BP's Neglect of North Slope Pipeline Led to Disaster (Jason Leopold)

[kpete]

kpete: I included the author's name in the title - so if you wished to ignore - you need not have opened this post - You all know, I post just about everything I can find that interests me, you decide whether to chew it or spit it out.

BP's Neglect of North Slope Pipeline Led to Disaster
By Jason Leopold
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Wednesday 09 August 2006

BP announced Sunday that it intends to shut down the Prudhoe Bay oilfield in Alaska's North Slope later this week because of a severely corroded portion of pipeline and an ensuing oil spill, the latest in a series of mishaps that have plagued the petroleum giant's drilling operations in the region.

The Prudhoe Bay field accounts for 8 percent - or 400,000 barrels per day - of the country's domestic crude supply. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said Monday it would increase output to offset the shortfall. Production at Prudhoe Bay began in 1977, and during its peak in the 1980s the field produced more than 1 million barrels of oil per day.

Bob Malone, chairman and president of BP America Inc., said at a press conference Monday that he could not predict when drilling operations would resume.

Republican lawmakers have begun using Sunday's pipeline problems for their own political gain - mainly by renewing calls for the passage of legislation that would allow drilling in the nearby Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

more at:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/080906J.shtml

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

1. Jason Leopolds Neglect of Journalistic Best Practice Leads to Disaster.

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

:hide:

[rodeodance]

2. Jim Leher News Hour did a fantastic segment on this also including how

both Fed and State regulations are almost nonexistant because it is 'exempt" status---it is not near water, etc.

So, basically, because of our need for oil no one was watching the pipes--it was left up to the Company (BP).

[JHB]

3. And one by Greg Palast on the same subject

The Brilliantly Profitable Timing of the Alaska Oil Pipeline Shutdown
by Greg Palast
For The Guardian (UK)
Tuesday, August 9, 2006

Is the Alaska Pipeline corroded? You bet it is. Has been for more than a decade. Did British Petroleum shut the pipe yesterday to turn a quick buck on its negligence, to profit off the disaster it created? Just ask the “smart pig.”

Years ago, I had the unhappy job of leading an investigation of British Petroleum’s management of the Alaska pipeline system. I was working for the Chugach villages, the Alaskan Natives who own the shoreline slimed by the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker grounding.

Even then, courageous government inspectors and pipeline workers were screaming about corrosion all through the pipeline. I say “courageous” because BP, which owns 46% of the pipe and is supposed to manage the system, had a habit of hunting down and destroying the careers of those who warn of pipeline problems.

In one case, BP’s CEO of Alaskan operations hired a former CIA expert to break into the home of a whistleblower, Chuck Hamel, who had complained of conditions at the pipe’s tanker facility. BP tapped his phone calls with a US congressman and ran a surveillance and smear campaign against him. When caught, a US federal judge said BP’s acts were “reminiscent of Nazi Germany.”
---------
Full article at:
http://www.gregpalast.com/british-petroleums-smart-pig#more-1474

[5X]

4. Ptoooui!!!

[TahitiNut]

5. Just another example of how unregulated business is a disaster.

The Alyeska pipline is regulated - subjected to federal oversight. The BP 'feeder' is not.

When I worked in a bank, it was observed by the saner among us that bankers needed federal regulation because they were too ethically stupid and immature to do business correctly without regulation. I think that observation applies across all business.

Deregulation of business makes as much sense as deregulation of the roads and highways.

[krkaufman]

6. "calls for ... drilling in ANWR"

So... this incident shows us the ecological damage that can be done by pipelines, and how deregulation has led to poorly maintained infrastructure and record, astronomical profits for the oil companies.

And the Republican solution is to just do more drilling in the Arctic, rather than fixing what's wrong with the current system.

[bridgit]

7. also led to Blair preemptively throwing in with ah-nold on 'green'...

alternatives last week while standing in front of a BP tanker before the word got out :thumbsdown: