LOT ON SAN LUIS DRIVE

SLO couple sues Chevron over property oil contamination

A pipeline under the land had leaked years ago, unbeknownst to the new landowners

By Melanie Cleveland

Correction 4/16/08:A story on Page B1 Friday about an oil contamination lawsuit against Chevron incorrectly reported that John Voisinet paid $1 million each for two parcels in San Luis Obispo. He paid that much for both parcels. The story was also unclear about current ownership of the lots. Voisinet said he sold one of the lots at a loss, which is why it remains subject of the lawsuit. Alleging that pollution has made it impossible to develop his land, John Voisinet has filed a lawsuit against Chevron, which he says is responsible for an oil pipeline polluting his San Luis Obispo property.

The suit alleges that Voisinet’s two lots on the northeastern end of San Luis Drive were tainted more than 25 years ago when a construction worker broke a Union Oil Co. of California pipeline.

According to the lawsuit, the company never adequately cleaned up the pollution and then allowed the lots to be sold for residential development without disclosing that the land was still contaminated.

“I would have never bought the properties at the time had I known they were contaminated,” said Voisinet, who with his wife, Karen, bought the lots in 2005. “Now I’m holding tainted property that I don’t want to develop and I won’t be able to sell.”

Voisinet also says that mounting interest payments on loans against the property, coupled with his inability to build on the land, forced him and his wife to refinance their home.

He wants Chevron to buy back the land, pay him back at least $600,000 in claimed out-of- pocket losses—such as architectural and engineering costs and loan interest—and the loss of the potential income.

Lawsuits such as this represent only one side of a case. Chevron was sued because the company bought what remained of Union Oil’s holdings in 2005, when it was known as Unocal.

Chevron officials do not dispute that Voisinet’s lots, along with three others adjacent to his property, are contaminated.

The company is also taking a leading role in determining the extent of the contamination and what would be a reasonable and appropriate cleanup.

“We have validated that the groundwater is stable, it is not hazardous above ground and the oil is not a moving plume,” Chevron spokesman Gonzalo Garcia said.

Other than continuing to monitor the pollution, the company says it believes the oil can remain in the ground without causing a hazard.

“We believe a reasonable re-mediation is to allow for natural attenuation, which means the natural breakdown of the hydrocarbons over time,” Garcia said.

Voisinet bought two lots for more than $1 million from a developer in August 2005. He said he learned that the parcel was polluted about nine months later, when he found hydrocarbon fumes during a preconstruction soil test.

Investigators from the regional water board and Padre Associates — consultants to Chevron — have since found a high concentration of oil in the soil and groundwater about 15 to 25 feet below the surface of both lots, Voisinet said.

They also found contamination on three more lots closest to existing San Luis Drive homes, according to Rich Chandler, engineering geologist with the Regional Water Quality Control Board.

In 1981, a construction worker broke the pipeline while excavating on or near Voisinet’s property, according to news accounts. The incident reportedly spilled about 4,200 gallons of oil into San Luis Obispo Creek.

To prevent more oil from spilling, a catch basin was created using the surrounding soil until Union Oil workers could reverse the pipeline flow, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges that in the aftermath of the spill, the oil company agreed to, but then failed to, clean up the contamination.