Gray Davis Joins Calls for Oil Terminal Shutdown
Appeals to the U.S. Coast Guard to close an offshore oil terminal at El Segundo in the wake of last weekend’s Santa Monica Bay spill mounted Thursday as state Controller Gray Davis joined nine members of Congress in urging the shutdown.
Davis, who sits on the State Lands Commission, which oversees oil and gas development near the coast, said Saturday’s spill of 21,000 gallons of an oily fuel mixture demonstrates a need for tighter safety measures.
He proposed the closure until at least April 1, when an emergency meeting of terminal operators will be held in Sacramento to discuss safety.
On Wednesday, Rep. Mel Levine (D-Santa Monica) and eight other House members from California urged a halt to unloading until the Coast Guard and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency take steps “to ensure that similar accidents will not occur again.”
The spill occured when a tanker chartered by Chevron U.S.A. ripped open an undersea pipeline with its anchor.
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