Regulators order oil pipeline operator to expand repairs

LOS ANGELES — The operator of an oil pipeline that ruptured and spilled more than 100,000 gallons of crude on the California coast this year was ordered to purge a neighboring line and make repairs so it doesn’t fail.

Federal regulators said Friday that the line owned by Plains All American Pipeline was constructed and operated in the same way as the line that broke May 19 outside Santa Barbara, and the agency found inspections of both pipes underestimated corrosion inside.

Although the 129-mile pipeline was idled in late May, it has been full of unprocessed crude from offshore oil platforms that could contribute to further corrosion.

The corrective action order is the latest from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration targeting Plains for problems that have come to light since the spill. The agency continues to investigate why the two-foot wide pipeline sprang a leak underground onshore, which then began flowing across a pristine Santa Barbara County beach into the Pacific before the leak was contained.

Oil from the spill washed up on beaches more than 100 miles away, and about 300 dead animals, including pelicans and sea lions, were recovered.

Corrosion appears to be the main culprit of the spill. Regulators previously said results from internal inspections that revealed the 10.6 mile-long pipeline lost nearly half the metal near the break had vastly underestimated just how thin the pipe had become.

Regulators said Friday that internal inspections over the past 10 years on both lines had “under-called” problems in areas of general corrosion. Field examinations found these problem areas were more serious than a high-tech tool that runs through the pipe had predicted.

However, Plains never shared its field reports with the company that ran the tests, which is common practice, the agency said. That prevented the inspection company, which wasn’t named, from being able to validate its detection capabilities.

Plains said in a statement that it planned to purge the line, though it did not agree with several of the agency’s findings.