Investigation sought into Alaska oil-spill case

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Investigation sought into Alaska oil-spill case

By Renee Schoof | McClatchy Newspapers

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When the plea was announced last year, federal and state authorities said that the spills had occurred because BP hadn't spent the money necessary to maintain its pipes.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility asked the inspector general to determine whether the investigation was shut down prematurely and whether the fine was too low. It said the $20 million was only a fraction of what the EPA had recommended, according to a copy of a confidential memo from the EPA to the Alaska U.S. Attorney's Office that the employees group released.

Jeff Ruch of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility charged in a statement that the BP oil-spill settlement was part of a pattern of "lowball" public-safety and pollution settlements between corporations and the Justice Department under President Bush. When BP agreed to the settlement, it also agreed to pay $50 million in fines for a refinery explosion in Texas City, Texas, in 2005 that killed 15 people and $303 million in connection with price manipulation of the propane market.

"Occupational fatalities and pollution blowouts cannot be sanctioned so lightly that they are an acceptable cost of doing business," Ruch said. "A full autopsy of this case must be done to determine what killed the tough felony prosecution of a major environmental crime."

West said the government had a large amount of evidence that it hadn't had time to review. He also said he wanted to interview other people.

"We were seeing the potential . . . to develop evidence that would be able to prove felonious behavior on the part of the corporation and a number of its senior officials," West said. "There was a tremendous amount of work to do. This case was in full swing in the summer of 2007. It was nowhere near wrapping up."

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