In California spill Oil company settles criminal cases
A spill that closed miles of shoreline and shuttered fisheries, an oil company pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday to negligently discharging crude off the Southern California coast when its underwater pipeline ruptured last year. On Friday in court a settlement with the county and state officials stemming from the same October 2021 oil spill Houston-based Amplify Energy and two of its subsidiaries agreed meanwhile to enter no contest pleas to killing birds and water pollution. Spilling about 25,000 gallons (94,600 liters) of oil into the Pacific Ocean, Amplify’s pipeline broke off the Orange County coast. For a week and fisheries for more than a month the rupture closed beaches, oiled birds and threatened local wetlands. “Amplify unequivocally hit the snooze button. They knew they had a leak. Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said that their leak detection system detected a leak. “Over and over, they kept ignoring it. That is why that is criminal and they’ve be...