Though BP went green with its “Beyond Petroleum” campaign and helped push America to the precipice of global warming regulation, it’s getting no credit from the Obama Justice Department.
From today’s Wall Street Journal:
Seeking maximum penalties, the U.S. government filed a civil lawsuit against a BP PLC (BP) unit in Alaska for breaking federal laws during two major 2006 oil spills in Prudhoe Bay, the largest oilfield in the country.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, Alaska, said that BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. discharged 200,000 gallons of oil onto the North Slope during two different oil spills, according to a statement released Tuesday by the Justice Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The complaint accuses BP of failing “to prepare and implement spill prevention” and take other measures mandated by the Clean Water Act.
The complaint also alleges that the company “improperly” removed asbestos-containing materials from its pipelines, violating the Clean Air Act, and didn’t comply in a timely manner with a federal order requiring tests, inspection and repairs.
The government asked the court for civil penalties “up to the maximum amount authorized by law,” and to order BP to “take all appropriate action to prevent spills in the future,” the statement said.
No corporate green turn goes unpunished.