GATX Ordered to Upgrade Oil Pipelines

Chicago-based GATX Corp., which operates a network of oil pipelines in the Los Angeles harbor area, was ordered to spend $750,000 to upgrade its system as part of a court settlement of felony and misdemeanor charges stemming from an oil leak last year in Wilmington. Compton Superior Court Judge Rose Hom also ordered the company to pay $90,000 in punitive damages resulting from a pin-hole-size leak in a pipeline that trickled hundreds of gallons of oil into Compton Creek late last summer. GATX executives couldn’t be reached for comment. GATX originally had been charged with one felony count and 17 misdemeanor counts, and as part of an agreement with the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of illegally polluting state waters. In exchange, the remaining counts were dropped. Among the improvements the company must undertake is installation of leak detection devices on six major pipelines in Wilmington.