Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

No firm tally of how much oil leaked off Southern California

More than five days after an offshore pipeline ruptured off the Southern California coast, there’s still no confirmation of exactly how much oil has spilled into the ocean

Via AP news wire
Thursday 07 October 2021 14:03 EDT
APTOPIX California Oil Spill
APTOPIX California Oil Spill (Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

It's been nearly a week since oil from a ruptured underwater pipeline first appeared in the waters off Southern California and there's still no confirmation of exactly how much leaked.

The company that owns and operates three offshore platforms and the pipeline has said publicly that no more than 126,000 gallons (477,000 liters) leaked. But Houston-based Amplify Energy also told federal investigators the total amount may only be 29,400 gallons (111,300 liters).

David Pettit, a senior attorney at Natural Resources Defense Council who worked on the response to the massive Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, said the amount of oil spilled into the ocean should be easily and quickly known to Amplify.

“If they know what the flow rate was in the pipeline, and how much the pressure dropped, and for how long, you could calculate that in a matter of minutes,” Pettit said.

“This is money to them,” he added. “They know how much they lost, I am certain of that.”

Local officials, who feared an environmental catastrophe at first, have more recently voiced hope that the total spillage will be less than initially feared when a putrid smell swept the coast south of Los Angeles last weekend and blobs of crude began washing ashore.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom offered some optimism about the size of the spill when he visited the site on Wednesday. But he cautioned the cleanup still requires massive resources and residents still can’t fully use their beloved beaches or swim and surf in the waters in the affected area that stretches about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from Huntington Beach to Laguna Beach.

“You still have the spread, even if it’s substantially less gallons, that have to be cleaned up," Newsom said. “So this is going to take time to clean up."

The Coast Guard is investigating whether a ship's anchor might have snagged and bent the pipeline owned by Amplify that shuttles crude from the offshore platforms to a facility on shore in Long Beach. A slit in the pipeline occurred about 5 miles (8 kilometers) offshore at a depth of about 98 feet (30 meters), investigators said.

Officials have been cleaning up the spill by skimming oil off the surface of the ocean, erecting protective booms to keep crude out of sensitive wetland areas and dispatching workers to collect blobs of oil on beaches. So far, they have collected 5,544 gallons (20,986 liters) of crude, according to the Unified Command, which includes federal and state officials and Amplify.

But many say the miles-wide area of oily sheen on the water's surface off the Orange County coast doesn't reveal the size of the spill as much of the crude may remain beneath.

“That is just a hint as to what the volume was,” Pettit said. “Most of the stuff is below the surface and looking at the sheen doesn't tell you how deep this stuff is.”

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in