October 3, 2021 by Mike Schuler
Container ships wait off the coast of the congested Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in Long Beach, California, U.S., October 1, 2021. REUTERS/ Alan DevallEverything We Know About the Southern California Oil Spill Right Now
SNIPPET:
A unified command consisting of
🦖 Beta Offshore Amplify Energy, the U.S. Coast Guard, and California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response (CDFW-OSPR) is responding to the oil spill first reported Saturday approximately 3 miles off the coast of Newport Beach, California, near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The National Transportation Safety Board says it is now investigating the matter.
Here’s what we know so far.
The Coast Guard received an initial report of an
oil sheen off the coast of Newport Beach Saturday at approximately 9:10 a.m. The
size of the spill was initially reported to be
13 square miles.
The Coast Guard and Huntington Beach Police Department have dispatched aircraft to access the situation.
CDFW-OSPR is monitoring for oiled wildlife. Members of the public who encounter oiled wildlife, do not approach, rather call the Oiled Wildlife Care Network at 1-877-823-6926.
Members of the public are also asked to avoid any oiled areas, as oil spill response contractors are working to clean up. Public volunteers are not needed and could actually hinder response efforts, and the Unified Command is requesting that members of the public stay away from the area altogether. The cause of the spill, volume and type of oil are under investigation, according to the Unified Command.
However, the City of Huntington Beach, located just north of Newport Beach, has reported the
spill at 126,000 gallons and has blamed a
broken pipeline belonging to 🦖 Beta Offshore, which would be confirmed by t
he company’s involvement in the Unified Command. The City of Huntington Beach issued a statement Sunday, reading in part:
“Approx.
126,000 gallons of oil leaked from a broken pipeline and are
entering HB beaches and wetlands .
Beta Offshore is
responsible for the
spill and is working with the Incident Management Team on repairs and cleanup efforts. The City will work to ensure the responsible parties do everything possible to rectify this environmental disaster…. Our ocean and shorelines are closed indefinitely, FROM SEAPOINT TO THE SANTA ANA RIVER JETTY. Please do not enter the shoreline or water…Protecting our wetlands is one of our highest priorities. The City has deployed over 2,000 feet of protective booms at 7 locations. However, we are seeing oiled wildlife wash ashore.”
The City has also cancelled the Pacific Airshow scheduled for Sunday, a major event for the area.
The map below was shared Sunday by the City of Huntington Beach and shows approximately size and location of the spill:
Map published by City of Huntington Beach🦖 Beta Offshore, a subsidiary of Amplify Energy (NYSE: AMPY), proclaims to be “one of the largest 😈 oil producers in Southern California. We operate
three offshore platforms in the
Beta Field, located 12 miles south of Long Beach.” Those three platforms are named
Ellen, Eureka and Elly.
Platform Elly is a processing platform for both production platforms
Ellen and
Eureka, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environment.
According to
Amplify’s website, “The
Beta properties also include the
San Pedro Bay Pipeline Company, which owns and operates a
16- inch diameter oil pipeline [on the seabed] that extends approximately 17.5 miles from one of the
Beta platforms to the
Beta pump station located onshore at the Port of Long Beach, California, and an onshore tankage and metering facility.”
Amplify lists Beta’s production as 3.6 thousand barrels of oil per day on average in Q2 2021.
Here’s where it gets a little interesting… 👀The
location of the
spill, 3 miles off Newport Beach and Huntington Beach,
also happens to be just south of where there were more than 82 ships anchored and awaiting to enter the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach as of Friday, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California.
Credit: Marine Exchange of Southern CaliforniaThe southernmost anchorage, the Huntington Beach Contingency Anchorage, was occupied with 8 containerships and
2 🦕 tankers as of last Wednesday, the Marine Exchange of Southern California reported on Sep. 29. It’s likely this anchorage has remained full.
AIS screenshot as of 3:38 PM PT, Sunday, October 3, 2021. Image courtesy MarineTraffic.comFull article with Updates: https://gcaptain.com/everything-we-know-about-the-southern-california-oil-spill-right-now/