Pipeline spews crude in California but none reaches beach

The line operator, Crimson Pipeline, estimated that at most 25,200 gallons were released, spokeswoman Kendall Klingler said. However, that figure was later analyzed again and changed.

Authorities are responding after a Southern California pipeline spilled up to 210,000 gallons of crude oil.

Oil began to spill early in the morning from a line running from Ventura to a refinery in Los Angeles, and flowed into the lengthy Prince Barranca ravine that ends near the Ventura Pier.

With there being about 42 gallons per barrel, it means that the crude leaked is up to 29,400 gallons.

The spill was the 11th for Crimson since 2006, with prior releases totaling 313,000 gallons of crude and causing $5.9 million in property damage, according to accident reports submitted by the company to federal regulators and reviewed by The Associated Press. According to Ventura County firefighter Marisol Rodriguez, the workers are now in “cleanup mode”.

A local official had earlier said Aera owned the oil. Some of that spill flowed into the ocean and created a slick that killed birds and sea lions.

Spotters stationed along the coastline, which is about a mile from the site of the leak, said no oil had reached the ocean, Doug Allen, a supervising pipeline safety engineer for the state, said in a phone interview.

Had it reached the 110 Freeway, the spill would likely have flowed on to Pierpont Bay, and potentially hit a second pipeline that would have redirected it again into the Pacific Ocean.

Oil fills a natural depression in the hills of Ventura County, California. Responders stopped the flow in a storm drain in Hall Canyon.

The department was monitoring air quality around the spill on Thursday evening, the department said on Twitter. It’s time we start treating pipeline spills and failures for what they really are: business as usual for the oil and gas industry. Crimson’s smaller Gulf of Mexico affiliate was also responsible for 220 barrels (9,240 gallons) spilled just previous year.

The cause is underdetermined at this point and the spill is under investigation.