Media Update #4

RICHMOND, Calif., February 23, 2021 — A Unified Command has concluded cleanup and recovery efforts in the Richmond area as shoreline cleanup and assessment teams did not detect any sheen on the water or shoreline over the weekend, marking 48 hours of no identified sheen.

The Unified Command was comprised of the U.S. Coast Guard, California Department of Fish and Wildlife Office of Spill Prevention and Response, Contra Costa Health Services, and Chevron.

The Command had led response efforts to a Feb. 9, 2021 pipeline discharge at the Chevron Richmond Refinery’s Long Wharf. The incident remains under investigation, but preliminary results found that an estimated 500 to 750 gallons of diesel/water flush mix was discharged from a quarter-inch hole in a pipe used to return a variety of excess oils and products to the refinery for reprocessing.

The Command had agreed to end response efforts once no sheen had been observed for 48 hours. Although crews had not observed sheen on open waters of the San Francisco Bay since Feb. 12, there were trace amounts of sheen observed last week in standing water along the rocky shoreline adjacent to the wharf.

No impacted wildlife were observed as result of this response. Long term environmental impacts are not expected from the incident, but as a precaution CDFW scientists took samples of water, sediment and mussels in the area. The results are pending in a laboratory.

For publicly available information on the response, please visit https://recoveredoillineleak.com/.