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EDIT:

Oops, sorry, we mean to say 105,000 gallons

ORIGINAL:
On Tuesday, an onshore crude oil pipeline burst and created 4 miles of oil slick, along with over 21,000 gallons of the oil spilling through a storm drain into the ocean over the course of several hours before the oil flow was shut down.

About 850 gallons have been recovered.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/05/19/us/ap-us-california-oil-spill.html?_r=0

GOLETA, Calif. — A broken pipeline spilled 21,000 gallons of crude oil into the ocean before it was shut off Tuesday, creating a slick stretching about 4 miles along the central California coastline, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

Authorities responding to reports of a foul smell near Refugio State Beach around noon found a half-mile slick already formed in the ocean, Santa Barbara County Fire Capt. Dave Zaniboni said. They traced the oil to the onshore pipeline that spilled into a culvert running under the U.S. 101 freeway and into a storm drain that empties into the ocean.

The pipeline was shut off about three hours later but by then the slick stretched four miles and 50 yards into the water.

The 24-inch pipeline is owned by Plains All American Pipeline, which said it shut down the flow of oil and the culvert carrying the oil to the ocean was blocked.

"Plains deeply regrets this release has occurred and is making every effort to limit its environmental impact," the company said in a statement.

Shut down and minimize impact if old.

 

[SocksAndShoes]

Humanity is so fucking stupid.

 

[foxuzamaki]

Jesus

 

[DemiMatt]

I heard they sent a team of 60 people to take care of this.

 

[ReAxion]

I saw a pic of some animals caught in it

 

[Ferrio]

Great, we're going to declare war on the ocean now.

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

God damn, they took HOURS to stop it.

 

[Macadinho]

Can't fucking wait for renewable energy's to come to the fore.

 

[Symphonia]

Great, we're going to declare war on the ocean now.

We're fucked, seriously. The ocean terrifies me.

 

[LyleLanley]

 

[Amory]

whoops

 

[Tesseract]

we're pretty good at cleaning this now thanks to kevin costner's brother

waterworld is still paying dividends !

 

[commedieu]

thanks big oil!

 

[Souldestroyer Reborn]

I bet they don't get plummelled like BP.

Shouldn't take hours to shut down. The emergency safety over ride systems should have been used which would have closed all the valves almost instantly.

 

[Savitar]

Don't worry, it's just returning to the Earth.

The planet is full of the stuff, how can it harm the world?!

Yes I once saw someone say that.

 

[Cosmo Clock 21]

Shouldn't take hours to shut down. The emergency safety over ride systems should have been used which would have closed all the valves almost instantly.

Stop me if you've heard this one before...

 

[Souldestroyer Reborn]

Stop me if you've heard this one before...

Eh?

I work in the industry. I work on the systems. I'm actually lying in my bunk right now on an oil platform.

I'm more than qualified to make that statement.

Best case scenario is that the once valves close the remaining oil between said valves would be lost.

 

[Fenderputty]

Eh?

I work in the industry. I work on the systems. I'm actually lying in my bunk right on an oil platform.

I'm more than qualified to make that statement.

If it's such a simple thing, why does the issue keep popping up?

 

[Morrigan Stark]

I bet they don't get plummelled like BP.

Probably because 21k gallons vs, well, 200 million gallons for the BP spill. Not quite the same level of damage.

Still horrible and infuriating, though, of course. Especially if it's as easily preventable as Souldestroyer claims.

 

[Souldestroyer Reborn]

If it's such a simple thing, why does the issue keep popping up?

- Poor maintenance procedures
- Cost cutting
- Poor training/incompetence
- Oil companies not giving a fuck about anything other than that sweet $$$

 

[Sulik2]

If it's such a simple thing, why does the issue keep popping up?

Because cutting corners and not giving a crap about the environment or safety is par for the course with big business.

 

[Cosmo Clock 21]

If it's such a simple thing, why does the issue keep popping up?

Because Man is hubristic and fallible.

 

[TheSeks]

Probably because 21k gallons vs, well, 200 million gallons for the BP spill. Not quite the same level of damage.

Not the same damage but the lack of response is telling. There's no sensors down the entire pipeline to show HEY SOMETHING WRONG/leaks in the pipe?

 

[CapitalismSucks DonkeyBalls]

Who was fixing the damn pipe leak? Joe Dirt?

 

[Embearded]

I guess that the pipeline has valves every x meters. A leak can be detected almost immediately and safety measures will be fired up, but as the leak will be between 2 valves, the oil trapped in there will get spilled.

 

[Sawneeks]

God damn, they took HOURS to stop it.

This fact pisses me of so much. It shouldn't take hours to stop this kind of thing. Christ.

 

[Souldestroyer Reborn]

Probably because 21k gallons vs, well, 200 million gallons for the BP spill. Not quite the same level of damage.

Still horrible and infuriating, though, of course. Especially if it's as easily preventable as Souldestroyer claims.

It's honestly as simple as I said. If the Piper
Alpha disaster taught us anything it should be that safety is paramount, alas, another major disaster is on the horizon because companies simply don't give a fuck.

Not the same damage but the lack of response is telling. There's no sensors down the entire pipeline to show HEY SOMETHING WRONG/leaks in the pipe?

They would see the pressure drop in the pipeline without doubt.

The systems I work on are nearly 40 years old, they're ancient and even we can pick up loads of data so with their more sophisticated, high tech systems they should be able to tell where the leak is and how much too.

 

[Briarios]

But, pipelines are perfectly safe. The GOP said so!

 

[DOWN]

Note that the spill wasn't noticed right away, hence part of the timing being poor. They weren't trying to stop it for the entire time it was pouring because they weren't aware.

Hope there's some kind of sensors mandated in the future. You would think there should be an alert if thousands of gallons are not making their way to the next section of the pipeline over a long period.

 

[Syph Medwes]

Eh?

I work in the industry. I work on the systems. I'm actually lying in my bunk right now on an oil platform.

I'm more than qualified to make that statement.

Best case scenario is that the once valves close the remaining oil between said valves would be lost.

THANK YOU

I heard they sent a team of 60 people to take care of this.

...?

 

[TheSeks]

They would see the pressure drop in the pipeline without doubt.

The systems I work on are nearly 40 years old, they're ancient and even we can pick up loads of data so with their more sophisticated, high tech systems they should be able to tell where the leak is and how much too.

Then they need to be crucified just as hard as British Polluters, IMO.

 

[Fenderputty]

- Poor maintenance procedures
- Cost cutting
- Poor training/incompetence
- Oil companies not giving a fuck about anything other than that sweet $$$

So not really a simple thing then ...

Yeah the systems should of worked. They don't often enough though and the perpetrators get away with it. So why change?

 

[timetokill]

Since that shoreline is fucked now, looks like California found its spot for its desalinization plants.

 

[Pastry]

Note that the spill wasn't noticed right away, hence part of the timing being poor. They weren't trying to stop it for the entire time it was pouring because they weren't aware.

Hope there some kind of sensors mandated in the future. You would think there should be an alert if thousands of gallons are not making their way to the next section of the pipeline over a long period.

There are sensors like that, it's fairly easy to measure pressure at one end and again at the other end to see if there is a loss in flow rate. It just costs money. I work in oil and gas for a piping company so stuff like this is frustrating, companies purchase shitty pipe because it's cheap and they want to cut costs now.

 

[Souldestroyer Reborn]

So not really a simple thing then ...

Yeah the systems should of worked. They don't often enough though and the perpetrators get away with it. So why change?

Well it's simple for us common folk who don't live in a bubble.

For the $$$ watchers and suits? Nah don't be silly! why close the pipeline when most of the oil is still going through and they're making a profit? I mean who gives a shit about the environment or safety or treating your workers with respect?

Note that the spill wasn't noticed right away, hence part of the timing being poor. They weren't trying to stop it for the entire time it was pouring because they weren't aware.

Hope there some kind of sensors mandated in the future. You would think there should be an alert if thousands of gallons are not making their way to the next section of the pipeline over a long period.

The control rooms are always manned and they would get an alarm saying about theirs being a problem at (X) point in the system.

They probably either silenced it without further invesigation or just weren't interested.

They would know though, trust me.

 

[GK86]

I'm sure they will be slapped with a small fine and they will learned their lesson.

 

[Embearded]

Well it's simple for us common folk who don't live in a bubble.

For the $$$ watchers and suits? Nah don't be silly! why close the pipeline when most of the oil is still going through and they're making a profit? I mean who gives a shit about the environment or safety or treating your workers with respect?



The control rooms are always manned and they would get an alarm saying about theirs being a problem at (X) point in the system.

They probably either silenced it without further invesigation or just weren't interested.

They would know though, trust me.

With SCADA control rooms could be empty and have real time information on your phone. Even the janitor could know about the leak, there is realy no excuse for their late response.

 

[davepoobond]

i heard it was a disused pipeline and that they were surprised there was product still in there. not sure if that's accurate.

fucking idiots, either way.

 

[Souldestroyer Reborn]

With SCADA control rooms could be empty and have real time information on your phone. Even the janitor could know about the leak, there is realy no excuse for their late response.

I didn't say there was an excuse, I actually said the opposite....

SCADA will give the alarms, it does some things automatically but ultimately it's down to the control room operators/Production Super/OIM to make the decision. There are different versions of SCADA though so it depends on what they would have. Ours for instance, like I said is nearly 40 years old, you sure as hell ain't getting notifications anywhere other than the control room.

In the UK the control room operators can shut down whenever they feel a situation is dangerous. Seen plenty of situations where a platform has shut down and due to how they are all connected it took down 4/5 other platforms and the onshore terminal.

 

[JackBauer24]

 

[Embearded]

I didn't say there was an excuse, I actually said the opposite....

SCADA will give the alarms, it does some things automatically but ultimately it's down to the control room operators/Production Super/OIM to make the decision.

In the UK the control room operators can shut down whenever they feel a situation is dangerous. Seen plenty of situations where a platform has shut down and due to how they are all connected it took down 4/5 other platforms and the onshore terminal.

Yeah i know what you said, poor choice of words from my side.

I guess there are other reasons to shut it down but with a leak detected, system should shut down automatically without the need of an operator to do it.

 

[Souldestroyer Reborn]

Yeah i know what you said, poor choice of words from my side.

I guess there are other reasons to shut it down but with a leak detected, system should shut down automatically without the need of an operator to do it.

No worries

My knowledge of SCADA only goes so far as what I've worked on here which requires full operator input as SCADA is used as purely a monitoring system, which even then, is extremely basic in the info it gives us.

I do believe that many things are/can be automated through it now though, as it has increased in sophistication over time.

Obviously for the more things you want it to do the more sensors you need, and not only more but of a higher quality which both lead to cost increases which as another posted pointed out, companies don't want to spend that money and cut corners instead.

 

[Permanently A]

That image is just disgusting.

 

[DarkKyo]

Good thing we don't rely on anything from the oceans ... oh wait.

 

[Rentahamster]

Is it reasonable to say that one hopes the resulting fines and penalties are large enough to make future negligence not a worthwhile cost savings strategy? One wonders why this wasn't already the case.

 

[Volimar]

^The oil lobby is more powerful than environmental lobbies.




Is it me, or does wildlife friggen love oil? Every time there's a spill you get all the little critters splashing around in it. I think they just want to get washed off in that sudsy Dawn goodness.

 

[HazySaiyan]

Well at least it's not 210,000,000 gallons like Deepwater Horizon. Glass half full and all that.

Spoiler

God this is just depressing

 

[McFlame]

- Poor maintenance procedures
- Cost cutting
- Poor training/incompetence
- Oil companies not giving a fuck about anything other than that sweet $$$

Sadly all of this is true and commonplace.

 

[FantasticMrFoxdie]

smfh

 

[guek]

What a damn shame. I hope they get fined up the ass for this.

That said, am I the only one who has a small part of them that wants to throw a torch on these oil spills whenever they happen?