County Issue: Oil Pipeline Regulations

In the wake of major oil spills that fouled the ecologically sensitive Santa Clara River and the wetlands along McGrath Lake in Ventura County, Assemblyman Jack

O’Connell (D-Carpinteria) is proposing strict new regulations for oil pipelines. Are such regulations needed, and will they prevent future spills?

* Alan Godley

Environmentalist, owner of Blue Dolphin environmental store in Ventura Something needs to be done to protect these very sensitive areas. The steelhead that depend on the Santa Clara River, for instance, are in such a stressed state that they can’t rebound if a spill occurs and are vulnerable to extinction. At the very least, we should have maps of where the new and old pipelines are, so we know where they cross sensitive habitat. It’s those pipelines that should be regularly monitored. If an earthquake occurs, crews should be out there immediately looking for cracks, just as crews check bridges and highway overpasses. In the case of the Christmas (Eve) spill (at McGrath Lake), there was human error involved, too. It took almost five days before anyone even knew there was a leak. We should make every effort to prevent such mistakes through more frequent monitoring. We should know if a pipeline is too old and stressed. I don’t know how long pipelines can be used safely; it’s not my industry, but I know they corrode over time. There should be some sort of standard set stating when pipelines should be replaced. I know they can’t carry oil forever without breaking.

* Terry Covington

Western States Petroleum Assn. in Santa Barbara

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We at Western States Petroleum believe a call for new regulations at this point in time is premature. It is not clear that additional regulations imposed on all companies across-the-board is necessary. It is also not clear that it would provide any additional benefit or could have prevented these incidents. It is important to note that this (the Santa Clara spill) was the only pipeline break from the devastating earthquake in the whole area. The most important effort now should be to determine what caused the spills and what corrective action is necessary. Once this information is obtained, it will be useful to the regulatory agencies who oversee our onshore activities as well as the companies that have onshore operations. The review being conducted by state agencies to examine current preventive inspection and maintenance and response measures in our opinion is the most constructive response. Perhaps the role of the Legislature should be to oversee communication and notification procedures among existing state and local agencies.

* John K. Flynn

Ventura County supervisor *

The oil spills were a tragedy, but I think there is a tendency to overreact after accidents like these. We could have legislation left and right that would cost taxpayers lots of money and not really do much. I would rather take a careful approach on this. We have a system that works 99% of the time. It didn’t work well during the Christmas (Eve) spill, and maybe we should have better monitoring of pipelines in sensitive areas, but I would hope that the state would consult with industry and local officials before they enact any new legislation. Ventura is laced with pipelines, and accidents are bound to happen. What seems most important is that we don’t have the miscommunication between the various agencies that we had during the (McGrath Lake) spill. No one seemed to know who was in charge. We can’t have that, but we should be cautious in pushing for more government regulation.

* Jack O’Connell

Assemblyman (D-Carpinteria) *

As always, my primary concern is that we prevent the kind of tragic spill I saw at McGrath Lake. The one thing that became clear after the McGrath incident is that no one knows how many old pipes are out there ready to rupture. The fact that it took days to notice and react to the pipeline break also underscores a critical and immediate need for increased site monitoring and significant retraining in appropriate notification procedures. The Department of Fish and Game’s Oil Spill Prevention and Response team is compiling a comprehensive inventory of the number and type of pipelines, especially those along our fragile coastline. As this issue continues to develop and as our questions get answered, I will be moving forward with legislation designed to address construction and inspection standards that will tangibly increase pipeline spill prevention efforts.

* Andy Prokopow

Secretary for the Ventura County Environmental Coalition and a civil engineer *

There are hundreds of miles of pipeline out there, and more are being added all the time. The oil companies don’t want to make the capital investments to modernize all that older equipment even though it’s in their best interest. It’s like the arguments over double-lined tankers: Instead of justifying the expense, they’re looking at a bell curve that says the probability of a major break is very low. The earthquake alone should justify precautions. Accidents and disasters happen. We should take action to make those pipelines as safe as they can be, including regular monitoring. We should make sure that if a break occurs, it doesn’t dump into sensitive areas like the Santa Clara River. That’s probably one of the most sensitive areas in the county. We don’t want to lose it. Right now, we rely on the oil companies to monitor themselves. It’s the old fox guarding the chicken coop. I don’t know if new regulations will stop spills altogether, but it would be a move in that direction.