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BP pays state $675,000
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation said Nov. 15 that BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. has agreed to pay the state $675,000 for civil assessments and reimbursement of unpaid state response and investigation costs associated with a North Slope pipeline spill.
DEC said the state assessed civil penalties based upon the release of crude oil and methanol and alleged errors in the spill response. The agency said BP and the state have been negotiating this settlement since April 2001. The state alleged that the spill might have been as large as 60,000 gallons, a volume that requires an automatic penalty, while BP estimated the spill to be closer to 10,000 gallons.
State officials have been complimentary of the efforts BP has made since the spill to prevent a recurrence. “I think they learned a lot from this event,” said Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Michele Brown. “Fortunately, environmental harm was minimal.”
Ice plug caused rupture DEC said that between December 2000 and mid-February 2001 a rupture in Flowline 86-D, a crude oil gathering line operated by BP, led to spillage of crude oil. The initial rupture resulted from an unintended valve closure leading to the formation of an ice plug in the line. Spilled oil and methanol were discovered Feb. 20, 2001, during efforts to thaw the ice plug blocking the flow line. A mixture of crude oil and methanol, which was being used to thaw the ice plug, leaked from the crack in the line caused by expansion of the ice plug. For most of the period of time between the rupture and the time thawing efforts began, the ice plug sealed the crack.
The state said BP will pay $375,000 within 10 business days of the signed agreement and may discharge the remaining $300,000 of the settlement by performing a supplemental environmental project to mitigate pollution from petroleum products in Alaska, such as by expediting the use of ultra low sulfur fuel in school buses.
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