Press Release: State Orders Mobil to Pay for Replacement Water for the City of Santa Monica

For Immediate Release (C-08-97)
Contact: Communications Office (916) 324-9670
March 7, 1997

555 Capitol Mall, Suite 525
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 324-9670
FAX (916) 445-5563

Sacramento--The California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) today announced that the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board has ordered the Mobil Corporation financially responsible for obtaining replacement supplies for Santa Monica's drinking water which has likely been contaminated by leaking petroleum storage tanks.

"Since becoming aware of the contamination of Santa Monica's water wells, State environmental officials have swiftly worked to protect the public health and launch cleanup efforts. It is troubling that Mobil Oil was unable to agree to pay for the damage they have likely caused. Therefore, the Board has issued an order requiring them to reimburse the City of Santa Monica $104,000 for water replacement and $19,980 per month for future expenditures by the City," said Secretary for Environmental Protection James M. Strock.

The legal order issued by the regional water board will resolve the re-purchase of the drinking water disputes between the City of Santa Monica and the Mobil Corporation and will require Mobil to reimburse the City for drinking water that has been purchased due to groundwater contamination. It also requires Mobil to pay for Santa Monica's drinking water until all gasoline caused contamination has been removed from its Arcadia Wellfield.

The Mobil Corporation agreed to cleanup the gasoline-contaminated groundwater on February 19, 1997 and is moving forward to implement a cleanup strategy which was agreed upon by the City of Santa Monica, Cal/EPA and Mobil.

"It is of paramount importance to California that cleanup begin quickly and that the City of Santa Monica be reimbursed the cost of replacement water. Today's order ensures that financial reimbursement will be made and cleanup of the contamination is of the highest priority. We will accept nothing less than a complete cleanup to protect the drinking water of Santa Monica residents," said Strock.

Part of the ground-water contamination found in Santa Monica wells last year was Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE), an oxygenate oil refiners add to California's cleaner burning gasoline used to improve air quality. U.S. EPA has classified MTBE as a possible human carcinogen but it is considerably less toxic than the benzene it replaces in California's cleaner burning gasoline. Benzene is a known human carcinogen and air monitoring in California has shown more than a 50 percent reduction in benzene throughout the State due to introduction of cleaner burning gasoline. Also, California has an aggressive plan to replace underground storage tanks by the end of 1998 which will lead to greater protection of California's drinking water and help prevent the future leakage of gasoline into our water supplies.

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