US EPA extends BP contract ban

摘要

US environment agency the EPA is extending indefinitely its ban on BP win-ning new federal upstream leases or obtaining other government contracts, prompting the UK government to inter-vene on the firm’s behalf. The EPA has told BP that it is con-tinuing a suspension first imposed last year, after the company pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster (WPA, 30 November 2012, p5). EPA suspension and debarment official Richard Pelletier also points to the fatal Texas City refinery explosion in 2005 and a pair of oil pipe-line spills on Alaska’s North Slope in 2006 in explaining the EPA’s rationale.