Feds: Oil pipeline behind Calif. spill badly corroded

The oil pipeline that ruptured last month and polluted miles of once-pristine California coast was corroded extensively in four areas that the owner had identified for repair two weeks before the accident, according to a federal report released Wednesday.

Investigators found a 6-inch-long crack along the bottom of the section of the 24-inch-diameter underground pipe that ruptured May 19, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said. The accident spilled between 71,400 gallons and 105,000 gallons of heavy crude, much of it pouring down a storm culvert into the Pacific Ocean near Santa Barbara.

At the spot where Line 901 failed, corrosion had worn the metal down to an estimated thickness of just 1/16th of an inch — far more degradation than the owner, Houston-based Plains Pipeline, reported to the agency after the company's May 5 inspection.

The regulator's preliminary findings also noted that rupture occurred near three corrosion-related repairs made after a 2012 company inspection of the line, which is operated by a subsidiary, Plains All American Pipeline.

The report, which amends corrective action the agency ordered May 21, points to the likely cause of the spill, though the official conclusion is still to come.

Cleanup continues along several miles of beaches and coastline. Dead and dying wildlife continue to wash ashore.

In the past two weeks, 53 marine mammals — including 42 sea lions and seven dolphins — and 87 birds have been found dead, though not all were killed by oil, the Oiled Wildlife Care Network reported Tuesday. Forty mammals, nearly all sea lions, have been found alive, along with 58 birds of various species.

An accurate total will never be known, marine biologists say. Many mammals or birds killed by the oil will die at sea and sink to the bottom.