Montebello hills oil spill investigation

Howdy friends and neighbors of the hills!

The latest news about the oil spill in the Montebello hills is out and to borrow a phrase from T.V.'s Ricky Ricardo, it looks like PXP has "got some 'splaining to do!"

The California Department of Fish and Game has opened an investigation to see if PXP violated water pollution laws when 10 barrels of produced water and 40 gallons of crude oil escaped from a broken pipe and into the Rio Hondo River on April 19, 2011.

EGP News.com reports:

Clean up of the spill sites have concluded, according to Alexia Retallack, a spokesperson for the state agency, and they are now determining how the spill occurred and whether they should refer the matter to the district attorney’s office for possible prosecution.

Spill in Montebello Hills Contaminates Storm Drains, Rio Hondo.
By Elizabeth Hsing-Huei Chou, EGP Staff Writer
April 28, 2011

The EGP News story also says:

An investigator is assessing the location where the spill occurred and conducting interviews to determine if the spill could have been prevented, Retallack said.

Hooey!  That's gonna be interesting! The EGP News story goes on to say:

Another spill from the Montebello Hills oil field owned by PXP was reported to Cal EMA back in September 2010. The original report says an unknown amount of oil was spilled, but an update states 2 to 3 barrels were released.

Whoa Nellie!  There's 42 gallons in a barrel which means 84 to 126 gallons of oil was spilled!

Based on information available through the California Emergency Management Agency's Hazardous Material Spill Reports, it sounds like the 2010 spill affected the same storm drain!

Dadgummit PXP, you've had a little more than 7 whole months to find a way to keep your messes out of the public storm drains!  Y'all ever hear of a thing called a "sand bag?"

Seriously folks, it makes a body want to cry just thinking about all the little critters and foliage that could have been spared an oily demise.

A victim of last week's oil spill.

Just one of the dying fish observed by Michael Popoff and L.A. Times reporter Louis Sahagun.

Photo courtesy of Michael Popoff, used by permission.

In memoriam, scroll on down to the bottom of this blog page and y'all can use your cursor to feed the "ghost fish."

R.I.P.

Daisy Mae

Thar's oil in them thar hills . . . and in the pond . . . and maybe the river!

 Howdy friends and neighbors of the hills!

This is clean?

Pond water sample taken Monday morning. 

Photo sent in by a concerned resident, used by permission.

The Los Angeles Times has just posted a story about the PXP Montebello hills oil spill. The story, "Remnants of oil spill linger in Montebello tributary" written by Louis Sahagun of the L.A. Times features a photo of Mr. Michael Popoff, a Save the Montebello Hills Task Force member, holding a disturbing sample of the oily, black water that remains after the alleged "clean up" efforts.

It broke my heart to hear about the poor fish that were seen flopping around in the pond, then it really ruffled my feathers to read the response from Plains Exploration & Production spokesperson, Scott Winters:

" . . . no significant environmental damage resulted from the event due to PXP's immediate response efforts."

Tarnations!  Try telling that to those dying fish!!!

As to that "immediate response" nonsense, I know I've been smelling the faint whiff of petroleum in the air around Lincoln Ave. and San Gabriel Blvd. for at least a week before any type of spill was "officially" reported.  Makes me wonder now just how long this has been going on.

Folks, this is a clear lesson on how "oil and water don't mix"  and since us human beings are made up mostly of water, well, it should also be a clear message to Cook Hill Properties Llc:

"Oil and LIFE don't mix!"

Building a 1,200 unit housing development in the MIDDLE of a working oil field is an idea that STINKS!!!

Daisy Mae

UPDATE:

EGP News has printed a follow up story on the PXP Montebello hills oil spill.

EGP News.com
PXP Oil Spill in Montebello Hills Contaminates Storm Drains, Rio Hondo
By Elizabeth Hsing-Huei Chou, EGP Staff Writer

Yee Haw!!!  Go git em Lizzie!!!

More photos of the PXP oil spill

Howdy friends and neighbors of the hills!


The following eyewitness report, photos and captions were provided by a concerned resident of Montebello who wishes to remain anonymous.  The photos were taken on Saturday, April 23, 2011.

This material was forwarded to me by the Save the Montebello Hills Task Force of the Sierra Club/Angeles Chapter.  [All photos used by permission.]

Dear Daisy Mae,

I followed the deep tire tracks of the cleanup trucks into the brush and they
led me to a small pond at the end of a large storm drain.  The pond, which is
above the nearby river, and drains down into it, is surrounded by low hanging
trees and an approximately 7 foot escarpment.  The location is nearly exactly
north of where Lincoln Avenue ends about 150 feet from the road, but it is hard
to tell, as the easiest access is by a series of switchback trails and cleared
brush.  I didn't have anything to put a sample of the black gunk, or anything to
wipe my hands with, so I didn't touch it.

[This] is the longest view possible of the pond filled by the outflow
of the storm drain.  While there are 4 booms across the outflow, only three can
be photographed with a non-fisheye lense.  The water appears to be black because
the pondbottom is black, not the water.  A thin crust of black gunk mixed with
dirt is somewhat visible.

[This] shows the difference between the dry earth, the wet earth, and
the gunky earth.  I stuck my dirty white shoe in the photo so the black stuff
would contrast better.

The other photos are different views of the pond and the sides of the pond.

[This] photo appears to be some kind of pipeline shut off, and I include it
because it is along one of the roads to the pond, and appeared to have been used
in the recent past.

The "NRC Incident Command Center", the NRC vacuum tanker truck, and a County
Public Works pick up truck.

Signed,


Anonymous

Dear Anonymous,

Thank you for sharing this important information with the rest of us folks here in Montebello!  I hope you didn't get too much oil goo on your shoes!

Much obliged,

Daisy Mae

Montebello Hills Oil Spill

Howdy friends and neighbors of the hills!

 Intersection of San Gabriel Blvd. and Lincoln Ave., Montebello, CA.

The white light in the center of the photo is where clean up workers were seen.

(All photos courtesy of a Montebello resident- used by permission.)

Once again PXP has befouled our beloved Montebello hills.  The story broke late last night when a reporter from Eastern Group Publishing (EGP) was asked by concerned citizens of Montebello to check out what was happening near the intersection of San Gabriel Blvd. and Lincoln Ave.

The EGP story, Montebello Oil Spill Clean Up In Progress by Elizabeth Hsing-Huei Chou, EGP Staff Writer, was posted early this Saturday morning.

Ironically, Friday was "Earth Day."

According to the EGP story, "A crew began cleaning up an oil spill in Montebello sometime earlier this week, and will continue cleanup into this weekend."

Spills of hazardous materials, including crude oil, are reported to the California Emergency Management Agency (Cal-EMA) and these reports are available for public view.

Hazardous Material Spill Reports 
[Use the search function and enter: "Montebello",  then select option: "last modified."  The Cal-EMA report number for this spill is 11-2486]

The Haz Mat Report for this latest spill is dated April 19, 2011 and states 10 barrels (1 barrel equals 42 US gallons) of "produced water" and 40 gallons of crude oil were spilled.  This may not sound like much but keep in mind folks, the spill was reported last Tuesday and the clean up crews were still out there on Friday night!

The report goes on to say that the cause of the spill was a "broken pipe" or in the words of the person reporting the spill, "a gasket failed on a flange on a flow line."

What gets me so riled up is that it isn't the first oil spill in this exact location.  If you read through all of the Haz Mat reports for Montebello you'll notice other spills have happened near the intersection of San Gabriel Blvd and Lincoln Ave.

It's mighty curious that this northeast section of the Montebello hills just happens to be the place where PXP's real estate subsidiary, Cook Hill Properties, wants to put their restricted-access, "gnatcatcher reserve" as part of their proposed housing development plan.

Hhhhmmmmm . . .  

NRC Environmental Services Truck

24 hour emergency response

1-800-33-Spill

The California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (OES) has a pdf. on what to do in case of a hazardous materials spill or release:

OES Hazardous Materials Unit
California Hazardous Material Spill/Release Notification Guidance

Traffic cones and row of clean up trucks along

San Gabriel Blvd looking west.  The Montebello hills oil field is on the left.

 North side of San Gabriel Blvd just past the Bosque de Rio Hondo looking west.  White light on the right hand side of the photo indicates area where clean up workers were seen near the riverbed.

Residents passing through this area say you can smell the crude oil in the air so if any of y'all have allergies or asthma you may want to consider an alternate route.

Daisy Mae


P.S. I would like to send out a "thank you kindly" to Elizabeth Hsing-Huei Chou and EGP News for posting a link back to this blog!  I sure do appreciate it!


New blog entries on this story: 


April 24, 2011
More photos of the PXP oil spill

April 26, 2011
Thar's oil in them thar hills . . . and in the pond . . . and maybe the river!


April 30, 2011
Montebello hills oil spill investigation

May 5, 2011
PXP in the DOGGR House