Exxon Oil Spill Settlement to Aid Bolsa Cleanup

Money linked to the devastating Exxon Valdez oil spill that fouled Alaska shorelines will be used to remedy another oil-tainted coastal property--the Bolsa Chica wetlands.

Those crafting the public purchase of Bolsa Chica confirmed Thursday that the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency will contribute $400,000 to the cleanup effort from a settlement related to the devastating 1989 Exxon spill.

“There’s no better use for the Exxon Valdez money than to clean up oil contamination so that wetlands can be restored,” said Hugh Barroll, EPA assistant regional counsel who helped forge this week’s historic agreement for state purchase of the Bolsa Chica wetlands next to Huntington Beach.

News of the EPA funding came as dozens of people involved in the sale rushed to complete paperwork before today’s noon deadline.

Using funds contributed by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which are getting sufficient credit for wetlands preservation to enable them to proceed with expansion plans, the state is paying a private real estate developer $25 million for 880 acres of the Bolsa Chica wetlands that had been slated for development.

Another $64 million from the ports, coupled with $2 million coming from other grants, will be spent to carve a tidal inlet between the wetlands and the ocean, and to restore the marshes that are home to rare birds, waterfowl and fish. Upon transfer, the land will become part of a major wildlife preserve.

The biggest stumbling block in the state acquisition was the discovery last year of widespread soil contamination leftover from decades of oil-field operations. Much of Bolsa Chica is still an active oil field.

A major feature of this week’s agreement is the promised cleanup, estimated to cost between $7 million and $17 million, by CalResources, a Shell Oil affiliate that is the current oil operator, and its predecessor, Phillips Petroleum Co.

Officials said the use of federal moneys from the Exxon Valdez oil spill was appropriate, since it will help cleanse the fragile wetlands of oil and other contaminants.

The money comes from funds paid to the U.S. government as reimbursement for federal outlays in the wake of the March 24, 1989, spill, when the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground and dumped 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound, destroying wildlife and wetlands. The spill is considered the worst in U.S. history.

Some EPA workers were sent to Alaska, and others shuttled to different offices. Two of Barroll’s EPA associates were moved from Boston to the Pacific Northwest for several months to fill in for staff on temporary duty in Alaska.

So, when Exxon reimbursed the government, the EPA received $4.5 million that was later earmarked for wetlands restoration projects around the country.

“We’re paying back the rest of the nation for the attention we paid to Alaska,” said Barroll, who got word of the Exxon money and sought and won a portion for Bolsa Chica.

The Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board will oversee the Bolsa cleanup for nearly four years, with the Exxon money paying for a staff person as well as other board costs, said Mark Adelson, chief of the board’s surveillance and enforcement section.

“There’s a kind of poetic justice, that damages collected as a result of an environmental catastrophe are going to create a success story,” Adelson said.