144,000 Gallons of oil went into the ocean, creating an emergency-like situation in the area and it’s surrounding both for marine and wildlife. Beaches and wetlands off the coast of Orange County, California, were the latest victims of the deadly blows humankind is delivering day in day out to the already delicate climatic/environmental situation in the world.
The ecological repercussions of this incident will be far and wide, but the revelation that this all could have been prevented is even more baffling. Beta Offshore, the subsidiary of pipeline owner Amplify Energy Corp had received a threat warning alerting them of the catastrophe, and they did nothing. Nothing to prevent it and let the oil go into the ocean for hours! The Californian authorities have imposed an emergency in the oil spill area and will launch a criminal inquiry into the matter.
A possible anchor strike over the pipeline may be the reason for the incident. But it could have been avoided if the operators had had a timelier response. NBC reports that seldom have anchor strikes made such devastating scenarios. Of course, anchor strikes are common and do not cause such massive tragedies, but once, we will have to look towards the operators and the reason for their delayed response.
The initial warning received by the operators was of low pressure in the pipeline at around 0230 hrs on Saturday. Still, for reasons unknown, they did not do anything till 0530 hrs, after which the pipeline’s flow was shut down. The NBC reports that the National Response Center was notified after a lapse of another 3 hours, after which the response began. Meaning thereby that from the first warning to the time the reaction started, 6 hrs had elapsed.
Another contradicting theory surfacing is that the coast guards were told about the spill on Friday night but could not do any surveillance until the sun was up the following day. Negligence on the part of all involved was seen in handling this scenario, and someone will have to give answers as to why the response was delayed and what were the reasons owing to which the environment had to take an irrevocable brunt.