NTSB determines official cause of 25,000-pound oil spill off Huntington Beach in 2021

More than two years after a pipeline in the San Pedro Bay leaked nearly 25,000 pounds of crude oil into the ocean off Huntington Beach, the National Transportation Safety Board has determined the probable cause and recommendations moving forward.

The NTSB conducted a thorough investigation and found the pipeline was in fact struck by two cargo ship anchors and the pipeline company subsequently failed to follow protocols.

The disaster at the beginning of October 2021 is one Huntington Beach locals remember well.

“You could see the oil in the water, it was a mess,” recalled Chuck Katz

“There was some tar and stuff like that, crude oil on the beach,” Huntington Beach surfer Alex Boost added.

The spill closed Huntington and Newport beaches and harbors, halted the Pacific Airshow, and affected tourism and fishing. The initial damage to the pipelines dates back to the cargo ship backup at Southern California ports during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As part of the evidence, the NTSB reviewed maritime surveillance video detailing a dozen cargo ships in the bay the morning of Jan. 25, 2021.

With strong winds and so many ships waiting to get into the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports, several ship alarms began sounding for “dragging anchors.” The NTSB was able to pinpoint the two cargo ship companies dragging anchors over the San Pedro Bay pipeline — Beijing and MSC Danit.

The investigation also detailed the chaos the Vessel Traffic Services Los Angeles-Long Beach, jointly operated by the US Coast Guard and the marine exchange of Southern California, was dealing with trying to assign anchor positions to ships that were drifting into each other’s space with high winds.

According to a presenter at a hearing Tuesday, the 17-mile long San Pedro pipeline was operated by Beta Offshore, a subsidiary of Amplify Energy. The pipeline transported crude oil from the San Pedro Bay off the coast of Huntington Beach to the Beta pump station located in Long Beach. The 16-inch diameter pipeline was constructed in 1980 and made of steal with a concrete coding. Shipping pumps located on platform Elly moved crude oil through the pipeline.

In part, the NTSB investigation found that the pipeline operator, Beta, failed to train its controllers to appropriately respond to leak alarms and then shutdown and isolate the pipeline.

The report states the operators were “fatigued” and thought several alarms were “false.” It also stated that after the incident, none of the controllers were drug tested.

The NTSB had a list of 14 safety recommendations that included:

1. Audit the Beta’s offshore drug testing program
2. Have the US Coast Guard anchor traffic further from pipelines
3. Create a monitoring system on all vessels nationwide to provide audible and visual alarms when an anchored vessel approaches a pipeline
4. Develop procedures for vessel traffic services to notify companies of any possible impacts to a pipeline

The board ultimately deferred final approval of the report until it goes through a notation process with amendments.

In the presentation, the NTSB also said that the US Coast Guard is starting to work on changes to anchorage, looking at improvements to vessel traffic services, “both locally in Long Beach, also nationwide, as a result of this incident.”

After two years, Huntington Beach locals say these changes may not be enough.

“I just wish they’d get rid of those oil platforms out there, I think as long as they’re there, there’s a risk of that happening again, it’s just scary for the wildlife and the human life,” Ryb Katz said.

According to the National Oceanic and atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), the oil spill impacted ocean waters, rocky intertidal habitats, subtidal habitats, sandy beaches and sensitive Marsh habitats, as well as the fish, birds, vertebraes and marine mammals that inhabit those areas.

Amplify Energy, along with its subsidiaries Beta and San Pedro Pipeline Co, have paid more than $60 million dollars in both criminal and class action lawsuits to reimburse recovery efforts. The company did not respond to NBC4’s email Tuesday.

The two shipping companies also paid $45 million dollars in a settlement. NOAA and the CDFW are still working on restoration plans for wildlife and the wetlands.

In a statement, a spokesperson for CDFW said:

“This past year the Trustee Team published a Notice of Intent in the Federal Register (here) that the Trustees intend to proceed with Restoration Planning for the spill (i.e., proceed to pursue natural resource damages caused by the spill). The Trustee Team also presented to the public on the status of the assessment and solicited the public’s input on potential restoration projects that compensate for resource injuries caused by the spill. Copies of those presentations can be found here. Since July 2023, the Trustee Team has held four meetings with the Responsible Party (Amplify Energy Corp.) to negotiate a settlement for resource damages caused by the spill; those discussions are on-going and confidential.”

Updates on NRDA activities and findings will continue to be posted on OSPR’s Restoration/NRDA webpage.

The evidence presented to the NTSB detailed the timeline of the pipeline leak alarms and subsequent actions of pipeline controllers as follows:

“On the afternoon of October 1st, 2021, the system on platform Elly that separated oil and water from the mixture coming from production wells experienced problems that resulted in more water than normal entering the San Pedro Bay pipeline. Operators spent several hours working on the issue, and they repaired the problem. In addition to the problem with the oil water separation system, controllers had also been receiving multiple loss alarms throughout the day, indicating loss communications between platform Elly and the pump station.

At 16:10, the San Pedro Bay pipeline leak detection system alarmed on in the platform Elly. The control room console showed that the leak location was at mile zero, indicating a leak at the pipeline's origin at the platform. Pipeline controllers assumed the alarm was erroneous and had activated due to the water content in the pipeline, resulting from the earlier problem with the water separator system.

Over the next several hours, controllers troubleshot the leak detection system, stopping and restarting the pipeline's online shipping pump several times during the process. With each restart of the pipeline, the leak detection alarm sounded. Personnel visually checked for leaks on Platform Elly by observing the pumps, the discharge line and meters, and no leaks were found.

At 23:30, the leak detection alarm sounded again, the seventh time the alarm had sounded. In response, the pipeline controller and a superintendent conducted a manual leak detection calculation while the shipping pump continued to run. The manual leak detection calculation was completed at 2:20 on October 2nd showed the difference of the number of barrels being pump from the platform Elly to the Beta ump system.

Consequently, they shut down the online shipping pump. Between 3:30 and 5:10 on October 2nd, the vessel Nicholas Elly connected a right of way inspection on the pipeline. Because it was dark, the vessel crew visually observed the water using a spotlight and flashlights. No oil was found, and the pipeline shipping pump was restarted at the completion of the inspection.

At 5:28, the leak detection alarm sounded for the eighth time. The shipping pump was stopped and a second daylight right-of-way inspection was ordered. At 08:09, the crew of the Nicholas L. reported a 60 foot wide by 1.5-mile long oil sheen on the water. An estimated 588 barrels of oil leaked from the pipeline as a result of the accident. Post-leak surveys of the San Pedro Bay pipeline showed that a 4,025-foot section of the pipeline had been displaced a with maximum displacement from the original pipeline location.

The surveys also found evidence of a longitudinal crack on the outer surface of the pipe at the maximum displacement. Revealed scarring on the sea floor among the displaced section of pipeline that was consistent with anchor dragging which occurs when a vessel's anchor failed to hold on the sea floor, and the vessel moves with the current seas or wind trailing its anchor.”