State, Local Suit Seeks Millions for O.C. Oil Spill

State and local prosecutors are seeking millions of dollars in damages and fines from BP America Inc. and two other companies to compensate for the February oil spill that blackened Orange County’s beaches, killed birds and marine life and shut down its popular harbors.

A long-awaited civil suit, filed Friday in Orange County Superior Court, comes 11 months after the American Trader spilled about 400,000 gallons of crude oil as it tried to moor at a terminal off Huntington Beach. About 15 miles of Orange County’s shoreline was fouled with brown froth and sticky tar balls, closing some popular beaches for as long as five weeks.

California Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp, acting on his last day in office, filed the lawsuit on behalf of state agencies, the cities of Newport Beach and Huntington Beach, the Orange County district attorney and other county officials.

The complaint names BP America and two of its subsidiaries, which owned the oil and chartered the tanker; Brandenburger Marine Inc., which supplied the mooring master that guided the ship; and Golden West Refining, the Santa Fe Springs oil refinery that operates the offshore terminal.

State and local officials as well as environmentalists have been anticipating the lawsuit, saying it is a major environmental case that could attract the attention of prosecutors and oil companies nationally. The oil spill was the largest in Southern California since 1969, when an offshore platform spewed millions of gallons of crude into the Santa Barbara Channel.

Officials with BP America and Golden West Refining said Friday they are willing to sit down and reach a settlement to avoid lengthy litigation. Capt. Robert Brandenburger of Brandenburger Marine was unavailable for comment.

The lawsuit seeks fines for violations of state pollution laws, in addition to reimbursement for a long list of damages and costs. Included are harm to the area’s resources and wildlife, loss of tourism and tax dollars, disruption of recreational use of the beaches and harbors, and the emergency management and cleanup expenses of state and county agencies. An unidentified amount of punitive damages also is being sought.

The outgoing attorney general alleges that the spill occurred “due to the conduct, acts and omissions of the defendants” and charges the three companies with 18 causes of action.

The oil caused “extensive physical damage to tide and submerged lands, beaches, marine life, waterfowl, wildlife, habitat and other natural resources,” it alleges.

The complaint does not name a specific sum, but Deputy Atty. Gen. Sylvia Cano Hale, the lead attorney in the case, said the state will seek an amount “in the millions.”

The maximum fine for the case’s major allegation--violation of the state water code that prohibits discharge of oil into state waters--is about $8 million.

Some of the money from a settlement would reimburse agencies for expenses, while much of it would be used for various programs, such as restoration of Orange County wetlands or creation of bird rescue centers, to compensate the public for the spill, Cano Hale said.

The largest settlement in the nation for an oil spill was in 1989, when Shell Oil agreed to pay $19.75 million for a 432,000-gallon leak from a storage tank that caused major damage to sensitive wetlands in Suisun Bay near San Francisco.

Van De Kamp said in a statement Friday that his office “remains optimistic” that a settlement can be reached without a trial, but the suit was filed “to protect our rights under the statute of limitations,” which runs out on the spill’s anniversary on Feb. 7.

“We anticipate we will sit down soon and start negotiating to determine whether this matter can be settled,” Cano Hale said.

The attorney general’s office will decide how much it will seek from the companies when it receives a report by private consultants that puts a dollar value on the various resources. The report is expected within a few weeks, and settlement conferences can begin then, Cano Hale said.

American Trading and Transportation, the New York-based shipper than owns the American Trader, may soon be added to the companies targeted by the suit, Cano Hale said.

The shipping company was not named because a federal court order issued last May prevents the company from being sued for damages related to the spill. The court granted the company’s request under a federal law that limits ships’ liability in accidents. The attorney general’s office plans to ask for a dismissal of that court order, and if it is granted then American Trading is automatically added to the civil suit.

Officials with BP America, based in Cleveland, said they are willing to discuss a settlement with the attorney general, although they could not say what size settlement they would find agreeable.

Chuck Webster, the company’s crisis manager, said the oil company spent $35 million on the cleanup and various claims, about $20 million of which was reimbursed by American Trading Transportation’s insurance company. The company paid $360,000 to Newport Beach for cleanup expenses and $415,000 to Huntington Beach.

“We don’t think the action today in any way changes our commitment to proceed responsibly, in the same way we did in responding to the spill itself and its aftermath,” Webster said. “We’ve attempted to be cooperative in every respect, and that’s the same way we will deal with this too.”

State Controller Gray Davis, a member of the State Lands Commission, which is a party in the suit, said he “fully expects” BP America to pay further damages, but “this lawsuit will make sure taxpayers don’t get stuck with the bill.”

Officials at Golden West Refining said that they do not believe they are liable, but to prevent long litigation, they, too, are willing to start settlement negotiations.

“We are ready to vigorously defend ourselves, but in the interest of avoiding substantial litigation costs, we hope the parties will sit down and settle this thing,” said Roger Kemple, vice president of Golden West Refining.

“This was a maritime, navigational accident,” he said. “We’re merely the operator of the marine terminal that the American Trader was approaching at the time of the spill.”

U.S. Coast Guard investigators found no negligence, misconduct or violations of federal navigational law, except water-pollution law, during the accident. But they did say in a report that some actions were questionable.

The Coast Guard concluded that the tanker was ruptured twice by its own anchor because there was insufficient clearance from the ocean floor for the tanker’s 43-foot draft. The inadequate depth was due to a variety of factors, including gradual sand shoaling, winds and a low tide.

Coast Guard officials found fault with the terminal owner, Golden West Refining, for failing to warn Brandenburger Marine’s mooring masters.

A related report said there was “ample evidence” to Brandenburger Marine and mooring master Capt. John Keon that there was less depth than they thought. Keon told investigators he thought the ocean at the terminal was 56 feet deep, while it was only about 43 feet.

More than 1,000 birds died when they were slicked with oil from the spill, in addition to thousands of grunion that attempted to spawn and countless, tiny creatures such as crabs that lived in the sand.

Data about the long-term ecological effects collected by state Fish and Game Department biologists and others have not been revealed because they are considered evidence in the case.

But Louann Murray, research director for the Bolsa Chica Conservancy, who co-wrote a report on the spill, said Friday that the Huntington Beach Wetlands, located near the mouth of the Santa Ana River, have not fully recovered. Small amounts of oil washed into the 25-acre marsh.

“There definitely was some damage to the Huntington Beach Wetlands,” she said. “Planktonic larvae was way down, and that affects all embryonic forms of life. In addition, some strange things have been happening in the wetlands since the spill. For instance, the population of the bubble snail is way up. It may be because some of the snails’ natural predators were killed because of the oil spill.”

Former Huntington Beach Mayor Thomas J. Mays, who is now a state assemblyman, said Friday: “We’ll be looking at environmental damage and any other costs that have not been paid for at this point. This suit gives us a lot of options.”

County officials, who are a party in the lawsuit, are trying to recoup about $325,000 in county funds spent on the cleanup effort.

City officials and others also say the suit can help compensate for any damage to the reputation of the county and its beaches.

“I think there definitely has been a tarnishing of Huntington Beach’s image,” said Bob Biddle, president of Huntington Beach Tomorrow, an environmental activist group. “People from outside the city still ask me if the beach is safe. And this sort of perception could mean the difference between our getting large conventions.”

Times staff writers Bill Billiter and Kris Lindgren contributed to this report.

THE HUNTINGTON BEACH OIL SPILL LAWSUIT On Feb. 7, 1990, the American Trader ran over its anchor while mooring 1.3-miles off Huntington Beach. About 400,000 gallons of spilled Alaskan crude soiled about 15 miles of shoreline, creating the largest Southern California oil spill since a 1969 oil-platform accident off Santa Barbara. Issue: Should oil companies and port operators be required to compensate the public for the broader effects of a spill, including injury to resources and wildlife, long-term cleanup costs, decreases in tourism and tax revenues and the closure of beaches and harbors?. Damages and fines could total millions of dollars. Plaintiffs: California Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, the Orange County District Attorney, various state and county agencies. Defendants: BP America and two subsidiaries that owned the oil and chartered the tanker; Brandenburger Marine, Inc., whose mooring master guided the ship; and Golden West Refining Co., which operates the offshore mooring. Prosecutors said they hope to add American Trading Transportation, the ship’s owner, in a later amendment.

Birds killed: 1,000 Cleanup costs: $35 million Beaches closed: 5 weeks