COUNTYWIDE : Government Honors Texaco for Rescue

The federal government has presented an award to Texaco Exploration and Production Inc. in honor of four workers who rescued victims of a plane accident last summer and tended to them on their oil platform off the Ventura County coast.

In August, workers on Platform Habitat pulled Jack Loomis, a Goleta pilot, and three of his passengers from the water after Loomis’ single-engine Cessna lost power and crashed about a quarter mile from the platform. The rig’s helicopter later flew the foursome to Goleta Valley Community Hospital, where Loomis was treated for a cut above the eye. The others, including an Oxnard man, were not injured.

Last week, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service presented its Safety Award for Excellence to Texaco. The award, presented twice a year, recognizes humanitarian services performed by workers in the oil and gas industries.