Crews stop forward flow of crude oil after truck crashes and leaks 6,000 gallons into Cuyama River

A tanker truck carrying more than 6,000 gallons of crude oil overturned and crashed into the Cuyama River east of Santa Maria on Saturday, according to the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.

The incident occurred at about 4:30 a.m. on Highway 166, some 20 miles from Santa Maria. Authorities were notified at approximately 6 a.m. By 3 p.m. Saturday most if not all of the forward flow of oil was stopped at the U.S. National Forrest’s Pine Canyon Station.

The driver was uninjured in the crash, fire Capt. Nikki Stevens said, but the crude oil began leaking from the tanker and heading downstream toward Twitchell Reservoir.

Jesse Villasana, 34, of Wasco told California Highway Patrol officers that his trailer began to sway. As the truck drove upon the right shoulder, Villasana attempted to correct its path by making a hard turn to the right.

“He related at that point the trailer became disconnected from the truck and rolled down the embankment into the creek bed,” CHP Officer Benjamin Smith said.

Crews brought in hazardous-materials containment equipment and developed a plan to contain the crude oil that covered approximately 2 miles of the riverbed, Stevens said.

As of noon Saturday, personnel from several agencies were using a three-pronged approach to address the spill, Stevens said:

• Crews set up a yellow containment boom was placed just below the spill.
• Crews used heavy equipment to build a dirt berm and were installing pipes to allow the water to flow through.

• Absorbent pads were placed downstream of the berm to pick up any crude that seeps through.

Later Saturday, crews added a second containment underflow dam as a contingency in case of heavy rain.

Personnel from multiple agencies — including the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Caltrans, the Santa Maria Valley Water Conservation District (which operates Twitchell Reservoir), and the California Highway Patrol — were assisting on the incident.

Pacific Petroleum also was at the scene with four vacuum trucks to help clean up spilled oil, she said.

Some 159 barrels, or nearly 6,700 gallons, of oil spilled from the truck into the river, Stevens said. Another 60 barrels, or 2,520 gallons, were emptied from the trailer.

“This disturbing reminder of oil trucking’s risks gives Santa Barbara County another big reason to nix the plan to truck oil from offshore drilling platforms on California’s coast,” Kristen Monsell of the Center for Biological Diversity’s oceans program said in a statement. “The oil that just spilled into the Cuyama River highlights the danger of Santa Barbara County approving the pending proposal to move hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude along Highway 166.”

Stevens said the yellow containment boom stopped most, if not all of the forward flow of oil at the Pine Canyon Station. Cleanup will likely take two weeks, Smith added Saturday.

“Rain is expected on Sunday, so efforts are going forward to try to mitigate the spill before the rain comes,” Stevens said, adding personnel were working aggressively to clean up the oil before rain begins falling.

County crews were receiving spot weather updates so they have a better idea when the rain might arrive. According to the National Weather Service, there is a high chance of rain and thunderstorms in Santa Maria Sunday after 11 a.m.

“It’s an endeavor right now,” she said. “They’re hoping they can get most of it out before the rain comes.”

Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com.

This story was originally published March 22, 2020 at 10:53 AM.