LOS ANGELES — Three companies face federal charges for their roles in causing the October oil spill off the coast of Orange County, authorities said Wednesday.
A federal grand jury accused Amplify Energy Corp. and two subsidiary firms, Beta Operating Co. and San Pedro Bay Pipeline Co., of illegally discharging oil from a pipeline they operated off Huntington Beach. The pipeline takes oil from an offshore platform onto shore.
The indictment alleges six instances in which the firms were negligent in the spill. They face a misdemeanor count of negligent discharge of oil.
The indictment alleges that the companies failed to “properly respond to eight alarms from an automated leak detection system.” Moreover, federal prosecutors say, the companies shut down and then restarted the pipeline five times after the initial warning of a leak.
The firm also employed “crewmembers who had not been sufficiently trained on the automated leak detection system,” federal prosecutors alleged.
Amplify could not be immediately reached for comment.
The spill dumped an estimated 25,000 gallons into the ocean.
Authorities are also investigating whether an anchor from a ship might have caused the pipe to rupture.
