Alaska Pols Push Bills for Pipeline Accountability
Both the Alaska state house and senate have introduced bills that would hold companies financially responsible for any oil and gas facility maintenance related to neglect. A spokesman for BP PLC, Anchorage, says the company, which operates the Prudhoe Bay transit pipeline system, is reviewing the implications of the bills. The legislation and the replacement work come on the heels of a massive shutdown of BP's Alaska oil fields last August over concerns about corroded transit lines.
BP spokesman Steve Rinehart says the cost for replacing much of its North Slope pipeline network is being refined as project engineering and procurement proceed. "If we were estimating $150 million-$200 million last year, the price is not going down. How far up it goes is evolving," he says. Rinehart declines to give a new estimate for the work.