In Alaska nobody is surprised that BP's shoddy safety practices resulted in this mishap.

From the Alaska Dispatch:

Compared to the Gulf, the Alaska spills -- in March and August 2006 --were far smaller, occurred on land and were contained within days. Corroded pipelines have since been replaced, but three years later the consequences of the spills linger, spreading from northern Alaska to the halls of justice hundreds of miles away in Anchorage.

In fall 2007, BP pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act and was hit with a $20 million fine and agreed to be placed on three years probation, with an option for early release if it demonstrated significant progress making improvements to its problem pipes and oversight programs. More than a year and half later, in March 2009, the feds went a step further and the Justice Department, acting on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency, sued BP for a string of violations in connection with the spills.

At stake for BP are tens of millions of dollars in alleged federal violations -- fines sought in addition to those BP already agreed to pay in resolving its criminal case. The month before BP's guilty plea, an EPA investigation uncovered numerous problems with BP's operational practices at Prudhoe Bay, according to the Justice Department's complaint filed in Anchorage's federal court. In addition to leaking oil into the environment, the company failed to implement an acceptable spill-prevention and control plan and was delinquent in repairing pipelines it was under federal orders to fix, according to court filings.

It should come as a surprise to no one that BP is using it's vast legal department to fight this every step of the way.