Over 700 barrels of crude oil has spilled from a pipeline in Ventura County, California, according to a state official.
The Ventura County Fire Department posted a message on Twitter estimating the size of the leak at about 700 barrels, down from an initial estimate of 5,000 barrels. The figure translates to a spill of over 29,000 gallons of crude.
The oil belongs to Aera Energy and flowed through a pipeline operated by Crimson Pipeline.
Hazmat teams were sent to the scene.
In a regulatory filing Crimson Pipeline took responsibility of the spill, which occurred in the beachside community of Ventura – about 60 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
The leak was first spotted at about 5:30 a.m. PST in a gorge called Prince Barranca.
The pump at the site of the spill was shut down within a couple of hours after it was first spotted.
The Los Angeles Times said that the oil leak formed “a small lake across the street from homes on Hall Canyon Road.”
Ventura County firefighter Marisol Rodriguez told the LA Times: “The pump has been shut down. There’s no way it can get to the ocean. They’re in cleanup mode.”
Doug Allen, a supervising pipeline safety engineer who is with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, which has jurisdiction over the pipeline, said in a phone interview: “It seems like they stopped it.”
The spill comes after over 2,500 barrels of crude gushed onto the shore and into the Pacific Ocean last year because of a ruptured pipeline in Santa Barbara County.
