California spill not the environmental disaster first feared
California Oil Spill Environment
AMY TAXIN
Fri, October 8, 2021,
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) — After a crude oil sheen was detected on the waters off the Southern California coast, environmentalists feared the worst: A massive spill that would wreck the ecosystem.
A week later, the region and its signature beaches appear to have been spared a potentially calamitous fate, though the long-term toll on plant and animal life remains unknown.
The Coast Guard estimates a minimum of about 25,000 gallons (95,000 liters) of oil spilled from a ruptured pipeline off the shores of Orange County and no more than 132,000 gallons (500,000 liters).
“Based on what we're seeing, it's a lighter impact than expected of a worst-case discharge,” California Fish and Wildlife Lt. Christian Corbo said. “We're hoping to see less impacts to the shoreline, less impacts to wildlife, based on that lowered threshold.”
The news was welcome after a harrowing week of beach closures in seaside communities where life revolves around the water. Officials initially feared Huntington Beach — dubbed Surf City USA — could be off-limits to surfers and swimmers for months. But Mayor Kim Carr on Thursday said she was “cautiously optimistic” they could be back in the water in weeks.
Many beaches remain open for volleyball, sunbathing and other activities, though people must stay away from the water.
An oily sheen was reported on the water the evening of Oct. 1. But it wasn't until the next morning that officials confirmed the spill. The Coast Guard is investigating whether a ship’s anchor might have snagged, bent and ruptured a pipeline owned by Houston-based Amplify Energy Corp. that shuttles crude from its three offshore platforms to a facility on the shore.
Out by the oil platforms, there was no visible sheen by mid-week, and the putrid odor that blanketed Huntington Beach last weekend had faded. Dolphins jumped in the waves, and birds skimmed the water’s surface.
But environmental advocates said the situation remains serious, and they fear the long-term effect on wetlands and ocean life. Crude oil components can linger beneath the surface of the ocean and affect tiny organisms that are ingested by fish, which are later eaten by birds, marine mammals and people.
In an offshore spill, birds are often among the first hit as crude can stick to their feathers, leaving them chilled by cold water temperatures. Ten oiled birds were found dead over five days, and 25 were recovered and taken to a wildlife center for treatment. Those recovered include seven snowy plovers, which are a threatened species, according to the Oiled Wildlife Care Network.
John Villa, executive director of the Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy, said the community was hit with more crude during a 1990 spill, and more than 1,000 animals were affected. In this spill, oil has entered three marshes near the beach, but the damage was minimized by quickly erected barriers, he said.
“It's not as bad as we feared," he said, adding that the latest challenge is to pump oxygen back into the marshes because no new water is coming in. “We expected a lot more of a problem in our marshes.”
Mike Lynes, director of public policy for Audubon California, said migratory birds aren’t typically seen in the region in large numbers until November, and that may have helped limit the harm.
But many birds are likely affected by oil and haven’t been found, and other species that don’t have the same migratory patterns might not be as fortunate, he said. That’s why tallying oiled birds isn’t an ideal measure for the effect of an oil spill, he said.
“The oil still persists in the coastal environment and causes all sorts of problems for a long time,” Lynes said.
As the crude has drifted south, tar balls have appeared on beaches about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the original site, an ominous sign that the impact on the environment is widening.
“We just don't know what the impacts are going to be,” said Garry Brown, co-founder of the advocacy group Orange County Coastkeeper. “Sad to say, it's still early.”
Some of the greatest concerns are the impact beneath the ocean's surface. Crude oil can smother deep-water corals and kill a critical food source for blue whales, according to Oceana, an ocean conservation organization. Environmental experts said fish can ingest oil, and the toxins can travel up the food chain. Because of the spill, fishing has been barred for miles off the shore of Orange County.
Dan Kalmick, a Huntington Beach city councilman and board member for the wetland conservation group Bolsa Chica Land Trust, said things look better than they did in the early hours after the spill. But there are still a lot of unknowns about where the crude will go as winds and the tides shift, he said.
“There's still a lot of oil out in the water,” Kalmick said.
Fri, October 8, 2021,
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) — After a crude oil sheen was detected on the waters off the Southern California coast, environmentalists feared the worst: A massive spill that would wreck the ecosystem.
A week later, the region and its signature beaches appear to have been spared a potentially calamitous fate, though the long-term toll on plant and animal life remains unknown.
The Coast Guard estimates a minimum of about 25,000 gallons (95,000 liters) of oil spilled from a ruptured pipeline off the shores of Orange County and no more than 132,000 gallons (500,000 liters).
“Based on what we're seeing, it's a lighter impact than expected of a worst-case discharge,” California Fish and Wildlife Lt. Christian Corbo said. “We're hoping to see less impacts to the shoreline, less impacts to wildlife, based on that lowered threshold.”
The news was welcome after a harrowing week of beach closures in seaside communities where life revolves around the water. Officials initially feared Huntington Beach — dubbed Surf City USA — could be off-limits to surfers and swimmers for months. But Mayor Kim Carr on Thursday said she was “cautiously optimistic” they could be back in the water in weeks.
Many beaches remain open for volleyball, sunbathing and other activities, though people must stay away from the water.
An oily sheen was reported on the water the evening of Oct. 1. But it wasn't until the next morning that officials confirmed the spill. The Coast Guard is investigating whether a ship’s anchor might have snagged, bent and ruptured a pipeline owned by Houston-based Amplify Energy Corp. that shuttles crude from its three offshore platforms to a facility on the shore.
Out by the oil platforms, there was no visible sheen by mid-week, and the putrid odor that blanketed Huntington Beach last weekend had faded. Dolphins jumped in the waves, and birds skimmed the water’s surface.
But environmental advocates said the situation remains serious, and they fear the long-term effect on wetlands and ocean life. Crude oil components can linger beneath the surface of the ocean and affect tiny organisms that are ingested by fish, which are later eaten by birds, marine mammals and people.
In an offshore spill, birds are often among the first hit as crude can stick to their feathers, leaving them chilled by cold water temperatures. Ten oiled birds were found dead over five days, and 25 were recovered and taken to a wildlife center for treatment. Those recovered include seven snowy plovers, which are a threatened species, according to the Oiled Wildlife Care Network.
John Villa, executive director of the Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy, said the community was hit with more crude during a 1990 spill, and more than 1,000 animals were affected. In this spill, oil has entered three marshes near the beach, but the damage was minimized by quickly erected barriers, he said.
“It's not as bad as we feared," he said, adding that the latest challenge is to pump oxygen back into the marshes because no new water is coming in. “We expected a lot more of a problem in our marshes.”
Mike Lynes, director of public policy for Audubon California, said migratory birds aren’t typically seen in the region in large numbers until November, and that may have helped limit the harm.
But many birds are likely affected by oil and haven’t been found, and other species that don’t have the same migratory patterns might not be as fortunate, he said. That’s why tallying oiled birds isn’t an ideal measure for the effect of an oil spill, he said.
“The oil still persists in the coastal environment and causes all sorts of problems for a long time,” Lynes said.
As the crude has drifted south, tar balls have appeared on beaches about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the original site, an ominous sign that the impact on the environment is widening.
“We just don't know what the impacts are going to be,” said Garry Brown, co-founder of the advocacy group Orange County Coastkeeper. “Sad to say, it's still early.”
Some of the greatest concerns are the impact beneath the ocean's surface. Crude oil can smother deep-water corals and kill a critical food source for blue whales, according to Oceana, an ocean conservation organization. Environmental experts said fish can ingest oil, and the toxins can travel up the food chain. Because of the spill, fishing has been barred for miles off the shore of Orange County.
Dan Kalmick, a Huntington Beach city councilman and board member for the wetland conservation group Bolsa Chica Land Trust, said things look better than they did in the early hours after the spill. But there are still a lot of unknowns about where the crude will go as winds and the tides shift, he said.
“There's still a lot of oil out in the water,” Kalmick said.
California Oil Spill Environment
FILE - A seagull rests as workers in protective suits clean the contaminated beach after an oil spill, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021 in Newport Beach, Calif. After a crude oil sheen was detected on the waters off the California coast, environmentalists feared the worst. Now, almost a week later, some say weather conditions and quick-moving actions have spared sensitive wetlands and scenic beaches in Orange County's Huntington Beach a potentially calamitous fate, though the long term toll of the spill remains unknown. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, File)More
California oil pipeline could have been leaking a year: investigators
Issued on: 09/10/2021
Small crack in U.S. pipeline may have delayed oil spill detection
Issued on: 09/10/2021
The clean-up has shuttered long stretches of coastline to the south of Los Angeles, in an area known for its surfing
Frederic J. BROWN AFP
Los Angeles (AFP)
A fractured pipeline spewing crude oil off the coast of California could have been leaking for a year, US investigators said Friday.
Tens of thousands of gallons of oil are feared to have leeched into waters that are home to whales, dolphins and otters since a leak was discovered last weekend.
Stretches of prime surfing coastline have been shuttered as clean-up crews raced to prevent the spoiling of beaches and rescue animals caught up in the slick.
US news outlets reported that a ship's anchor could have been responsible for dragging the pipeline along the seabed and splitting it open.
But Coast Guard officials investigating the incident said Friday the rupture might not be new, and could have happened as long as a year ago.
Captain Jason Neubauer said multiple ships' anchors may have contributed to the displacement of the pipe, and it was not initially clear when the leak began.
Martyn Willsher, the chief executive of pipeline operator Amplify Energy, said this week that underwater observations revealed that 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) of the pipeline was not where it should be.
"The pipeline has essentially been pulled like a bowstring," he told a press conference on Tuesday.
"At its widest point it is 105 feet away from where it was," he said, adding the break in the pipeline was at the apex of this bend.
Los Angeles (AFP)
A fractured pipeline spewing crude oil off the coast of California could have been leaking for a year, US investigators said Friday.
Tens of thousands of gallons of oil are feared to have leeched into waters that are home to whales, dolphins and otters since a leak was discovered last weekend.
Stretches of prime surfing coastline have been shuttered as clean-up crews raced to prevent the spoiling of beaches and rescue animals caught up in the slick.
US news outlets reported that a ship's anchor could have been responsible for dragging the pipeline along the seabed and splitting it open.
But Coast Guard officials investigating the incident said Friday the rupture might not be new, and could have happened as long as a year ago.
Captain Jason Neubauer said multiple ships' anchors may have contributed to the displacement of the pipe, and it was not initially clear when the leak began.
Martyn Willsher, the chief executive of pipeline operator Amplify Energy, said this week that underwater observations revealed that 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) of the pipeline was not where it should be.
"The pipeline has essentially been pulled like a bowstring," he told a press conference on Tuesday.
"At its widest point it is 105 feet away from where it was," he said, adding the break in the pipeline was at the apex of this bend.
An oil platform and cargo container ships are seen on the horizon as environmental response crews clean the beach after an oil spill in the Pacific Ocean in Huntington Beach, California on October 4, 2021
Patrick T. FALLON AFP
Willsher refused to speculate on the cause of that displacement and whether a ship's anchor could be responsible, but said: "It is a 16-inch steel pipeline that's a half inch thick and covered in an inch of concrete.
"For it to be moved 105 feet is not common."
Willsher refused to speculate on the cause of that displacement and whether a ship's anchor could be responsible, but said: "It is a 16-inch steel pipeline that's a half inch thick and covered in an inch of concrete.
"For it to be moved 105 feet is not common."
Small crack in U.S. pipeline may have delayed oil spill detection
An aerial photo shows floating barriers known as booms set up to try to stop further incursion into the Wetlands Talbert Marsh after an oil spill in Huntington Beach, Calif., on Huntington Beach, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 4, 2021. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)
Michael Biesecker, Stefanie Dazio and Michael Balsamo
The Associated Press Staff
Thursday, October 7, 2021
HUNTINGTON BEACH, CALIF. -- Video of the ruptured pipeline that spilled tens of thousands of gallons of crude oil off Southern California shows a thin crack along the top of the pipe that could indicate a slow leak that initially was difficult to detect, experts said Thursday.
The 13-inch-long (33-centimeter) narrow gash could explain why signs of an oil slick were seen Friday night but the spill eluded detection by the pipeline operator until Saturday morning, they said.
"My experience suggests this would be a darned hard leak to remotely determine quickly," said Richard Kuprewicz, a private pipeline accident investigator and consultant. "An opening of this type, on a 17-mile-long (27-kilometer) underwater pipe is very hard to spot by remote indications. These crack-type releases are lower rate and can go for quite a while."
Related Stories
How oil spills harm birds, dolphins, sea lions and other wildlife
California oil spill response in question after delay in shutting down pipeline
When pipes experience a catastrophic failure, the breach typically is much bigger, what's referred to in the industry as a "fish mouth" rupture because it gapes wide like the mouth of a fish, he said.
Amplify Energy, a Houston-based company that owns and operates three offshore oil platforms and the pipeline south of Los Angeles, said it didn't know there had been a spill until its workers detected an oil sheen on the water Saturday at 8:09 a.m.
The cause of the spill is under investigation by numerous agencies as the cleanup continues along miles of shoreline on the Orange County coast south of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
The Coast Guard on Thursday slightly revised spill estimates to at least about 25,000 gallons (95,000 liters) and no more than 132,000 gallons (500,000 liters).
The Coast Guard on Thursday said it is investigating the incident with other agencies as a "major marine casualty" due to the potential involvement of a vessel and damages exceeding $500,000. It said they will determine if criminal charges, civil penalties or new laws or regulations are needed.
Investigators are looking into whether a ship waiting to offload its cargo snagged and bent the pipeline with its anchor.
Coast Guard investigators boarded the massive German-flagged container ship Rotterdam Express on Wednesday to determine if it was involved in the spill. The Rotterdam was the ship anchored closest to the pipeline last week.
Hapag-Lloyd, the shipping company that operates the vessel, confirmed Thursday that investigators boarded the ship while it was docked at the Port of Oakland in San Francisco Bay. The Coast Guard interviewed the captain and crew and was provided access to the logbook showing the ship's locations, according to Nils Haupt, a spokesman at Hapag-Lloyd's headquarters in Hamburg, Germany.
Afterward, the Coast Guard called the company to say the Rotterdam no longer was under scrutiny for the spill, Haupt said. The ship was cleared to depart Oakland was headed to Mexico.
The leak occurred about 5 miles (8 kilometers) offshore at a depth of about 98 feet (30 meters), investigators said. A 4,000-foot (1,219-meter) section of the pipeline was dislodged 105 feet (32 meters), bent back like the string on a bow, Amplify's CEO Martyn Willsher has said.
Jonathan Stewart, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, said he was surprised the damage wasn't more severe given how far the pipe was moved.
"My first reaction when I heard that it is displaced so far was that it's remarkable that it's even intact at all," Stewart said.
Questions remain about when the oil company knew it had a problem and delays in reporting the spill.
A foreign ship anchored in the waters off Huntington Beach reported to the Coast Guard that it saw a sheen longer than 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) just after 6 p.m. A satellite image shot by the European Space Agency indicated a likely oil slick in the area around 7 p.m., which was reported to the Coast Guard at 2:06 a.m. Saturday after being reviewed by a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration analyst.
Federal pipeline safety regulators have put the time of the incident at 2:30 a.m. Saturday but say the company didn't shut down the pipeline until 6:01 a.m. and didn't report the leak to the Coast Guard until 9:07 a.m. Federal and state rules require immediate notification of spills.
Willsher, who took questions alongside Coast Guard and other officials over four days, did not show up at Thursday's news conference. Other officials declined to explain his absence.
The type of crack seen in the Coast Guard video is big enough to allow some oil to escape to potentially trigger the low pressure alarm, Kuprewicz said. But because the pipeline was operating under relatively low pressure, the control room operator may have simply dismissed the alarm because the pressure was not very high to begin, he said.
Ramanan Krishnamoorti, a petroleum engineering professor at the University of Houston, said the pipeline might have leaked for days before being discovered.
"If you have a massive crack or massive hole, you get a huge pressure drop and therefore you know you have a massive leak," he said. "When you have a hairline crack like that, perhaps this could have been going on for two, three, four days."
The fact that the San Pedro Bay line was still encased in concrete in the video is another indication that oil was likely leaking at a low rate. A major breach on a highly pressurized line would blow the concrete off, Kuprewicz said.
A second underwater video released Thursday showed a broader view of a bent section of pipeline. Long indentations in the sand can be seen intersecting with one side of the pipe at the point of the bend, but do not appear to continue on the far side of the line.
"That's pretty revealing," Krishnamoorti said. "It seems to me you've got something that was dragged in the sand that might have impacted the pipeline."
But he remained puzzled that the leak came from a crack and not a larger gash, assuming it was hit by an anchor or some other object.
A crack suggests the pipe, which was installed in 1980, perhaps withstood an initial impact, but had been weakened over time by corrosion and become more prone to fail, Krishnamoorti said. That means Amplify would have some responsibility for it failing.
Because the line is encased in concrete -- a means of keeping it weighted down on the sea floor -- the Coast Guard videos don't reveal the condition of the half-inch-thick steel pipe underneath.
Once federal safety investigators cut out the damaged section of pipe and remove it, they will be able to conduct a closer examination, looking for signs of corrosion, metal fatigue or other anomalies that would have made it more susceptible to failure. That examination should also reveal if the crack grew larger over time, Kuprewicz said.
------
Associated Press writers Michael Biesecker and Michael Balsamo contributed from Washington. Michael R. Blood contributed from Los Angeles.
The Associated Press Staff
Thursday, October 7, 2021
HUNTINGTON BEACH, CALIF. -- Video of the ruptured pipeline that spilled tens of thousands of gallons of crude oil off Southern California shows a thin crack along the top of the pipe that could indicate a slow leak that initially was difficult to detect, experts said Thursday.
The 13-inch-long (33-centimeter) narrow gash could explain why signs of an oil slick were seen Friday night but the spill eluded detection by the pipeline operator until Saturday morning, they said.
"My experience suggests this would be a darned hard leak to remotely determine quickly," said Richard Kuprewicz, a private pipeline accident investigator and consultant. "An opening of this type, on a 17-mile-long (27-kilometer) underwater pipe is very hard to spot by remote indications. These crack-type releases are lower rate and can go for quite a while."
Related Stories
How oil spills harm birds, dolphins, sea lions and other wildlife
California oil spill response in question after delay in shutting down pipeline
When pipes experience a catastrophic failure, the breach typically is much bigger, what's referred to in the industry as a "fish mouth" rupture because it gapes wide like the mouth of a fish, he said.
Amplify Energy, a Houston-based company that owns and operates three offshore oil platforms and the pipeline south of Los Angeles, said it didn't know there had been a spill until its workers detected an oil sheen on the water Saturday at 8:09 a.m.
The cause of the spill is under investigation by numerous agencies as the cleanup continues along miles of shoreline on the Orange County coast south of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
The Coast Guard on Thursday slightly revised spill estimates to at least about 25,000 gallons (95,000 liters) and no more than 132,000 gallons (500,000 liters).
The Coast Guard on Thursday said it is investigating the incident with other agencies as a "major marine casualty" due to the potential involvement of a vessel and damages exceeding $500,000. It said they will determine if criminal charges, civil penalties or new laws or regulations are needed.
Investigators are looking into whether a ship waiting to offload its cargo snagged and bent the pipeline with its anchor.
Coast Guard investigators boarded the massive German-flagged container ship Rotterdam Express on Wednesday to determine if it was involved in the spill. The Rotterdam was the ship anchored closest to the pipeline last week.
Hapag-Lloyd, the shipping company that operates the vessel, confirmed Thursday that investigators boarded the ship while it was docked at the Port of Oakland in San Francisco Bay. The Coast Guard interviewed the captain and crew and was provided access to the logbook showing the ship's locations, according to Nils Haupt, a spokesman at Hapag-Lloyd's headquarters in Hamburg, Germany.
Afterward, the Coast Guard called the company to say the Rotterdam no longer was under scrutiny for the spill, Haupt said. The ship was cleared to depart Oakland was headed to Mexico.
The leak occurred about 5 miles (8 kilometers) offshore at a depth of about 98 feet (30 meters), investigators said. A 4,000-foot (1,219-meter) section of the pipeline was dislodged 105 feet (32 meters), bent back like the string on a bow, Amplify's CEO Martyn Willsher has said.
Jonathan Stewart, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, said he was surprised the damage wasn't more severe given how far the pipe was moved.
"My first reaction when I heard that it is displaced so far was that it's remarkable that it's even intact at all," Stewart said.
Questions remain about when the oil company knew it had a problem and delays in reporting the spill.
A foreign ship anchored in the waters off Huntington Beach reported to the Coast Guard that it saw a sheen longer than 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) just after 6 p.m. A satellite image shot by the European Space Agency indicated a likely oil slick in the area around 7 p.m., which was reported to the Coast Guard at 2:06 a.m. Saturday after being reviewed by a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration analyst.
Federal pipeline safety regulators have put the time of the incident at 2:30 a.m. Saturday but say the company didn't shut down the pipeline until 6:01 a.m. and didn't report the leak to the Coast Guard until 9:07 a.m. Federal and state rules require immediate notification of spills.
Willsher, who took questions alongside Coast Guard and other officials over four days, did not show up at Thursday's news conference. Other officials declined to explain his absence.
The type of crack seen in the Coast Guard video is big enough to allow some oil to escape to potentially trigger the low pressure alarm, Kuprewicz said. But because the pipeline was operating under relatively low pressure, the control room operator may have simply dismissed the alarm because the pressure was not very high to begin, he said.
Ramanan Krishnamoorti, a petroleum engineering professor at the University of Houston, said the pipeline might have leaked for days before being discovered.
"If you have a massive crack or massive hole, you get a huge pressure drop and therefore you know you have a massive leak," he said. "When you have a hairline crack like that, perhaps this could have been going on for two, three, four days."
The fact that the San Pedro Bay line was still encased in concrete in the video is another indication that oil was likely leaking at a low rate. A major breach on a highly pressurized line would blow the concrete off, Kuprewicz said.
A second underwater video released Thursday showed a broader view of a bent section of pipeline. Long indentations in the sand can be seen intersecting with one side of the pipe at the point of the bend, but do not appear to continue on the far side of the line.
"That's pretty revealing," Krishnamoorti said. "It seems to me you've got something that was dragged in the sand that might have impacted the pipeline."
But he remained puzzled that the leak came from a crack and not a larger gash, assuming it was hit by an anchor or some other object.
A crack suggests the pipe, which was installed in 1980, perhaps withstood an initial impact, but had been weakened over time by corrosion and become more prone to fail, Krishnamoorti said. That means Amplify would have some responsibility for it failing.
Because the line is encased in concrete -- a means of keeping it weighted down on the sea floor -- the Coast Guard videos don't reveal the condition of the half-inch-thick steel pipe underneath.
Once federal safety investigators cut out the damaged section of pipe and remove it, they will be able to conduct a closer examination, looking for signs of corrosion, metal fatigue or other anomalies that would have made it more susceptible to failure. That examination should also reveal if the crack grew larger over time, Kuprewicz said.
------
Associated Press writers Michael Biesecker and Michael Balsamo contributed from Washington. Michael R. Blood contributed from Los Angeles.
No comments:
Post a Comment