Oil company settles criminal cases in California spill

By AMY TAXIN and DON THOMPSON
Associated Press

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — An oil company has pleaded guilty in federal court to negligently discharging crude off the Southern California coast when its underwater pipeline ruptured last year. Houston-based Amplify Energy and two of its subsidiaries each pleaded guilty Thursday to a misdemeanor charge in federal court. Meanwhile, in state court, the companies agreed to enter no contest pleas Friday to killing birds and water pollution in a settlement with county and state officials stemming from the spill. Amplify’s pipeline broke off the Orange County coast, spilling about 25,000 gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean in October 2021. The rupture shuttered beaches for a week and fisheries for more than a month, oiled birds and threatened local wetlands.