CASTAIC : Cleanup of Freeway Oil Spill Continues

Workers labored for a second day Wednesday to clean up an oil spill on the Golden State Freeway near Castaic caused by a collision between a big truck and a fuel tanker, the California Highway Patrol said.

More than 40% of the right shoulder of the southbound freeway was cleaned by 2:30 p.m., said Bill Higgins, regional coordinator of Texas-based Tesoro Environmental Products Co. Biological cleaners supplied by Higgins’ company were applied to the affected area and then cleaned off with high-powered vacuum hoses.

The work was performed by 35 employees of Ecology Control Industries of Torrance, said Dan Van Rossen, the company’s vice president. Workers also began the tedious task of hand digging oil-drenched dirt and plants from two nearby ravines and a canyon about two miles south of Templin Highway.

The cleanup forced the partial closure of southbound lanes throughout the day, the CHP said.

Van Rossen said it could take another week to remove all contaminated soil from an estimated 5,000-foot area. However, the cleanup is expected to be completed with minimal effect on the environment, he said.

It may cost more than $1 million to remove all the desulfurized gasoline oil that spilled onto the freeway Tuesday and seeped into an adjacent canyon, Caltrans spokesman Russell Snyder said. Typically, the party found responsible for the accident is billed for the cleanup, he said.

The 7,500-gallon spill was partly due to a tractor-trailer driver trying to eat sunflower seeds while driving about 75 m.p.h., authorities said. The big truck rear-ended a fuel tanker and knocked it on its side, rupturing both tanks and spilling more than 3,000 gallons into a nearby canyon, authorities said.