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EPA and BP Exploration Reach Clean-Up Agreement
Release Date: 8/18/1999
Contact Information: Kim Ogle
[email protected]
(206) 553-0955
August 18, 1999 - - - - - - - - - - 99-31
For Immediate Release
BP Exploration Alaska (BPX) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have agreed to cleanup terms for the Company's "Old Tuboscope Site," located in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. Unlike many of the legal tools executed by EPA, this action carries no monetary penalty.
According to Mike Bussell, Director of the EPA's office of Waste and Chemicals Management in Seattle, this order will help speed the clean up.
"EPA’s order gives the Company the legal ‘green light’ to move forward to address solvent contamination at the North Slope facility," said Bussell. "We’re anxious to get this clean up going and insure that the tundra is protected."
The Order requires BPX to manage and treat contaminated groundwater so that contamination does not spread into the tundra. The groundwater at the Old Tuboscope Site is considered to be a hazardous waste because it contains waste solvent. After treating the collected groundwater by carbon absorption, it is expected to be free of solvent waste. BPX plans to reuse the clean, treated groundwater in their oil field production process.
Additional clean up work may be required by EPA at anytime under the Order.
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