Pipeline Company to Pay for Oil Clean Up

Nearly $1 million in cleanup costs will be covered by the owner of the underwater oil pipeline that leaked 25,000 gallons of crude into the ocean off Southern California last year.

The costs of dealing with the spill off Huntington Beach last October were covered by a proposed claim settlement with Amplify Energy Corp., which the Orange County Board of Supervisors accepted.

The 94,600 liters of oil that leaked from the burst pipeline were spread around 4 miles offshore. Although the leak was not as bad as initially anticipated, it nonetheless forced the closure of beaches for a week and fisheries for over a month.

Investigators think that in January 2021, months before it collapsed in October 2021, the San Pedro Bay Pipeline, which transported crude from offshore oil rigs to the coast, was weakened when a cargo ship's anchor caught on it in strong winds.

Amplify Energy filed a lawsuit against two container ship owners and a group that monitors maritime traffic, alleging that they failed to stop the spill. According to the lawsuit, two ships allegedly dragged their anchors across the pipeline in January 2021.

According to the Orange County Register, the settlement with Orange County includes funding for the county Public Works Department's construction of sand berms and the placement of booms to stop oil from contaminating delicate wetlands.

Additionally, the contractors, environmental experts, the county's health department, the Sheriff's Department, which runs the Harbor Patrol, and the county's legal expenses will all receive payments from the settlement.