The pipeline that ruptured and spewed about 25,000 gallons of oil into the ocean off Huntington Beach 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…
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