A spokesman with the Office of Spill Prevention and Response said Monday the six-month cleanup operation from an “idle pipeline” in the Del Valle Oil Field west of Santa Clarita, near the Santa Clara River, is complete.
“The idle pipeline released crude oil in November 2025 after it ruptured above the creek, which leads to the Santa Clara River,” according to a post last week that announced completion of the removal of the contaminants, which was estimated to be about 400 gallons of crude oil.
“Active oil recovery operations have concluded in the intermittent creek bed impacted by a pipeline spill in the San Martinez Grande Canyon near Santa Clarita,” according to a post that was shared on Facebook and X. “The active recovery operations, which involved removal of contaminated sediment with heavy equipment and hand crews, have transitioned into passive recovery techniques utilizing absorbents to collect remaining oil.”
REric Laughlin, spokesman for the OSPR, said the rated, pre-approved cleanup entity, which in this case was Patriot Environmental Services, now sends a bill to the party deemed responsible by the OSPR, which was West Energy Operating LLC.
Laughlin said previously that the bulk of the spill is suspected to have taken place nearby in a dry creek bed north of the Santa Clara River, and petroleum from the Del Valle Oil Field later was reported downstream in the river, which prompted the cleanup.
Josh Kendrick, who described himself as a manager of the West Energy operation in the Del Valle oil field during a December interview, said it was a relatively small operation that produced several hundred gallons per month.
The final tally for the cleanup was not available to the OSPR as of this story’s publication, according to Laughlin.
Laughlin wrote in an email near the end of March that Patriot had recovered 497.25 cubic yards of oily soil and 177 “bags of PPE/boom/pads,” which refers to cleanup materials used to absorb petroleum.
He also said the cleanup had been delayed by several months due to the wet winter and spring the Santa Clarita Valley had. Weather records indicate the spill area has received about 10 more inches of precipitation than the average since October.
Laughlin also confirmed again that no visibly oiled wildlife was observed over the course of the response.
