Oil Spill Suit Draws Closer to Resolution

SANTA ANA — More than six years after a huge oil spill blackened a long swath of Orange County’s coastline, attorneys have crafted a tentative multimillion-dollar settlement that could resolve part of a lawsuit against companies believed responsible for the spill.

Under the settlement, which still must be approved in court, Golden West Refining Co. would provide $4.15 million in compensation to state and local governments that filed suit following the spill of 400,000 gallons of crude oil from a tanker off Huntington Beach.

The spill was Southern California’s worst in 20 years.

While a portion of the complex and long-running suit was settled last year, other parts have remained unresolved.

If the Golden West settlement is completed, attorneys say, only one major piece of the case will remain--that involving the owner of the tanker called the American Trader that ran aground on Feb. 7, 1990. Crude oil fouled 15 miles of beaches and caused the death of more than 1,000 birds.

At the time of the spill, the tanker was attempting to moor at a terminal operated by Golden West, a Santa Fe Springs oil company.

State and local prosecutors launched a civil suit in early 1991 seeking millions of dollars to compensate for the damage caused by the spill. Defendants included BP America Inc., which owned the oil and chartered the tanker, as well as Golden West and tanker owner American Trading Transportation Co.

Settlements totaling $9 million with BP America and a petroleum industry fund were announced last year.

The tentative settlement with Golden West would compensate the state of California, Orange County and the cities of Huntington Beach and Newport Beach.

A hearing on the tentative settlement is scheduled for Aug. 23 in Orange County Superior Court.

“I think it was a good settlement,” said Robin Clauson, the assistant city attorney in Newport Beach.

“We think it’s a fair settlement all the way around, for everybody,” said Erich P. Wise, an attorney representing Golden West, who said the money would come from the company’s insurance and would not affect its operations.

Attorneys cautioned that the Golden West settlement will not be final until it is approved by the court and appeals are exhausted. And James Ackerman, an attorney representing Huntington Beach, said he suspects the settlement may be contested by ship owner American Trading.

In fact, the American Trading portion of the lawsuit is scheduled for trial in November, said state Deputy Atty. Gen. Sylvia C. Hale, who has been working on the oil spill since it occurred.

“It’s a very complicated case that implicates federal law, maritime law and state law,” Hale said.