Ingham County 30th Circuit Court Judge James R. Giddings has affirmed actions taken by the Department of Environmental Quality to collect $869,150 in environmental penalties from BP Products North America.

The Court's ruling supports the DEQ's assessment of compliance penalties against BP for its failure to submit reports relating to cleanup of soil and groundwater that resulted from releases of gasoline from underground storage tanks (UST) at eight formerly owned BP stations throughout Michigan.  The Court ruling also reaffirms the importance of submitting required reports that document cleanup actions taken at leaking UST sites to the DEQ.

BP has reported petroleum releases from UST systems at more than 200 former gasoline stations which BP owned and operated in Michigan.

With nearly half of Michigan's population relying on groundwater for their drinking water source, contamination from leaking UST sites remains a significant problem for the state.  Michigan ranks third in the nation, behind Florida and California, for the highest number of releases from UST sites yet to be cleaned up, with more than 9,000 currently known.

Editor's note:  DEQ news releases are available on the department's Internet home page at www.michigan.gov/deq.

"Protecting Michigan's Environment, Ensuring Michigan's Future"