Mobil Ordered to Step Up Effort at Spill Site
The L.A. Regional Water Quality Control Board has ordered Mobil Oil Corp. to step up efforts to clean up the site of a former gas station that it says contaminated Santa Monica’s water supply.
The new order includes tighter deadlines, requires monthly progress reports and instructs Mobil to “submit a comprehensive remedial action plan” to restore the Arcadia well field to full production by April 30.
If the company fails to comply with all the terms and conditions of the order, the board may seek sanctions.
“We are very happy with this,” said Craig Perkins, the Environmental and Public Works director of Santa Monica. “There have been a lot of delays, which has been very frustrating.”
City officials say that Santa Monica’s Arcadia Water Treatment Facility was contaminated by the additive MTBE leaking from gasoline storage tanks at the former Mobil station next to the well.
Although Mobil has admitted that the station at Wilshire Boulevard and Bundy Drive station did contaminate the ground water, it says other sources may be at fault as well.
Last February the board fined Mobil $20,000 a month for the cost of importing water to the city and ordered the company to clean up the site.
But Mobil appealed the board’s decision, delaying cleanup, a Santa Monica official said. Mobil says it has spent $2.5 million on cleaning up the site.
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