BP settles mess they made in Alaska five years ago for 25 million bucks.

The fucks at BP have cut their losses and paid what many will think is a hefty fine for being cheap bastards and refusing to keep the AK pipeline in decent working order. From the WSJ:

On Tuesday, the company agreed to pay a $25 million fine and bolster its Alaska pipeline network as part of a settlement with the U.S. government over two major oil spills in 2006 in Alaska’s North Slope. The settlement is likely to end a 2009 civil lawsuit the Justice Department filed against BP’s Alaska oil-exploration. Click here for the WSJ story; here for the Bloomberg story; here for the NYT story.

The Justice Department said the penalty is the largest per-barrel penalty to date for an oil spill. The fine amounts to nearly $5,000 per barrel.

Of course the DOJ is gonna paint this as a huge deal and lots of money. But it's not. Not when you consider how much money BP saved by letting the AK pipeline rot and spew hundreds of gallons of crude on once pristine land instead of paying workers to keep it in good working condition. 

As I said here and here years ago...they knew the pipes were bad and corroding, they knew they were gonna blow and what they were doing was playing the odds like they always do..and they seem to have won in my humble yet vocal pov. Lets remember what type of land this pipeline crosses, shall we, from the CSM:

"It crosses more than 800 rivers and streams, three mountain ranges, and three major active faults. Three-quarters of it traverses fragile permafrost. It is built in zigzag fashion to allow for expansion and contraction during temperature changes as well as movement from possible earthquakes."

 Yes, I have a case of the ass against BP...for lots and lots of reasons..a total of 25 dead Americans for starters, and all the land, sea and animals they have fucked up over the years whilst they make billions and billions of bucks.