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The government awards contracts to companies with histories of misconduct such as contract fraud and environmental, ethics, and labor violations. In the absence of a centralized federal database listing instances of misconduct, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is providing such data. We believe that it will lead to improved contracting decisions and public access to information about how the government spends hundreds of billions of taxpayer money each year on goods and services. Report an instance of misconduct »

BP P.L.C.

Alaska Pipeline Leaks - Guilty Plea

Date: 10/25/2007 (Date of Plea)

Misconduct Type: Environment

Enforcement Agency: Multiple Agencies

Contracting Party: None

Court Type: Criminal

Amount: $20,000,000

Disposition: Pleaded Guilty

Synopsis: British Petroleum Exploration (Alaska), Inc. (BPXA) agreed to plead guilty to a violation of the Clean Water Act for leaks of crude oil from a pipeline onto the tundra and a frozen lake on Alaska’s North Slope. BPXA will pay a $12 million criminal fine, $4 million in community service payments to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and $4 million in criminal restitution to the state of Alaska. BPXA will also serve three years of probation and will be required to replace 16 miles of pipeline at an estimated cost of $150 million. The government alleged that two different leaks from BPXA oil transit lines occurred in March and August of 2006 due to BPXA’s failure to heed warning signs of imminent internal corrosion that a reasonable operator should have recognized. The leaks resulted in a spill of more than 200,000 gallons of crude oil. In November 2010, the government petitioned the court to revoke BXPA's probation on the grounds that its conduct prior to another North Slope oil spill in November 2009 constituted criminal negligence and thus violated the terms of probation.