Oil Spill Damage Off The Coast Of Cali, Crime, Accident, Foreign Enemy or Other?

All pipe lines and cables off any coast I know of are well marked on charts.

In fact the markings often lead to and are marked on the beach.

So this is just a survival wake up call as to how easy our cables and pipe lines would be for an enemy to damage in the early hours of dusk to cut off our energy or internet.

Drop an anchor, drift a bit, catch a pipe line and then slide on out to sea.

Time to check those ship tracking records, well unless they (who ever they is) have used falsifiable records. Yes, done all the time all over the world.

Yet another way to shut down a countrie's oil resources.

Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage - Wikipedia

 

Those pipelines are supposed to be jetted in xx below the mudline, How much bottom erosion takes place is a different story.
It's entirely possible a pipeline 10 feet deep can be exposed over time.

 

Last I heard the line was snagged and dragged about 100 feet, possibly from a ship's anchor. I'm completely unfamiliar with this stuff so I wouldn't know all the surly details.

Could certainly have been intentional and also gives more political ammunition to the radical left wing, America-despising enviro-nuts, many deeply embedded within the government, who want to see all oil banned from this country.

 

I'm would be pretty easy to snag if it were not buried deeply!
The average thousand footer uses a pair of 60+ ton anchores which can dig down over 20 feet easy depending on the bottom makeup, so it wouldn't take much for a change in tide and current to drag anchore and snag a line
Could certainly have been intentional and also gives more political ammunition to the radical left wing, America-despising enviro-nuts, many deeply embedded within the government, who want to see all oil cut off from this country.

 

A reply from another source.

When I was working for GSI a shrimp boat caught one of our cables and dragged a big piece of it away. Crew chief paid him several hundred dollars to get it back. One of the guys said it was no accident that they caught it in their net.

YMMV

 

And I just love hearing all of the talking heads try and explain how this oil spill is SOOOOOO much worse than ANY oil spill in the history of mankind!

 

The only people I know who have oil interests that would benefit from this is the Fedgov. I think Hunter Biden gets richer every time his daddy sends more business his way. I don't know for sure because I'm obviously not one of them but follow the money. How much PROFIT do they all make for being in public office? More than you can even imagine. There are NO accidents.

 

Got a little update on Fed.regs, 200 foot deep or deeper don't have to be buried, Simply laid on the ocean floor.
Now we know how easily a pipeline is snagged.
We had pipelines snagged offshore in the Gulf by shrimp boats with anchors, The oil company paid the shrimper to cut the chain and paid thru the nose for replacement costs.

 

You're referring to possibly Pressure safety high/lows?
Just about everyone applies for a SAC out on the Pressure safety lows on the pipeline since this calls for a total shut-in of the platform by law, Fed rules and regulations are a funny thing.
You're not pumping oil to a pipeline then the pressure goes to zero, You're shut in at that point.
Get a waiver for the pipeline, It happens more than you think.

You flow into the stock tanks Until the stock tank becomes full enough.
Kicks on the pumps and the L.A.C.T
The only oil metering that takes place is at the LACT, This is on the platform and not on the beach.
Why you ask? These company's don't buy production water.
If you're oil has so many PPM's Parts per million of water in it, Its then diverted back into the process system on the platform to be cleaned up for sales.
LACT means lease automated customer transfer

 

It was late at night on a weekend....I'm betting that nobody was there watching and/or there was nobody to report to...it was late at night on a weekend.

 

LOL

I once had to call the US Coast Guard

Seems they were going to use 'practice gunnery' to sink an old (Chinese) fishing ship.

Normally, I wouldn't have an issue. However, the ship (target) was (barely) floating over our fiber optic cable.

You can imagine the hilarity when I called the USCG here @ Kodiak and told them how much a repair normally costs - before the added cost removing a derelict from on top of the cable.

What made my day, is the USCG cat I was talking with left me attached to the line as he frantically called around to stop the shooting.... The fun words - "We will sue to made whole if you damage our line, specifically now that you have been warned...."

 

You know these ships have safe anchorage charts, The lookout wasn't looking out as the ship dragging the anchor snagged the pipeline.
Someone may get a hefty bill over this?

 

Went for a bit of a spin in an offered sailing vessel off the SC coast. About 30 minutes into the trip I figured out the skipper was totally stupid. I say Capt but I doubt he had ever been alone on this craft.

As we passed over a sand bar between the Isle of Palms and Sullivan's Island the pivoting center board suddenly came up with a bang, Capt was not aware of such a device and had not checked the boat for a locking device, the craft rolled into a wave and foundered on the sand bar. Six folks in the water, and then onto the hull. Water was pretty rough and around 40 degrees as it was December.

Two swam to shore, for a call to the USCG, the rest of us slowly maneuvered the hull over the sand bar and nearer to shore so we could swim and walk to a safer position.

The hull was holed on rocks and the craft was a total loss.

The USCG arrived promptly, 3 hours later at the address of the owners home to see what was going on. We were in the middle of a bottle of Rum and said we were OK and they could go away, none too polity.

 

Ever been across the Columbia Bar? It's not for the faint of heart I can tell ya! We're right in the limits of permissable tonnage to sail with out a bar pilot, and I'm certified anyway, so in we go, and a bunch of fishing boats are making their way in, the whole time blocking that channel, I laid on the horn to let them know I was overtaking them and damn if one didn't put it up on the bar in front of us! Lucky were a Tug, so a quick rope and a yank and we got him off before he started hammering and broke his keel! Was a good thing we were behind him when he went aground, and proof of just how fast that bar can change! Two days before, that exact spot was 30 feet deep!

 

Nope, only seen vids of that killer.

I did have an exciting time at Port Everglades in the late 60s. That being in a rental power boat that was just not large enough to handle the incoming swells from the Atlantic. Made the right move and continued going out till the right moment and did a 180, caught the wave just right or I'd still be heading east.

 

Move along folks, nothing to see here! Just a big nothing burger! Just a small oil well, small pipeline, small oil spill, and small news! Since even the liberal media can't spin this news story to include the end of all life on the planet and/or Donald Trump...it will quickly fade away!