"BP Says It Didn't Violate Probation in North Slope Spill"

"BP Monday pleaded not guilty to probation violations relating to its criminal conviction for a major North Slope oil spill in 2006.

If found guilty of the violations, BP could face maximum penalties of five years of additional probation and a $12 million fine, assistant U.S. attorney Aunnie Steward told a federal magistrate judge Monday in Anchorage.

Federal prosecutors say BP violated its probation when it spilled about 13,000 gallons of oil onto the tundra at the Lisburne oil field in 2009. The company's probation officer, Mary Frances Barnes, filed a petition to revoke probation in November.

The company has been on probation since it pleaded guilty to misdemeanor criminal violations of the federal Clean Water Act for its 2006 spill from a corroded and neglected pipeline at Prudhoe Bay, the nation's largest oil field."

Elizabeth Bluemink reports for the Anchorage Daily News December 21, 2010.