Offshore Oil Platform Owner to Improve Safety and Operations Following Unauthorized Oil Discharges
BSEE and EPA Secure a Settlement
According to a report from the BSEE, ATP Infrastructure Partners LP (ATP-IP) will pay a $1 million civil penalty and perform corrective measures to resolve claims by the U.S. under the Clean Water Act and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) of unauthorized discharges of oil and chemicals from an oil platform into the Gulf of Mexico. This is the first join judicial enforcement action involving BSEE and EPA claims in response to alleged violations of both the Clean Water Act and OCSLA.
The United States’ complaint alleges that oil and an unauthorized chemical dispersant were discharged into the Gulf of Mexico from ATP-IP’s oil and gas production platform known as the ATP Innovator. A BSEE inspection revealed alleged unlawful discharges of oil and a piping configuration that routed an unpermitted chemical dispersant into the facility’s wastewater discharge pipe to mask excess oil being discharged into the ocean. ATP-IP will conduct enhanced reporting to address safety and environmental concerns.
“The Justice Department is committed to protecting public health and marine ecosystems like the Gulf from unlawful and unsafe practices,” said Sam Hirsch, acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “This joint enforcement action demonstrates our resolve to hold non-operating owners of oil production facilities and their operators accountable for unlawful discharges from their facilities, and will result in important steps to help prevent future unlawful discharges of oil and chemicals from the ATP facility.”