Cleanup Efforts Continue In Kern County Oil Spill, More Than 1M Gallons Collected
McKITTRICK (CBSLA) — Cleanup efforts continued Friday at an abandoned Chevron-owned well in the Cymric oil field in the Kern County town of McKittrick — about 35 miles outside of Bakersfield.
According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, more than 1 million gallons of fluid — a mixture of 30% oil and 70% water — have been recovered from the site since the spill was first reported in May, but one section of the site continued to release fluid.
The department said in a release that cleanup operations have been ongoing and will continue throughout the weekend. Pumps have been used to collect the fluid and excavators have been used to remove solids created by the mixing of the fluid with dirt.
Though the first spill was reported May 10 — with subsequent reports made June 8 and June 23 — it wasn't until the July 22 incident report that a unified command was established for emergency response, resource protection and recovery efforts. In that July report, it was revealed that two flow locations — approximately 50 feet away from the June 23 flow location — were seeping fluid intermittently in the same stream bed.
The following day, July 23, a phased cleanup plan that calls for the construction of a berm between the first cleanup area and the other areas — where fluids were remotely extracted — was approved. Measures to ensure protection of wildlife as cleanup operations evolved and expanded were developed.
According to a statement, there was no wildlife observed since the spill was reported and it is not anticipated that drinking water supplies will be affected.