Company responsible for O.C. oil spill gets permission to repair pipeline
O.C. oil spill: A pipeline company is getting a permit to repair the ruptured wellhead owned by an oilfield service company.
Rescuers had to pry the pipe away after it was hit by a semi truck early Monday morning. A team had to break through concrete around the ruptured pipe, said Gary Satterfield, public information officer for the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. An estimated 100,000 to 150,000 barrels of oil escaped into the ocean Monday, and cleanup costs are expected to run to several million dollars.
Aerial view of the wellhead in question: The oil company is now asking the U.S. Coast Guard to release its permit to repair the damaged wellhead. The company says the wellhead is now functioning normally.
O.C. oil spill: The Coast Guard says it is awaiting a formal request for permission for the company to repair the damaged wellhead owned by the oilfield service company. The company is now asking the U.S. Coast Guard to release the repair permit.
O.C. oil spill: A crew member is wearing a full hazmat suit during a clean-up operation on the coast near Santa Barbara. There are still large oil slicks on the sea, but the oil-spewing semi truck that hit the wellhead was able to drive away before the Coast Guard was able to clean up the oil.
O.C. oil spill: A helicopter from the U.S. Coast Guard drops a huge amount of oil-spewing waste from a helicopter to a barge below. The Coast Guard is responding to reports that oil is flowing near the shore in South Bay.
O.C. oil spill: A helicopter with a bucket full of oil-spewing waste and diesel is released into the ocean near Santa Barbara. The Coast Guard still isn’t sure if the oil is coming from a hole in the wellhead or an oil tanker passing over the hole.
O.C. oil spill: A Coast Guard boat is dispatched to the scene of a large oil spill in the Santa Ynez River.
O.C. oil spill: Officials from the Bureau of
