Amplify Energy, the operator of the oil pipeline that leaked approximately 25,000 gallons of crude oil off the coast of Huntington Beach in October 2021, announced April 10 plans to resume operations, and that the pipeline has started to be refilled, according to the company.
“Safety has driven every aspect of our response, repair and restart operations, and safety will continue to guide our operating philosophy,” Amplify CEO and President Martyn Willsher said in a press release.
The company received final approval to resume operations April 7 from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, an agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation after getting the go-ahead as well from the Army Corps of Engineers.
Amplify notified authorities of the rupture on Oct. 2, 2021, after alarms signaled trouble the day before. But so many hours later, oil had already reached the coast, canceling a Huntington Beach air show and closing beaches from Los Angeles to San Diego.
In a class action lawsuit, Amplify agreed to pay $50 million to groups affected by the spill, including $34 million to fishers, $9 million to property owners, and $7 million to the tourism industry, according to court filings.
The company, in its own lawsuit, was compensated by two companies whose ships damaged the pipe—dragging their anchors across it in January of 2021—resulting in a 16-inch crack that ultimately burst.
“The approval from federal regulatory agencies [to resume operations] and the receipt of $85 million in net proceeds from the vessels that struck and damaged our pipeline substantially concludes a very challenging last 18 months for the company,” Amplify’s CEO said in the press release.
Huntington Beach was most affected by the spill, as the rupture occurred off its shore connected to an oil platform called “Elly.”
“For the first five or six days after the spill there were no birds at all. The fields were saturated with oil and smelled of raw fuel,” said John Villa, executive director of the Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy, which works to protect the coastal wetlands of the city. Villa told The Epoch Times that of the over 80 species of birds that visit the area’s marshes many have now returned.
“We just hope that [the oil operator] will be better equipped to handle this if there’s a next time,” he said.
Last year Amplify pleaded guilty to violating the federal Clean Water Act and agreed to also pay a $7.1 million federal criminal fine and reimburse governmental agencies, including the U.S. Coast Guard, an additional $5.8 million for their response to the spill.
Included in the plea agreement, filed in August 2022, the company additionally agreed to pay $250,000 towards pipeline modifications to prevent and detect future spills, and to a four-year probationary period requiring two yearly visual inspections conducted by the company.
But Gary Brown, founder and president of the nonprofit Orange County Coastkeepers—a conservancy nonprofit—told The Epoch Times oil companies should “stop production and decommission all of the offshore oil platforms,” saying “the bigger overarching problem is that all of these platforms are beyond the end of their life expectancy.”
According to Brown, since the Amplify incident a handful of others have occurred.
Platform Eva—operated by a small oil gas company headquartered in Oxnard and also off Huntington Beach—had a “pinhole leak” in an injection pump in December 2021, resulting in a spill that could be seen as large as 150 feet by 200 feet, Chase said.
She additionally wrote that as of January 2022, five out of seven aging offshore oil and gas platforms in Orange County were non-operational due to equipment failure.
“Is squeezing every last drop of oil out of these rusted relics really worth the risk to our environment?” she asked.
