Data shows ship crossed over oil pipeline that ruptured
By MATTHEW BROWN and BRIAN MELLEY
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Data shows a massive cargo ship that was supposed to be at anchor repeatedly crossed over an undersea oil pipeline during a January storm. That pipeline just off the Southern California later ruptured, and crude washed up on beaches. The environmental group Skytruth says tracking data for the Panama-flagged ship MSC DANIT showed it crossing above the path of the pipeline that takes oil from platforms and delivers it to a facility in Long Beach. The finding bolsters investigators’ theory that the ship’s anchor may have caught the pipeline and pulled it across the seafloor. But it doesn’t explain the monthslong delay between the anchor dragging and the spill discovered earlier this month.
