Oil Spill Cleanup Nears Completion

State wildlife officials declared the cleanup of an oil spill at McGrath Lake to be 90% complete Tuesday. The only remaining question is the potential contamination of sediment at the bottom of the lake.

Sediment samples are still being analyzed. But those samples are not likely to show enough contamination to warrant excavation, said Heidi Togstad, environmental specialist with the California Department of Fish and Game’s oil spill prevention and response office.

Officials discovered on Christmas Day that a broken pipeline had spilled more than 84,000 gallons of crude oil onto the beach and wetlands and into the lake near McGrath State Beach. About 215 birds and other animals were found dead in the area after the spill.

Berry Petroleum said in a report issued Jan. 21 that the cause of the spill was still unknown. But the Regional Water Quality Control Board has asked for further information.

Meanwhile, cleanup continued in the Santa Clara River east of Piru, where a pipeline that ruptured during the Jan. 17 earthquake spilled 214,000 gallons of crude.

The cleanup is about 25% complete, said Fish and Game spokesman Bob Schlicting. Atlantic Richfield, parent company of Four Corners Pipeline, still has 524 people working at the site to collect the oil.

“There are still places where there are pretty thick concentrations of oil,” Schlicting said. “There are also some areas where the oil has seeped deep into the ground and possibly into the ground-water table.”

Cleanup is expected to continue there for at least a few more weeks, he said. Wildlife officials have collected 645 dead fish, 31 dead birds and another 25 oiled birds.