Plains All American Pipeline reported Total CO2e emissions (Direct + Indirect) for the twelve months ending 31 December 2020 at 1,929 Kt (-290 /-13.1% y-o-y).

[23] In 2010, the company agreed to pay a $3.25 million civil penalty for violating the Clean Water Act and to spend $41 million to upgrade more than 10,000 miles of crude oil pipelines after the United States Environmental Protection Agency pressed charges regarding 10 pipeline spills in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Kansas between June 2004 and September 2007 that spilled over 273,000 gallons of crude oil, some of which ended up in rivers, lakes, and oceans.

The spill shut down the popular El Capitán State Beach and Campground during Memorial Day weekend, just prior to the beginning of the summer high season.

[36] Santa Barbara County firefighters were among the first to discover the spill, before being notified by the company, and they "built a rim of rocks to prevent oil from running to the shoreline.

The struggle to stop the pipeline gained widespread attention, with environmental and social justice advocates like Jane Fonda and Danny Glover lending their support.

[44] Former Vice-President Al Gore called the pipeline a “reckless, racist rip-off,”[45] and U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen asked President Joe Biden to consider revoking the project's federal permit.

[47] Community leader Justin J. Pearson called the pipeline’s cancellation an “extraordinary testament to what Memphis and Shelby County can do when citizens build power toward justice.”[48]