PRUDHOE BAY, Alaska, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- BP reported a second pipeline leak while battling an earlier oil spill on the North Slope in Alaska, officials said Thursday.
The new spill, which was discovered and reported Wednesday, came from a 6-inch pipeline carrying what is known as produced water, which is pumped from wells and separated from the crude oil, the Anchorage Daily News reported. BP said about 7,000 gallons spilled, with much of it trapped in a building.
The company is still cleaning up a spill found Sunday, the newspaper said. Steve Rinehart, a spokesman for BP Exploration (Alaska), said there were still many unknowns, including the cause of the spill and how much oil leaked to the tundra.
A unified command team including representatives from BP, state and national environmental agencies and the North Slope Borough was formed to deal with the spill, said Weld Royal, a spokeswoman for the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.
BP is still on probation after pleading guilty in 2007 to violations of the Clean Water Act and paying $20 million in fines and restitution. That involved a 200,000-gallon spill of oil from a corroded pipe in 2006.
