California 22, October 23, 2022

Crews Scale Mountainous Terrain to Complete Project

By Irwin Rapoport CEG CORRESPONDENT

Powell Constructors Inc. began construction of the California Department of Transportation’s (Caltrans) $21.4 million North Sherwin Shoulders Project in April 2021 in mountainous terrain more than 7,000 ft. above sea level on the east side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

The project, which spans from 2.4 mi. south of Lower Rock Creek Road to 0.3 mi. north on U.S. Highway 395 at the top of Sherwin Grade in Mono County, features the widening of 5.4 mi. of shoulders that range from 2 to 4 ft. to a consistent 10 ft. of shoulder throughout the construction area. The upgrades will help to increase safety and decrease the number of traffic incidents on the highway.

In addition to widening the paved highway shoulders to 10 ft. and improving sight distances around curves, crews also are installing retaining walls, flattening soil slopes next to the highway, replacing or installing guardrails, upgrading drainage systems, installing skip rumble strips between travel lanes and shoulders and adding a bicycle right turn pocket at U.S. 395 and Lower Rock Creek Road.

This project is anticipated to be completed by the end of October.

“To accommodate the wider shoulders, the project design required altering the existing cut and fill slopes and adding retaining walls, all of which required extensive earthwork,” said Mike Powell, president of Powell Constructors. “The earthwork was done with excavators and bulldozers that included a Volvo 360 excavator and a John Deere 450 bulldozer. There was no blasting.”

On the Caltrans North Sherwin Shoulders Project, the design required altering the existing cut and fill slopes and adding retaining walls, all of which required extensive earthwork.

Powell Constructors turned to a Volvo 235ECR hydraulic excavator to execute a critical part of the job.

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CTC Receives $3 Billion in Construction Fund Requests

The California Transportation Commission received 432 applications requesting a total of more than $3.1 billion for the sixth cycle of funding in the Commission’s Active Transportation Program, the Commission recently announced.

With a recent increase from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the total amount of funding available for the cycle was set at $650 million; however, the state budget agreement announced by the Governor and the Legislature on June 26 provides an additional $1 billion for the program.

“The record-high $3 billion total funding request demonstrates the tremendous demand across California for transportation investments that provide healthy mobility options, help reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, and make getting around our communities safer,” said Lee Ann Eager, chair of the California Transportation Commission.

“Approximately 96 percent of the requested funds are proposed for projects that would directly benefit disadvantaged communities,” said Mitch Weiss, Executive Director of the California Transportation Commission. “Projects funded through the Active Transportation Program are critical to ensuring equitable outcomes in the state’s transportation system and meeting California’s climate goals, and the needs in these communities far exceed the resources currently available to meet them.”

The recent state budget deal includes a one-time augmentation of $1 billion from the state’s General Fund surplus for the Active Transportation Program. The Commission previously recommended a General Fund augmentation of $2 billion for the Active Transportation Program to help clear the fifth cycle backlog.

“The Commission thanks Governor Newsom and the Legislature for recognizing the wide range of benefits of including additional funding for this chronically oversubscribed program,” said Carl Guardino, vice chair of the California Transportation Commission. “Last cycle, we received funding requests totaling $2.3 billion. It remains clear the demand for more active transportation infrastructure and the need for even more funding continues to grow.”

The Active Transportation Program was created in 2013 with purposes that include increasing the proportion of trips accomplished by walking and biking, increasing safety and mobility for non-motorized users, advancing efforts of regional agencies to achieve greenhouse gas reduction goals, enhancing public health, and providing a broad spectrum of projects to benefit many types of users, including disadvantaged

communities.

The Program is funded from a variety of sources, including the state’s excise tax on gasoline under Senate Bill 1, the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017. Funding also comes from the recently enacted federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, which boosted funding for this program cycle by nearly $200 million.

Applications for the sixth funding cycle of the Active Transportation Program were due on June 15, 2022. Prior to the application deadline, Commission staff held 15 virtual workshops and conducted 96 virtual project site visits with prospective applicants across 33 counties from November 2021 through March 2022. Review of project applications is now underway by 50 evaluator teams consisting of two members each. The Commission expects to begin awarding funding by the end of the year.

For more information, visit www.catc.ca.gov/ 

The California Transportation Commission received 432 applications requesting a total of more than $3.1 billion for the sixth cycle of funding in the Commission’s Active Transportation Program, the Commission recently announced.

With a recent increase from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the total amount of funding available for the cycle was set at $650 million; however, the state budget agreement announced by the Governor and the Legislature provides an additional $1 billion for the program.

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Stertil-Koni, Culver City Partner to Give Fleet Upgrade

Culver City — the historic epicenter of film and TV production dating back to the 1920s and famously the home of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios — has recently updated the script on how it maintains its fleet of public vehicles with the modernization of its high-volume, vehicle maintenance facility.

Explains Scott Newton, Fleet Services supervisor of Culver City, “We are one of the only cities in the U.S. with its own fleet that includes virtually every type of municipal vehicle, including police cars, fire trucks, refuse trucks, buses and more. In fact, we have nearly 500 vehicles in the fleet -- and are always adding more.”

To keep that supersized fleet in top operating condition — and ensure the highest level of technician safety and ergonomic comfort — Culver City recently installed multiple Stertil-Koni telescopic piston DIAMONDLIFTs, several of which feature the company’s innovative Continuous Recess option. The DIAMONDLIFT, which is certified by the industry’s third-party watchdog — the Automotive Lift Institute (ALI), — is a high-pressure, low-volume heavy duty inground vehicle lift that delivers a lifting capacity up to 35,000 lbs. per piston. It also is electronically synchronized for maximum safety and convenience, features a mechanical locking system for maximum protection as standard and has a full-color, touch-screen control console that puts all lifting information directly at the fingertips of the busy tech on the shop floor.

“What’s more,” added Stertil-Koni President, Dr. Jean Dellamore, “the Continuous Recess option in several of the Culver City DIAMONDLIFTs is specifically engineered for

vehicles with low ground clearance, such as city transit and articulated buses. What is particularly special with this option is that the movable piston can recess below floor level anywhere within the range of travel, thus preventing damage to the undercarriage of the vehicle.”

Culver City has already realized the benefits of its modernization program. As Newton stated, “We had a lot of dated equipment, because our facility is 25 years old. But now we are in the process of modernizing the facility, so we are replacing a lot it. In fact, we purchased our first two DIAMONDLIFTS two years ago and then added four more ‘Diamonds’ with the Continuous Recess option, recently. They are working out great, because we have more than 50 low-floor and electric buses — with more electric buses being added to the fleet.”

Helping to make it all possible was Southwest Lift &

Equipment, the exclusive Stertil-Koni distributor headquartered in Southern California, which performed the installations and received high marks for service before and after the sale. “They provided top-flight training to our technicians,” Newton said, “and if we ever have a question or an issue, they are on it right away. The new lifts are much better with far fewer issues than the ones we had before. We really like them and they are working out well.”

Concluded DellAmore, “Stertil-Koni is honored to be of service to Culver City and exceedingly pleased to see how our recent innovations in heavy duty vehicle lifting systems are supporting the vehicles of today and tomorrow. It also fulfills a core tenet of the Stertil-Koni mission — to continuously raise the bar in terms of safety, performance and durability in vehicle maintenance shops across North America.”

About Stertil-Koni

Stertil-Koni is the market leader in heavy duty vehicle lifts, notably bus lifts and truck lifts, and proudly serves municipalities, state agencies, school bus fleets, major corporations, the U.S. Military and more. Stertil-Koni’s breadth of products meets all ranges of lifting needs and includes portable lifts such as Mobile Column Lifts, 2-post, 4-post, inground piston lifts, platform lifts and its axle-engaging, inground, scissor lift configuration, ECOLIFT. The company’s innovative, inground telescopic piston DIAMONDLIFT is now available with an optional Continuous Recess system, ideal for low clearance vehicles. Stertil-Koni USA is headquartered in Stevensville, Md. with production facilities in Europe, The Netherlands and Streator, Ill.

Federal Approval of Funds Results in EV Charging Stations

California has the green light to start using federal infrastructure funding to expand electric vehicle (EV) charging stations along the state’s interstates and highways following the recent federal approval of a joint plan by Caltrans and California Energy Commission.

The U.S. Joint Office of Energy and Transportation’s signoff on the California Deployment Plan for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Program makes an initial $56 million in funding available to install charging stations throughout the state. Funded by the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA), California expects to receive a total of $384 million for the program over the next five years. The federal funding will build on California’s historic $10 billion, multiyear investment to accelerate the transition to zeroemission vehicles by improving affordability and expanding charging infrastructure.

“Thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration's approval of

California’s NEVI plan, we can start putting historic levels of federal infrastructure funding to work to close gaps in our state highway system’s evolving EV charging network and improve availability and reliability for low-income and rural residents,” said Toks Omishakin, California Transportation secretary. “Coupled with unprecedented lev-

els of state investments in zero-emission vehicles, this funding will help supercharge California’s nation-leading efforts to drastically cut climate-changing pollution from the transportation sector.”

The IIJA funds will add to efforts to complete a 6,600-mi. statewide charging network and deploy 1.2 million chargers by 2030 to meet the anticipated charging needs of the state's EV fleet.

“With this unprecedented federal investment, California can advance our vision of a unified network of charging stations along the state’s busiest corridors,” said Patty Monahan, California Energy Commission commissioner. “This new network will increase charging access, particularly in the rural areas of our state, and help EV drivers charge up on long trips.”

The state’s NEVI plan focuses on construction of fastcharging stations near interstates, U.S. routes and state routes throughout California. These charging stations will increase the availability of

charging options, improve the reliability of the charging network and remove barriers to accessing EVs. NEVI funding also will support upgrades to existing infrastructure, charging stations’ operation and maintenance costs, community and stakeholder engagement, workforce development and related mapping and signage.

California surpassed one million zeroemission vehicles (ZEV) sold in 2021 and leads the country in all ZEV market metrics including the highest level of public funding, the largest EV market share percentage and the most extensive public charging infrastructure. The success of the state’s programs has led to ZEVs becoming a top export and has spurred major advances in manufacturing and job creation.

For more information on the NEVI Formula program, visit https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ and DriveElectric.gov.

For more information on California’s deployment efforts under the NEVI program, visit ttps://www.energy.ca.gov

For more information on the state's progress, visit CEC’s Zero Emission Vehicle and Infrastructure Statistics dashboards at www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports

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U.S. Joint Office of Energy and Transportation’s signoff on the California Deployment Plan for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Program makes an initial $56 million in funding available to install charging stations throughout the state.

Powell Performs Job at More Than 7,000 Ft. Above Sea Level

Engineering Challenges

Powell addressed some of the engineering challenges.

“The side slopes in the region are primarily composed of decomposed granitic soil with cobble and large rock,” he said. “The project was sustainably designed as a balance project where material excavated in one location was used for fill in another area of the project. This improved the overall roadway for safety beyond the pavement and reduced trucking and disposal of material costs, a more environmentally friendly strategy.

“Before construction began altering slopes, the topsoil, including native plants and vegetation, was pushed to the side of the slopes and was stored in duff piles along the project. Upon completion of the slope improvements, the topsoil will be replaced and the vegetation in these duff piles ground up and spread on the new slopes, enhancing new plant growth.”

Due to the elevation of the project location and as a major lifeline, commercial and recreational route for the Eastern

MOUNTAINOUS from page 1 see MOUNTAINOUS page 12

Crews also are installing retaining walls, flattening soil slopes next to the highway, replacing or installing guardrails, upgrading drainage systems, installing skip rumble strips between travel lanes and shoulders and adding a bicycle right turn pocket at U.S. 395 and Lower Rock Creek Road.

In mountainous terrain at more than 7,000 ft. above sea level on the east side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, Powell Constructors has completed principal work on Caltrans’ North Sherwin Shoulders Project by widening more than 5 mi. of highway.

Officials Break Ground On New 10,000-Mi., $3.8B Project

Construction began recently in rural San Diego County on the first leg of the 10,000mi. broadband network aimed at bringing high-speed internet services to all Californians so they can access emergency information, telehealth services, education and employment.

“California is now one step closer to making the digital divide a thing of the past,” California Gov. Newsom said. “We’re starting construction today to get affordable high-speed internet in every California home because livelihoods depend on access to a reliable and fast internet connection. This is about ensuring that all Californians, no matter the zip code they call home, can be part of the Golden State’s thriving and diverse economy.”

Construction began on State Route 67 near Poway in San Diego County, where Newsom Administration officials gathered as 500 ft. of fiber optic cable was blown through conduit in the first segment of a massive, $3.8 billion statewide project known as the “Middle Mile” broadband network.

The planned network, which will be the nation’s largest, will cover the entire state to help bring reliable, high-speed internet access to the millions of Californians who do

not have it now. Once complete, funding for “last mile” efforts will support internet connections from “middle mile” lines to homes and businesses, as well as efforts to ensure individuals can afford broadband service where it already exists.

Roughly one in five Californians do not have access to reliable and affordable highspeed internet.

Secretary of the California Transportation Agency Toks Omishakin, Secretary of Government Operations Amy Tong and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa marked the occasion in Poway, at the site of a new fiber optic line that will run from Lakeside to Ramona. More than 200,000 people in the San Diego area do not have broadband service.

“Beginning construction on the middlemile network is a significant step toward broadband equity and providing all Californians the opportunity to access critical information,” said Toks Omishakin, California state transportation secretary.

“We are thrilled to see construction begin on the middle-mile network,” said Secretary Tong. “Too many rural and urban areas lack adequate broadband infrastructure, forcing residents to attempt to connect via mobile hotspots and unreliable satellite service,

which leaves out too many Californians.”

Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who was named by the Governor in August to serve as Infrastructure Advisor to the State of California, joined the event to highlight the substantial federal resources coming to the state for infrastructure investments like broadband networks.

“This broadband network is one of the most ambitious and impactful infrastructure projects in California — and we’re thrilled that construction is underway starting today,” Mayor Villaraigosa said. “With billions more in federal infrastructure dollars on the way, we’re getting ready to celebrate many more groundbreakings for innovative projects across California. This goes far beyond infrastructure, this is about building the future of our state and creating thousands of good-paying jobs along the way.”

CDT Director Liana Bailey-Crimmins said construction on the first segment of the Middle Mile network follows more than a year of planning.

“The rapid planning by the Middle Mile team as well as our local partners is coming to fruition,” said Caltrans Director Tony Tavares. “Caltrans is proud to partner with the Department of Technology to create a

broadband Middle Mile network, providing equitable, high-speed broadband service to all Californians.”

In July 2021, Gov. Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 156 sponsored by Senate President pro Tempore Toni Atkins and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon to expand the state’s broadband fiber infrastructure and increase internet connectivity for families and businesses. It includes provisions related to the $3.25 billion initially budgeted to build, operate and maintain an open access, state-owned Middle Mile network — highcapacity fiber lines that carry larger amounts of data at higher speeds over longer distances between local networks. The 2022 Budget Act included an additional $550 million General Fund to support the Middle Mile Broadband Initiative.

Broadband access in California received a boost in federal funding in 2021 with the passage of the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), both aimed at helping the nation recover from the COVID19 pandemic with wide-ranging infrastructure investments including affordable access to high-speed broadband for individuals, families and communities so they may work, learn and connect remotely.

Main Goal of Project Widens Shoulder to Uniform 10 Ft.

10

Sierra, the general contractor had to plan its work accordingly.

“During construction activities, one lane in each direction was closed completely to traffic for earthwork operations and wall construction,” said Michael Lingberg, public information officer, Caltrans District 9.

“Work operations were scheduled from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. At this elevation, work will typically go into winter suspension when ambient temperatures are not within specifications for paving. Additionally, soil disturbance is prohibited above 5,000 feet in elevation between October 15 and May 1 due to regulations of The Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board. For long-

duration suspensions, the contractor was required to open the entire roadway back to traffic and take precautions to allow Caltrans maintenance crews to remove snow during the winter while remediating stormwater issues that could arise from the winter snow. Work could only resume when temperatures returned to favorable conditions and after May 1.”

Before the winter suspension last November (November 2021 to May 2022), Powell Constructors built six walls, performed some grading of the cut slopes and paved a portion of the new northbound shoulders. After emerging from winter suspension on May 2, it constructed the remaining two walls, finished grading the cut and fill slopes, paved the remaining shoulders and installed guardrail. It still has to complete permanent erosion control, install rumble strips

and restripe the highway. Most of the drainage improvements on the North Sherwin Shoulders project happened this season, following the winter suspension.

Eight walls were constructed throughout the project area. Four of them were soldier pile walls that support the roadbed for the widened 10-ft. shoulders and four are barrier walls that hold back slopes at sensitive geological features. The soldier pile walls are supported with 16-ft. steel I-beams.

“Crews drilled shafts into the ground with a Cat 330 excavator complete with a Watson drilling attachment and then placed the beams into the shafts,” said Powell. “They were then backfilled with concrete. Pile drilling was a challenging procedure when crews encountered granite rock, cobble, boulders and water.”

The project, which spans from 2.4 mi. south of Lower Rock Creek Road to 0.3 mi. north on U.S. Highway 395 at the top of Sherwin Grade in Mono County, features the widening of 5.4 mi. of shoulders that range from 2 to 4 ft. to a consistent 10 ft. of shoulder.

MOUNTAINOUS from

Additional Shoulder Room Makes Way for Snow Storage

Other large equipment used on the project includes: a Volvo 305ECR hydraulic excavator, a Volvo 235ECR medium crawler excavator, a Cat D6 dozer, a Cat 950M loader, a Peterbuilt 4,000-gal. water truck, a Bayshore DH20 drill rig, a Geax DTC30 drill rig, a Cat 415F skip loader and a Takeuchi TL12v2 skid steer paired with FAE UML.SSL150 mulching head,

“The main challenges on this project stemmed from labor shortages,” said Powell. “Our labor force was faced with higher living expenses while in Mono County. To remedy this, we provided housing to our workers. However, even with the incentives, it was difficult to bring in additional help from outside sources due to the remote location compared to larger population centers where there is adequate work closer to where people live.

“Another challenge was logistics. Major support and material must be trucked in from larger cities such as Los Angeles, Bakersfield or Reno, all of which are three to six hours away. This distance affected the maintenance of equipment on the job. The main wear and tear issue for these machines stemmed from the dulling of the wear edges when they contacted rock.”

Powell praises the efforts of his crews and Caltrans staff.

“We could not have succeeded with this project without the efforts of our outstanding key employees who have been

with us for many years,” he said. “The Caltrans District 9 staff was a breath of fresh air. The communication amongst the team is top notch. The morale of the crews was challenging at times, which is to be expected. They are working long hours and have been away from their families. We appreciate everything they have done and are doing to complete this project.”

Peak days had many Powell Constructors and subcontractor employees on-site. Local and regional contractors were brought on board.

The tallies for the excavation and demolition operations — earth and rock, concrete, steel and asphalt are still being tabulated, as are the amounts of new materials —concrete, steel, and asphalt.

Powell Constructors purchases and rents equipment from local and regional dealerships.

Project Need

The roadway is a four-lane facility on a major route between Los Angeles and Reno, on the east side of the Sierra Nevada. Lower Rock Creek runs underneath U.S. Highway 395 near the northern end of the project. During winter storms, Caltrans maintenance crews spread cinders on the roadway to increase vehicle traction in snowy and icy conditions.

“The project’s main goal is to increase driver safety and decrease the number of traffic incidents through the area by widening the shoulders and center median throughout the project,” said Lingberg. “The widened shoulders will not only improve safety for errant vehicles, but it provides room for bicyclists. During winter storms, the wider shoulder allows additional room for snow storage after snow is removed from the roadway. Stormwater features designed to trap traction cinders used during winter storms were installed throughout the project to protect the nearby creek.”

Powell Constructors submitted a bid of approximately $13.5 million and was awarded the construction contract on Feb. 4, 2021. The company specializes in constructing bridges, roadways, retaining walls, drainage improvements and all other associated aspects of highway infrastructure.

The project was designed by Caltrans.

“This project will greatly improve safety along this section of U.S. Highway 395 in Mono County,” said District 9 Deputy District Director of Engineering and Surveys Bryan Winzenread. “Increasing the shoulder width gives errant vehicles a stable, wider surface for recovery and allows greater separation from bicyclists, making travel safer for everyone. I am proud of the hard work and dedication of everyone involved.”

(All photos courtesy of Michael Lindberg, Caltrans) .

Gov. Newsom Outlines Billion-Dollar Plan to Recycle Water

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California should invest tens of billions of dollars in water recycling, storage and desalination over the next two decades to shore up its supply as the state gets drier and hotter, Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a recently released proposal.

It comes as drought continues to grip the U.S. West and the state prepares to lose 10 percent of its water supply by 2040, according to projections by the Department of Water Resources. The Democratic governor discussed the proposal at the construction site of a plant to remove salts from river water that should be fresh, the type of project he said the state needs more of in the coming years.

His proposed water recycling targets, which would make treated waste water safe for drinking, would cost $27 billion by 2040, his proposal said. That was the biggest price tag associated with the plan, which also relies on billions in money already approved in past state budgets. The plan envisions that money coming from both state and federal sources.

In total, he wants to boost annual water supply by nearly 3 million acre ft. each year; one acre ft. can supply about two households.

His plan also calls to expand water storage, in aboveground reservoirs and underground aquifers, by about 4 million acre ft. — nearly enough water to fill Shasta Lake, the state’s largest reservoir. New storage infrastructure would help the state capture more water during times of heavy rain, like the two large storms California saw last October and December.

The proposal comes amid the third year of a drought, the

state’s second in the past decade. Most of the state’s major reservoirs are far below normal levels after the state saw its driest January through March in at least a century. That’s typically when most of the state’s rain and snow falls.

Meanwhile the Colorado River, a key source of water for Southern California, has reached critically low levels. The Newsom administration hopes to reduce dependence on the river and other water exports.

“We’re focused on creating more water,” he said.

Interest in water recycling is expanding across the West as states and cities see their water supplies threatened by extended droughts. About two dozen communities, including those in Nevada and Colorado, rely on some recycled water for drinking, but that number is expected to grow.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which provides water for nearly half the state’s residents, is building a massive water recycling project. Congress included $1 billion for water reuse projects in the West in the infrastructure bill passed last year.

The plan doesn’t have any revolutionary ideas for water management, but includes key details about how the state can “move faster on some of the good ideas,” said Ellen Hanak, vice president and director of the Water Policy Center at the Public Policy Institute of California.

“For water recycling, its important to not just have the technology but to ensure there is a place to put the water after its treated or appropriate regulations to make sure it can safely be put directly back into the water supply,” she said. Newsom’s plan calls on the State Water Resources Control Board to create regulations for that direct reuse by the end of

next year.

The new proposal doesn’t call for any immediate, mandatory cuts to water use in cities or on farms. Instead, he wants the water board to develop efficiency targets for every district, but they would only take effect next spring if there’s another dry winter. He’s also proposing spending $1 billion to get rid of 500,000 sq. ft. of turf.

He previously directed the state’s more than 400 local water districts to implement their own plans to reduce water use and has set a few statewide policies, like a ban on watering decorative grass. He has not set a statewide water reduction mandate.

Newsom also said he wants the Legislature to consider a law that would let the state curtail people’s water rights even when its not a drought. The state operates an archaic system of water rights to govern how much water cities, farms and others are entitled to take and from where. An effort is underway to digitize records that spell out those terms, some more than a century old.

Desalination would make up only approximately 3 percent of the added water supply Newsom is calling for, most of it coming from brackish water, which isn’t as salty as water that comes from the ocean.

His plan doesn’t spell out how much water would come from removing salt from ocean water, a more controversial practice, but he’s calling on various state agencies to create a process for citing such projects by 2023.

“As California becomes hotter and drier, we must become more resourceful with the strategic opportunity that 840 miles of ocean coastline offer to build water resilience,” the plan said.

Amplify Energy to Repair Pipe From Massive Oil Spill

LOS ANGELES (AP) A Texas oil company was granted permission to repair an underwater pipeline that ruptured off the coast of Southern California a year ago, spilled tens of thousands of gallons of crude and forced beaches and fisheries to close.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers granted the approval to Amplify Energy Corp., clearing the way to rebuild the aging pipeline that burst months after it was apparently weakened when it was snagged by the anchors of ships adrift in a storm.

The Oct. 1, 2021, rupture spilled approximately 25,000 gal. of oil into the Pacific Ocean, closed miles of beaches for a week, shuttered fisheries for months and coated birds and wetlands in oil.

Crews from the Houston-based company will rebuild the pipe running from an oil rig off Huntington Beach to tanks in Long Beach.

Amplify said the approval will allow it to remove and replace the damaged segments of pipe from the ocean floor.

It estimated the work would take up to a month after a barge is in place. If it passes a series of safety tests after being fixed, the company said it expected to begin operating in the first quarter of 2023.

Environmentalists who want the pipeline

shut down criticized the permit approval and renewed calls to put an end to offshore oil operations.

“The Biden administration just ramped up the risk of yet another ugly oil spill on California’s beautiful coast,” said Brady Bradshaw of the Center for Biological Diversity.

“Unfortunately, people living near offshore drilling infrastructure are all too famil-

iar with this abusive cycle of drill, spill, repeat.”

The environmental group sued the federal government for allowing the platform where the pipeline originated to operate under outdated plans that indicated the platform should have been decommissioned more than a decade ago. The lawsuit also said the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

failed to review and require plan revisions, despite the spill.

Amplify contended that the spill wouldn’t have occurred if two ships hadn’t dragged their anchors across the pipeline and damaged it during a January 2021 storm. It said it wasn’t notified about the anchor snagging until after the spill. While the size of the spill was not as bad as initially feared, U.S. prosecutors said the company should have been able to turn off the damaged line much sooner had it recognized the gravity of a series of leakdetection alarms over a 13-hour period.

The first alarm sounded late on the afternoon of Oct. 1, 2021, but workers misinterpreted the cause, according to the federal plea agreement.

When the alarm sounded throughout the night, workers shut down the pipeline to investigate and then restarted it after deciding they were false alarms. That spewed more oil.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers granted the approval to Amplify Energy Corp., clearing the way to rebuild the aging pipeline that burst months after it was apparently weakened when it was snagged by the anchors of ships adrift in a storm.

It wasn’t until after daybreak that a boat identified the spill and the line was shut down.

Center for Biological Diversity photo