BALDWIN HILLS : Workers Clean Up Small Oil Spill in Ballona Creek

Crews using high-pressure hoses and containment booms worked Thursday to clean up an estimated eight barrels of crude oil that leaked from a Baldwin Hills oil field and flowed into Ballona Creek in Culver City.

The oil leak was discovered Tuesday at the Stocker Resources facility, said Donna Guyovich, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works. “A dike breached on their property,” she said, and the oil entered a storm drain to the creek.

“It’s not a significant spill in terms of quantity,” said Stocker Resources President Larry Morton. But the oil may spread “pretty rapidly” once it hits the water, he added.

To contain it, workers placed booms across the creek at four locations as far downstream as Lincoln Boulevard. None of the oil reached Santa Monica Bay, Guyovich said. The concrete walls lining the flood control channel will be cleaned to remove the oil, a process that could take several days to complete.