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!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday, August 9, 2010

Stiff Fines for Alaska's 1st Independent

Pioneer Natural Resources - the 1st Independent oil company to brave the North Slope in competition with “Big Oil” - is today facing the possibility of stiff fines and penalties in the millions. This is in comparison to what British Petroleum was faced with back in the 90s when one of its contractors went involved in illegal disposal of oil field waste byproducts. In that action at law, BP was slapped a felony conviction(for after the fact reporting), $500,000 in fines, 5 years of organizational probation and required to ear-mark $15-million for implementing a company wide “Environmental Management System”. Today, PNR is facing not only fines and penalties for miss-injection, along with un-reported gas venting and hazardous waste “sham recycling”, but also fines and penalties for not reporting injuries to wildlife on their project property proper. PNR operates the Oooguruk development project, a man-made island that sits in the once pristine waters of Harrison Bay, of the Colville River delta watershed. Due inexperience in the arctic, the design fell short of what was required in efforts to perform according to regulations mandated by “Public Policy” doctrines supposedly kept in check by the AOGCC, DNR, ADEC and the EPA. In the original response to the complaint of mismanaged injection and waste disposal, PNR’s attorneys denied “all allegations” and made it clear and convincing that they were upset that “1000 man hours had been wasted investigating to find nothing”. So they blew the “last clear chance” to admit that the operation had problems. When BP was made aware of the illegal waste problem at its facility, it was reported, not denied. Now PNR has amended its original report of “nothing substantiated” to the state and Federal regulators , as evidence didn’t let them slide so easily by the oversight police. So based on state statutes and EPA guidelines, PNR faces fines and penalties in the millions, along with the possibility of Class A misdemeanors and possibly felony convictions. In the BP Endicott crime scene, a contractor was awarded jail time! And there is a realistic difference between the BP and PNR case, as in the BP case, the contractors said they knew not the waste disposal laws. For PNR, the operators were instructed to perform illegally by the senior management! So this is the litmus test, as when BP found that a contractor was involved in criminal activities and fined accordingly, it was supposed to be the deterrent that would make sure companies involved in future oil field work on the “slope” performed by the book. It didn’t work, as we see similar malfeasance going on today. So look to see PNR facing fines and penalties that this time gets the point across. But there could be a catch-22 herein. PNR was given royalty and tax incentives to develop this marginal field, as an incentive to lure in more “mom & pop” types. Stiff fines could back-fire, but it goes with the territory as it is a privilege to explore to exploit the resources on the “slope”, and if you play against the odds, then you must pay! In this case, the state and Fed.’s must throw the book, hard and fast at Pioneer and if other “mom & pops” see that the oversight is too tough and that sentiment compromises their future interest in Alaska, then they can stay away and wreck havoc in their own backyards.