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Sunday 05.02.2012

BP leak under scrutiny

It's unclear why the leak on a line running across the North Slope of Alaska occurred.

More than 100 local, state, federal and oil industry employees have responded to a BP oil spill discovered early Sunday on Alaska's North Slope.

Cleanup supervisors have called in help from multiple agencies and have those on scene operating under intense safety measures as they begin to clear away the mess and investigate what happened, the Anchorage Daily News reports.

Officials say they still don't know the basics: What caused the spill from the pipeline, which had been shut down weeks earlier because of ice plugs? How much oil leaked out onto the snow-covered tundra? All of that is being investigated, said spokesman Steve Rinehart of BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc.

The spill comes at a difficult time for BP, which is on probation after pleading guilty in 2007 to a misdemeanor violation of the federal Clean Water Act. That charge stemmed from a spill of more than 200,000 gallons of oil in 2006 from a corroded pipe. The corporation paid $20 million in fines and restitution and is in its third and final year of probation under a plea deal.

The circumstances of the latest spill are being watched by the federal probation office in Anchorage.

The pipeline that leaked transported a mix of oil, natural gas and water from a drill pad to the Lisburne Processing Center. There, the crude oil was separated and sent down a transit line.

The line now at issue was last inspected in 2008, and also was inspected in 2003 and 1998. But he said BP wouldn't provide a copy of the inspection report.

Two or three weeks ago, BP stopped operating the line because of ice plugs that had formed in low-lying spots. The line was still being checked daily. A worker making routine rounds spotted the leak at about 3 a.m. Sunday.

Some residual material was still in the line when, for reasons not yet known, it began to leak. By Monday the flow had slowed, and by Tuesday it had stopped.

The hole that emitted the oil is not visible, and BP has not yet found it.

An oily mist spewed from the pipeline and spread over about one-half acre. Crews began scooping up that contaminated snow Monday night. By Tuesday night, all 80 cubic yards of oil-misted snow had been hauled away.

But cleaning up the main spill area closer to the pipeline is a trickier proposition. Engineers were concerned the suspected ice plugs might cause pressure differences along the line, which could lead to unexpected movement of the pipe and pose a risk to workers.

Workers are building an ice pad to store equipment and supplies, including front-end loaders, generators and lights. There's less than an hour of daylight at Prudhoe Bay this time of year.