EPA v. Plains Pipeline (Line 901 Spill)

Case summary

Federal officials announced a civil settlement with Plains All American Pipeline L.P. and Plains Pipeline L.P. (Plains) arising out of Plains' violations of the federal pipeline safety laws and liability for the May 19, 2015, discharge of approximately 2,934 barrels of crude oil from Plains' Line 901 immediately north of Refugio State Beach, located near Santa Barbara, California. The discharge was caused by Plains' failure to address external corrosion and have adequate control-room procedures in place and was further exacerbated by Plains' failure to respond properly to the release. The crude oil discharge resulted in the oiling of Refugio State Beach, the Pacific Ocean, and other shorelines and beaches, resulted in beach and fishing closures and adversely impacted natural resources such as birds, fish, marine mammals and shoreline and subtidal habitat. The United States worked closely with co-plaintiff the state of California, and both the United States and California are signatories to the complaint and the consent decree. The complaint seeks injunctive relief, penalties, natural resource damages and assessment costs, and response costs for the United States, on behalf of the U.S. Department of Transportation, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; the U.S. Department of the Interior; the Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard. The United States' claims are under the federal pipeline safety laws, the Clean Water Act, and the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. The settlement requires Plains to implement injunctive relief to improve Plains' nationwide pipeline system and bring it into compliance with the federal pipeline safety laws, in addition to addressing unique threats and modifying operations that caused the Line 901 oil spill; pay $24 million in penalties; pay $22.325 million in natural resource damages, and $10 million for reimbursed natural resource damage assessment costs; and pay $4.26 million for reimbursed Coast Guard clean-up costs. Excluding the value of the required injunctive relief changes to Plains' national operations, the settlement in conjunction with reimbursed costs is valued in excess of $60 million.

Defendants (1)

• Plains All American PipelineNamed in complaintNamed in settlement

Facilities (1)

• PLAINS ALL AMERICAN PIPELINE LINE 901

  ONE MILE WEST OF REFUGIO STATE BEACH, GOLETA, CA, 93117

  Registry ID: 110065336390

Statutes cited

• CWA 311B — Oil & Hazardous Substances Discharge

Enforcement conclusions (1)

• Plains Pipeline (Line 901 Spill)entered 2020-10-14

  Primary law: CWA

  Federal penalty: $5,925,000 · State/local: $3,525,000

Timeline (6 milestones)

• 2016-08-29Referred To Dept Of Justice
• 2016-09-21Enforcement Action Data Entered
• 2020-03-13Final Order Lodged
• 2020-03-13Complaint Filed With Court
• 2020-10-14Final Order Entered
• 2021-12-16Enforcement Action Closed