I wonder if this investigation is why gas prices are coming down?
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...P258Q&refer=uk
BP Oil Pipeline Failures Show Need for Oversight, Lawmakers Say
By Jim Efstathiou Jr. and Tina Seeley
Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc, the world's third-biggest oil company, neglected its Prudhoe Bay oil pipelines for years and may have suppressed worker complaints, U.S. lawmakers said today.
The resulting leaks and the partial shutdown of the field hurt the U.S. economy by boosting oil prices, Representative Joe Barton, the Republican chairman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, said today as BP officials appeared at a hearing. BP's failures are ``staggering,'' said Representative John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, and he called for tighter pipeline regulation.
Robert Malone, head of BP America Inc., told a hearing of the investigations subcommittee of the energy panel that the company had ``stumbled'' in the past year and failed to meet its environmental and safety goals. He said BP will create a board of corrosion experts to recommend better pipeline practices.
``We have fallen short of the high standards we hold for ourselves and the expectations that others have for us,'' Malone, said in prepared testimony for the hearing.
The subcommittee is examining why BP didn't catch corrosion that led to the largest-ever oil spill on Alaska's North Slope and the loss, since early last month, of about half the output of Prudhoe Bay, the largest U.S. oil field. The company also faces criticism for an explosion at a Texas refinery that killed 15 workers and allegations its traders manipulated energy markets.
``BP runs the risk of becoming the poster child for big oil,'' said David Pursell, an oil analyst with Pickering Energy Partners in Houston. The hearing shows that ``everybody's going to get a swipe at the BP piñata,'' he said.
`Chilling Atmosphere'
BP made it hard for its workers in Alaska to report their concerns, Representative Bart Stupak, a Michigan Democrat, said at today's hearing.
The company ``apparently created a chilling atmosphere for workers to report health and safety issues,'' Stupak said. He also said he has questions about ``what budget pressures were placed on the corrosion monitoring group at BP.''
BP said earlier this week that it hired a former federal judge, Stanley Sporkin, to serve as an ombudsman who could field any employee allegations of wrongdoing raised by the company's U.S. employees.
Richard Woollam, the former head of corrosion inspection for BP in Alaska, was called to testify today and declined, citing his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination.
``When you see an individual take the fifth, it means he does not want to testify under oath, and that should concern all of us,'' said Representative Cliff Stearns, a Florida Republican.



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