CALIFORNIA
One of the Largest Spills in California Foul Beaches
Oil sheens are seen floating on the waves of Pacific Ocean and fouling the beaches in one of the worst oil spills in Southern California in recent decades. A pipeline running under the ocean might have been ruptured either late October 1, 2021 or early October 2, 2021. Divers worked on fixing the leaks, by late October 2, 2021 the oil spill has stopped, but not before at least 126,000 gallons had spilled into the waters off the Huntington Beach. Skimmers and boomers have been deployed to mitigate against further damage. Reports of oil globules, dead fishes and aquatic lives washing ashore have poured in. Amplify Energy operates the pipeline, and its CEO Martyn Willsher said that the maximum amount that the pipeline had carrying capacity for had been spilled into the ocean. Huntington Beach Mayor Kim Carr called the oil spill "devastating" to her community in "a challenging year".
Ship's Anchor
Reported to be Responsible for Damage to Pipeline
One
of the worst oil spills in Southern California that had happened in the
weekend and led to more than 126,000 gallons of spill, fouling beaches
and aquatic life near Huntington Beach might have been caused by a ship’s
anchor hitting the pipeline at the ocean floor, according to an October 4,
2021, report by the Los Angeles Time.
Anchor Theory Gets Credence in Government's Preliminary Findings
A day after first floated openly by various sources, an order issued by Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration on October 5, 2021 blocked the company that owned the damaged pipeline from resuming the operation until it carried out the extensive testing and inspections, saying that the pipeline might have been damaged by a ship's anchor, based on the preliminary findings. The order did not identify the source of the findings. The damage to the pipeline happened 5 miles offshore at a depth of 98 feet, according to PHMSA. Coast Guard Captain Rebecca Ore said that divers had determined that about 4,000 feet of pipeline had been "laterally displaced" by about 105 feet. Amplify Energy CEO Martyn Willsher said that the "pipeline has essentially pulled like a bow string" in a path that looked more "almost a semicircle".
"Surf City USA" Re-opens to Public in 10 Days
The panoramic beach and surfers' paradise of Huntington Beach, a Pacific Coastal community of 200,000 people nicknamed as the "Surf City USA", has reopened to public on October 11, 2021, sooner than many have expected. People have returned to the ocean for surfing, many are seen playing volleyball on the glittering sandy beach and taking walk on a nearby trail. The beach has been re-opened after water quality test has found the ocean water safe more than after an oil spill that has led to, authorities now believe, at least 25,000 gallons of crude, but no more than 132,000 gallons, contaminating the ocean water. There is another new twist that has come to the light as far as causal factor for the oil spill is concerned. A ship's anchor might have damaged the pipeline underneath the ocean several months ago, but it ruptured only few days ago.
Coast Guard Names a Panama-flagged Ship as Party of Interest
The U.S. Coast Guard on October 16, 2021 has identified a Panama-registered ship, MSC DANNIT, as a key object of interest, with theories abound that the anchor of the ship may be responsible for dragging the pipeline underneath the Pacific Ocean more than 100 feet sometimes in January 2021. As a result, the pipeline might have been bent, but did not rupture at that time. So, it is not clear altogether whether there is a subsequent ship or other factors which may be responsible for breaking the pipeline. This past weekend as the ship returned to the area, investigators boarded on the vessel to probe the captain, search information from the sailing log and look into the voyage data recorder. MSC DANNIT's operator is a Swiss company, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, that employs more than 100,000 workers and operates about 600 vessels. MSC DANNIT's owner is Dordellas Finance Corp. The October 2021 break in the pipeline led to about 25,000 gallons of oil spill that had fouled beach and killed fish, birds and mammals.
Amplify, Two Subsidiaries Indicted over Oil Spill
A federal grand jury on December 15, 2021 indicted Amplify Energy and two of its subsidiaries on a single misdemeanor count of illegal oil spewing.
COLORADO
Three Million Gallons of Toxic Fluids Foul Rivers in Three Western States
EPA workers accidentally breached a wall of a forlorn mine, Gold King Mine, in Silverton, Colorado on August 5, 2015, spilling 3 million gallon toxic fluids that had spilled to Animas River and subsequently fouled rivers in three states. The August 5, 2015, accident at Gold King Mine should be an eye-opener to all for the potential hazard that thousands of abandoned mines in the western mountain states pose to the communities far and beyond where they are located.
Three Million Gallons of Toxic Fluids Foul Rivers in Three Western States
EPA workers accidentally breached a wall of a forlorn mine, Gold King Mine, in Silverton, Colorado on August 5, 2015, spilling 3 million gallon toxic fluids that had spilled to Animas River and subsequently fouled rivers in three states. The August 5, 2015, accident at Gold King Mine should be an eye-opener to all for the potential hazard that thousands of abandoned mines in the western mountain states pose to the communities far and beyond where they are located.
$90 million Settlement Announced
After a long-running dispute of who and how the clean-up and maintenance of a superfund site will go on, the state of Colorado, EPA and a mining company, Denver-based Sunnyside Gold Corp., on January 21, 2022 have agreed to a $90 million settlement. A federal judge is yet to approve the settlement after a 30-day comment period. The $90 million settlement will fund continuing clean-up of the Bonita Peak Mining District Superfund site. The superfund site property is owned by Sunnyside. However, the August 5, 2015, accident had happened at the Gold King Mine, another site in the district not owned by Sunnyside Gold Corporation, as EPA-led contractor crew were working on the excavation. An estimated 3 million gallon of toxic fluid, containing 540 U.S. tons of metals, had contaminated rivers and downstream tributaries in Colorado, New Mexico, the Navajo Nation and Utah. Farmers could not use the irrigation water and water utilities stopped using the water, leading to indescribable miseries to tens of thousands of people.
WEST VIRGINIA
Nine counties surrounding Charleston, capital of West Virginia, on January 10, 2014 were reeling under the impact and aftermath of a chemical spill that rushed authorities to warn residents not to take showers, use tap waters and do laundry. There were run into grocery stores, and packs of water bottles were going off the shelves quickly. The spill was first detected on January 9, 2014 from a 48,000-gallon storage tank owned by the Freedom Industries, and overran a containment area. An estimated 5,000 gallon of chemical, called the 4-methylcyclohexane, escaped the company's river terminal storage tank, and a substantial amount flowed to the Elk River. The chemical is used in coal processing.
After five days (January 9-13, 2014) of staying off the tap water, some of the affected 300,000 residents of Charleston and surrounding nine counties started to use tap water on January 13, 2014 in a limited scale after getting approval from state authorities.
On January 20, 2014, West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin and Senator Joe Manchin, D-W. VA, proposed tighter rules for chemical storage facilities as a January 9, 2014, spill of a coal processing chemical, 4-methylcyclohexane, contaminated the Elk River with 7,500 gallons flowing 1 1/2 miles downstream and got into West Virginia American Water Co.'s water supply and forcing residents of nine counties surrounding Charleston from using the water for days for daily necessities. The state Department of Environment Protection officials said that the storage facility of the Freedom Industries Inc., which had filed for bankruptcy on January 17, 2014, evaded scrutiny because it was not a chemical manufacturer, the chemical was not hazardous and storage facility was above-ground. The stricter rules sought separately by Governor Tomblin and Senator Manchin aimed at closing the loopholes.
* Under Tomblin's proposal, there will be annual inspection of the above-ground chemical storage facility and any water district serving the public will have to create an emergency plan for any chemical spill.
* Under Manchin's proposal, federal regulators will set the standards for state regulators, who will be mandated to inspect chemical facilities with exposure to public water system once in every three years and once in every five years otherwise.
On January 27, 2014, the West Virginia state officials revised the volume of January 9, 2014, chemical spill from a storage facility to 10,000 gallons.
WEST VIRGINIA
Nine counties surrounding Charleston, capital of West Virginia, on January 10, 2014 were reeling under the impact and aftermath of a chemical spill that rushed authorities to warn residents not to take showers, use tap waters and do laundry. There were run into grocery stores, and packs of water bottles were going off the shelves quickly. The spill was first detected on January 9, 2014 from a 48,000-gallon storage tank owned by the Freedom Industries, and overran a containment area. An estimated 5,000 gallon of chemical, called the 4-methylcyclohexane, escaped the company's river terminal storage tank, and a substantial amount flowed to the Elk River. The chemical is used in coal processing.
After five days (January 9-13, 2014) of staying off the tap water, some of the affected 300,000 residents of Charleston and surrounding nine counties started to use tap water on January 13, 2014 in a limited scale after getting approval from state authorities.
On January 20, 2014, West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin and Senator Joe Manchin, D-W. VA, proposed tighter rules for chemical storage facilities as a January 9, 2014, spill of a coal processing chemical, 4-methylcyclohexane, contaminated the Elk River with 7,500 gallons flowing 1 1/2 miles downstream and got into West Virginia American Water Co.'s water supply and forcing residents of nine counties surrounding Charleston from using the water for days for daily necessities. The state Department of Environment Protection officials said that the storage facility of the Freedom Industries Inc., which had filed for bankruptcy on January 17, 2014, evaded scrutiny because it was not a chemical manufacturer, the chemical was not hazardous and storage facility was above-ground. The stricter rules sought separately by Governor Tomblin and Senator Manchin aimed at closing the loopholes.
* Under Tomblin's proposal, there will be annual inspection of the above-ground chemical storage facility and any water district serving the public will have to create an emergency plan for any chemical spill.
* Under Manchin's proposal, federal regulators will set the standards for state regulators, who will be mandated to inspect chemical facilities with exposure to public water system once in every three years and once in every five years otherwise.
On January 27, 2014, the West Virginia state officials revised the volume of January 9, 2014, chemical spill from a storage facility to 10,000 gallons.
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