Crude spews from California pipeline, but none reaches beach

According to officials, an oil spill on Thursday, where 700 barrels of crude oil spilled from Crimson Pipeline located close to the coast of California, did not reach the waters of the Pacific Ocean.

A review of federal records by The Los Angeles Times finds Crimson Pipeline, the company behind the Ventura release, reported 10 spills resulting in more than $5.8 million in damage in the last 10 years.

VENTURA, Calif. (AP) – The operator of a pipeline that spewed tens of thousands of gallons of crude oil into a Southern California ravine said Friday it didn’t detect the leak because the line was undergoing maintenance.

Firefighters and hazardous materials crews are staged at the location of the leak to prevent it from getting to the beach, though it was unknown how long it would take for the oil to reach the ocean, a county fire official said.

The Los Angeles Times said that the oil leak formed “a small lake across the street from homes on Hall Canyon Road”.

“Residents may smell strong odors and at this time air quality monitoring is taking place.” .

Fire crews responded and a pump house operating the line was shut down.

An oil pipeline just began to leak in Ventura, California.

The amount of oil is uncertain, but fire officials estimated at least 5,000 barrels – or roughly 210,000 gallons – of crude oil has spilled, the Associated Press reported.

The company has had four incidents in Ventura County dating back to 2006.

Oil coats rocks in a stream in Ventura County, California, the site of a 29,000-gallon oil spill.

Atwater said he went up the canyon on his motor scooter and found the oil gushing from an above-ground box that he surmised covers equipment.

The spill came 13 months after more than 120,000 gallons of oil spilled on the coast of neighboring Santa Barbara County. Over 100,000 gallons of oil spilled into the ocean near Santa Barbara, California due to a pipeline crack just over a year ago.

A federal investigation completed past year identified external corrosion of the walls of a pipeline operated by Plains All American as the direct cause of the failure.