Criminal Charges Filed Over Mobil Oil Pipeline Spill

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office has filed criminal charges against Mobil Oil Corp. for a 74,634-gallon oil spill that fouled 15 miles of the Santa Clara River in Ventura and Los Angeles counties last year.

Mobil, the nation’s second-biggest oil company, faces a maximum penalty of $497,000 if convicted on two felony counts of illegally disposing of hazardous waste and two misdemeanor counts of polluting a waterway, said Deputy Dist. Atty. David H. Guthman, head of the environmental crimes unit.

The company has already spent $10 million to clean up the Jan. 31 spill in Valencia, which killed 186 birds and damaged the habitat of an endangered fish, the unarmored three-spine stickleback, and an endangered bird, the least Bell’s vireo.

The spill was the seventh in five years on the 90-mile, underground pipeline that carries hot crude oil from Mobil’s Kern County oil fields to its Torrance refinery.

Mobil has replaced 18 miles of the line, including the Valencia portion, and is scheduled to replace the rest of the line by the end of this year, said Mobil spokesman James Carbonetti.

Although Mobil paid fines in connection with the previous leaks and in one case pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of polluting a waterway, this is the first time that the company has faced felony charges. Prosecutors decided to file the felony charges because of the extent of the damage and the fact that a 1990 environmental report on the replacement project stated there was a 99.8% chance that the existing line would rupture in the next five years, Guthman said.

Ironically, Mobil officials cited the high probability of leaks to win approval for the new pipeline over the objections of homeowners and environmentalists, who cited the company’s history of spills and the prospect of traffic congestion during the 18-month construction.

That admission will be used as evidence that the company was negligent, Guthman said.

But Mobil’s Carbonetti said Thursday that the company was unaware that the Valencia section of the pipeline was vulnerable to leaks. Six months before the spill, a hydrostatic test, in which water is pumped at high pressure through the pipeline to pinpoint weak spots, had failed to detect any problems in that section of the line, he said.

In addition to costlier fines, a felony conviction could expose the company to civil penalties and jeopardize its standing with insurance companies, said Assistant Los Angeles City Atty. Vincent B. Sato, who prosecuted Mobil on misdemeanor charges in connection with two 1988 ruptures that spilled 130,000 gallons in Encino and Sherman Oaks.

The state attorney general’s office also may seek civil penalties from Mobil once the state Department of Fish and Game completes a report on the spill, said Deputy Atty. Gen. Sara Russell.