LOS ANGELES An oil spill of 700 barrels of crude from a pipeline in Ventura County, California, had emergency crews scrambling Thursday to keep the oil from reaching the nearby coast, a state official said.
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The oil belongs to Aera Energy and flowed through a pipeline operated by Crimson Pipeline. It, along with other companies, operates oil fields near the pipeline.
The spill comes 13 months after a coastal pipeline about 55 miles to the west in Santa Barbara County leaked more than 120,000 gallons of oil.
Just after the spill was discovered, the line was shut down. Officials said that the hazmat suit workers used hoses to suck up the sticky mess of spilled oil and deposit it into trucks that were equipped to carry about 4,000 gallons each.
With there being about 42 gallons per barrel, it means that the crude leaked is up to 29,400 gallons. The pipeline had been under maintenance, and the valve was replaced Wednesday.
The spill comes after another past year that released about 140,000 gallons of oil near the Santa Barbara Coast, some of it reaching the ocean and forming a slick that spread across miles of the Southern California coastline.
The spill occurred in the Hall Canyon area above the city of Ventura and flowed into the Prince Barranca, a ravine that ends at San Buenaventura State Beach near the Ventura Pier.
The Ventura County Fire Department had initially estimated the size of the leak from the Crimson Pipeline at 5,000 barrels, but later said a much smaller amount was released in a stain stretching a half-mile.
Crimson has said most of the previous spills were caused by third parties.
The company has been responsible for 11 pipeline spills or equipment incidents since 2006, according to US Department of Transportation’s Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration records.
The cause of the leak is being investigated.
The Fire Department, the Coast Guard, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Office of Spill Prevention and the Coast Guard all responded to the situation, LAist said.
Gilliard said the federal agency was sending personnel to assist on scene but the investigation would be led by California officials. The pipeline was installed in 1941 and is up to date on state and federal inspections.
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Last year, a pipe owned by Plains All American Pipeline ruptured near Refugio State Beach in Santa Barbara County, causing more than 100,000 gallons of oil to spill.
