County Seeks Millions From Oil Firms

Orange County prosecutors disclosed Thursday that they are seeking millions of dollars in civil penalties from two oil companies blamed for contaminating ground water underneath more than 100 gas stations across the county.

Prosecutors are seeking the fines as part of a 1999 lawsuit against Atlantic Richfield Co. and Thrifty Oil, which are trying to clean up their leaking underground gas storage tanks, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Michelle Lyman.

Ground-water purity has been a longtime concern in Orange County, where service stations and about 1,000 wells sit practically side by side. More than 50% of the county’s drinking water comes from local wells.

Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas said he hopes to collect “at least a few million dollars” in penalties from the two oil companies. That money--and any fines collected in similar suits against other oil companies--would be put into a fund that the county’s water districts could tap for cleanup efforts.

The groundwater contamination has not reached the deep aquifers that provide the county’s drinking water, Lyman said.

But water officials closed two wells last year after tests detected trace amounts of a contaminant linked to gasoline; no contaminated water was reported to have reached taps. Officials also are monitoring a well in east Anaheim, where trace amounts of the contaminant MTBE were found.

Experts said extensive testing will keep contaminants from making it to Orange County taps. But if the ground-water supply is contaminated, the county would have to buy more expensive water from other places.

Lyman said it is important for prosecutors to act now, before the hidden ocean beneath the county is tainted.

“This is a preemptive strike,” Lyman said. “We don’t want to sit here twiddling our thumbs while this stuff is approaching our water.”

And although it could take a decade or longer for contaminants to percolate through gravel and sand into drinking water reserves, prosecutors are aware of drinking water disasters in Santa Monica, Cambria and Lake Tahoe in recent years. In those communities, wells became contaminated and agencies had to turn elsewhere for drinking water.

The ground-water contamination sites that prosecutors allege are the responsibility of ARCO and Thrifty Oil are among about 750 ground-water cleanup cases in Orange County, Lyman said. ARCO is believed to be the largest polluter of the county’s ground water, Lyman said.

An ARCO spokeswoman said Thursday that she does not understand why officials called a news conference to discuss the suit, which was filed in January 1999 and updated earlier this month.

“We want to work with them,” said spokeswoman Cheryl Burnett. “We just need to know specifically what their issues are.”

The main issue appears to be money. Lyman said prosecutors and the oil companies have reached an impasse over the appropriate civil penalty. Negotiations are also underway with other oil companies.

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Correspondent Louise Roug contributed to this report.

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Pollution Lawsuit

Prosecutors accuse two oil companies of polluting the ground water with fuel leaking from more than 100 gas stations across the county, saying that the pollution is a threat to the drinking water supply. How pollution affects the supply:

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SHALLOW AQUIFER: less than 500’ deep

When county was more rural, wells were shallower.

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PRIMARY AQUIFER: 500’ to 2,000’ deep

Salt from fertilizers lessened qualify of water. Deeper wells are dug.

DEEP AQUIFER: more than 2,000’

If primary layer becomes more polluted, deeper wells may have to be dug.

Source: Orange County Water District, Orange County district attorney’s office

Polluted stations by city:

Arco stations* with underground storage tanks that have contaminated the soil and/or groundwater, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s office:

Anaheim 25

Buena Park 5

Brea 2

Costa Mesa 11

Cypress 3

Dana Point 1

Fountain Valley 7

Fullerton 8

Garden Grove 9

Huntington Beach 10

Irvine 1

La Habra 1

Laguna Beach 1

Laguna Niguel 1

Laguna Woods 0

Lake Forest 2

Los Alamitos 1

Mission Viejo 4

Newport Beach 1

Orange 9

Placentia 2

Rancho Santa Margarita 0

San Clemente 3

San Juan Capistrano 0

Santa Ana 16

Seal Beach 1

Stanton 1

Tustin 6

Villa Park 0

Westminster 4

Yorba Linda 2

* owned by Arco or leased by Arco from Thrifty

NOTE: Orange County gets more than 50% of its water from its underground aquifer, which is replenished when water trapped in reservoirs percolates into the ground.