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WASHINGTON - BRITISH Petroleum pleaded guilty to breaking pollution laws when one of its crude pipelines leaked and spilled oil in Alaska, and agreed to pay a US$20 million (S$29 million) fine, US justice authorities said.
The company 'pleaded guilty today in federal court to a criminal violation of the Clean Water Act for spilling 760,000 litres of crude oil from a pipeline onto the tundra and a frozen lake' in March 2006, the Justice Department said in a statement on Thursday.
The leak, in the North Slope region, was due to BP's failure to notice signs of corrosion inside the pipes, it said.
'This incident provides us all a clear warning of the need to be vigilant with regard to pipeline maintenance and with regard to safety and security of the pipeline and environmental protection,' said Judge Ralph Beistline in the statement.
'I think we have to put particular emphasis on the need to give high priority to maintenance and maybe a little less priority on profits.'
The company was not charged for a second leak in August 2006 at its Prudoe Bay oil field, since it acted quickly to stop the flow of oil. Around 1,000 gallons of oil escaped in that leak. -- AFP
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