FILE PHOTO: Container ships wait off the coast of the congested Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in Long Beach, California, U.S., October 1, 2021. REUTERS/ Alan Devall/File Photo
Officials in California are investigating a new pipeline leak in San Pedro Bay, California, near the congested ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Over the weekend, California’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response confirmed that DCOR, LLC has been identified as a responsible party after reports of sheens off Bolsa Chica State Beach, adjacent to Huntington Beach.
The U.S. Coast Guard was first alerted to the sheen on December 15, reported about a half-mile offshore near Bolsa Chica State Beach. However the source of the sheen could not be determined. A new sheen was again reported offshore of Bolsa Chica State Beach on December 22nd, prompting a closer inspection and clean-up of tarballs reported washing ashore near Huntington Beach and Dog Beach.
On Christmas Day, the Office of Spill Prevention and Response confirmed that DCOR had been named a responsible party. The observed sheens are located in the vicinity of DCOR’s pipeline, Pipeline 0919, which runs from the Platform Eva, although no sheen has been observed since December 23rd.
Platform Eva is located in 58 feet of water approximately 2.1 miles offshore of Huntington Beach. As of December 2016, it served as a drilling and production platform for 16 producing wells and was producing 1,430 barrels of oil per day.
Divers are expected to inspect the pipeline on Tuesday once weather improves. In the meantime, crews are continuing to monitor for additional sheens and the line has been shutdown.
No oiled wildlife have been observed.
The latest oil spill comes less than two months after a major oil spill from the San Pedro Bay Pipeline impacted large stretches Southern California beaches. Although the exact cause of the spill remains under investigation, the U.S. Coast Guard and NTSB believe a ship dragged its anchor over the pipeline during inclement weather back on January 25, 2021. The initial incident was never reported and pipeline went uninspected until after reports of an oil spill on October 1. Divers later discovered that the pipeline had been displaced by about 100 feet on the seafloor and had a crack where the oil escaped from. The pipeline’s operator, Amplify Energy, and two of its subsidiary have been charged with negligence in the case.
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