- Amplify Energy Corp. did not close the pipeline for more than three hours after being alerted.
- The coast guard was alerted Friday evening by a “good samaritan” but did not do much until the next day.
- The impact of the delays on wildlife is unclear.
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif .– The Coast Guard and the company operating the pipeline that spilled up to 144,000 gallons of oil in waters off Southern California are under scrutiny for late responses that could have made the disaster worse.
Amplify Energy Corp. did not shut down the pipeline, nearly 100 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, for more than three hours after being alerted, according to federal regulators. And a Coast Guard official admitted that the agency had been alerted to a burst in the water Friday night by a “good samaritan” but did not do much until the next day.
Coast Guard Rear Admiral Brian Penoyer said Tuesday the agency did not have enough corroborating evidence when the call arrived and was hampered by obscurity and a lack of technology. Penoyer said reports of oil reflections are quite common at major seaports.
“Looking back it seems obvious, but they didn’t know it at the time,” Penoyer said.
Amplify staff “received a low pressure alarm” at 2:30 a.m. on Saturday on the pipeline that reported a possible failure, US Department of Transportation safety regulators wrote in a letter to the company. At 6 a.m. – more than three hours later – the pipeline was closed, the letter said.
The letter from the department’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration also notes that it took more than six hours for the company to report the spill to the federal 24-hour National Response Center, the designated federal point of contact for reporting all. petroleum, chemical, radiological, biological and etiological releases into the environment.
The pipeline was not shut down for more than 3 hours after a pressure failure alert, according to the federal government
Amplify’s spill response plan provides for immediate notification of a spill. But CEO Martyn Willsher insisted the company was not aware of the spill until a shard in the water was detected at 8:09 a.m. on Saturday.
The impact of the delays on wildlife is unclear. The Oiled Wildlife Care Network reported until Tuesday that two birds were found dead and 13 were recovered alive. Clean-up crews made their way through the delicate wetlands in small boats, picking up oil drops from the shallows.
A massive oil spill in California was reported on Friday. But no one told the millions of people who went to the beaches.
Coast Guard Captain Rebecca Ore said divers located a 13-inch crack in the pipeline that investigators believe may be the source of the oil leak. The agency said divers also found a bend in the 17-mile-long, 41-year-old pipeline, possibly dragged by an anchor.
“The pipeline has basically been pulled like a bowstring,” Willsher said. “Its widest point is about 105 feet from where it was.”
Preliminary reports suggest the failure could have been “caused by an anchor snagging the pipeline, causing a partial tear,” federal transportation investigators said.
Dozens of ships have steadily anchored offshore in recent months, waiting to access ports plagued by COVID-19 delays and other issues that have slowed the global supply chain.
The company has 90 days to submit a “root cause analysis of failure” to federal officials completed by an independent third party documenting the decision-making process and the factors contributing to the failure.
“The final report should include the findings and any lessons learned,” the DOT letter said.
Bacon reported from Arlington, Virginia. Contribute: The Associated Press
How the pipeline broke off the coast of California, close beaches and kill wildlife
