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Huntington Beach officials announced that the city would receive a $5.25-million settlement for a 2021 spill that dumped thousands of gallons of oil into the ocean. However, not everyone on the city council believes they got a good deal.
The spill came from a pipeline owned by Houston-based Amplify Energy Corp. Over the course of three days, 25,000 gallons of oil leaked from a pipeline eight miles offshore. The resulting slick spanned nearly six nautical miles and reached as far south as San Diego. As a result, beaches were closed, wetlands were damaged and birds and fish were killed.
The settlement agreement was finalized Thursday and signed by City Attorney Michael Gates, Huntington Beach interim City Manager Eric Parra and Amplify President and Chief Executive Martyn Willsher. Gates said the money from the settlement will go to the city’s general fund and would not be shared with others who sued the energy company, as the Los Angeles Times reports. This clarification was in regards to a controversial settlement the city reached with the Pacific Airshow, in which they agreed to pay up to $5 million in recompense for canceling the final day of the event, due to the spill.
“We want to thank Amplify for working with the city to properly resolve this dispute,” said Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark in a news conference held at City Hall on Monday to announce the settlement. “It is great news for the city that we can now move forward and put these conflicts to rest.”
However, not everyone was happy with the result. Councilmembers Rhonda Bolton, Dan Kalmick and Natalie Moser all voted against the settlement. According to the OC Register, Kalmick said the city will likely end up paying more to pacific Airshow than what it got from the Amplify settlement. “So, the city taxpayers get nothing from this deal,” he said.
After the announcement, Kalmick, Moser and Bolton stepped up to make further comments, but found the microphone shut off before they could make their case. When councilmembers from the conservative majority returned to the lectern, the microphone was turned back on and they wrapped up the conference. When asked about the microphone, city public affairs manager Jennifer Carey said that the microphone was shut off because the conference was over when the mayor stepped away from the lectern. However, when asked about why the microphone came back on again for the conservative faction, she had no comment.
