Greka Integrated, a Santa Maria-based oil and asphalt producer
with a checkered enforcement history, was fined $127,500 by the
federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for disposing of oil
refinery wastewater by pumping it into its injection wells, a
violation of the Clean Water Act. Injection wells do not meet more
stringent federal guidelines – designed to protect ground water and
drinking water supplies – for such oil field contaminants. There
appears to be no evidence, however, that Santa Maria’s groundwater
supplies were contaminated by Greka’s practice.
