State Delays Suit Against Mobil Over Spill Into River

State officials said Monday that they will delay filing a lawsuit against Mobil Oil Corp. in hopes that the company will agree to pay a large sum in damages for an oil spill in Valencia that fouled the Santa Clara River.

Also on Monday, the Regional Water Quality Control Board voted to join the state Department of Fish and Game in any suit filed against Mobil.

In addition, Mobil faces a criminal complaint stemming from the 74,634-gallon spill. The district attorney’s office three weeks ago charged the firm with two felony violations of hazardous waste laws and two misdemeanor counts of polluting a waterway. Mobil, which has not yet been arraigned in that case, faces maximum criminal penalties of $497,000.

According to state wildlife officials, oil gushing from the pipeline polluted a 15-mile stretch of the Santa Clara River in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, killing 186 birds and damaging the habitat of two endangered species--a fish called the unarmored three-spine stickleback, and a bird, the least Bell’s vireo.