Texas pipeline company charged in California oil spill
ABC News
A Los Angeles federal grand jury has charged a Texas oil company and two subsidiaries for an oil spill off the California coast in October
LOS ANGELES -- A Houston-based oil company and two subsidiaries were indicted Wednesday for a crude spill that fouled Southern California waters and beaches in October, an event federal prosecutors say was caused by a series of negligent acts that led to an hours-long leak despite alarms that should have alerted workers to a pipeline rupture.
Amplify Energy Corp. and its two companies that operate three oil rigs and a pipeline off Long Beach each were charged by a federal grand jury with a single misdemeanor count of illegally discharging oil.
Investigators believe the pipeline was weakened when a cargo ship's anchor snagged it in high winds in January, months before it ultimately ruptured Oct. 1, spilling up to about 25,000 gallons (94,600 liters) of crude oil in the ocean.
The indictment said the companies were negligent six ways, including failing to respond to eight leak detection system alarms over a 13-hour period that should have alerted them to the spill and would have minimized the damage. Instead, the pipeline was shut down after each alarm and then restarted, spewing more oil into the ocean.
