We have posted about the ongoing port congestion that has resulted in as many as 70 ships being anchored off the Southern Californian coast waiting for berths. While no one knows for certain what caused the pipeline rupture that leaked more than 140,000 gallons of oil off the California coast, initial indications suggest that it may have been the result of a ship’s anchor catching the pipeline. 

USA Today reports that the U.S. Coast Guard said on Tuesday that divers were able to locate a bend in the 17-mile pipeline and found it had been moved by 105 feet. Coast Guard Capt. Rebecca Ore said divers also located a split in the pipeline that was more than a foot long — 13 inches, which investigators believe could be the source of the oil leak.

Preliminary reports suggest the failure may have been “caused by an anchor that hooked the pipeline, causing a partial tear,” federal transportation investigators said.

The break in the line occurred about 5 miles offshore at a depth of about 98 feet beneath the surface, the investigators said. Those findings were included in an order from the Department of Transportation that blocks the company that operates the pipeline from restarting it without extensive inspections and testing.

“We’re looking into if it could have been an anchor from a ship, but that’s in the assessment phase right now,” Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Jeannie Shaye said.

Whatever may have caused the leak, the pipeline operator is reported to have been slow to respond to the leak.

The energy company that owns the ruptured pipeline didn’t shutdown the pipeline for more than three hours after being alerted, according to federal regulators. 

In a letter to the company’s president, U.S. Department of Transportation safety regulators wrote that company personnel “received a low-pressure alarm” at 2:30 a.m. Saturday on the pipeline that signaled “possible failure.” It wasn’t until 6 a.m. — more than three hours later — that it was shutdown, the letter states.

The letter was sent to the pipeline operator’s parent company, Amplify Energy Corp., from the department’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration — which oversees the pipelines across the country. The letter also notes it took “over six hours” before the company reported the spill to the 24-hour federal National Response Center, the designated federal point of contact for reporting all oil, chemical, radiological, biological and etiological discharges into the environment. 

State records also indicate that the first reports of the massive oil spill came in the day before pipeline officials confirmed it.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency due to the oil spill in Orange County, with miles of popular beaches closed for what may be months.

State Of Emergency In California After Major Oil Spill