New BP Oil Spill, This Time in Alaska

Ruptured pipeline leaks as much as 4,200 gallons
By M Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 18, 2011 6:19 AM CDT
New BP Oil Spill, This Time in Alaska
A worker uses a rope mop to clean up oil in tundra grass from a 2006 oil leak at the Prudhoe Bay oil field on Alaska's North Slope.   (AP Photo/Al Grillo, file)

A burst pipeline in Alaska has prompted BP's latest US spill, with a mixture of methanol, crude oil, and water leaking onto the tundra on Saturday, the company announced. The spill—somewhere between 2,100 and 4,200 gallons—happened during a pressure test and is currently being cleaned up, said a BP rep; the cause of the rupture will be investigated “in due course.”

The leaking mixture threatens local vegetation, an Alaska official tells Reuters. “You have actively growing plants and they're very susceptible to the contaminants.” It’s just the latest of many such leaks in Alaska, and comes days after BP pledged safer practices. (More BP oil spill stories.)

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