WILMINGTON : Judge Orders Oil Firm Closed After Spill

Global Oil Production Co. was ordered to shut down its operations last week for the second time in six months.

A Los Angeles judge ordered the closure because the company on East I Street did not properly clean up and report a recent spill, authorities said.

Department of Fish and Game Investigator Ken Walton said five to 10 barrels of oil leaked from several flooded wells on Jan. 4.

“The rain caused the well cellars to overflow so that water and oil went down the city streets . . . and into the storm drains,” Walton said.

“We believe some (oil) entered the Dominguez Channel, which is a direct tributary to the harbor.”

He said Global tried to clean the spill with its own workers instead of using a state-approved contractor. The company also failed to report the spill to the state Office of Emergency Services.

The Office of Oil Spill Prevention and Response considers the violations serious and might file criminal charges, Walton said.

It is not the first time Fish and Game has run into problems with the company, which is owned by Louisiana-based Topko North Wilmington General Partnership.

Global Oil was already on probation over a spill in March, 1993, and has not come up with a required contingency plan for emergencies.

But company General Manager Alan Ying said only two cups of oil spilled on Jan. 4 and he did not believe the oil had entered the storm drain system.

He added that the company had tried to notify authorities about the spill, but could not get through on the phone for several days.

Global Oil, which has operated on a 14-acre site for about five years, is a good neighbor, Ying said. It has often helped other companies clean spills in the Wilmington area.

But Walton said both spills occurred because of negligence. The first leaked from an open valve. The second happened because the company did not maintain its wells.

Although the court-imposed shutdown could stretch for 90 days, Global Oil may be reopened as early as next week if its contingency plan is accepted.

“We’ve been working with (Global) to get them on line with an approved plan,” Walton said.