"A federal grand jury Wednesday charged three companies with criminal negligence in connection with the oil spill that tarred the Orange County coast in early October.
The three-page indictment alleges that Amplify Energy Corp. and two subsidiary firms, Beta Operating Co. and San Pedro Bay Pipeline Co., illegally discharged oil into federal waters from the pipeline they operated off Huntington Beach.
Though the size of the spill was initially overestimated at more than 100,000 gallons, the amount — more recently put at nearly 25,000 gallons — was “in a quantity that may be harmful to the public health, welfare and environment of the United States,” according to the charges.
The spill, whose exact cause remains unclear, has renewed calls for the government to take more aggressive action against the aging oil platforms and the infrastructure that dot the Southern California coast."
SEE ALSO:
"A Texas Oil Company Is Indicted Over A Southern California Oil Spill" (NPR)
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