Nearly a year after a tanker truck overturned on Highway 166, causing thousands of gallons of crude oil to spill into the Cuyama River, the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office announced on March 19 that it’s filing charges against the truck’s driver. But environmentalists say the root of the problem runs deeper than one allegedly unsafe driver.
The charges, filed by the Consumer and Environmental Protection Unit within the District Attorney’s Office, allege that driver Jesse Villasana drove at an unsafe speed and made an unlawful turning movement, thereby causing the oil spill into the river and the death of at least two birds.
“There were 4,500 gallons of crude oil that were spilled into the Cuyama River, so a fairly large quantity,” Deputy District Attorney Morgan Lucas told the Sun.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), the Environmental Protection Agency, and the California Highway Patrol (CHP) were involved in the investigation of the case, Lucas said.
Eric Laughlin, public information officer for CDFW’s oil spill prevention and response office, told the Sun in an email that the response to the incident was a coordinated effort, and the oil was contained before it reached the reservoir downstream.
“After that our investigators worked diligently for several months to provide a comprehensive report to the DA’s Office,” Laughlin added. “We are confident their staff will secure justice in this case.”
According to a statement from the District Attorney’s Office, the driver’s actions allegedly caused the oil tank on his truck to roll into the Cuyama River, in violation of Fish and Game Code.
“We’ve also alleged two violations of vehicle code: one for excessive speed and one for an unlawful turning movement,” Lucas said. “We’re also alleging two violations of the Fish and Game Code for what’s called an illegal take of wildlife, which in this case is causing the death of two specific animals.”
The two animals that perished were both birds: a belted kingfisher and a mallard.
At the time of the crash, Center for Biological Diversity Oceans Program Litigation Director Kristen Monsell called the incident a “disturbing reminder of oil trucking’s risks” in a statement. Stephanie Prufer, oceans campaigner with the center, told the Sun that these risks loom larger than “just one driver.”
“Trucking oil is the most dangerous way to transport oil, and also Highway 166 is incredibly dangerous,” Prufer said. “It’s a two-lane highway, which is right next to the river which leads to the Twitchell Reservoir that provides water for Santa Maria.”
Filing charges against the truck’s driver, from Prufer’s perspective, doesn’t get to the root of the problem.
“It’s not the specific one driver who necessarily needs to be held accountable,” Prufer said. “But rather, one, this highway shouldn’t be considered as a route for oil trucking, and two, trucking oil is extremely dangerous. It’s time to phase out oil drilling, and not have oils and tanker trucks going through these dangerous highways throughout California.”
At the time of the crash, ExxonMobil was seeking approval to add dozens of oil transportation trucks per day on coastal highways, a project that Prufer said the gas company is still pursuing.
“Last year, we analyzed CHP data on Exxon’s route, which includes Highway 101 and 166,” Prufer said. “It showed that there were 216 large truck collisions requiring a police response between 2015 and 2020 along this proposed trucking route.”
Collisions that involve oil trucks can prove disastrous, Prufer said, as exhibited by the March 21, 2020, spill into the Cuyama River.
“We’re not going to remedy the situation by holding one driver accountable,” Prufer said. “We’re going to remedy it by stopping trucking oil.”
This article appears in Mar 25 – Apr 1, 2021.
