Company responsible for O.C. oil spill gets permission to repair pipeline
A California firm, which has been accused of gross negligence in the handling of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, has been granted permission to repair the $2.5-billion pipeline system that runs from the Gulf Coast to California.
A California firm, which has been accused of gross negligence in the handling of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, has been granted permission to repair the $2.5-billion pipeline system that runs from the Gulf Coast to California.
The $700-million repair project, which involves replacing the old oil pipeline with a new one that runs between the deepwater oil field in the Gulf of Mexico and the Kern County port of O.C., will require the use of some of the same equipment that was used to clean up the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The order requires the firm to pay the owners of the Deepwater Horizon oil platform a $15.2-million fee for damages and cleanup work. The owners, as well as the U.S. government, will also be responsible for $75 million in environmental cleanup costs.
The company had tried to stop the order, claiming environmental and safety regulations prohibit such an action, but a federal judge in Houston last year granted the company’s request for a preliminary injunction, saying the firm failed to show that it had a genuine and on-going environmental impact from its operations at the site.
“Our work today is an important step towards protecting our environment and our communities from further oil spills like Deepwater Horizon,” said John Brownfield, chief executive officer of Halliburton Co., the Texas-based company that is in charge of the project.
The decision follows two previous court orders. A July 20, 2010, order by U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes in Houston granted the company permission to “remain on the O.C. coast” pending a final decision on the
