Safety of Our Oil Pipelines: BP and Prudhoe Bay

TIMELINE: BP Alaska North Slope Pipeline Problems

BP Prudhoe Bay Production Shutdown: Implications for the Reauthorization of the Pipeline Safety Act
-- News Release, August 9, 2006

"It is appalling that BP let this critical pipeline deteriorate to the point that a major production shutdown was necessary," said John D. Dingell, Ranking Member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce.
-- News Release, August 7, 2006

Statement before the July 27, 2006, Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality Hearing on a Discussion Draft on the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act Reauthorization and H.R. 5782, the "Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2006"

"Pipeline safety is an immensely important but little-followed energy issue.  We are all aware of the catastrophic damage that can occur to life, property, and the environment when a line fails."
-- Statement before the April 27, 2006, Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality Hearing entitled "Pipeline Safety: A Progress Report Since the Enhancement of the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002"

Questions Raised

"Yesterday, senior officials from your office briefed both majority and minority staff from this Committee regarding the continuing issues facing BP Alaska's efforts to meet the Corrective Action Order (CAO) issued by your office shortly after the spill."
-- June 15, 2006, Letter to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
-- July 26, 2006, Response from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration

Verbal Request for Greater Prudhoe Bay Oil Transit Lines Solids Information
-- June 30, 2006, Response from BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc.

"Earlier this month, Committee staff visited the North Slope of Alaska and several points on the Trans Alaska Pipeline System to discuss pipeline integrity and corrosion issues and specifically investigate the possible causes of this spill.  This effort followed two letters recently sent to both BP and the operator of the TAPS -- Alyeska Pipeline Service Company (Alyeska) -- to gather additional information on the spill event as well as other integrity issues.
-- April 25, 2006, Letter to the Secretary of the Department of Transportation
-- June 5, 2006, Response from the Department of Transportation

"On March 24, 2006, we sent the attached letter to BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. (BP) regarding the major spill that occurred on the North Slope in which more than 200,000 gallons of crude leaked from a major delivery line...In preliminary discussions with senior BP officials, staff was informed that although company officials are still examining the root causes of the spill, the leading explanation appears to be corrosion."
-- April 5, 2006, Letter to Alyeska Pipeline
-- April 25, 2006, Response from Alyeska Pipeline

"It is our understanding that at least 200,000 gallons of crude have leaked so far from a major supply line, which ultimately delivers product to the Trans Alaskan Pipeline.  This is now, unfortunately, the largest spill ever to occur on the North Slope, and one of the largest in Alaskan history."
-- March 24, 2006, Letter to BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc.
-- April 3, 2006, response from BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc.

As you may know, we hold a longstanding interest in the safety of the Nation's liquid and gas pipeline infrastructure and the role that the Federal Government plays in working to prevent disastrous pipeline accidents.
-- March 23, 2006, Letter to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
-- April 18, 2006, Response from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration