LATEST:AN OIL SPILL ON DEAN’S WETLANDS AS HE SEEKS CITY APPROVAL OF ANOTHER LAND DEAL TONIGHT
An apparent oil spill on the Los Cerritos Wetlands owned by developer/oil driller Tom Dean—including the 33-acre parcel south of Second Street that he is trying to trade to the City of Long Beach—has drawn cleanup crews for the fifth consecutive day, The District Weekly has learned. The California Coastal Commission, which must approve any cleanups in the Coastal Zone, does not appear to have been notified of the spill or the efforts to remediate it. Department of Fish and Game officials were on site.
“On Friday, several booms were released on two wetlands properties owned by Dean,” says Eric Zahn of the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority, a coalition of government agencies charged with overseeing the endangered environmental area. “The booms [floating tubes that prevent the spread of oil] were both on the 33-acre property south of Second and Studebaker Road and in the middle of Steamshovel Slough, the pristine area southwest of Studebaker and Loynes Drive.”
The spill seems to have been discovered by Environmental Protection Agency officials while they were performing tests for Polychloriniated Biophenyls (PCBs), which were discovered on the 33-acre parcel last year—and which have further delayed a controversial trade in which Dean is trying to acquire the city’s Public Service Yard on the west side of town. Critics have said that the swap overvalues the wetland property [which Dean has refused to allow to be independently assessed] undervalues the Public Service Yard [for which the city has received at least one higher offer].
