Pipeline leak shuts down fuel delivery from LA to Vegas
A leak in a fuel pipeline facility in California forced a shutdown of deliveries of gasoline and diesel from the Los Angeles area east to areas including Las Vegas and Phoenix, but officials said Friday they believed supplies would not immediately be affected.
Pipeline operator Kinder Morgan told The Associated Press the leak was discovered Thursday afternoon at a company station near Los Angeles and that its CALNEV and SFPP West pipelines were shut down while the Houston-based pipeline operator worked to resolve the issue.
“There are no injuries or fire reported as a result of this incident,” said a company statement, provided by Katherine Hill, communications manager for the publicly traded company. It did not say how much fuel leaked or when service would be restored.
Hill did not immediately respond to email and telephone messages seeking more information.
“The appropriate regulatory agencies have been notified, and an investigation into the cause and quantity of the release will be conducted,” the statement said.
In Las Vegas, officials were “monitoring the situation, believe we have adequate supply, and do not anticipate an immediate impact on gas availability,” according to a statement from Clark County spokesperson Erik Pappa.
The county said the pipeline provides fuel storage facilities in Southern Nevada with unleaded and diesel fuel. Another pipeline operated by UNEV Pipeline LLC serves the Las Vegas area from northern Utah.
The Kinder Morgan website says its 566-mile CALNEV pipeline transports gasoline, diesel and jet fuel from Los Angeles refineries and marine terminals through parallel 14inch and 8-inch diameter pipelines to Barstow, Calif., and the Las Vegas area.
Hill said later that only the larger, 14-inch pipeline to Las Vegas had been shut down.
Airports it serves include Nellis Air Force Base and Harry Reid International in Las Vegas and Edwards Air Force Base in California’s Mojave Desert, the company said.
The rupture occurred on the same day that attorneys announced that companies accused of damaging another pipeline that then ruptured months later, sending crude oil gushing into the waters off Orange County, Calif., have agreed to pay $45 million to settle lawsuits.
If approved by a judge, the settlement would end the legal wrangling by those whose livelihoods were affected after 25,000 gallons of crude oil gushed into the waters off Orange County in October 2021.
Capetanissa Maritime Corp., Dordellas Finance Corp. and their subsidiaries are accused of allowing their ships to drag anchors across the sea floor during a storm in January 2021, about nine months before the oil spill.