BP Exploration, a part of the oil giant BP Amoco, yesterday agreed to pay $15.5 million for failing to immediately report the illegal disposal of hazardous materials at an oil field on Alaska’s North Slope. A BP contractor dumped thousands of gallons of toxic waste at the Endicott oil field between 1993 and 1995, one of the worst environmental crimes in the history of North Slope oil drilling. Separately, BP Amoco has been pressing for years to be able to drill in the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, claiming they could do so in an environmentally benign fashion (yeah, right).
