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Company Says It’s Been Indicted for California Oil Spill Company Says It’s Been Indicted for California Oil Spill
(about 7 hours later)
California prosecutors have filed criminal charges against the company whose oil pipeline ruptured last year and fouled popular beaches near Santa Barbara for months, the company said on Tuesday. California prosecutors announced criminal charges on Tuesday against a company whose oil pipeline ruptured last year and fouled popular beaches near Santa Barbara for months. A company employee was also charged.
The company, Plains All American Pipeline, said that the California attorney general, Kamala D. Harris, and the Santa Barbara County district attorney, Joyce E. Dudley, had indicted both the company and one of its employees, whom it did not identify. The two prosecutors’ offices did not immediately confirm the charges, but Ms. Harris, who is running for the Senate, and Ms. Dudley have scheduled a news conference for later Tuesday. The California attorney general, Kamala D. Harris, and the Santa Barbara County district attorney, Joyce E. Dudley, said that on Monday, a Santa Barbara County grand jury handed up an indictment charging the company, Plains All American, with four felonies and 42 misdemeanors, and charging an employee, James Buchanan, an environmental and regulatory compliance specialist at Plains, with three misdemeanors.
The company, based in Houston, released a statement saying, “Plains believes that neither the company nor any of its employees engaged in any criminal behavior at any time in connection with this accident, and that criminal charges are unwarranted.” The company also faces multiple civil cases in the oil spill, but criminal charges in such a case are more unusual. Ms. Harris, who is running for the United States Senate, said the indictment reflected what the company knew or should have known of the dangers posed by its actions.
On May 19 last year, the two-foot-diameter pipeline broke open on land near Refugio State Beach, west of Santa Barbara, and much of the oil flowed into the ocean. The area is home to an array of shore birds and marine mammals, and is near the migratory path of gray whales. “The negative impacts of this conduct were immediate and tragic,” Ms. Harris said. “Anyone who violaes the law and endangers our environment is going to be held responsible.”
The company initially estimated the spill at 21,000 gallons, but later revised that up to more than 140,000 gallons. In documents supplied to lawmakers, Plains acknowledged that it did not alert federal regulators for more than three hours after discovering the spill. The company, based in Houston, said in a statement, “Plains believes that neither the company nor any of its employees engaged in any criminal behavior at any time in connection with this accident, and that criminal charges are unwarranted.”
The company said Tuesday that it had cooperated fully with local, state and federal agencies in responding to the spill, and that it had spent more than $150 million on the cleanup. Precisely what those charges are and what evidence supports them remain unknown. The prosecutors said they did not have the authority to release the indictment or the grand jury transcript, or to describe them in any detail; a judge may release them in the coming days but could keep the transcript sealed. An arraignment was set for June 6.
Ms. Dudley said that 10 of the counts, including the most serious, involved the rupture itself or the failure to take swift enough action, and that the rest addressed harm to wildlife. The company called the charges “an inappropriate attempt to criminalize an unfortunate accident.”
If found guilty, Plains could face fines of up to $2.8 million, a small fraction of what the spill will cost the company. Mr. Buchanan faces up to a year in prison on each of the three counts against him.
On May 19 last year, the corroded, two-foot-diameter underground pipeline broke open near Refugio State Beach, west of Santa Barbara. Much of the oil flowed into the ocean, in an area that is home to an array of shorebirds and marine mammals, and is near the migratory path of gray whales. It formed a dark plume in the water that stretched for miles and coated several beaches, harming tourism, and officials have said that tar balls from the spill washed ashore as far as 100 miles to the southeast.
The company initially estimated the spill at 21,000 gallons, but later revised that to more than 140,000 gallons. In documents supplied to lawmakers, Plains acknowledged that it had not alerted federal regulators until more than three hours after discovering the spill.
The company said Tuesday that it had cooperated fully with local, state and federal agencies in responding to the spill, and that it had spent more than $150 million on the cleanup. The prosecutors said the company had not cooperated with their investigation.