Oil Gushes into Arctic Ocean from BP Pipeline

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0321-06.htm

Across the frozen North Slope of Alaska, the region's largest oil accident on record has been sending hundreds of thousands of litres of crude pouring into the Arctic Ocean during the past week after a badly corroded BPO pipeline ruptured.

The Prudhoe Bay oil field spill on Alaska's North Slope is seen on Monday, March 13, 2006. Cleaning up the spill estimated at up to 267,000 gallons in the Prudhoe Bay oil field has been slow going because workers are having to take frequent breaks to protect themselves against extreme conditions. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
The publicity caused by the leak in the the 30-year-old pipeline could seriously damage BP's image, which has been carefully crafted to show it as a company concerned about the environment. Unlike other major oil companies, BP boasts that it is fully signed up to the dangers of global warming and it makes a conspicuous effort to flaunt its green credentials, tackling local environmental problems and erecting wind turbines above its petrol stations.

The first indication of the spill came in early March, when an oily patch was discovered near the elevated oil transmission pipeline, but the full scale of the accident is only becoming clear with time. Environmentalists who vociferously objected to the construction of the BP pipeline may now see their worst fears realised.

Clean-up crews have removed more than 190,000 litres of crude oil and melted snow off the frozen tundra but reports indicate that the leak is the second largest crude oil spill in Alaska - second only to the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster.

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In an e-mail to a company lawyer in June 2004, Mr Kovac forwarded a collection of his earlier complaints to management. One of these, dated 28 February 2003, concerned "corrosion monitoring staffing levels". It began, "The corrosion monitoring crew will soon be reduced to six staff down from eight."

It added: "With the present staff, the crew is currently one month behind. The backlog is expected to increase with a further reduction in manpower."

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"Something happened to the corrosion rates in that line between September 2005 and the time of the spill that we don't yet fully understand."
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does warmer temps. cause rust to rust faster?

let the "sunshine" shine on BP

ought to be hauled into court & jail for this!

It's a chemical reaction, and most reactions proceed more quickly in warmer temperatures.

to drill in yet ANOTHER part of Alaska?

If it is it doesn't look like much.

nt

but I did read this "Clean-up crews have removed more than 190,000 litres of crude oil and melted snow off the frozen tundra" and this
"The oil gushed from the pipeline at a spot where it dips to ground level to allow caribou to cross" so which is it? Ocean or tundra?

BTW- I'm just looking for accuracy in reporting not wanting to debate wether drilling is a good thing or not.

How big is your "carbon footprint"?

Jay