Report Alleges Bush Administration DOJ Shielded BP and Executives from Criminal Prosecution over Alaska Spill
As the oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico turns two months old, an article in Digital Journal details how the government considered bringing criminal charges against British Petroleum and its executives during the Bush Administration. The article quotes Scott West, a former Special Agent in Charge for the Environmental Protection Agency. West was in charge of investigating the rupture of a pipeline at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, which occurred in March 2006. The rupture went undetected for nearly a week due to malfunctions in monitoring equipment, and spilled more than a quarter of a million gallons of crude oil. The rupture was reportedly the size of a pencil eraser and was caused by corrosion. BP shut down five oil processing centers for nearly two weeks, causing a rise in gas prices.
EPA's criminal division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice spent thousands of hours investigating the rupture, and supposedly was considering criminal charges against BP and certain of its executives for ignoring warnings from employees about the condition of pipeline and the monitoring equipment.
However, the article claims that the DOJ allegedly "killed" the investigation in August of 2007. BP pled guilty to a misdemeanor violation of the Clean Water Act and paid a $20 million fine. BP also entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the government in relation to an explosion at a refinery in Texas City which resulted in 15 deaths.
