The Associated Press
British oil company BP PLC confirmed June 8 it had received a subpoena from a U.S. grand jury investigating a massive oil leak in Alaska.
BP blamed the incident at Prudhoe Bay field in March, the largest ever spill on Alaska’s North Slope region, on a small hole caused by corrosion in a pipeline.
“We are fully cooperating with the investigation and we are carrying out our own investigation into what caused the corrosion,” BP London-based spokesman David Nicholas said. “We believe that our actions were at all times proper.”
Up to 267,000 gallons were believed to have spilled onto the frozen ground from a 34-inch diameter pipeline in the tundra about 250 miles above the Arctic Circle.
The arctic-grade carbon-steel pipe, which leads eventually to the trans-Alaska pipeline, lies above ground but is covered by a layer of gravel, as well as the snow.
BP discovered and plugged the leak on March 2.
A report prepared by a team of BP and state investigators found that a pipeline leak-detection system sounded warnings on four straight days in the week leading up to the spill, but field workers interpreted the signals as false alarms.
The report said that the leak went on undetected for at least five days “and probably much longer.”
A grand jury investigation could lead to criminal charges and ultimately fines and prison sentences.
BP is already facing a probe and victims’ lawsuits over a March 2005 explosion at its plant in Texas City, Texas, that killed 15 people. The company was fined $21.3 million by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for 300 violations.
OSHA said earlier this year the investigation had been referred to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution. Justice officials have so far declined to comment.
The biggest ever spill in the Alaskan region was the 1989 Exxon Valdez shipping disaster that leaked 11 million gallons of oil onto the Alaskan coast.
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
