LOS ANGELES, Oct. 19 (U.S.): A huge cargo ship that was supposed to be at anchor was attacked by high winds during a January storm and repeatedly crossed over an undersea oil pipeline that was later ruptured off the coast of Southern California, according to the ship. monitoring data.
Federal investigators are checking whether an anchor from the Panama-registered container ship MSC DANIT picked up the tube on Jan. 25 and pulled it across the sea floor, Coast Guard Lieutenant J. Tracking data analyzed by environmental group Skytruth showed that on that date MSC DANIT had drifted multiple times over the pipeline about 100 feet (30 meters) below the surface, the Associated Press (AP) reports.
The storm came as a surplus of ships was backed up outside the Los Angeles Long Beach port complex, which has seen significant delays as freight volumes increase amid the pandemic. Winds were up to 63 mph (101 kph) and 17 feet (5.2 meters), sending 24 ships into deep water to ride, according to a report from the Marine Exchange of Southern California, which oversees the ship. Port traffic.
Skytruth chief John Amos said Monday that the tracking data “appears to be very consistent with a ship in trouble and moving there.” He said other ships may have dragged anchor over the pipeline, and Keane acknowledged that the Coast Guard is “still looking at several ships and scenarios.”
Skytruth data is based on automatic transmissions from DANIT showing its location and status. The data showed that it remained near its fulcrum from January 18 until early January 25, then began drifting intermittently while still broadcasting that it was flat.
Amos said the ship crossed the pipeline at 5:47 a.m., and then three more times over the next three hours, before changing to “running” status and moving offshore and behind an island, supposedly to shelter from a storm. .
The data does not explain the long delay between anchor drag and the sudden appearance of oil in the waters off Huntington Beach in early October.
“The bigger question is how will responsibility be determined?” Amos said. “If it turns out that a ship in distress has disrupted and pulled this pipeline out of place, does that explain the oil spill that occurred several months later?”
The Coast Guard is trying to determine if the DANIT anchor pull caused the leak, if the line collided with something else later, or if it failed due to a pre-existing problem, Knin said, adding that the investigation could take a year.
The accident a few miles offshore caused about 25,000 gallons (94,635 liters) of crude oil to spill into the water and then into the sands of Huntington Beach and several other communities. Although not as bad as initially feared, it has reignited the controversy over offshore drilling in federal waters in the Pacific Ocean, where hundreds of miles of pipelines were installed decades ago.
A crack was found in an exposed steel pipeline on the sea floor owned by Houston-based Amplify Energy. A video of the site showed that the line’s concrete coating – which was supposed to weigh it down to the sea floor – had broken off, indicating it had hit an object as large as an anchor.
The US House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources held a meeting Monday in Orange County to hear about the impact of the spill on wildlife and businesses. Nearly 100 oiled birds have been found, two-thirds of which have died, said Dr. Michael Zicardi, director of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network. Five mammals and more than a dozen fish were also recovered.
Scott Brenman, a fourth-generation commercial fisherman with retail and wholesale business and owns a seafood restaurant, said his company crashed after the spill. He said it reminded him of what his father dealt with after the oil tanker American Trader pierced its hull with an anchor off the coast in 1990, spilling more than 400,000 gallons (1.5 million liters) of oil in the same area.
“I watched my dad struggle for months,” Brenman said. “I’ve seen the exact same thing happen here.”
Representative Katie Porter, D-Calif., said the spill should provide support for President Joe Biden’s budget that would block new offshore oil and gas leases in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the eastern Gulf of Mexico. It also called for an end to “old” subsidies for oil and gas companies.
“These subsidies and many more are the reasons why oil wells like the one behind this spill are still active,” Porter said. “Getting rid of the support is the first step to getting rid of the problem.”
An investigation into the cause of the leak may result in criminal charges or civil penalties.
A team of federal investigators boarded DANIT on Saturday, hours after the 1,200-foot (366-meter) vessel arrived at the port of Long Beach from China. Knin declined to say whether any damage to the anchorage was found at DANIT.
The Coast Guard has identified the ship’s owner and operator as parties to the investigation.
DANIT’s operator, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, is headquartered in Switzerland and has a fleet of 600 vessels and more than 100,000 workers, according to the company. MSC spokesman Giles Broome said Monday that the company had no comment on the investigation.
The ship’s owner, identified by the Coast Guard as Dordellas Finance Corporation, could not be reached for comment.
Investigators boarded at least two other ships, and they are examining records kept by ship captains, officers, engineers and flight data recorders – the equivalent of a so-called black box on board aircraft.
RAE