....clean water?

Plains Pipeline, the large Texas-based company responsible for the pipe
that ruptured in Santa Barbara County, has accumulated 175 safety and
maintenance infractions since 2006, according to federal records.

A Times analysis of data from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration shows Plains' rate of incidents per mile of pipe
is more than three times the national average. Among more than 1,700
pipeline operators listed in a database maintained by the federal
agency, only four companies reported more infractions than Plains Pipeline.

The company, which transports and stores crude oil, is part of Plains
All American Pipeline, which owns and operates nearly 18,000 miles of
pipe networks in several states. It reported $43 billion in revenue in
2014 and $878 million in profit.

The company's infractions involved pump failure, equipment malfunction,
pipeline corrosion and operator error. None of the incidents resulted in
injuries. According to federal records, since 2006 the company's
incidents caused more than $23 million in property damage and spilled
more than 688,000 gallons of hazardous liquid.

A Plains Pipeline spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for
comment about its regulatory record.

The spill near Refugio State Beach occurred Tuesday on an 11-mile-long
pipeline that is part of a larger oil transport network centered in Kern
County. Authorities say the accident may have released as much as
105,000 gallons of crude oil.


The company said it inspected the pipeline's integrity two weeks ago.
But the results had not come back before the rupture, Darren Palmer,
Plains' district manager, said at a news conference.

Before that inspection, the last review of the line, which can pump up
to 6.3 million gallons of oil per day, was in 2012, according to the
company.

Workers manually shut down the pipeline Tuesday when they saw
"abnormalities" in the line, said company spokeswoman Karen M. Rugaard.
The leak was confirmed two hours later.

For mo


http://www.latimes.com/local/califor...521-story.html