The pipeline that ruptured and spewed about 25,000 gallons of oil into the ocean off Huntington Beach, California, in October 2021 is being refilled with oil and is expected to be in use again sometime this month, pipeline operator Amplify Energy said Monday, April 10.
Though resumption of production off the Orange County coast figures to end one part of a saga that has involved national media, a spree of lawsuits and countersuits, and a criminal plea by Houston-based Amplify, at least some environmentalists hope the local spill still could lead to tougher new rules for all offshore oil operators.
“I would hope that, given the Biden administration’s stated intentions to do more on climate, that we will see a little more attention paid to these old platforms and other operations off the Pacific coast that are ripe for decommissioning,” said Brady Bradshaw, senior oceans campaigner for the Center for Biological Diversity, an Arizona-based environmental group with offices in California.
Bradshaw’s organization mentioned the Huntington Beach spill in a federal lawsuit it filed late last year, seeking tougher rules on everything from offshore oil equipment to inspection schedules to the financial rules of closing operations.
Like others who want to see an end to offshore drilling, Bradshaw noted that federal rules currently don’t take into account the fact that the equipment used off the Orange County coast – which leads to platforms in federal waters – is nearly a half-century old, far older than its intended lifespan. He also said regulations do little to monitor increased shipping in the area, which played a role in the local spill.
“The federal government has a duty to review what we’ve learned since these structures were built, and to take into account modern conditions,” Bradshaw said.
“If this is the status quo, we’re on a bad trajectory,” he added. “We could see a much larger oil spill any day.”
Amplify, which last year pleaded guilty to violating the federal Clean Water Act and agreed to pay a $7.1 million criminal fine, said in a press release Monday that it began the process of filling the pipeline over the Easter weekend and hopes to resume full operations within two weeks.
Amplify received final regulatory approval to resume operations on Friday, April 7, from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Previously, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had given broad approval for Amplify to fix the pipeline and start the process of resuming operations.
Though the rupture probably began on the afternoon of Oct. 1, 2021, and alarms went off several times during that night and into the early morning, Amplify workers did not notify authorities – as required by federal law – until Oct. 2. At that point the spill was floating off the coast of Huntington Beach, forcing the cancellation of a popular air show and closing beaches and wetlands from Huntington to as far south as San Diego County. The spill also disrupted commercial fishing and tourism, leading to a $50 million settlement in which Amplify will compensate victims of the spill.
Separately, Amplify recently won a settlement with companies that own ships that dragged anchors over the pipeline in early 2021, without notifying authorities that they’d done so. The court ruled that those incidents created the conditions that led to the pipeline rupture.
“The approval from federal regulatory agencies and the receipt of $85 million in net proceeds from the vessels that struck and damaged our pipeline substantially concludes a very challenging last 18 months for the company,” said Amplify CEO Martyn Willsher in a press release.
Some locals harmed by the spill said Monday that they aren’t surprised that the pipeline is going to resume operations.
“If an incident occurs again, they’ll have a rapid shut-off of the system. And a far faster notification for the folks who could be affected,” said John Villa, executive director of the Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy, which controls four marsh areas between Beach Boulevard and the Santa Ana River.
The estuaries controlled by the conservancy were among the most environmentally sensitive spots threatened by the spill.
This year, the second winter since the incident, Villa said bird life for 79 species that use the estuaries is roughly back to normal. Though nesting patterns are happening later this year than is typical, Villa believes that’s a result of the wet winter, not lingering problems related to the spill. He said fish populations also are recovering, though that process was slowed by the fact that the estuaries closed to complete tidal shifts for several months after the spill.
“Did we learn some lessons? Darned right. And I’m hoping this never happens again. But if it does, we’re in even better shape to handle it,” Villa said.
Others in the environmental community aren’t as sanguine. Several expressed frustration that oil companies generally can avoid disclosing details of their operations publicly, citing intellectual property laws, a factor that makes it tougher to regulate their operations.
And some suggest that the federal process of letting oil production resume wasn’t transparent – or necessary.
“It’s been shut down for a year-and-a-half and even if they’d been pumping at full capacity it would have made a tiny fraction of what we all use anyway,” said Matt Sylvester, a spokesman for Orange County Coastkeeper.
“We’re forced to trust drillers. But every bit of data that we have access to points to the fact that this isn’t productive anymore, and it’s not worth the risk it poses to California.”
_____
