OXNARD : Street Still Closed Amid Oil Cleanup

Traffic remained blocked along Harbor Boulevard in Oxnard on Tuesday while crews hired by Bush Oil Co. continued to clean up as much of the 84,000 gallons of heavy crude oil as possible.

But by late Tuesday, workers had made no measurable progress on the cleanup, reporting instead that the number of gallons recovered to date is stalled at about 61,000.

Workers dressed in protective clothing cleared away wide patches of brush on the west side of Harbor Boulevard, while crews on the opposite side of the street prepared to remove the aging pipeline from under the road.

Also Tuesday, the number of birds killed from the county’s worst pipeline spill in decades increased by 25. Officials said 163 shore birds have died so far, with another 27 reported injured.

State officials said Tuesday that corrosion inside the pipe may have caused an 18-inch split along a seam in the section dug up earlier this week.

Chuck Samo of the State Fire Marshal’s Office said the split likely was not caused by currents from nearby pipelines’ electric safety devices.

“Interference causes corrosion outside the pipe wall,” Samo said. “No one reported to me that they saw any external corrosion on the pipe.”

Studies have shown that 59% of pipeline leaks are caused by external corrosion. But officials said they do not suspect that to be the case in the Bush Oil spill.

“The top two (causes) on the list obviously are structural failure or internal corrosion,” said Bill Guerard of the state division of oil and gas.

Officials at Taft-based Berry Petroleum, which owns Bush Oil and is responsible for the costs of cleaning up the spill, declined to comment Tuesday on what may have led to the pipe’s corrosion.

The Harbor Boulevard closure between Gonzales Road and Olivas Park Drive will continue through 3 p.m. today.