British Petroleum aka BP has done it again. BP is infamous for the blown out Macondo well which caused the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history when it spewed almost 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf in 2010. On Monday, July 19th, BP reported another oil spill from a ruptured pipeline in Alaska.

The oil spill took place at its 30,000 barrel-per-day Lisburne field, which has been currently closed for maintenance. It ruptured during testing and spilled a mixture of methanol and oily water onto the tundra. The rupture actually occurred on Sat., July 17th but BP waited 2 days to report it.

The Lisburne field has produced no oil since June 18, because the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission had suggested maintenance work to be done requiring a prolonged shutdown. This was due to many problems found. The spill amounted to about 2,100 to 4,200 gallons. This has affected 4,960 square feet of gravel pad and about 2,040 square feet of wet and aquatic tundra. Cleanup is currently underway and BP's spokesperson said they did not anticipate that the cleanup would take very long. Of course the pipeline will have to be dug up to conclude the investigation.

Many previous problems over the years has earned the company a very poor safety record. They are going to have to seriously address these issues if they want to continue doing business in the U.S. They have made many apologies and promises in the past. Hopefully the U.S. will take a stand against BP soon before more of it's wilderness, wildlife and coastal waters are contaminated and destroyed.