CALIFORNIA OIL SPILL FROM PLAINS ALL AMERICAN PIPELINE

Oil spill has become a recurring event in California. Plains All American Pipeline has been associated with a number of oil spills since 2006. Reports show that up to 229 spills have been reported on the company. The recent oil spill which actually resulted from negligence on the part of the company was quite enormous. The report indicated the oil spill was due to failed pipeline which released up to 101,000 gallons of oil and about 21,000 gallons of the released oil reached water. The damaging effect of this oil spill was quite remarkable as it contaminated the water bodies and caused harm to aquatic life. The report stated that due to the oil spill resulted in the closure of popular campgrounds and also commercial fishing has been prohibited nearby. Up to 300 marine mammals and birds have been found dead due to the oil spill.

Delay in Getting the government notified

It took quite a long time for the firefighters and operators to confirm that the pipeline has ruptured, yet it took a longer time for the government to be notified of the incident. This is actually contrary to the state law. The state law required immediate notification of a release or a threatened release. However, the company failed to notify the government of such a release.

Moreover, the employees at Plains All American Pipeline failed to confirm the leakage until about 1:30 pm in the afternoon. Notwithstanding, the government was not notified until 3 pm in the afternoon. Such a time lag actually gave way for the propagation of the oil. Of course, the company is facing scrutiny from the regulators and law makers at Washington over the oil spill. In line with this scrutiny, the House Energy and Commerce Committee probed into the spill that took place west of Santa Barbara and hence demanded from the company for a detailed information on the maintenance of the of the line and its plans and actions on addressing the issues of corrosion. Moreover, the panel demanded from the company what it did in the hours leading to the incident and why the incident was not reported early.

Cause of the break

According to the investigations made by the body, it was reported that the actual cause of the break is corrosion. The break occurred along a badly corroded section of the pipe. The corrosion widened the section to a fraction about an inch in thickness. This gave way for the oil to gush out like hose without nozzle. The reason for the delay was reported by the company to be because the company did not confirm that the oil spill was actually from its pipeline on time. The workers rode along the pipeline to look for the source of the spill once they confirmed the leak. Moreover, the cleanup cost of this oil spill is quite high and projected to be about $92 million. Plains All American Pipeline is obviously facing lawsuit over the oil spill and of course, the government is looking into the matter to ensure that it is properly dealt with.