Same Site, Second Spill

For the second time in a week, the BreitBurn oil lease south of Orcutt is the site of an oil spill. Almost 100 barrels of crude leaked out of a storage tank from the same facility last Sunday.

Santa Barbara County Fire Department officials responded at 2:13 a.m. this morning to 1555 Orcutt Road and estimated that 15 barrels — or 630 gallons — of produced water and oil had spilled near a separation tank.

The spill, reported County Fire spokesperson Captain David Sadecki, was inside secondary containment, and its cause is still under investigation. A vacuum truck is reportedly on the scene and currently in the midst of cleanup efforts. No other hazards were reported, said Sadecki, and there was no threat posed to the environment.

The lease is owned by Los Angeles-based BreitBurn Energy, an independent oil and gas partnership.