Pipeline Safety Stakeholder Communications

PHMSA conducted an investigation into Plains Pipeline, L.P, for a spill of heavy crude-oil in Santa Barbara County, California on May 19, 2015 where a portion of the oil reached the Pacific Ocean and coastal areas such as Refugio State Beach. As a result of the Refugio Incident, PHMSA issued a Corrective Action order on May 21, 2015. PHMSA's investigation issued a Failure Investigation Report on May 19, 2016 and included findings of the "proximate or direct" causes and the "contributing" causes of the Refugio Incident. PHMSA, EPA, DOI, NOAA and the State of California referred the matter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for judicial enforcement. In March 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice filed suit against Plains Pipeline, L.P alleging violations of the Clean Water Act, the Oil Pollution Act, and the federal Pipeline Safety Laws seeking civil penalties and injunctive relief. In March 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California approved a consent decree among the parties in which Plains agreed to pay a combined $24 million civil penalty. The government allocated $14.5 million of the penalty for pipeline safety matters.

The Response Options for Pipeline Operators in Compliance Proceedings provides a more detailed description of an operator's options in responding to enforcement cases. This document accompanies all NOPV and NOA letters. The document linked here is the current version. The corresponding document at the time the case was opened may differ from the current version.

The set of documents provided here may be incomplete.

Name	Size	Notes
520155011H_Amended Corrective Action Order_06032015.pdf	407 KB	scanned version
520155011H_Amended Corrective Action Order_06032015_text.pdf	38 KB	accessible version
520155011H_Amendment No. 2 Corrective Action Order_11122015.pdf	366 KB	scanned version
520155011H_Amendment No. 2 Corrective Action Order_11122015_text.pdf	48 KB	accessible version
520155011H_Amendment No. 3 to the Corrective Action Order_061620116.pdf	(Note: Large File) 9,102 KB	scanned version
520155011H_Amendment No. 3 to the Corrective Action Order_061620116_text.pdf	181 KB	accessible version
520155011H_Closure Letter_10292020.pdf	259 KB	scanned version
520155011H_Closure Letter_10292020_text.pdf	95 KB	accessible version
520155011H_Corrective Action Order_05212015.pdf	(Note: Large File) 7,316 KB	scanned version
520155011H_Corrective Action Order_05212015_text.pdf	45 KB	accessible version
520155011H_Plains_All_American_Pipeline_Complaint_ECF_03132020.PDF	1,263 KB
520155011H_Plains_All_American_Pipeline_Consent_Decree_03132020.PDF	(Note: Large File) 9,431 KB

NOTE: Most documents provided on these pages are in PDF format. To read them, you may need to download a free viewer.