ABSTRACT
On April 1, 1999, British Petroleum (BP) Amoco, Britain’s number one company, announced its intention to take over Atlantic Richfield Co. (ARCO), the American oil giant that made its name and fortune from three decades of exploitation of Alaska’s North Slope. The newly merged BP Amoco-ARCO giant would control 74% of North Slope oil fields and 72% of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System, which snakes its way south through 800 miles of unforgiving terrain. To neutralize criticism, BP Amoco dipped into its enormous PR budget and bombarded Alaskans with wholesome television ads extolling the local benefits of “downsizing” operational costs and ‘upsizing’ shareholder dividends and boardroom bonuses. The whistleblowers provided the government with evidence about major compliance failures, illegalities and mismanagement. In 1990, the state Oil Spill Commission was formed after the Exxon Valdez spill of 11 million gallons in Prince William Sound.
