Sludge Watch ==> BP is 'so sorry' - again

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

Sludgewatch Admin:

So BP didn't check their corroded Alaska pipeline for 14 years. And then it 
leaked.
All over the sensitive Arctic tundra.

Well I'll be darned.

BP was sending their toxic wastes to Kern County where it blew around the 
countryside of Wasco.
Impact on the environment is still being reviewed, but it sure was cheap 
disposal!

And now they have contaminated the Arctic tundra..so they can save money.
British Petroleum is making record profits but still making the environment 
pay the price for their greed.

..................................................................................



Toxicity testing to begin on fly ash piles near Wasco
2006/05/31
News Article (BC)

Toxicity testing to begin on fly ash piles near Wasco
Batch Data Processor | Wednesday, May 31 2006 9:55 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday, May 31 2006 9:59 PM

The Bakersfield Californian

A new round of tests to determine the toxicity of massive ash piles near 
Wasco will likely get under way today, according to state officials.

The results could be ready as soon as next week, said Phil Blum, an 
enforcement chief with the state Department of Toxic Substances Control. 
Blum and other regulators answered questions about the piles at a hearing 
held by state Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, at Wasco's city hall Wednesday 
evening.

More than 70,000 tons of ash were stockpiled near Wasco by U.S.A. Transport 
Inc., which used the powdery ash to kill pathogens in sewage sludge at a 
farm owned by the city of Oxnard. The material is an industrial waste from a 
Los Angeles-area facility owned by BP West Coast Products LLC.

Both BP and Oxnard say the piles are not hazardous waste and challenge the 
state's methods used to make that determination, which was announced in 
January. The state has agreed to a different and more extensive testing 
protocol, which Oxnard's consultants will carry out. To confirm Oxnard's 
findings, the state will separately analyze some of the new samples in its 
own lab.

What happens next depends on the results.

If the new tests clearly show the piles contain hazardous waste, Oxnard will 
continue to haul the material to a facility near Buttonwillow. If they show 
the piles are clearly non-hazardous, Oxnard can use a less expensive means 
of disposal. If the tests aren't clear either way, more sampling could be in 
store.

http://www.bakersfield.com/619/story/54647.html?
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Energy
BP's So Sorry
Jessica Holzer, 09.07.06, 6:30 PM ET


Top executives of BP apologized profusely as irate lawmakers took them to 
task for lapses leading to the shutdown of the Prudhoe Bay pipeline and a 
huge oil spill on the Alaskan tundra earlier this year.

"I deeply regret the situation that occurred under my watch," said Steve 
Marshall, the head of BP's (nyse: BP - news - people ) Alaskan operations, 
told a subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on 
Thursday.

The lawmakers rebuked the troubled oil giant for inspecting its pipelines 
only sporadically and ignoring factors that normally raise the risk of 
corrosion and leakage.

They also grilled the executives about evidence that critics may have been 
silenced within the unit charged with inspecting BP's network of pipelines 
in Alaska. Richard C. Woollam, the unit's former supervisor who was demoted 
in the wake of an outside report critical of his leadership, was called to 
testify before the congressional panel but pleaded the Fifth Amendment right 
against self-incrimination.

BP's record of inspecting its Alaskan pipelines is shoddy to say the least. 
The oil giant had not run a "smart pig"--an electronic drone that detects 
corrosion--through its eastern pipeline for 14 years, even though the 
procedure is cheap and deemed the most effective way to spot pipeline 
damage.

Alyeska Pipeline Service, which operates the much larger trans-Alaskan 
pipeline, performs the procedure every three years, and also runs a 
"maintenance pig" through the pipeline at least every 14 days, testified 
Kevin Hostler, Alyeska's president, at the hearing. By contrast, BP had not 
run a maintenance pig through its eastern pipeline since the early 1990s.

Lawmakers hammered the oil giant over its lack of vigilance in the face of 
signs pointing to the possible build-up of sediment in the pipeline.

"How could you not know there was build-up of solids? And how could you not 
pig since 1992?" asked Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich.

BP's carelessness is something of an enigma. The company reported record 
earnings of $25 billion last year. With crude prices sky-high, it had every 
incentive to ensure that its largest oil field was running at full-tilt. It 
is hemorrhaging cash every day that the pipeline, which pumps out 400,000 
barrels of crude a day, remains off-line.

Even though it hadn't had its budget trimmed, the size of the crew 
responsible for inspecting the pipelines was mysteriously cut back by 25%. 
Moreover, congressional staffers investigating the pipeline shutdown 
received numerous reports that the oil company had abandoned the idea of 
"pigging" its eastern pipeline after the 1992 inspection dislodged so much 
sludge that it fouled the pipeline screens, according to Texas Republican 
Joe Barton, chairman of the Commerce Committee.

He chalked up the company's curious attitude as: " 'We can't run a pig 
through here, there's too much garbage in the line.' "

Marshall denied that any such decision had been made and defended the 
company's record on managing the corrosion of its pipelines. But he admitted 
that a mentality of penny-pinching left over from the late 1990s, when the 
price of crude sunk to record lows, may have contributed to the lax 
maintenance.

"One of the things I regret is not doing more to change the perception in 
our team about spending money," he said.