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U.S. NEWSWednesday 18 May 2016

Company charged in oil spill that fouled California beachesÂ

BRIAN MELLEY Â In this May 21, 2015, file photo, an oil-covered bird flaps its wings amid at Refugio State Beach, north of Goleta, Calif.Â
Associated Press Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A
Texas pipeline company ing of our ecosystems and Ocean. More than 220 killed wildlife and created disaster’s cause.
responsible for spilling public health.” birds, mostly pelicans, and a backlash that helped Initial investigation results
more than 140,000 gal- Plains said in a statement nearly 140 marine mam- give birth to the environ- have pointed to a badly
lons of crude oil on the that the spill was an acci- mals, mostly sea lions, were mental movement. corroded pipeline that
California coast last year dent and believes no crimi- found dead in the after- The Plains rupture was the had undergone strength
was indicted on dozens of nal behavior occurred. math, and tar balls from largest coastal oil spill since tests just weeks before the
criminal charges in the di- “We will demonstrate that the spill drifted more than the BP’s Deepwater Hori- spill, but the results had not
saster that closed popular the charges have no merit 100 miles away to Los An- zon explosion in the Gulf of been analyzed before it
beaches and killed sea li- and represent an inappro- geles beaches. Mexico six years ago that broke. Preliminary reports
ons and birds, prosecutors priate attempt to criminal- The Houston-based com- killed 11 rig workers and also show that it took hours
said Tuesday. ize an unfortunate acci- pany faces three dozen spewed millions of gallons for Plains to recognize
Plains All American Pipeline dent,” the company said. misdemeanor counts of of crude. BP settled fed- what happened and notify
and one of its employees The spill two weeks before harming wildlife. eral criminal charges by officials.
face 46 counts of state law Memorial Day weekend The spill was a grim remind- pleading guilty to 12 felony A Plains employee and the
violations in the May 19, last year forced the state er of a much larger disaster counts and two misde- company were charged
2015, spill that initially went to close popular beaches in 1969 when an offshore meanors and reached $20 in the indictment with mis-
undetected until oil be- as an oil plume spread oil rig blowout blackened billion settlement with the demeanor counts of failing
gan pouring onto a pristine nine miles into the Pacific Santa Barbara beaches, Justice Department for en- to report the spill quickly
beach on the Santa Bar- vironmental damages. enough to state emergen-
bara coastline and running Plains could still face feder- cy officials.
into the ocean. al criminal charges for last James Buchanan, 41, the
Initial investigations by fed- year’s spill. The Department company’s environmen-
eral regulators found the of Transportation’s pipe- tal and regulatory compli-
2-foot-wide underground line enforcement agency ance specialist, faces up
pipeline was severely cor- is expected to release the to three years if convicted
roded where it broke on results this spring of its year- of all charges, prosecutors
land. long investigation into the said.q
Plains was charged in San-
ta Barbara Superior Court
with four felony counts of
spilling oil in state waters
and could face fines of up
to $2.8 million if convicted
of all the charges, prosecu-
tors said.
“The carelessness of Plains
All American harmed hun-
dreds of species and ma-
rine life off Refugio Beach,”
California Attorney Gen-
eral Kamala Harris said in
a statement. “This conduct
is criminal, and today’s
charges serve as a pow-
erful reminder of the con-
sequences that flow from
jeopardizing the well-be-