BP Consent Decree

This is my response to the U.S. Department of Justice with respect to the “Consent Decree” wherein BP is to pay a $25-million dollar fine for an oil spill on the North Slope of Alaska in 2006:

In reference to “United States v. BP Exploration(Alaska) Inc.”, please enter the following “comment” as allowed under section 102 of the Consent Decree, “Public Participation” and entered in accordance with 28 CFR 50.7:

Relief Requested: The fines and penalties assessed upon British Petroleum Exploration(Alaska) Inc., by and through the U.S. Department of Justice, appear excessive and should be decreased accordingly, based on similarly situated EPA violators, the area wherein the violation occurred, and the amount of discharge that warranted a criminal violation.

History: In April of 2010, a complaint was filed upon Pioneer Natural Resources(PNR), a Texas based oil exploration corporation, with respect to illegal discharging of “used”, not for resale and possibly contaminated propylene glycol. This occurred at PNR's Oooguruk exploration and production facility located in Harrison Bay, Colville River Delta, situated offshore in the Alaska North Slope Borough proper. It is noted that the BP Ombudsman's Program assisted the efforts to have this complaint taken seriously. The individual filing said complaint, at the time a direct PNR employee, had used the BP program in the past while performing contract work at a North Slope BP facility, so credibility and worthiness was already established. It is believed that it was the interest of the BP Ombudsman that promoted the PNR management to take the employee complaint seriously. PNR management did, by instigating an internal investigation upon the glycol discharge allegations. PNR also incorporated the expertise of an attorney well versed in dealing with environmental issues and crimes and familiar with the workings of the EPA. According to a report filed with the Alaska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission – the entity that maintains jurisdiction upon Area Injection Orders and is the local oversight for EPA rules and regulation, to what can be legally permitted and discharged underground – PNR denied all allegations and admitted “zero” discharges of glycol or any other EPA regulated wastes. This report was also forwarded to the Region 10 EPA director and to the Alaska Attorney general's Office, said again, denying all allegations of illegal discharges at the Oooguruk facility. Soon after that, the employee that filed the original complaint left said employment with PNR and provided more evidence to the contrary, be it the company's own “Daily Log Book” - a legally binding document - wherein there existed excerpts and entries that documented the illegal glycol discharges. Upon receiving this evidence wherein PNR could no longer deny the discharge allegations, the investigation team through its retained attorney amended the report to the AOGCC and admitted to the illegal discharge, without a permit, to 49,000 gallons of used glycol. Upon receiving this information, the AOGCC assessed a penalty and fine that was in no way shape or form a deterrent. The fine and penalty amounted too $10,000 dollars. First and foremost, PNR did not notify the EPA as required by law. Secondly, at the first clear chance to admit this occurrence did indeed happen, PNR denied all such allegations, making this known to the oversight agencies, as if allowing “closure” upon the allegations and complaint, making it appear that it was a complaint by a disgruntled employee. This inconsistent fine with respect to the size of the discharge was due the fact that the AOGCC could find through the evidence that the illegal discharges occurred as documented on only two occasions, assessing the maximum fine of $5000.00 per occurrence. There were many undocumented discharges throughout the summer of 2010 to get rid of the glycol when conditions warranted the availability of pipeline capacity to slipstream the “glycol” into the injection water line. This fine amounts to approximately 20-cents per gallon, for what is truly considered illegal activity. On the other hand, the BP pipeline rupture was an accident, not intentional. It may have been caused by lack of maintenance, but once again said, not intentional like the PNR discharges. At PNR, the operators were instructed to pump the glycol for no other apparent reason but to get rid of it, as it could not be sold, possibly due contamination. There was originally over 180,000 gallon of glycol at the site. Most of it was sold upon completion of the facility start-up. What could not be sold was “sham” recycled, without a permit to the underground strata not designed to handle this fluid. For BP's pipeline leak, the fines and penalties amounted to approximately $117-dollars per gallon, well over the AOGCC assessed PNR fines and penalties. The BP fine and penalty in comparison demonstrates a case of abuse and should be reduced to reflect what PNR was assessed. Any other action or inaction this request may be considered discrimination upon BP, for an accident in comparison to a non-accident resulting in an environmental crime of choice.

Respectfully Submitted, May 6^th, 2010

Coincidence NOT

So everybody of authority or those blinded by the right are in awe that a baby polar bear has been rescued from the North Slope oil patch and zoo keepers are in the process of finding this recently born youngster a new home, for now it means city life at the Anchorage Zoo. Pathetic this awe! Pathetic this excitement! Pathetic the authorities that see this as useful advertisement with a happy ending! As it is more of the same “shock & awe” in my book, basically inaction that is nothing short a blitzkrieg attack on peacefulness, a zealous attack on nature. Interference has got to be man’s greatest evil. I used to be an avid Alaskan oil field worker, but that career fell short its glory and thus, allowed me to advance intellectually wherein now I am a strong conservationist. I guess evolution does work! And I have all the proof in the world to support my “conservationist's” attitude, especially targeting the North Slope Armageddon. What I have witnessed recently in the “patch” is a whole different mindset that is set on tearing apart what required many years to foster, wherein there existed some semblance of care and respect towards the Mother Earth and the natural inhabitants, including polar bears, the focus of attention was clear - all throughout the Prudhoe Bay oil field domain and 800-miles down the Trans-Alaskan-Pipeline. And the EXXON Valdez was no accident, so don’t blame the oil workers, or captain Hazelwood either. “Things are different today, I hear every mother say”! Just ask the sow! This polar bear rescue making headline news should never have been allowed to occur. It was caused by disruption from the new players on the leasing block, namely the “Independents”, outside corporations – some of foreign background - that have found a place to explore and exploit the “black gold” without the slightest regard for the environment. Because nobody is watching! Because nobody is doing their jobs! It has become a hands off, turn thy head, blindfolded we go affair. Talk about the hen house being raided! The bureaucrats have put up an “Open For Rape” sign at this state’s front door. The Arctic is doomed. May as well “nuke” the Arctic Ocean to get rid of the ice pack, to make way for unadulterated abuse just so Alaskans can continue to enjoy welfare - a.k.a. PFD. If some of our representatives had it their way, the “nukes” would have already been called into action. Remember, it is a waste land - according to Ted Stevens - so what’s the problem with a little more messy waste? Now the polar bear cub was found separated from its mom, in close proximity to the Alpine oil production facility, which is located in the Colville River delta. Wow! This is God’s country. Man has no permission to descend upon this area with giant drilling rigs, there is no justification to ruin this place. Now the fact that a polar bear is missing its mom is cause for concern. It is just not an anomaly, an aberration. See, a few weeks ago, there was a similar incident. Something is causing nature to go upset, and it is because of mankind’s interference and trespass. Over at Oliktok Pt., the ENI operators were surprised to wake another sow denning with a cub on Spy Island. Two incidents in less than three weeks time, this is no coincidence and is proof that this new age oil development is disrupting tranquility. The fact that the cub was orphaned, it is something that should be taken seriously and investigated. Something out of the ordinary caused this event, and it is not global warming. And the fact that ENI may have been operating in an area without a polar bear infra-red survey, this goes to show that oil development is causing undue harm to the polar bear population. This area is well known for its good habitat for denning. The fact that ENI did not realize there was a denning white bear with cub on the island – a man-made Alcatraz that will soon be the site of a gigantic and noisy drilling rig come fall, it is inexcusable. The permit to operate requires the operator to make sure there is no denning within a mile of man-made activities, through surveys, and if a den is found – from heat radiated by mom keeping her babies warm through a brutal winter – it is supposed to be off limits to all activity. Had they performed the necessary survey and found the den early on, it would have presented a dilemma with their plan of attack, to have a drilling rig placed on the island this season. See, it would have meant a delay and that equates to a delay in oil sent down the Trans-Alaska-Pipeline which means a delay in income for the state. The entire health and well-being of the North Slope is now tied to income. When that priority enters the equation of greed, it dooms everything else. What is going on in the oil patch to fill the void is sinful. And the way other “Independents” in this same area are running their operations without any oversight, of course the polar bear population will suffer. What do I mean “no oversight”? Fact of the matter is this. The state wants oil, at any expense, to fill the void in the Trans-Alaska-Pipeline. So it means turning away from any kind of oversight that could dampen enthusiasm to develop oil where no oil has been developed before. And that means going into pristine areas, were once not too long ago polar bears reigned above the nuisance of man and drilling rigs. So in ending, it is time for a moratorium, time to refocus our attention on ANWR, time to expand protection to all coastal areas, as we can no longer trust the bureaucracy. If not, we will loose in the end, as when polar bears begin to show signs of frustration and forced to abandon their security, abandon their young, there is a deeper problem that is brewing down below and the doomsday clock has run out of time. Support a moratorium on near-shore and off-shore oil exploration on Alaska's northern coastline, as it is getting too late and nature can no longer defend for itself against these “Independents”!