BP facing lawsuit from Alaska, feds over 2006 oil spill

Wesley Loy | The Anchorage Daily News

The state and federal governments each are suing BP Alaska seeking potentially huge fines and other collections against the company in connection with disastrous oil spills in the Prudhoe Bay oil field in 2006.

The civil actions announced Tuesday follow up on BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc.'s guilty plea in late 2007 to a federal pollution misdemeanor. A federal judge put the company on probation for three years and ordered more than $20 million in penalties for the crime.

A 49-page state civil lawsuit seeks back taxes to compensate the state for the interruption in oil flow the spills caused.

The federal suit, which the U.S. Department of Justice filed on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency and pipeline regulators, focuses on violations of pollution laws.

BP Alaska spokesman Steve Rinehart said the company would have "no comment on the legal issues."

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