HUNTINGTON BEACH : Complaints About Oil Plant Persist

Complaints about a controversial Unocal oil-processing plant in the Huntington Harbour area have again been brought to the City Council.

Mary Gray told the council on Tuesday that she moved from her home near the plant last summer because both she and her daughter became ill from fumes. Her daughter, then 15 months old, suffered a seizure, Gray said.

Councilman Ralph Bauer expressed concern about continued complaints about the plant, which separates water from crude oil dredged by offshore wells. The plant, called Fort Apache by both Unocal and community residents, is in a residential area at 4541 Heil Ave.

Some residents near Fort Apache have repeatedly complained of headaches, rashes and breathing difficulties that they attribute to fumes from the plant. But both the South Coast Air Quality Management District and Huntington Beach city staff have said their investigations have found nothing unhealthful or illegal at the plant.

Gray, however, charged that state and city agencies are not doing a thorough job of looking into the health complaints. “The AQMD people I talked to patronized me and tried to discourage me from pursuing the matter,” Gray said Thursday in an interview.

John Boag, who said he also moved from the oil-plant area because of health concerns, said Thursday that he wants a county grand jury to investigate “how all the agencies, including the Huntington Beach Fire Department, have mishandled the Fort Apache situation.”

Boag charged that no public regulatory agency seems to care whether a health risk may be present at the oil-processing plant.

Unocal officials on Thursday said the company’s previous investigations have found no health danger at Fort Apache. And the officials noted that two additional inquiries into the plant are underway. McClintock said the two studies would be completed sometime next month, and she said a public meeting would be called to present the findings.