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consent agreement and proposed final order for resolution of the RCRA violations for additional 

context. 

Public Comment: This document will be open for public comment from September 29, 2011 to 

October 31, 2011. 

Name of Case: 

In re BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., BP Products North America Inc, BP West Coast Products 

LLC, and BP Corporation North America Inc.

Docket Numbers of the Consent Agreements and Proposed Final Orders: 

SDWA-HQ-2011-5055 

RCRA-HQ-2011-5054 

Name and address of Complainant: 

Adam M. Kushner, Director 

Office of Civil Enforcement 

Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW 

Washington, DC 20460 

Elliott J. Gilberg 

Director 

Office of Site Remediation Enforcement 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW (MC: 2271A) 

Washington, DC 20460 

Names and addresses of Respondents: 

BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. 

900 East Benson Boulevard 

Anchorage, AK 99519 

BP Products North America Inc. 

501 Westlake Park Boulevard 

Houston, TX 77079 

BP West Coast Products LLC 

6 Centerpointe Drive 

La Palma, CA 90623 
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BP Corporation North America Inc. 

501 Westlake Park Boulevard 

Houston, TX 77079 

Location of the SDWA UIC Wells: 

 

 One Class I non-hazardous waste injection well at Badami Oil Field (North Slope 

Alaska) located twenty-seven miles east of Prudhoe Bay Unit, on the North Slope of 

Alaska. 

 One Class I non-hazardous waste injection well at Milne Point Unit located northwest of 

Prudhoe Bay, on the North Slope of Alaska. 

 Two Class I non-hazardous waste injection wells at Northstar Unit Oil Field located 

northwest of Prudhoe Bay, in the Beaufort Sea off the North Slope of Alaska. 

 Three Class I non-hazardous waste injection wells at Prudhoe Bay Unit – Grind and 

Inject Area located on the North Slope of Alaska. 

 Three Class I non-hazardous waste injection wells at Prudhoe Bay Unit Pad 3 located on 

the North Slope of Alaska. 

Applicable Permit Numbers: 

 

 The UIC well at Badami Oil Field operates under Permit No. AK-1I001-A. 

 The UIC well at Milne Point Unit operates under Permit No. AK-1I005-A. 

 The UIC wells at Prudhoe Bay Unit – G&I operate under Permit No. AK-1I008-A. 

 The UIC wells at Prudhoe Bay Unit – Pad 3 operate under Permit No. AK-1I004-B. 

 The UIC wells at Northstar Unit Oil Field operate under Permit No. AK-1I002-B. 

Business/activity of Respondents: Produce, refine, or market oil and gas. 

Description of Violations Alleged and Relief Sought: 

BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. is the operator of Class I non-hazardous waste injection 

wells subject to regulation under Part C of the SDWA. BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., as well as 

BP Products North America Inc. and BP West Coast Products LLC, are also the owners and/or 

operators of hazardous waste management facilities subject to regulation under Subtitle C of 

RCRA. 

Sections 1423(a) and (c) of the SDWA, 42 U.S.C. §§ 300h-2(a) and (c), authorizes EPA 

to issue compliance orders and assess penalties when EPA finds that a person is violating any 

requirement of a UIC program where a state does not have primary enforcement responsibility. 

BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. operates ten Class I non-hazardous waste injection wells in Alaska 

(UIC Permit Numbers AK-1I001-A, AK-1I005-A, AK-1I008-A, AK-1I004-B, AK-1I002-B). 

Alaska does not have primacy over Class I non-hazardous waste injection wells. Therefore, the 

federal UIC program for Class I non-hazardous injection wells applies in the state of Alaska. 

EPA determined that from 2006 to 2010, BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. failed to satisfy its 

SDWA financial assurance requirements for closing, including plugging and abandonment, its 
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SDWA UIC wells in Alaska, as required under the applicable permits, SDWA Section 1421, 42 

U.S.C. § 300h(b), and 40 C.F.R. Part 144, Subparts E and F. To secure its financial assurance 

obligation under the SDWA between 2006 and 2010, BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. obtained 

written guarantees from BP Corporation North America Inc. BP Corporation North America Inc. 

included documentation for financial test demonstrations as part of the written guarantees 

provided on behalf of Respondents. As part of the financial test demonstrations, BP Corporation 

North America Inc. should have provided its most recent bond rating issued to it by Standard & 

Poor’s (“S&P”) or Moody’s. However, BP Corporation North America Inc. did not use a current 

bond rating issued to it by S&P or Moody’s. BP Corporation North America Inc. instead listed a 

bond issued by another company, its wholly owned subsidiary, BP Capital Markets America Inc. 

BP Corporation North America Inc. did not have an outstanding bond issuance in its own name, 

as required by the financial assurance regulations. 

EPA, as authorized by SDWA Section 1423(c), 42 U.S.C. § 300h-2(c), has assessed a 

civil penalty for these violations. For the SDWA settlement, Respondents have agreed to a civil 

penalty of $25,500. Also, to ensure compliance with the financial assurance requirements, 

Respondents have provided approximately $19.2 million in letters of credit for its SDWA UIC 

well closure, plugging, and abandonment obligations in Alaska. 

During the same time period, from 2006 to 2010, EPA also determined that BP 

Exploration (Alaska) Inc., as well as BP Products North America Inc. and BP West Coast 

Products LLC, failed to satisfy the RCRA Subtitle C financial assurance requirements for closure, 

post, closure, corrective action, and third party liability at their RCRA facilities in Alaska, 

California, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Texas, and Utah, as required under the applicable permits 

and/or orders for the facilities, RCRA Section 3004, 42 U.S.C. § 6924, 40 C.F.R. Parts 264, 265, 

and 267, Subparts H, and the corresponding state equivalent requirements. Section 3008(a) of 

RCRA, 42 U.S.C. § 6928(a), authorizes EPA to issue compliance orders and assess penalties 

when EPA determines that a person is violating any requirement of RCRA. Section 3008(h) of 

RCRA, 42 U.S.C. § 6928(h), authorizes EPA to issue orders requiring corrective action or such 

other measures as EPA may deem necessary to protect human health or the environment and to 

assess penalties for noncompliance with such orders. To settle the RCRA matter, the 

respondents agreed to a civil penalty of $386,000. To meet their RCRA Subtitle C closure, postclosure, corrective action, and third party liability financial assurance obligations, Respondents 

also provided approximately $129.8 million in letters of credit, standby trust agreements, and 

insurance for their RCRA Subtitle C facilities in Alaska, California, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, 

Texas, and Utah. 

 

Comments Accepted: EPA is providing public notice and an opportunity to comment on the 

proposed order for the resolution of the SDWA violations pursuant to Section 1423(c)(3)(B) of 

SDWA, 42 U.S.C. § 300h-2(c)(3)(B), and 40 C.F.R. § 22.45(b) and (c). In order to provide 

opportunity for public comment, EPA will not take final action prior to forty days after the date 

of notification of this action. In accordance with 40 C.F.R. § 22.45, persons wishing to comment 

on the SDWA portion of EPA’s proposed action may do so by submitting their name, complete 

mailing address and telephone number, along with written comments, within thirty days of the 

date of this notice by the following methods. 
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Instructions: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OECA-2011-0599, 

by one of the following methods: 

 www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments. 

 Email: docket.oeca@epa.gov, Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OECA-2011-0599. 

 Fax: (202) 566-9744, Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OECA-2011-0599. 

 Mail: Enforcement and Compliance Docket Information Center, Environmental 

Protection Agency, Mailcode: 2822T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC, 

20460, Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OECA-2011-0599. 

 Hand Delivery: Enforcement and Compliance Docket Information Center in the EPA 

Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West, Room B 3334, 1301 Constitution Avenue, NW, 

Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. 

to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number 

for the Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the telephone number for the Enforcement 

and Compliance Docket is (202) 566-1927. Such deliveries are only accepted during the 

Docket’s normal hours of operation, and special arrangements should be made for 

deliveries of boxed information. 

EPA’s policy is that all comments received will be included in the public docket without 

change and may be made available online at www.regulations.gov, including any personal 

information provided, unless the comment includes information claimed to be Confidential 

Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Do 

not submit information that you consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through 

www.regulations.gov. The www.regulations.gov website is an “anonymous access” system, 

which means EPA will not know your identity or contact information unless you provide it in the 

body of your comment. If you send an e-mail comment directly to EPA without going through 

www.regulations.gov, your e-mail address will be automatically captured and included as part of 

the comment that is placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you 

submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you include your name and other contact 

information in the body of your comment and with any disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA 

cannot read your comment due to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, 

EPA may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid the use of special 

characters, any form of encryption, and be free of any defects or viruses. For additional 

information about EPA’s public docket, visit the EPA Docket Center homepage at 

http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm. 

Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the www.regulations.gov index. Although 

listed in the index, some information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information for 

which disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as copyrighted material, 

will be publicly available only in hard copy. Publicly available docket materials are available 

either electronically at www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the Enforcement and Compliance 

Docket Information Center in the EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West, Room B 3334, 

1301 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center Public Reading 

Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. 
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The telephone number for the Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the telephone number for 

the Enforcement and Compliance Docket is (202) 566-1927. 

For Further Information Contact: Cari Shiffman, Office of Civil Enforcement, U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. (MC: 2249A), Washington, 

DC 20460; telephone: (202) 564-2898; fax: (202) 564-0022; e-mail: shiffman.cari@epa.gov. 

Thor Cutler, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10, 1200 Sixth Avenue (MC: OCE127) (12th Floor), Seattle, WA 98101; telephone: (206) 553-1673; fax: (206) 553-8509; e-mail: 

cutler.thor@epa.gov. 

A copy of the proposed order for the resolution of the SDWA violations is available for review 

and copying between the hours of 9:00 a.m-12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m., Monday through 

Friday, at EPA’s Seattle Office Library (1200 Sixth Avenue, Suite 900, Seattle, Washington 

98101) or upon request to Cari Shiffman (contact information listed above).