A BP employee who worked on the Gulf oil spill cleanup is suing the company, claiming he was fired for refusing to alter data so BP could claim the cleanup phase was completed.

 

August Walter worked in BP’s Gulf Coast Restoration Organization, helping to develop a plan to carry out the cleanup of oil caused by the spill in April 2010. Because BP shared cleanup responsibilities with the U.S. Coast Guard, it needed the Coast Guard’s approval to declare the cleanup complete. But the Coast Guard relied on data provided by BP. That’s where the trouble began, according to Walter, who had previously worked as emergency preparedness manager for the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

 

Walter says the company refused to follow established guidelines for the cleanup, and ordered him to “misrepresent clean-up data to get approval” from the Coast Guard. He was concerned with inadequate cleanup in Mississippi, where certain areas needed to be recleaned, in particular a nesting area for eagles. Walter claims that BP, in its rush for approval, ignored the need to clear smaller oiled debris on beaches.

 

According to Walter, on November 3, 2011, Carla Fontenot, vice president of Operations for BP's Gulf Coast Restoration Organization, told him BP needed his cooperation because “it would have an upward impact on BP stock prices.”

 

Four days later, BP Operations Section Chief Mike Harrison rejected Walter’s presentation of data. The next day, Walter was placed on administrative leave and on December 9 he was fired. Walter claims that he should have protected from termination by Louisiana’s Environmental Whistleblower Act and he wants a trial by jury.

-David Wallechinsky, Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Whistleblower Says BP Fired Him for Refusing To Skew Cleanup Data (by Sabrina Canfield, Courthouse News Service)

Fired BP Worker Files Whistleblower Suit (by David Hammer, New Orleans Times-Picayune)