Jan. 10

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Department of Fish and Game are working to ensure the cleanup of a 25,000 gallon crude oil spill near Buellton, Calif.

Response workers have been on the scene since Jan. 5.

On that day, oil and produced water, a pollutant resulting from the production of crude oil, overflowed a tank and continued to flow for 13 hours before Greka Energy discovered it, according to the EPA.

Greka Energy has been responsible for three major and numerous minor oil spills in the area in the past two years, according to the EPA.

"We will use all available tools under the Clean Water Act to ensure that this company is brought into compliance with all applicable laws and regulations," said Daniel Meer, of the Superfund division in the EPA´s Pacific Southwest region.

The oil and contaminated water that overflowed the tank eventually migrated more than a mile down Zaca Creek, according to the EPA.

The U.S. Coast Guard also is helping to contain and cleanup the spill.

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