The company responsible for the California oil spill has received approval to repair the pipeline

The Houston-based company that operates the pipeline that ruptured off Huntington Beach last fall announced Saturday that the government has given the green light to its plans to repair the pipeline, increasing the likelihood that it will be back up and running early next year.

In a press release, Amplify Energy Corp. says the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has given it permission to remove and replace the damaged pipeline segments, a job estimated to take about a month.

The pipeline runs from the Long Beach plant to the Ely Platform in federal waters off Huntington Beach. At least 25,000 gallons of crude oil spilled from a ruptured pipe last October, closing beaches along the Orange County coast for a week in October and halting fishing for months.

In August, Amplify Energy and two of its subsidiaries pleaded guilty to negligent oil discharge and agreed to pay nearly $13 million in criminal fines and cleanup fees.

Amplify also said it reached a settlement with businesses and property owners who claimed damages related to the spill.

Amplify claims the pipeline was damaged by container ship anchors nine months before the spill and that it was not properly notified.

Last week, the Center for Biological Diversity sued the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management federal courtalleging that the Biden administration improperly allowed oil rigs off Huntington Beach to continue operating under outdated safety plans developed in the 1970s and 1980s.

“It’s time to get these rusting relics out of our ocean,” Kristen Monsell, legal director of the Center’s oceans program, said in a news release, likening the aging oil rigs to “time bombs.”

Los Angeles Times 2022.

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