74 



FISH AND GAME COMMISSION 



Disposal Co., respectively. If the Oil Operators, Inc., is included tlie 

 plant costs exceed $1,000,000. When these plants were placed in 

 operation a formal opening was held to which public officials and others 

 were invited. A large gathering inspected the plants. Since the plants 

 have been in operation the discharge waste waters have been satis- 

 factory. 



Individual companies have expended much money to prevent pollu- 

 tion, but detailed mention would unduly lengthen the report. It may 

 be conservatively stated that about $4,000,000 has been expended by 

 the oil industry to prevent oil pollution subsequent to January, 1927. 

 With few exceptions, and these mostly of smaller operators, the 



Fig. 23. Reinforced concrete construction of an oil sump, showing portion of one 



compartment. 



improvements have resulted from conferences. Court action is not 

 resorted to unless warnings have not been heeded or the pollution is 

 evidently wilful and in defiance of the know^n law. 



It has been necessary to file 26 complaints for pollution (all classes) 

 in the past biennium. With the exception of four all may be said to 

 have resulted favorabl.y to the Commission. 



The drilling for oil on beaches and tidelands is a source of potential 

 pollution. When oil escapes from oil wells so situated remedies 

 can not be readily contrived and while wells have been so located and 

 little pollution occurred, yet when in the hands of an operator not so 

 considerate of the law, application of remedial measures becomes most 

 difficult. On May 28, 1929, Gov. C. C. Young signed an act prohibit- 



