by Erin Guo
On Saturday, October 2th, a pipeline failure in Southern California spilled an estimated 25,000 gallons of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean. The leak prompted the closure of Huntington and Newport Beach as officials worked to clean up the slick and investigate the cause of the spill. The oil spill caused environmental devastation for endangered wildlife and marine organisms, including repercussions such as dead birds and fish washing up onshore. Consequences for the local community also resulted in businesses that cater to beachgoers and boaters having to cancel their activities.
Since then, the California Department of Justice has opened an investigation, and federal and state agencies are looking for the cause of the pipeline failure. The Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board have also tried to find ships in that area that may have been responsible for the damage, looking mainly at ship traffic near the Port of Long Beach. Coast Guard investigators have concluded that it’s unlikely that any of the ships are responsible, but US Coast Guard Capt. Jason Neubauer said that no ships have been completely ruled out.
US senator Alex Padilla of California believes that given how fossil fuel emissions worsen the issue of climate change, the trade-off between oil production and environmental stress should not be prolonged or exacerbated. Legal experts say that the investigations could lead to criminal charges, civil penalties, new laws, or regulations and may be used in class-action lawsuits against the oil pipeline owner, Amplify Energy.
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