Santa Barbara, CA – Assemblymember Pedro Nava, Chair of the Joint Committee on Emergency Services & Homeland Security and Jared Huffman, Chair of the Committee on Environmental Safety & Toxic Materials to hold Briefing on January 4, 2008 at 1:00 p.m. at the David Gebhard Public Meeting Room in Santa Barbara regarding Greka’s activities. The public is invited.

The focus of the briefing will be to better understand what led to the most recent spill, review Greka’s environmental record and learn how further contamination can be avoided in the future.

“Greka has a remarkable history of numerous environmental violations that threaten the health and safety of Santa Barbara County residents, its own employees and state and local emergency personnel. It’s time we took a good hard look at their operations,” said Nava.  “I’ve been reviewing violation reports stretching over the last 8 years. Whether its a million dollar United States EPA fine for dumping contaminated wastewater into wells posing a risk to groundwater supplies or failing to provide adequate hazmat training to its own workers, their behavior is unconscionable. In the last two months, Greka has spilled about 74,000 gallons of toxic material in our county.  My sources tell me this number is expected to grow even larger once the recovery bins are assessed. Enough is enough.” 

Assemblymember Nava visited the oil spill site in Santa Maria on December 10th and saw first hand the devastation caused by the spill, now estimated to be over 74,000 gallons, the equivalent of 9 gasoline tanker trucks. Nava sent a letter on December 11, 2008 to the Director of the California Department of Fish & Game, Mr. John McCammon, requesting that those responsible for the spill be held accountable and if warranted, that civil and criminal prosecutions be pursued.

Who: Chair of the Joint Committee on Emergency Services & Homeland Security Assemblymember Pedro Nava, Chair of the Committee on Environmental Safety & Toxic Materials Assemblymember Jared Huffman, California Department of Fish & Game Office of Oil Spill Prevention, Central Coast Regional Water Quality Board, California Department of Conservation, and Santa Barbara County

What:  Briefing hosted by the Chairs of the Joint Committee on Emergency Services & Homeland Security and the Committee on Environmental Safety & Toxic Materials regarding Greka activities.

When: Friday, January 4, 2008, 1:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Where: David Gebhard Public Meeting Room, 630 Garden Street (between Ortega and Cota Streets) Santa Barbara CA.