard people and animals.

The call for county assistance is routed through the Office of Emergency Services, whose operating center is in the basement of the jail at the County Government Center in Ventura, Guidi said.

From there, calls for assistance go to various county agencies. The Public Works Agency, for example, might be asked to provide traffic barriers and bulldozers to assist in the cleanup.

Or the Environmental Health Department might be called in to assess water quality.

The plan lists which services will be provided by which agency.

Guidi said the plan was tested during a mock spill Sept. 20.

At that time, the county agencies responded to a simulated collision between an oil tanker and a ship carrying cars two miles offshore.

The plan is necessary, according to a report given to the supervisors, because of the potential for such a spill in offshore waters.

There are four oil production platforms and three marine terminals offshore, and up to three vessels carrying oil travel through the Santa Barbara Channel each day.