Oil Firm, Industry to Pay $9.1 Million for Offshore Spill

An oil company and an industry compensation fund have agreed to pay almost $9.1 million for the environmental and economic damage caused by a 1990 oil spill off Huntington Beach, the worst environmental disaster in Orange County’s history, officials announced Tuesday.

BP America--the U.S. subsidiary of British Petroleum Corp.--and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Liability Fund will compensate a variety of state and federal agencies and private businesses for the cleanup costs and damage caused when the American Trader oil tanker dumped 400,000 gallons of crude oil off Huntington Beach and Newport Beach five years ago Tuesday.

“We are very happy with (the settlement),” said Sylvia Cano Hale, a state deputy attorney general who participated in the negotiations. “It satisfied our goal of obtaining fair compensation for natural resource injury.”

The bulk of the money--about $6.9 million--will go for restoration, creation and protection of wildlife habitats suitable for brown pelicans and other species. The rest will fund a fish hatchery program near Carlsbad, support ocean and coastal pollution projects, pay back various agencies for cleanup costs and revenue lost during the spill and pay for future mitigation projects such as improved beach facilities and wetlands restoration.

In addition, nearly $2.2 million will go to about 190 businesses and individuals who suffered economic damage as a result of the oil spill, Hale said.

BP America spokesman John Andes called the settlement “fair compensation for the damages that were done. The settlement is earmarked for specific projects, most of which are directly in (environmental) restoration, which is what this was all about.”

But Pierce Flynn, spokesman for the San Clemente-based Surfrider Foundation, which works to protect the quality of ocean water, said the settlement was relatively small.

“Does it pay to pollute if you are a big corporation?,” he asked. “Is it cheaper to go ahead and pay the fine and the subsequent lawsuits rather than retool, and build safer tankers or deliver to a safer port?”

The deal--reached after hundreds of hours of negotiations involving dozens of representatives of local, state and federal agencies--is in addition to the $12 million BP paid shortly after the Feb. 7 spill to clean up the damage and compensate other private parties who suffered losses in the incident.

The spill occurred when the American Trader, a tanker chartered by BP America, ran over its anchor as it tried to moor at a terminal. The resulting spill of Alaskan crude oil fouled 15 miles of beaches, causing extensive environmental damage and killing birds and marine animals.

Tuesday’s agreement settles lawsuits filed by the state and federal governments on behalf of the cities of Huntington Beach and Newport Beach as well as Orange County and the Orange County Flood Control District. Other plaintiffs included the state Department of Fish and Game, the state Department of Parks and Recreation, the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, the state Coastal Conservancy and the State Lands Commission.