U.S. federal regulators from the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) began work on Wednesday to remove oil and contaminated water released into a creek by Greka Energy Corp.
About 200 barrels of crude oil and toxic water leaked out of a corroded pipe at Greka's Bell lease site near Los Angeles on January 29, according EPA officials.
Greka and its contractors failed to clean the site in a timely manner, prompting the federal government to step in, said Robert Wise, an emergency response coordinator for the EPA.
"We still have oil in the creek, and the creek is still flowing. There is a lot of wildlife in that area and a lot of cattle," Wise said. "We want to make sure it gets cleaned up properly so there is no long-term contamination."
The state Fish and Game Department and the EPA are investigating alleged violations of environmental and safety laws, according to the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday.
Following the spill, federal, state and local authorities have issued stop-work orders at several of Greka's 77 facilities and, during a three-hour hearing in January, grilled company officials about repeated oil spills at its operations.
At the January hearing, county officials said the Fire Department has responded at least 400 times to oil spills and gas leaks at Greka since the energy company opened for business in 1999.
But Greka officials said they were in the process of hiring a contractor to perform the cleanup when the EPA rejected the plan and took control of the site. When representatives of the EPA and Greka inspected the affected creek bed two weeks ago, there appeared to be no problem, Greka officials said.
"It has always been Greka's plan to clean up the Bell lease site as efficiently and quickly as practical," the company said in a statement.
Source:Xinhua
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