PORT HUENEME : Leasing Deal Near for Oil-Spill Center

The director of the Port of Hueneme and oil industry officials completed negotiations Tuesday on leasing 6.6 acres at the port to become the nation’s first regional center for the cleanup of a major oil spill.

“Today we shook hands on an agreement,” said Port Director Anthony Taormina, who negotiated the terms with the Marine Spill Response Corp. The corporation, financed by a consortium of big oil companies, decided to pour $60 million into the Port of Hueneme and millions of dollars into four other regional centers to improve their oil-cleanup abilities.

If approved by the port’s commissioners and an oil-industry governing board, a 92,000-square-foot building and three acres of staging area will be the site of the oil industry-financed Regional Response Center for the Pacific Southwest.

The response center would have equipment and crews capable of handling a 216,000-barrel oil spill, about the size of the spill caused by the Exxon Valdez in Alaska last year.

The corporation has negotiated a 20-year lease with an option for another 10-year lease on the property, Taormina said. He declined to give specifics on the agreement.