BP Alaska to Pay $25M to Feds In Pipeline Spill Settlement

In a settlement with federal agencies, BP Exploration Alaska Inc. has agreed to pay a $25-million civil penalty for two crude-oil spills in 2006 from its pipelines on Alaska's North Slope, the U.S. Justice Dept. says.

The settlement was spelled out in a consent decree filed on May 3 in federal district court in Alaska.

Under the settlement, BP Alaska also will put in place a pipeline-integrity program, including regular inspections. The estimated cost of the program is $60 million.

BP said in a statement that it "did not admit any liability nor was there any per-barrel penalty assessed in the agreement."

According to the Justice Dept., Federal investigators found that two 2006 oil pipeline spills, totaling 5,078 barrels, stemmed from BP Alaska's failure to inspect and maintain the pipeline well enough to prevent corrosion.

The company pleaded guilty in 2007 to a misdemeanor violation of the Clean Water Act and was directed to pay a $20-million criminal penalty.

BP has spent $200 million to replace the pipelines from which the oil spilled.

The consent decree is subject to a public comment period and to approval by the U.S. District Court in Alaska.

Tom Ichniowski has been writing about the federal government as ENR’s Washington Bureau Chief since the George H.W. Bush administration, and he has covered at least five major highway bills. A recognized expert on government policy on infrastructure and regulation, Tom is also a Baltimore native and Orioles fan who grew up rooting for Brooks and Frank Robinson. He is a graduate of Columbia College and Columbia’s graduate school of journalism, where he once used “unrelentless” in a headline.

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