ATP Infrastructure Partners LP Fined $1 Million for Unlawful Oil Discharges

ATP Infrastructure Partners LP (ATP-IP) has agreed to pay a $1 million civil penalty and implement corrective measures to resolve claims under the Clean Water Act and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) for unauthorized discharges of oil and chemicals from an oil platform into the Gulf of Mexico, according to a settlement agreement with the United States.

Under the agreement, ATP-IP will conduct enhanced reporting to address safety and environmental concerns. The Clean Water Act and OCSLA claims against ATP Oil & Gas Corporation (ATP) are not part of this settlement with ATP-IP and remain pending before the district court for future resolution.

The United States’ complaint, filed in February 2013 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, alleged that oil and an unauthorized chemical dispersant were discharged into the Gulf of Mexico from ATP-IP’s oil and gas production platform known as the ATP Innovator.

A Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement inspection of the ATP Innovator in 2012 revealed alleged unlawful discharges of oil and a piping configuration that routed an unpermitted chemical dispersant into the facility’s wastewater discharge pipe to mask excess oil being discharged into the ocean.

“The Justice Department is committed to protecting public health and marine ecosystems like the Gulf from unlawful and unsafe practices,” said Sam Hirsch, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.

“Discharging oil illegally can foul water, harm wildlife and is unfair to companies that follow the law. It is our obligation to protect local communities and companies playing by the rules,” said Cynthia Giles, Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.

The penalty paid for these violations will be deposited in the federal Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, which is used to respond to oil spills and provide compensation to those affected by them.

The ATP Innovator was operating in the Mississippi Canyon, approximately 45 nautical miles offshore of southeastern Louisiana, until it was removed from the deepwater production site earlier this year and towed to port in Corpus Christi.

The United States filed suit against ATP and ATP-IP seeking Clean Water Act penalties and corrective measures under the Clean Water Act and OCSLA. ATP-IP’s motion to dismiss the claims against it and a related motion for appeal were both denied by the court in 2013.