BP to pay out $25m for 200,000-gallon Alaska oil spill in 2006

[alp227]

Source: Associated Press

BP's subsidiary in Alaska will pay a $25mfine under a settlement announced on Tuesday that comes five years after more than 200,000 gallons of crude oil spilled from company pipelines on the North Slope in 2006.

The penalty is the largest per-barrel civil penalty assessed, exceeding the statutory maximum because the settlement resolves claims other than the spill, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. The settlement also calls for BP Exploration Alaska Inc. to install a system-wide pipeline integrity management program.

"This penalty should serve as a wake-up call to all pipeline operators that they will be held accountable for the safety of their operations and their compliance with the clean water act, the clean air act and the pipeline safety laws," assistant US attorney Ignacia S Moreno said.

US attorney for Alaska Karen Loeffler said the penalty underlines the seriousness of BP's conduct. She said BP Alaska admitted that itfailed to adequately maintain its pipelines.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/may/04/bp-25m-north-slope-oil-spill

[valerief]

1. Petty cash to BP. nt

[LanternWaste]

2. fine works out to merely 2% of one day's worth of gross income

Works out to $125 in fines per barrel (42g) spilled.

BP currently has an extraction potential of 4,000,000 barrels a day, or $50,000,000 (gross per day). Meaning the fine works out to merely 2% of one day's worth of gross income (it's just as possible my math is horribly, horribly wrong; math and I have never really gotten along to well)