Firm fined $3.3M for worst California oil spill in 25 years
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — A pipeline company was fined nearly $3.35 million on Thursday for causing the worst California coastal spill in 25 years.
A judge issued a fine and penalties against Plains All American Pipeline for a 2015 spill that sent 140,000 gallons of crude oil gushing onto Refugio State Beach in Santa Barbara County, northwest of Los Angeles. The spill from a corroded pipeline blackened popular beaches for miles, killed wildlife and hurt tourism and fishing.
Federal inspectors found that Plains had made several preventable errors, failed to quickly detect the pipeline rupture and responded too slowly as oil flowed toward the ocean.
Plains operators working from a Texas control room more than 1,000 miles away had turned off an alarm that would have signaled a leak and, unaware a spill had occurred, restarted the hemorrhaging line after it had shut down, which only made matters worse, inspectors found.
Read more: https://www.valleymorningstar.com/news/us_news/firm-fined-m-for-worst-california-oil-spill-in-years/article_9bfca93b-8798-5eff-a708-431b451e08ab.html