Alaska:Lawsuit Filed Against Oil Co's-Inlet Protect

[The.Greenbase@gb.greenpeace.org]

 >> ALASKAN ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS FILE LAWSUIT AGAINST 


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                    GREENPEACE PRESS RELEASE
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 >> ALASKAN ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS FILE LAWSUIT AGAINST 
   THREE OIL GIANTS TO PROTECT COOK INLET WATER QUALITY   
 
ANKORAGE, Alaska March 1, 1995 (GP)  Alaska-based environmental
groups announced that they are filing a lawsuit against three oil
companies which are illegally polluting Cook Inlet.  Over the
past eight years, Union Oil Company of California (Unocal),
Marathon Oil Company, and Shell Western Exploration and
Production have committed thousands of violations of the Federal
Clean Water Act.  The companies have continually dumped
petrochemical wastes, sewage and other toxic compounds into the
Inlet in excess of legal limits.
 
Greenpeace and the Alaska Center for the Environment, represented
by Trustees for Alaska, a non-profit environmental law firm in
Anchorage, filed suit on February 27 in federal court under the
"citizen's suit" provision of the Clean Water Act. The companies
have violated provisions of their permit, called a National
Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, issued by
the EPA under the Clean Water Act.
 
The Clean Water Act, passed by Congress in 1972, requires
polluters to operate under a permit system designed to minimize
environmental harm.   
 
EPA announced on February 21 that they are pursuing $1.5 million
in fines against Unocal, Marathon, Shell, and Phillips Petroleum
for 827 alleged violations of the companies' Clean Water Act
permits.  EPA's action follows the announcement made by
Greenpeace, Trustees for Alaska, and Alaska Center for the
Environment on November 4, 1994 of their intent to sue the
companies after the groups' discovery of 4,200 violations.  EPA
issued penalties for
less than one-fourth of the violations known to the environmental
groups and did not seek maximum penalties.
 
"We believe that EPA's enforcement action is weak compared with
the gravity of the oil companies' offenses to the health of Cook
Inlet and communities dependent on clean water for sustainable
subsistence and commercial fishing," said Pamela Miller, staff
biologist with Greenpeace Alaska.  
 
Despite the oil and gas industry's toxic record in Alaska, oil
and gas lease sales are proceeding. This Friday, hearings on
Lease Sale #149 will begin. The area slated to be opened for oil
and gas exploration include lower Cook Inlet and Shelikof Straits
which are still recovering from the Exxon Valdez oil spill (March
1989).                                 
 
ENDS
 
Contacts:   Pamela Miller, Greenpeace, (907) 277-8234
            Stephen Koteff or Peter Van Tuyn, Trustees for        
            Alaska, (907) 276-4244