THIS SITE HISTORICAL:
In 2008 through 2010, an "Independent mom & pop" oil company violated the "Alaskan Public Trust" doctrine, allowing malfeasance and environmental atrocities upon the "Last Frontier". This "blog" is dedicated to follow the outcome of the illegal activities that have now become front and center attention before the regulators in charge of making sure the "Public Trust" is upheld, as a centralized forum to make sure Alaskans and others are kept abreast of penalties and fines upon those that feel Alaska is the "Last Frontier Dumping Grounds".

The above image depicts a crude oil well flow-back test, wherein for days hydrocarbon saturated "wet" natural gas was allowed to vent to the atmosphere out a safety relief valve, with temperatures and ambient conditions such that the "wet" vapors most likely condensed and fell upon the pristine waters of Harrison Bay of the Colville River delta, a place so far removed from man-made pollution. This image is also the cover photo of the report called "Alaska's Deadliest Sin", a culmination of malfeasance and environmental corruption evidence upon this Independent, collected by an ex-employee who has made it a personal "mission" to make sure this kind of irresponsible behavior is stopped and never again repeated on this "Frontier". To date, the company – Pioneer Natural Resources - has attempted to deny all allegations, but the evidence allowing denial is too strong. With that, the company has started to admit true so serious these violations. They have admitted their actions are indeed a violation of "Public Trust". With a 3rd party ongoing investigation following the submittal of the "Sin", the end result should be stiff fines and penalties upon the perpetrators, that which sends a message to those that want to "Go North" for oil exploration and exploitation.

"Drill Baby Drill" is upon us, thanks to Sarah Palin and others, and we must stand up against this all out blitzkrieg assault upon the ecosystem, to protect the environment from continued malfeasance and environmental atrocities, as it is not worth another Love Canal!
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Saturday, August 21, 2010

Good Faith Action Lullaby?

The independent investigation sanctioned by and through the Alaska Oil & Gas Conservation Committee targeting Pioneer Natural Resources’ Oooguruk oil development project is wrapping up. The evidence is overwhelming, that Class I - possibly hazardous at that - waste was shipped to the Trans-Alaska-Pipeline, along with miss-injections at this “Independent’s” man-made oil production island wherein thousands of gallons of “used glycol” was released into the environment and wherein “wet” hydrocarbon rich natural gas was allowed to also pollute the once pristine environment of Harrison Bay, of the Colville River delta that drains into the Beaufort Sea. And the dead birds found at the site, was the cause of death mishandling, because business comes first, or was it from environmental contamination, because business comes first? Regardless, this place is a mess when it comes to environmental stewardship. Even the state of Alaska’s attorney general called this investigation “unprecedented and serious”. So “persons of interest” were requested to be questioned by the investigative team, but here is where it gets really interesting ugly. Those on the request list were provided “legal guidance” by an attorney that said he was working independently, but at the same time was retained by guess who? Pioneer! The oil company under indictment! In fact, it is the same attorney that authored the 1st report submitted by Pioneer to the regulators, including the EPA, which basically complained about wasting over 1000 man-hours finding nothing upon the allegations of a former employee, nothing was substantiated upon the concerns with regards to Pioneer’s Oooguruk operation with respect to environmental concerns. But when the former employee provided evidence to the contrary, it was then the company shifted into damage control mode. The only way the company investigators found nothing the first go-around was by (1) workers like lying, or (2) they were told to lie! It is that simple. So the company was forced to amend the 1st report, which is not a good thing when one is dealing with the EPA! So in the 2nd report, which started to unveil the admittance of environmental atrocities, it was this same attorney who now blames everything evidenced upon on the operators , the hourly wage earners – which meant the damage control blame game was in full effect! These are the same individuals that he is now providing legal advice and advise, during the independent investigation. Something wrong with this picture? Yes, but what can we expect when the law firm this legal advisor is affiliated with is the same outlaw outfit that Enron retained, when Ken Lay was telling everybody everything is OK, when at the same time things were falling apart at the seams. Bottom line, the attorney most likely used the scare tactic upon the workers, that they needed his presence in front of the private investigators, so he could find out what those interviewed were saying, so he could further provide a lullaby for the corporation, that it wasn’t upper management who called the shots to pollute the environment by maintaining a total disregard for the rules and regulations that are designed as a deterrent, but in efforts to collect more information to tag the operators, the in-experienced operators, as the source of the illegal activates. Look out, as the bozo bus is heading that way! Yes indeed, the blame game “who is the scapegoat “ is in full production, because as soon as the investigator’s report hits the regulators desks, the oversight police will have to throw the book at Pioneer. In the 2nd report, this attorney uses conditioning tactics like, “The injection of glycol was, we believe, the result of honest, albeit avoidable, mistakes”. Wrong, as when the on-site supervisor said do it, those that wanted to stay employed did it without an iota of concern, based on fear of finding out what the un-employment line was all about! And mention is made that the “Operations personnel believed the glycol must not be hazardous”. Now according to the “Operations Supervisor at the time, test proved negative; however, no documentation of the test results has been located”. If indeed the glycol was tested, it could only be accomplished by a “certified lab”, over at Kuparuk. And the paper trail doesn’t evaporate. So here again we see lying, in efforts at trying to pull the wool. But the attorney forgot the icing on the cake with this one, “The fatal flaw was failing to start by consulting the AOGCC”. Admittance of a “fatal flaw”, somebody is in trouble my environmental friends! And attorney Lullaby goes on, “As described, the analysis performed was flawed and the conclusion reached was in error; however, no one intended to willfully or knowingly violate applicable regulatory requirements. Pioneer has taken this matter seriously from the start”. From the “START”? The company denied it in the 1st report to the regulators, “Pioneer’s investigation has located no evidence of slipstreaming used glycol into the seawater injection stream or of an incentive to do so.” Talk about a full court press denial! But now, the lullaby speaks differently, that some 49000 gallons of used glycol was discharged, but it was an honest mistake? And get this for an ending, “Pioneer appreciates that very regulatory infraction is a form of injury to the public, we respectfully believe that the injury was slight”. So Pioneer is bracing, that there was indeed a violation upon the “public trust doctrine”, an injury that should find Pioneer digging deep into its profit pocket, to pay for a management mindset even BP wouldn’t put up with, just ask the Operations Supervisor!