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Officials investigate possible unreported spills involving tankers ConocoPhillips tankers reportedly had three incidents not reported to company or Coast Guard as required The Associated Press
Authorities are investigating possible unreported fuel spills and other violations involving three ConocoPhillips oil tankers.
The U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation are participating in the investigation. But none would discuss specifics.
“Because it’s an ongoing investigation, our policy is not to divulge any details,” said Cmdr. Mark Swanson, the Coast Guard’s port captain in Valdez, where tankers regularly pick up North Slope crude oil bound for Outside refineries.
But the head of an oil industry watchdog group in Valdez said he got details in mid-August directly from Bob Lindsay, president of Polar Tankers, Conoco’s Long Beach, Calif.-based shipping subsidiary. Actions by federal authorities include two criminal investigations, said John Devens, executive director of the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council.
One investigation involves an at-sea spill of oily water off the deck of the tanker Polar Discovery on Jan. 16, according to Devens. The incident was not reported either to the Coast Guard or internally within Conoco as required, he said. The other probe involves an alleged intentional bypass of the oily water separator on the tanker Polar Alaska, Devens said. Such separators are designed to cleanse bilge or ballast water before being dumped overboard. Incidents not reported to company Devens said he was told that Conoco, as a company, later reported the incidents to authorities once it learned of them, but some employees, including tanker captains and a junior engineer, might be in trouble, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
In a memo to his group’s board of directors, Devens noted a March 16 spill of bunker fuel onto the deck of the tanker Polar Endeavour that was not reported as required.
Corporate spokesmen for Houston-based Conoco also declined to discuss specifics. But they issued a written statement that said in part:
“ConocoPhillips management voluntarily reported these events to the authorities, and the company has been and will continue to cooperate fully with the appropriate authorities. The company also investigated or is in the process of investigating all of these events.”
Conoco is Alaska’s top crude oil producer. Its five Alaska tankers, including the new double-hulled vessels Polar Endeavour and Polar Discovery, carry most of the oil to West Coast refineries.
Earlier in August, federal officials said ConocoPhillips would pay $485,000 in penalties for violations of the Clean Water Act at its Tyonek natural gas platform in upper Cook Inlet.
The Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency said the violations — much of it the dumping of raw sewage — occurred for five years between 1999 and this year.
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