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BP fined $10,000 for polar bear death Security officer inadvertently shot animal with live round in effort to scare it away from Endicott oil field; feds allege negligence Wesley Loy For Petroleum News
Federal officials have fined BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. $10,000 for the death of a polar bear.
The bear died in August 2011 after a security officer inadvertently shot it with an exploding “cracker shell,” rather than what he believed was a beanbag shell in his shotgun.
The shooting happened at BP’s Endicott oil field on Alaska’s North Slope.
The officer was working for BP contractor Purcell Security, part of Anchorage-based NMS Security.
In a “notice of violation” given to BP on June 6, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service alleged a violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act for the death of the bear. The agency proposed a $10,000 civil penalty, the maximum allowable for a violation under the act.
Polar bears are listed as depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
‘Saddened us all’ “The death of the polar bear at our North Slope operations in August 2011 was the unintended result of actions taken to protect people from harm. It was truly unfortunate and saddened us all,” BP said in a written statement provided to Petroleum News.
The company added: “BP supported the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigation into the incident, and conducted its own investigation. This has resulted in strengthened procedures at our operations.”
BP Alaska spokeswoman Dawn Patience said the company agreed to pay the $10,000 penalty.
Ron Otte, NMS Security vice president of operations, said it was really unfair the notice of violation went to BP.
“The incident was totally, 100 percent the result of a mistake by one of our employees,” Otte said.
“I’m still literally sick to my stomach over losing a polar bear up there,” he said.
Ammo mix-up The notice of violation said that on Aug. 3, 2011, BP “did negligently take, with lethal effect, an adult female polar bear” in violation of the law.
The incident occurred after the bear was reported to be walking along the beach of the causeway connecting the Endicott offshore oil field to the mainland.
The responding Purcell security officer found the bear about 1.5 miles from the Endicott facility, headed toward the Liberty drilling site.
“The security officer commenced an escalating sequence of deterrence actions, such as activating his vehicle’s lights and siren, in an attempt to haze the bear and steer it away from the area,” the notice said.
Such hazing is allowed under a Fish and Wildlife Service letter of authorization.
Ultimately, the officer decided to shoot the bear with a beanbag round.
“If done properly, this would have been an authorized non-lethal means of hazing the bear,” the notice said. “However, in lieu of using a beanbag shell, the officer inadvertently shot the bear with an exploding cracker shell, which caused it to suffer internal injuries and infection, ultimately resulting in the bear’s death. A subsequent necropsy showed that the bear had suffered a ‘severe penetrating injury to the right caudo-lateral thorax.’ Those conducting the necropsy also found a fragment of the cracker shell inside the bear.”
A cracker is a fused, exploding round meant to be fired ahead of an animal, not directly at it.
The Fish and Wildlife Service alleged that the incident “demonstrates negligence” in that BP “failed to establish or implement proper protocols for marking, storing, identifying, and handling ammunition used by North Slope personnel during hazing activities. The security officer’s improper hazing due to his misidentification of the type of ammunition being used was a natural and foreseeable consequence of this failure.”
Discontinued practice Polar bears are a constant threat to workers in the North Slope oil fields.
A BP spokesman said in August 2011 that mild hazing usually turns the bears around. But in this case, the bear kept coming.
After it was shot, the bear ran off but was seen hanging around the Endicott causeway for some days thereafter, the spokesman said. Nearly two weeks later, it was determined the bear had died.
Otte said his company now has a new policy: “We simply do not haze bears at all with shotgun cracker or beanbag rounds, period.”
The employee who shot the bear was placed on administrative leave with pay during the investigation, and he no longer works as a security officer on the North Slope, Otte said.
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