Rules for Offshore Terminals Tightened to Curb Oil Spills

In an effort to prevent shipping accidents after oil spills marred the coastline of Huntington Beach and El Segundo, the State Lands Commission announced tougher safety measures Wednesday for the state’s 21 offshore tanker terminals.

Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy, the commission’s chairman, called the new precautions “an immediate and substantial step” that will improve the safety at California marine terminals used for loading and unloading oil.

The terminal operators have been told to conduct annual depth surveys, use tugboats to guide tankers, hire a second mooring master to be present during all loading and unloading, use divers to check undersea hoses in pipelines and install vacuums in pipelines to stop spills if a rupture occurs. Additional depth surveys may be required by the commission after major storms or earthquakes.

“We probably have a bigger problem than any other state because we’re dealing with many of the oil tankers from Alaska,” McCarthy said. “With these rules, we probably have the best regulations in the country.”

California began looking at tighter safety measures largely because of the Feb. 7, 1990, oil spill at a marine terminal off Huntington Beach, which occurred when a tanker that was too large for conditions at the berth struck bottom and was ruptured by its own anchor. About 15 miles of coastline was soiled by the spill, Southern California’s largest in more than two decades.

Also, in March, 27,000 gallons spilled from a Chevron Corp. pipeline in El Segundo that was ripped open by an oil tanker’s anchor, fouling Santa Monica Bay beaches.

The commission, meeting in Los Angeles, said Chevron Corp. has agreed to shut down one of the berths at its El Segundo Transfer Terminal. The panel said the proximity of the berth to another berth was a major contributing factor to the spill.

“Up and down the coast, our safety measures bring a cost-effective measure of environmental security,” said state Controller Gray Davis, another commission member.