It took Amplify Energy almost a day to alert the spill on the southern California coast

Photo: PATRICK T. FALLON / Getty Images

The oil company Amplify Energy, which manages the pipeline from which the oil spilled on the beaches of Southern California comes, took almost a day to warn of the oil leak, which is feared to cause a major environmental catastrophe.

The California Coast Guard revealed Tuesday that it received several calls on Friday afternoon reporting an “oily sheen” in the water , which ultimately resulted in the equivalent of 3, 500 barrels of crude oil spilled on the Pacific coast.

“ It is very difficult to identify oil at night “, explained in a press conference the captain of the Coast Guard, Rebecca Ore.

The California rescue services and the oil company are in the spotlight because a faster response could have prevented the worst stroke me of oil in the last three decades of California , which has declared a state of emergency.

On Friday, around 19: 00 local time, the first alert call occurred, although the authorities recalled that usually receive these types of notifications routinely .

It was not until late at night that another notification, coming from observation satellites signaled the importance of the spill .

However, the emergency teams did not mobilize until Saturday morning and “ took two hours to detect the crude “, said the captain.

For its part, the company that manages both the pipeline and the platform oil company to which connects, Amplify Energy, reported a possible leak on Saturday morning , although some residents of the localities

Finally, the Coast Guard did not confirm the disaster until after 12: 00 local time, shortly before the oil began to dirty more than 25 kilometers of coastline .

This Tuesday, divers investigating the area have located a fragment of the pipeline, more than a kilometer long. length, which was offset by a few 32 meters of the usual route, generating an opening.

It is unknown what caused the fracture of the pipe, reinforced with cement, but Amplify Energy believes it was the fault of the anchor of one of the ships cargo awaiting arrival at the port of Los Angeles.

Long-term damage

“On Sunday the beach was completely black, they cleaned everything very quickly “, Bob, a resident of Huntington Beach, the coastal city most affected by the spill, assured Efe about 60 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

More than 300 employees work to clean up the area, although the estimates of the discharge are increasing, since they have gone from about 500, 00 Initial 0 liters to more than 570, 00 0 liters, the equivalent of almost 3, 500 barrels of oil.

“ We will not know some of the consequences on marine life for several years “, predicted a worker from the Wetland Care Center and Huntington Beach Wildlife, located directly across from the area most contaminated by the spill.