EPA
Launches Probe Into Pioneer Drilling -Sources
Dow Jones News Service via Dow Jones
By Jim Carlton
Of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones)--The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency has
launched a criminal investigation into allegations that a drilling crew for
Pioneer Drilling Co. (PDC) intentionally dumped as many as 2,000 gallons
of
contaminated mud into the ice of Alaska's Beaufort Sea in 2003, according
to
people who have been contacted by the agency.
EPA officials wouldn't say whether an investigation
is taking place, and its
current status is unclear. But an official of the Alaska Department of
Environmental Conservation said the EPA had notified the department that
a
criminal investigation is under way. Charles Hamel, an oil-industry critic
from
Alexandria, Va., also said he has spoken with EPA investigators.
(This story and related background material will
be available on The Wall
Street Journal Web site, WSJ.com.)
Hamel said he first alerted the EPA in June about
the alleged incident after
hearing about it from four workers on the rig where the incident allegedly
occurred on March 27, 2003. In interviews, two of the workers said they
witnessed the dumping, which involved mud from drilling that was contaminated
with hazardous materials.
The rig was operated by Nabors Industries Ltd.
(NBR), a Barbados-based firm,
on behalf of Pioneer, which is based in San Antonio. Nabors was also a
contractor for BP PLC (PLC) when both companies were accused by Alaska
investigators of failing to report two blowouts at Nabors-operated rigs at
the
state's giant Prudhoe Bay field in 2003 and 2004. BP officials, who
characterized the blowouts as less severe "kicks" of fluids, have accepted
responsibility for the violations and are working on a plan to improve well
monitoring, Alaska investigators say.
A Nabors spokesman didn't return calls. But Pioneer
officials said the spill
was an accident, and that all the drilling muds were cleaned up from a
containment area they fell into. The company denied any deliberate wrongdoing,
and said it isn't aware of an EPA investigation.
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation
investigated that spill
shortly after the incident, and also found no evidence of drilling muds having
left the drilling area, according to the person at the department. If verified,
this person said, the case would mark the first time an oil company had been
documented to have deliberately disposed of hazardous materials on Alaska's
North Slope.
It could also raise questions about the environmental
safety of oil-industry
practices in Alaska, as the U.S. Congress once again is set to decide in
a few
weeks whether to allow drilling for a huge pool of oil that is believed to
lie
underneath the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The 2003 spill took place on a man-made ice island
called Oooguruk in the
Beaufort Sea, where Alaska state investigators say Nabors was conducting
exploratory drilling on behalf of Pioneer. Hamel on Monday sent a letter
to Sen.
Pete Domenici, chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, asking that his
committee tighten oversight over Arctic ice drilling, a controversial practice
in Alaska. A spokesman for the New Mexico Republican did not have an immediate
comment.
-By Jim Carlton, The Wall Street Journal; 415-765-6123
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
10-18-05 1804ET
Copyright (c) 2005 Dow Jones &Company, Inc.