Oil Firm Fined for 2,000-Gallon Spill

The owner of a pipeline that oozed more than 2,000 gallons of oil into the ocean off Orange County, causing tar balls to wash up on at least one area beach last year, has agreed to pay a fine levied by federal regulators.

The U.S. Minerals Management Services fined Aera Energy LLC $48,000 for improper calibration of a leak-detection system in a pipeline about 10 miles off Huntington Beach.

Neither environmentalists, who criticized the fine as insignificant, nor Aera officials were happy with the penalty.

Although the company contests some findings that led to the fine, appealing it was not worthwhile, said Susan Hersberger, spokeswoman for the Bakersfield-based oil and natural gas company, which agreed to pay the fine last week. Aera, a partnership between Mobil Oil Corp. and Shell Oil Co., operates oil platforms off Orange County.

The fine resulted from a federal investigation of a June spill from an ocean-floor pipeline 700 feet underwater. It was the first of two spills last year from the 1.8-mile-long pipeline later found to have seven pinhole-size leaks along 3,500 feet.

The corroded pipeline, which carried oil, water and gas from platform Eureka to platform Elly, was shut down after the June spill.

Hersberger said that although the June spill triggered the investigation, the problems uncovered were not related to the spill.

Environmentalists called the fine a joke.

“It does not [even] amount to a slap on the wrist,” said Mark Massara of the Sierra Club. “I don’t know how that’s designed to discourage future bad conduct.”

Minerals Management Services and the state Department of Fish and Game are still investigating the two spills, and further fines could be levied.

About a week after the June spill, tar balls washed up at four Orange County beaches. Laboratory tests showed the sticky spheres found at Crystal Cove State Park matched oil leaking from the line. Testing of tar balls found at three other beaches was inconclusive.

The second spill began on Halloween, as the line was being cleaned in anticipation of conversion into a water pipeline. It seeped oil for 11 days, releasing up to 1,800 gallons of residual oil.

Tar balls were found at Newport Beach, but laboratory tests have not yet been completed to determine whether they came from the leaking pipeline.

Oil drifted toward Orange County beaches, at one point coming three miles from shore. When the spill was first spotted, it had created a mile-long, 100-foot-wide sheen on the ocean surface.

Fish and Game officials recovered four birds that died from contact with oil, though environmentalists note there are probably more that died far offshore.

Oil affects birds’ ability to fly, stay warm, eat food and drink water. It can also burn their skin, eyes and respiratory system.

Onshore wildlife was not affected.

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A Black Day

The owner of a pipeline that leaked oil last year has agreed to pay a fine for faulty monitoring equipment.