Photos

Click on the thumbnails below to see full size photos of the facility.

oil production  equipment

heater treater

oil wells and pumps

oil storage tank

Toxic Emissions

The gathering, processing, storing, metering, transporting, and flaring the fluids at this facility creates toxic emissions from tanks, internal combustion engines, heater treaters, flares, well cellars, pumps, sumps and pits, chemical additives, solvent use, drilling mud, truck loading, and fugitive emitting components.

Health Risk Assessment Results

Pollutants

Risk "Driver" Pollutants

Acrolein was the primary contributor to this facility’s significant risk status for inventory year 2003.  Acrolein is a combustion product of internal combustion engines operating on field gas.

The links provided, if available, to the USEPA Unified Air Toxics Web Site Health Effects Notebook for Hazardous Air Pollutants.

Links to chemical information will open a new browser window the first time you click one. After that the information will appear in that same window, which may be hidden behind the window you are viewing.

Acute non-cancer:

acrolein (endpoint = respiratory system)     - EPA hazard summary

 Other Toxic Pollutants Emitted by this Facility

The following pollutants are products of oil processing, storage, and transfer, well repair, and routine maintenance work, but were not the primary contributors to this facility's significant risk status for inventory year 2003.

acetaldehyde     - EPA hazard summary aluminum    arsenic      - EPA hazard summary ammonia   antimony      - EPA hazard summary barium  benzene      - EPA hazard summary beryllium     - EPA hazard summary 1,3-butadiene     - EPA hazard summary cadmium      - EPA hazard summary carbon tetrachloride     - EPA hazard summary chlorobenzene        - EPA hazard summary chloroform        - EPA hazard summary cobalt        - EPA hazard summary copper  p-dichlorobenzene    - EPA hazard summary 1,1-dichloroethane    - EPA hazard summary 1,2-dichloropropane     - EPA hazard summary 1,3-dichloropropene    - EPA hazard summary ethylbenzene   ethylene dibromide     - EPA hazard summary ethylene dichloride     - EPA hazard summary

formaldehyde      - EPA hazard summary hexavalent chromium      - EPA hazard summary hexane     - EPA hazard summary hydrogen sulfide   manganese     - EPA hazard summary mercury    - EPA hazard summary methanol    - EPA hazard summary methylene chloride     - EPA hazard summary naphthalene    - EPA hazard summary nickel     - EPA hazard summary polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)     - EPA hazard summary propylene   selenium    - EPA hazard summary styrene    - EPA hazard summary toluene    - EPA hazard summary 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane    - EPA hazard summary 1,1,2-trichloroethane    - EPA hazard summary vanadium vinyl chloride     - EPA hazard summary xylene    - EPA hazard summary zinc

Explanation of Risk

Public Notification

The primary goal of notification under the Air Toxics "Hot Spots" Program is to inform potentially exposed individuals of significant health risks associated with toxic air emissions routinely released from facilities in Santa Barbara County. The public notification letter for this facility was sent to the affected public on April 26, 1999.  The second public notification letter was sent on March 23, 2009.  The notification letter and attachments are available here. 

Because of the facility's significant risk status, Greka was required to conduct an airborne toxic risk reduction audit and develop a plan to implement risk reduction measures.

Greka Zaca Field's first Risk Reduction Audit and Plan (RRAP) was reviewed and deemed incomplete by the APCD.  A revised plan was submitted on January 26, 2001.  As part of the revised plan, the Zaca Field was required to submit an updated Air Toxics Emission Inventory Plan and Report for inventory year 2003.

The health risk assessment for inventory year 2003 showed that the Zaca Field creates a significant acute non-cancer risk from acrolein emitted from internal combustion engines.  Greka submitted a RRAP on April 9, 2008 to document the removal of the engines that created the significant risk.  The APCD conditionally approved the RRAP on February 11, 2009.  Greka submitted the revised RRAP on February 23, 2009.  The APCD approved the revised RRAP on March 6, 2009. 

The following measures were implemented in order to reduce the acute non-cancer risk to below the APCD's significance threshold:

1)    Removal of six internal combustion engines at various well site throughout the Zaca Field leases. 
2)    Additional restrictions were placed on the use, installation, and replacement of other internal combustion engines at the facility. 

These risk reduction measures are enforceable through the RRAP and the facility permits.

Links for Additional Information on Air Toxics

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