Congress faults BP in Alaskan oil leaks
Democrats and Republicans in Congress have criticized British Petroleum’s handling of two oil leaks in its Alaskan pipelines earlier this year. In March, 5,000 gallons of oil leaked from the western pipelines into Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay—the largest spill ever on the North Slope. Then, in August BP discovered severe corrosion in the eastern pipelines. The corroded pipes forced the company to shut down sections of it, cutting daily output by 200,000 barrels a day, or roughly 4% of domestic oil supply.
Congress said that BP’s failure to properly inspect its pipelines and its harassment of workers who voiced complaints were responsible for the incidents. It chastised BP for failing to regularly inspect the eastern pipelines with electronic probes that detect corrosion, which the company had not done since 1992. The western pipelines—where the large spill occurred—had not been checked since 1998.
In 2004, BP hired a Houston-based law firm to conduct an internal investigation of alleged falsification of pipeline-corrosion data. It concluded that some pipeline inspectors experienced fear of retaliation for reporting safety concerns and other issues but denied that BP employees or contractors were explicitly told not to raise red flags.