Posts Tagged ‘ BP Oil Spill ’

Psst…Remember that 2006 BP Spill in Alaska?

May 24th, 2010. By AbiK

While all eyes are on the BP disaster in the Gulf, it’s easy to forget about a bit of unresolved BP business up in Alaska: the 2006 Prudhoe Bay pipeline spills. Well, while the rest of us may have back-burner’d it, rest assured, the US Department of Justice and folks up in Alaska have not.

According to a report in the Anchorage Daily News, “lawyers for BP and federal regulators appear to be working hard to settle a civil lawsuit the government brought against the oil company in connection with the 2006 pipeline spills”. Spills to the tune of 212,252 gallons of oil in March, 2006, and a second spill that required a partial shutdown of Prudhoe Bay.

Lawsuit?

Yes. Lawsuit. No, you didn’t hear about it back in 2006—that’s because it was filed in March 2009 by the US Dept. of Justice on behalf of the EPA and federal pipeline regulators. The civil suit alleged water and air pollution violations and a failure to meet deadlines stemming from a corrective action order from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. The suit is seeking millions in fines.

And, there’s another civil suit against BP that was filed by the state of Alaska. That one seeks at least $1 billion in back taxes and “other collections”.

If you’re wondering why these are civil suits and not criminal suits, that’s because back in 2007 the Alaskan BP subsidiary had been sentenced to three years’ probation and ordered to pay $20 million after pleading guilty to a federal environmental misdemeanor. That plea basically ended any criminal prosecution of BP.

Now, if you’ll recall, we also recently posted about the would-be environmental award BP was to receive—until, of course, the Gulf disaster. The Prudhoe Bay spills though beg the question of how—how?!?—could BP be up for an award when it was less than five years ago that disaster struck in Alaska? And the award was sponsored by the federal Minerals Management Service—what, do they all have exceedingly short-term memory over there?

Needless to say, with regard to Alaska’s $1 billion lawsuit, BP’s lawyers have asked Superior Court Judge Peter Michalski to dismiss much of the charges. Hmm.

Tags: Alaska, BP Oil Spill, Prudhoe Bay
Posted in Environment | No Comments »

Picture Says All – BP Oil Spill Birdseye View: It’s Bad

May 13th, 2010. By AbiK

If you haven’t seen this amateur footage that’s been making the rounds on youtube.com—and I first saw it over at Neal Stewart’s Posterous page—take a look. It’s a reality check on just how bad the BP Oil Spill situation is.

Tags: BP Oil Spill, Deepwater Horizon
Posted in Environment | 1 Comment »

Mmmaybe not…BP up for Safety Award, Ceremony Quietly Postponed

May 7th, 2010. By Hunter West

If it wasn’t so tragic—with loss of life and the almost certain environmental threat—the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon would have taken on a completely unexpected spin with an irony so delicious you could taste it.

Instead, it’s just sad.

That’s because BP, the multinational oil company that had leased the Deepwater Horizon and is now scrambling to stem the flow of millions of gallons of crude oil beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, was a favorite to win an environmental award last Monday that celebrated the safety and efficiency of the offshore drilling industry.

Needless to say, in the wake of the ongoing crisis, that ceremony was quietly postponed.

Somebody is thinking at the federal Minerals Management Service, the sponsor of the awards. Whomever handles their public relations over there deserves a raise in pay and a pat on the back, as going through with the ceremony in light of what has happened would be a gaffe of major proportions capable of reverberating around the world.

Can you imagine? Everybody from Jon Stewart to Jay Leno would be all over it. If people are already saddened and angered over the accident and the environmental impact, such an ill-advised decision to forge ahead with a self-serving glad-fest would leave the rest of us seeing red as we watch the Gulf of Mexico turn brown, as Mother Earth bleeds green.

Make no mistake, in any other scenario and at any other time the annual Industry SAFE Awards would be—and is—an important incentive for an industry that plays with fire as far as the Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: BP Oil Spill, Deepwater Horizon, Environmental Damage, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Drilling, Oil Spill
Posted in Accidents, Emerging Issues, Environment | 4 Comments »