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THIRTEEN PARTIES ORDERED TO PROVIDE SANTA MONICA CLEAN WATER

Release Date: 3/10/2000
Contact Information: Randy Wittorp, U.S. EPA, 415-744-1589

     SAN FRANCISCO -- To assure the continued flow of clean drinking water in Santa Monica, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency ordered 13 more parties to help replace MTBE contaminated drinking water in West Los Angeles' Charnock Sub-Basin aquifer for the City of Santa Monica and Southern California Water Company.

     The parties receiving orders are Chevron USA Inc., Exxon Mobil Corp., ARCO, Conoco Inc., Douglas Oil Co. of Calif., Kayo Oil Co., Unocal Corp., Mobil Oil Corp., Tosco Corp., Thrifty Oil Co., Best California Gas, Kazuho Nishida and HLW Corp..  These parties join Shell Oil Co., Shell Oil Products Co. and Equilon Enterprises, who the EPA and the LA Regional Water Quality Control Board ordered on September 22, 1999 to provide drinking water.

     "We believe it's important in this case to require those who have contaminated a community's drinking water to provide replacement water," said Julie Anderson, director of the EPA's regional Waste Management Division.  "The next step is to determine the best means to remediate the contamination and restore the water basin."  Remediation is already in progress at several sites.

     Both the City of Santa Monica and Southern California Water Co. operated drinking water wells in West Los Angeles which they shut down in 1996 due to contamination by the gasoline additive, Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE.)  With seven wells out of service, Shell, Chevron, and Exxon initially agreed to reimburse the city and the water company for water replacement costs.  The agreement with the city expired on January 6, 2000.  Under the EPA's and the Regional Board's September orders, Shell continued providing water on January 7.

     In the early 1990s, underground storage tanks at a service station operated by Shell released gasoline containing MTBE.  The EPA has since found that service stations operated by the parties named in today's order also contributed to the Charnock Sub-basin contamination.

     The EPA and the Regional Board plan to take additional enforcement actions to address MTBE groundwater pollution in the Charnock Sub-Basin.  Of the 28 gasoline underground storage tank locations investigated in the area, at least 24 have leaked fuel containing MTBE.

     Details on the EPA's enforcement actions and the MTBE pollution affecting the Santa Monica water wells will be available on EPA's Web Site at www.epa.gov/region09/mtbe/charnock.

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