Released June 1, 1998

On October 7, 1997 the Grand Jury was made aware of a Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors’ concern that during the Torch Oil Spill of September 8, 1997, the County Office of Emergency Services was not allowed to participate, support, nor input decision making regarding response and clean-up. In fact, during the early crucial hours of the spill the County Emergency Operations Center Representative was actually compelled to leave the room and excluded from any further participation in the Unified Command Structure.

The Grand Jury learned the following:

• Inclusion of the local jurisdictions on the unified command team goes back to Senator Jack O’Connell’s introduction of SB 872 in 1995 to establish an approach to oil spill response consistent with the way local jurisdictions manage all disasters and major emergencies. Prior to SB 872, O’Connell submitted legislation on this matter in 1992, through AB 3124. However, both the assemblyman and the county agreed to drop AB 3124 after the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Advisory Committee (OSPR) met with Santa Barbara County and a number of southern California coastal jurisdictions. They decided to amend Title 14, California Code of Regulations (CCR) Section §852.60.4 to include a local representative as a member of the unified incident team.

• The Governor vetoed SB 872 on October 4, 1995, citing the "bill largely seeks to accomplish what is already being done with existing administrative authority."

• Energy Division and the Fire Department’s Office of Emergency Service (OES) have appeared in front of the Board of Supervisors on two occasions since the spill of

• In a letter written to the Office of Oil Spill Prevention and Response, December 14, 1997, the Santa Barbara Fire Chief, stated, "I believe we can reach agreement on the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) . . . .we all need to be cognizant of each other’s statutory authority and responsibility, I do not believe that local government should be in any way subordinate to any of the players in the incident command structure. Senator O’Connell’s bill would have ensured that continuity of command. We do not intend to agree to anything less."

• The Director of Santa Barbara County Planning and Development requested that the Board of Supervisors send a letter to the Governor regarding designation of Santa Barbara County as a resource trustee in the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) process.

• The Chair of the Board of Supervisors sent a letter to the Governor on January 14, 1998, regarding Designation of Santa Barbara County as Trustee Agency for the Torch Spill NRDA. The Chair requested in part "We also believe that our participation with Fish and Game’s Office of Oil Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR) and other agencies in the NRDA process will result in a more beneficial outcome than if we pursue full restoration of resources independent of the NRDA process. However, to effectively insure compliance with the conditions of Torch’s permit, our role in the NRDA process should be that of a Trustee Agency."

• A letter was sent from the office of the County Counsel to the Special Legal Counsel, State Department of Fish and Game, March 2, 1998 regarding the MOU. A concern regarding a contradiction of federal law was addressed and they responded, "Indeed, we have reviewed federal and state law and believe that placement of the LGR on the Unified Incident Command Team as an Incident Commander is required by applicable state regulations and is consistent with the governing statutory scheme." A copy of the proposed MOU was included with the letter.

• In a letter addressed to County Counsel from the Acting Deputy Administrator Office of Spill Prevention and Response, State of California Department of Fish and Game, April 4, 1998, he stated, "As I stated several times in Santa Barbara, we want and value local agency participation in oil spill response. . . . I hope that we are able to resolve this issue to our mutual satisfaction; we share a common objective of oil spill prevention and marine environment protection. We shall be pleased to meet with you at any time in an effort to achieve consensus on this issue."

There is neither legislation, nor a memorandum of understanding that allows the County of Santa Barbara to be represented in the Unified Command Structure during emergency responses to oil spill incidents.

The Board of Supervisors should immediately follow-up on the offer of the Acting Deputy Administrator Office of Spill Prevention and Response to convene a meeting to resolve the issue and insure that the County of Santa Barbara is properly represented in the MOU.

Oil covered bird

The Grand Jury is disappointed to find that this critical aspect of environmental safety and response has been delayed so long by agencies of the state and the Governor. Particularly, since Santa Barbara is recognized nationally as the home of the environmental movement, to exclude county professionals and experts in this area from responding is inexcusable.

Had legislation AB3124 been adopted on this matter in 1992, and/or SB 872 in 1995, this issue would be moot. The much sought after MOU would have been a matter of policy and standard operating procedure, recognized by all agencies in the State prior to the Torch Oil Spill of September 1997. It seems to this Grand Jury that political bureaucracy and inter-departmental posturing for control and position has affected the well-being and safety of our community.

It is a sad commentary that this grand jury has to report that nine months after the Torch Oil Spill, there is still no agreement nor accepted MOU regarding local jurisdictional management of disasters and major emergencies concerning oil spills.

Santa Barbara County Department of Planning and Development

Santa Barbara County Counsel

Office of Emergency Services/Santa Barbara County Fire Department

Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors

Santa Barbara County Energy Division