Despite preparation, California pipeline operator may have taken hours to stop leak
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The company that operates the pipeline that spilled an estimated 3,000 barrels of oil into the Pacific Ocean off California has an 800-page manual on handling an oil spill - but it is unclear whether its employees followed those procedures.
Houston-based Amplify Energy Corp and several state and federal regulatory agencies have provided differing accounts of what happened on Oct. 2, when the pipeline spill that fouled beaches, killed wildlife and closed down fishing along miles of coastline was officially reported.
The U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) said Beta Offshore, an Amplify subsidiary that operates the pipeline, received a low-pressure warning in its control room about 2:30 a.m. Pacific time (5:30 a.m. EDT) on Oct. 2, a sign of a rupture in the line.
The leak-detection alarm should have triggered rapid phone calls to managers, boat crews, regulators and the U.S. Coast Guard, and swiftly set in motion steps to shut down the pipeline and platform that feeds it, according to 10 former and current Beta Offshore employees and contractors, as well as a copy of the company's spill response plan reviewed by Reuters.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/despite-preparation-california-pipeline-operator-may-have-taken-hours-to-stop-leak/ar-AAPgjxI