Santa Barbara - Assemblymember Pedro Nava, Chair of the Joint Committee on Emergency Services and Homeland Security today submitted a letter to the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors outlining his recommendations regarding Greka Energy. (See letter below)

“The recommendations made in the staff report regarding Greka Energy to the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors today are a good start,” said Nava.  “As a result of the recent informational meeting I held on Greka Energy, I felt it necessary to make additional recommendations to the board.  I believe we all have a responsibility to ensure that the community and environment are protected.”

Assemblymember Pedro Nava recently held an informational hearing in response to a series of oil spills by Greka Energy, a multinational oil company with operations in Northern Santa Barbara County.  Greka has spilled almost 500,000 gallons of oil during the last 8 years and almost 200,000 gallons during the past several months.  In addition, Greka has had nearly 500 local, state and federal violations and more than $2.5 million in fines and penalties. 

In order to keep the community informed, Assemblymember Nava recently launched the “Greka Environmental Update”. The update includes information on Greka violations, news clippings, photos and video of the recent informational hearing on Greka Energy. The update can be found at: www.assembly.ca.gov/nava.

 Letter Attached:

 January 14, 2008

Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors

Address: 105 E. Anapamu St.
Santa Barbara, CA 93101

Dear Honorable Members of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors:

I have reviewed the Greka Energy Oil Facilities Update prepared for your meeting on January 15th, 2008. I am encouraged by the recommendations to prevent further environmental trauma such as those that have been occurring with Greka for the past eight years. While the recommendations are a good start, given my experience as a Deputy District Attorney and resident of this county and taking into account the testimony offered by response professionals at the January 4, 2008 briefing, I feel it necessary to make some additional recommendations.

One:    Supervisors should receive, as publicly noticed agenda items, regular reports of environmental enforcement activity. Apparently, this is not the current practice. Having a regular report on violators will allow the Board of Supervisors and other county agencies to develop preventative responses unlike the current situation with Greka.

Two:    Supervisors should be made aware of land ownership and leases where operations are conducted. Landowners who lease land to Greka or other potential polluters should be notified when environmental violations occur on their land. Ultimately, the landowner can be held responsible for environmental cleanup. During the January 4th briefing, we learned that land owners are not typically aware of environmental violations occurring on their land. While it is customary that the operator/violator pays for environmental cleanup, in the event of an operator bankruptcy, landowners could find themselves responsible for the costs of restoration and cleanup of their property. In addition, Fish & Game testified that the identity of the landowner was important in providing access to the land, thereby enhancing the investigative effort to identify and document environmental violations.

Three: The County should create a website search portal on the County of Santa Barbara website so that members of the public can easily access environmental violation history. If the public can view restaurant health department violations before an evening on the town, they should be able to examine a company’s history of environmental violations that pose a threat to human and environmental health.

Four:    A more accurate inspection and enforcement cost formula should be calculated to provide full cost recovery. The report refers to a $450 per hour cost, then limits it to one hour. This is unnecessarily conservative and results in an under calculation of taxpayer costs.

Fifth:   Further evaluation of enforcement authority, including permit conditions that will provide the authority to revoke permits, resulting in cessation of activity, beyond the Air Pollution Control District’s Abatement process, Stop Work Orders issued by the County Fire Department and other nuisance options.

I appreciate your attention to this matter. Please let me know if I can be of any assistance to you in the future.

Sincerely,

PEDRO NAVA

Assemblymember, 35th District

Chair, Joint Legislative Committee on Emergency Services and Homeland Security

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