Agencies agree on oil spill settlement

Alex Coolman

NEWPORT BEACH -- City representatives reached a tentative agreement with

officials from Huntington Beach, the county and the state Friday to divvy

up $11.6 million from the settlement of the 1990 American Trader oil

spill.

The agreement is expected to be approved by the state Attorney General’s

Office within the next two weeks.

If all goes as expected, about $5 million will be directed to a wish list

of projects in Newport Beach, including rehabilitation of the Balboa and

Newport piers, improvements to beach restrooms and the development of a

marine educational facility at Shellmaker Island.

Funding for these projects should begin flowing immediately upon final

approval of the agreement, sources said.

The money is the end product of $16 million paid by the American Trading

Transportation Co., also known as Attransco, after its American Trader

tanker spilled more than 400,000 gallons of oil off the coast of

Huntington Beach in February 1990.

The accident, the worst environmental disaster in Orange County history,

caused crude oil to be slathered over area beaches for weeks, killed

about 1,000 birds and prompted legislation mandating a move to

double-hulled oil tankers.

At Friday’s closed-door meeting at Newport Beach City Hall, officials

from Huntington and Newport negotiated with representatives of the U.S.

Department of Fish and Game, the state Lands Commission, the state Parks

Commission, the Regional Water Quality Board and Orange County.

In allocating its portion of the settlement, Newport Beach is required to

spend money in a way that is tied to the geographical areas damaged by

the spill. The city has put together a list of 10 projects it would most

like to see funded by the settlement, and some of the projects were among

those on the agreement sent to the attorney general.