EPA, BP settle hazardous waste violations

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Dec. 16 that it has settled with BP Exploration Alaska over violations of the company’s hazardous waste permit for activities on Alaska’s North Slope.

“The EPA alleges, in part, that the company failed to maintain adequate insurance for bodily injury and/or property damage to third parties that might occur as a result of the company’s storage and handling of hazardous waste on Alaska’s North Slope,” the agency said in a statement.

BP agreed to pay a penalty of $125,100, EPA said.

EPA said the company is allowed to store hazardous waste under its EPA-issued hazardous waste permit, which also requires the company to maintain a dedicated pool of funds from which third parties could receive compensation for losses related to the storage or handling of BP’s hazardous wastes, with the funds required to be kept separate from coverage for legal defense and cleanup costs.

A consent agreement signed by the parties Oct. 28 says that starting in 2014, BP’s liability coverage “failed to establish adequate financial responsibility exclusive of legal defense costs for bodily injury and property damage to third parties caused by sudden accidental occurrences arising from operations of the Prudhoe Bay facility as required” by the company’s permit and federal statute.

The agreement also says that in an inspection EPA found several items not properly labeled “Hazardous Waste” at various facilities.

Terms of settlement in the consent agreement say while BP “neither admits nor denies the specific factual allegations and legal conclusions” in the agreement, the company “wishes to resolve all claims and disputes arising from these factual allegations.”

The company agreed to pay the assessed penalty of $125,010 within 30 days of the effective date of the final order, which was dated Nov. 5. The consent agreement says BP certified that as of the date of the agreement, Oct. 28, all the alleged violations had been corrected.

BP Exploration spokeswoman Megan Baldino told Petroleum News in a Dec. 17 email that: “BP worked closely with EPA to resolve its concerns with the insurance it had obtained for this facility and is in compliance with the order.”

- KRISTEN NELSON