California pipeline could have been damaged up to a year before oil spill, U.S. Coast Guard says

The pipeline responsible for the massive oil spill off the coast of Huntington Beach last week could have been damaged up to a year before it leaked thousands of gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean, the U.S. Coast Guard said Friday. The pipeline was likely struck by an anchor multiple times and dragged across the ocean floor for more than 100 feet, officials said. 

On Tuesday, the U.S. Coast Guard determined from video evidence that a ship's anchor likely hooked and damaged the underwater pipeline, which now has a linear 13-inch fracture, Coast Guard captain Jason Neubauer said Friday at a press conference. Since the initial fracture, Neubauer said the pipeline has seen "significant growth" to the damage. 

"That has refocused the frame and timeframe of our investigation to at least several months to a year," he said, adding that the last time the pipeline was identified to be in tact was in October 2020. Since then, Neubauer said the pipe has been dragged 105 feet across the ocean and has experienced casing damage.