THE LARGEST CIVIL PENALTY SETTLEMENT IN THE BLM'S HISTORY WAS ANNOUNCED YESTERDAY. THE 2 POINT 1 MILLION DOLLAR SETTLEMENT BY BERRY PETROLEUM resolvES a dispute over oil production facilities on Federal and Indian lands. AN investigation by the BLM and the DOI uncovered that from 2005 TO 2007, an employee of Berry Petroleum Co. had installed disabled "equalizer valves" on 154 well sites in the Brundage Canyon area of Utah AND prepared 140 INCORRECT diagrams showING the equalizer valves would be sealed closed. senior management of Berry Petroleum DID NOT knOw the valves were disabled or that the diagrams were incorrect, the company HAS replaced the disabled valves with THE PROPER functioning valves. There HAS BEEN NO loss of oil or of royalty revenue, or harm to the environment. The BLM continues to step up its enforcement of oil and natural gas production activities. In 2010, the BLM boosted the number of completed inspections of oil and gas production operations to 31,573 from 29,600 in 2009.
