Oil Cleanup May End by Next Week : Spill: Cost of Santa Clara River project is expected to top $1 million. A ninth break in pipeline leaks 168 gallons but it’s not near the waterway.

Cleanup of a major oil spill that blackened miles of the Santa Clara River after last month’s earthquake is expected to be completed by early next week, state Department of Fish and Game officials said Friday.

More than 190,000 gallons of crude oil spilled from a pipeline rupture that was triggered by the Jan. 17 quake. The leak killed 693 fish, birds, amphibians and other wildlife and created a black gooey mess that stretched 17 miles from Santa Clarita to just east of Piru.

Fish and Game officials and cleanup crews hired by Atlantic Richfield Co., parent company of the Four-Corners Pipeline, expect to finish their cleanup efforts this weekend.

“We expect to have complete sign-off on the project Monday or Tuesday,” said Arco spokesman Scott Loll. Arco has not yet determined the cost to clean up the spill but hoped to have preliminary figures by Monday, Loll said.

However, Fish and Game officials estimate the cost will be well over $1 million.

A ninth break in the pipeline was discovered during a test of the line Thursday, Fish and Game Capt. Roger Reese said. The rupture, which Reese said was not near the river, leaked 168 gallons of oil.

“It’s an old pipeline, it was constructed in 1925-26,” Reese said. “It’s not the only pipeline in the area, and it’s not the only one where we’ve had breaks. The pipeline runs from production areas to refineries, whatever is in between is at risk.”

With the majority of the thick black crud already vacuumed from the river, crews are trying to remove any remaining pockets of oil floating on the surface or trapped in the soil, officials said.

“At this point we’re digging up sediments; there’s very little free oil left,” said Bob Schlichting, a Fish and Game spokesman. He said 193,494 gallons of oil were spilled as a result of the broken pipeline.

“Of that, we are saying we’ve recovered 64,638 gallons,” Schlichting said. “The rest either evaporated or sunk into sediments or is wrapped up in trees.”

In one section of the river that was still being cleaned, crews wearing yellow plastic suits stood thigh-deep in the water Friday, wiping the surface with rags in an attempt to capture any remaining oil. While the river appears normal, Fish and Game officials cautioned that oil trapped in vegetation or soil can still be dangerous to wildlife.

“Obviously when you have a spill like this there is damage. We will do what we can to be sure the area recovers,” Reese said. “A lot of it depends on how well you can clean up the oil.”

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Fish and Game supervisors divided the river into eight sections after the spill to manage the cleanup efforts. So far, four sections have been cleaned and officials anticipate completing the other four by early next week.

“It doesn’t guarantee that all the oil is removed,” Reese said.

Reese said the department is planning a study to assess the effects on wildlife in the area. He said the study will take two to three years to complete.

Officials said they will carefully monitor an endangered bird known as the least Bell’s vireo during the next few months. Although the migratory birds had not returned from their winter habitat in the south when the spill occurred, they are expected to arrive at their nesting grounds along the Santa Clara River in March. Wildlife experts fear the spill could contaminate the birds’ food supplies.

“We always have concerns about them because they’re endangered,” Reese said. “We don’t expect the spill to eliminate the vireos, but that could happen.”

In addition to its assessment, the Department of Fish and Game will produce an investigation report that will be submitted to the Los Angeles district attorney’s office. The pipeline broke in Santa Clarita, which is in Los Angeles County. Reese did not know when the report would be completed.

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Schlichting said it is possible Arco could face legal charges because of the spill, but that could be four or five months away. Arco’s Loll said the company has not been notified of any lawsuit and doesn’t anticipate one.

“We feel the pipeline was well maintained,” Loll said. “We feel this was the result of the earthquake. We don’t subscribe to the arguments we’ve heard.”

Environmentalists have blamed the spill on the pipeline’s age and a lack of a maintenance.

Loll said all eight breaks in the Four-Corners Pipeline have been repaired, and Arco hopes the line will be back in operation by the end of March. The pipeline moves oil from the San Joaquin Valley to the Los Angeles Basin, Loll said. It carries an estimated 50,000 barrels a day.