BP Makes a Mess of Prudhoe Bay; Shutdown Ensues

Last month, oil giant BP closed down half of the Prudhoe Bay oil field when they discovered massive and widespread corrosion in the feeder pipelines carrying oil to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline (TAPS). While BP has in the past insisted that their corrosion prevention program was up to the task of keeping the pipelines safe and leak free, ongoing revelations show that this is clearly not the case. After the shutdown was announced, a lawsuit was filed by BP stockholders alleging negligence of the pipeline and substandard maintenance. In the spring, one of BP's pipelines ruptured and leaked out 267,000 gallons of oil, the largest oil spill in north slope history.

Even Alaska's drill-everywhere, pro-oil Senators acknowledged that BP's failure makes future oil development in places like America's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge look much less defensible.

The Anchorage Daily News interviewed Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).
"And so what has happened with this incident is it has left a very large blemish on Alaska's record as being a good operator, a good steward of the resource. We're going to get the resource to you in an environmentally safe way. And I think we've got a lot of people looking at us and this operation and saying, 'You said it was going to be done in an environmentally safe way and if you've got the level of corrosion that you have, how can you make that claim?' "

In fact, they can't.

Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) also admitted that this was a slap to their image. "They sold us the fact their processes would perform. And they didn't."

BP's woes are causing an uproar, not just in the oil markets, but also in the halls of Congress. The dramatic shutdown of part of Prudhoe Bay has so far prompted four different committees, two each in the House and Senate, to announce that they will be holding hearings in September to investigate the cause of the corrosion.

"The corrosion of British Petroleum’s Alaska pipeline is a travesty of monumental proportions." said Congressman Mike Fitzpatirck (R-PA). " How can a company that recently announced a gain of $7.3 billion in net income over the past three months – a 30 percent increase over last year – fail to protect its own infrastructure? How can a company as large as BP, with so much capital to invest in itself allow such a critical part of its business to go to waste?  The corrosion of the BP pipeline is simply inexcusable and can only be the result of arrogance. This is not the first spill or breakage in BP’s lack-luster history. A federal investigation continues to look into an earlier spill in Prudhoe Bay as well as a refinery explosion that took the lives of 15 BP employees in Texas last year. With such a spotty record in environmental protection and the safety of its employees, it is unconscionable that BP would allow this current pipeline disaster to take place."

The bigger picture question is of course the implications on all current and future oil development on Alaska's north slope and in other regions. Oil drilling is dirty and messy, even when it is the "most environmentally sensitive and cleanest". It's kind of like being the cleanest pig in the pig-pen; you're still a pig in the mud. Congress should be using their upcoming hearings to look not only at the causes and effects of the leaks, but also to highlight the need for cleaner and more reliable energy sources that don't despoil our special places like America's Arctic Refuge or Teshekpuk Lake.

3. Bush Administration Ignores BP Mess, Forges Ahead with More Drilling in Sensitive Areas: Teshekpuk Lake

While it would be tempting to think that the on-going problems plaguing the north slope would be reason enough for the Interior Department to at least delay the Teshekpuk Lake lease sale, on Wednesday, August 23, the Interior Department printed an announcement in the Federal Register that they would open the bids for leasing in late September.  Oil companies now have until September 27 to submit sealed bids that will be opened at that time and awarded several days later.  Of course the Secretary of the Interior can step in at any time and announce a delay or postponement. 

“The Secretary has heard from tens of thousands of Americans on this issue and he will continue to hear strong backlash from this lease sale announcement," said Natalie Brandon, Alaska Wilderness League's Policy Director.  "We urge the Secretary to listen to the input of Americans from Alaska and around the county before he makes any final decisions to give away even more of America’s most sensitive public lands.” 

"Literally hundreds of thousands of conservation-minded Americans, including hunters, birders and Alaska Natives, have weighed in with the Interior Department to voice their opposition to the department's misguided drilling plan for the critical wildlife habitat around Teshekpuk Lake. Within the past few weeks, members of the US House and Senate have also written to Secretary Kempthorne to ask that Teshekpuk Lake be protected from oil drilling," said Eleanor Huffines, Alaska Regional Director of The Wilderness Society.  "So far, the Interior Department has shown little evidence that it has given any weight to their concerns, opting instead to take its direction from the oil companies."

"The latest discovery by BP of severe pipeline corrosion on Alaska’s North Slope is a reminder that oil drilling is a dirty and destructive business that doesn't belong in environmentally sensitive areas like Teshekpuk Lake," said Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director. "The oil industry has certainly not earned the credentials to go into a fragile area like Teshekpuk Lake. Yet the Bush administration appears blind to mounting evidence of the perils of oil drilling."

Not just environmental organization are opposed to the lease.  Sixty-six members of Congress and 19 Senators sent a letter to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne expressing concern over the proposed lease sale. "We have serious reservations about the impacts of the proposed Northeast NPR-A lease sale on the environment and subsistence users. The additional lands scheduled to be leased in September include some 200,000 acres that even [Reagan Administration Interior Secretary] James Watt didn't think should be developed in the area near Teshekpuk Lake," said the Senate letter. 

To send a letter to Interior Secretary Kempthorne,  go here: http://www.savetlake.org/?r=8

4. Yet Another Drilling Bill Brought to You by the "Oil-Drilling-Can-Save-Us-from-Anything" Crowd

As though the Arctic Drilling bill that was passed 225 - 201 in the House of Representatives earlier this spring were not enough, Representative Devin Nunes (R-CA) introduced yet another bill to drill for oil in America's Arctic Refuge. But wait - this one is different!  Right? Wrong!  The only thing different about this bill is the new depths of cynicism to which it sinks.  Before we get into the details of  HR 5890, the American-Made Energy Freedom Act (surprisingly, mom and apple pie are not mentioned in the title), let's take a little trip down memory lane to see what nefarious plots have been hatched in the past in order to win Big Oil's holy grail. 

In the past 5 years, Big Oil and their cheerleaders in Congress have tried attaching a drilling provision to the emergency defense spending bill right after 9/11, they tried to attach it to a bill was supposed to fund railroad worker pension funds (steelworker pension funds later on in another attempt), they tried numerous times to attach it to the federal budget, and in several different versions have tried to include it in the federal energy bill.  In December of 2005, Senator Stevens even tried to attach it to the bill that funded both Katrina relief and our troops fighting abroad.  If nothing more, our opponents have been quite inventive in finding new ways to make themselves look desperate and silly.

The newest gambit by Representative Nunes tries to somehow make oil drilling in the Arctic Refuge a solution to ...end our addiction to oil.  If it weren't so pathetic, it would be funny, but Representative Nunes' bill actually tries to fund alternative energy research with money generated from the oil drilling in America's Arctic Refuge.  "Funding future home-grown energy innovations is what has to be done to produce lower prices at the pump and increase security in America.” said Representative Nunes.

Kind of like funding a rehab clinic by selling crack.  Except no one knows how much money would be generated because no one knows how much oil is there.  If Congress is serious about funding alternatives, we're all for it, but attaching a dumb idea to a good idea doesn't make the dumb idea any less dumb.  Rather than more handouts to Big Oil, Congressman Nunes should take some of the multi billions of dollars in subsidies away from the oil companies (really, these are the MOST PROFITABLE companies in the world, why do we keep giving them tens of billions in subsidies??) and put it directly toward the alternatives energy research he speaks so glowingly about in his bill.

Currently this bill is not scheduled for a vote, we will update if anything changes.

Thanks for taking action and helping to protect America's wild lands in Alaska!

Finally,
Let me know if you are interested in a Presentation on the Arctic to your organization, student group, faith group or community. I would be pleased to come and talk with you about our beautiful treasure in Alaska.

Thank you,

Lois Norrgard

Regional Organizer

Alaska Coalition

952-881-7292

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