WALNUT CREEK — One year after a ruptured oil pipeline leaked large amounts of gasoline into a local water channel, the company that owns the pipeline was fined $2.5 million and given 18 months probation, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Thursday.
SFPP, a subsidiary of energy giant Kinder Morgan, had pleaded no contest in Contra Costa County Superior Court to two criminal misdemeanor counts of failing to notify state officials about the spill, which resulted in 63,000 gallons of gasoline seeping underneath the rocks and soil of a drainage canal.
The pipeline, which runs from Concord to San Jose, cracked under pressure from surrounding tree roots beneath the Iron Horse Trail footbridge south of Ygnacio Valley Road, near Civic Park in Walnut Creek.
Bonta made the announcement near the site where the pipeline cracked, saying Kinder Morgan needed a “wake-up call” for being environmentally reckless. In addition to having to pay the fine, company officials were ordered to follow stricter guidelines for notifying state officials about potential spills.
“Today’s sentencing should serve as a reminder to corporate polluters everywhere: If you endanger our communities and environment by failing to follow the law, you will be held accountable,” Bonta said. “When corporations pollute our waterways and endanger our health, we all pay the price.”
Houston-based Kinder Morgan, which operates 85,000 miles of oil pipelines across the country, has previously caused environmental damage in Walnut Creek, with deadly consequences.
In 2007, it pleaded no contest to six felonies and agreed to pay $15 million after five people were killed and others injured three years earlier in a high-pressure natural gas pipeline explosion near South Broadway.
According to its website, Kinder Morgan expects to make $1.7 billion by the end of this year.
In a statement from Kinder Morgan, SFPP denied any illegal wrongdoing and said it worked closely with first responders, local officials and residents who live nearby to address the spill as soon as the company became aware of it.
“We provided a thorough and robust response, and we are proud of the Kinder Morgan personnel who worked around the clock for months to take care of the community impacted by this unfortunate event,” the company stated.
The company said late last year that it shut down segments of the pipeline after noticing a pressure drop. It wasn’t until 12 days later that a worker saw and smelled traces of gasoline in the canal water.
Two residents who attended Thursday’s press conference were not pleased with Bonta’s address, saying that oil had seeped into their backyards after the spill and remediation crews had kept them from sleeping by working noisily into the night.
They accused the officials present — including Bonta, a state Fish and Wildlife officer and Walnut Creek Councilman Kevin Wilk — of not doing enough to keep them informed about the spill and its cleanup.
“Don’t tell us you did everything you could… because I’m here to say, you did not send one piece of information to my home,” said Peggy Dodds, who lives right by the channel. “And we were severely impacted.”
The drainage canal doesn’t contain water used by humans. Wildlife officials did find 17 dead fish near the site of the spill during their investigation, but they were too small for a necropsy to determine whether their deaths were caused by the leadked gasoline.
Steve Gonzalez, a spokesman for California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said oil companies receive plenty of training each year on spill prevention and response — enough to know how to respond when one occurs.
“The onus is on them — it’s a state law that when (companies) notice there’s a spill, they need to notify state agencies,” Gonzalez said. “It’s pretty straightforward and simple.”
Earlier Thursday, a federal grand jury indicted Amplify Energy Corp. for a pipeline crack off Long Beach that leaked 25,000 gallons of crude oil into the ocean. The company was similarly accused of not notifying officials quickly enough, despite eight alarms in its leak detection system over a 13-hour period.
In Kinder Morgan’s case, officials said they anticipate new technology will allow oil companies to become aware of spills more quickly.
“The reporting statutes haven’t changed, but the companies need to beef up and better train their employees and follow their own spill plans,” said Brett Morris, the deputy state attorney general.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: www.mercurynews.com