Dec 02, 2011
When Steve Marshall, then-president of BP Alaska, called Phil Dziubinski in 2007 and asked him to come to work as the company’s ethics and compliance officer, Dziubinski no doubt had no idea that it would lead to a federal courtroom, testifying as a whistleblower against his own company of 27 years. Or that he would ultimately find his own ethics under fire by a BP lawyer.
But then again, although Dziubinski had been with BP since 1980, he had never worked directly for one of the company’s big oil fields. Prior to Alaska, he had mostly stuck with refineries and chemical plants.
Too, he hadn't worked for the company when it was under siege for a series of violations that the United States government contends makes BP a "recidivist offender and repeated violator of environmental laws and regulations."
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Dziubinski’s job, he said Thursday as he testified at the federal court house in Anchorage, was to manage ethical issues and monitor employee concerns about safety and the integrity of the company’s North Slope operations. He was charged with setting up formal processes for company employees to complain about work and safety issues and gather all the concerns from past complaints.
The job, Dziubinski testified, was “somewhat chaotic.” But his job performance reviews were good, he said. He received bonuses on top of his $181,000 salary, the last of which was equal to about $100,000 in cash and stock options.
Dziubinski was fired in 2010 following an email he received from an employee who said there was a laundry list of problems at the Lisburne field, the site of the 2009 spill. The email said that the operation was in “unsafe condition”; that the problems “elevated overall risk” and that management did not adequately address the concerns. On the stand, Dziubinski could not point to specific issues with Lisburne that might have led to the 2009 spill. Rather, he said, it was the combination of all of the problems. The “underlying cause,” he said, was that the company lacks a “proactive” environmental program.
After Dziubinski was notified that he was being fired, he sent a letter to BP’s federal probation officer, various U.S. senators and Alaska’s Department of Law claiming "clear and convincing evidence that BP management lacks the capability to maintain the integrity of the North Slope production facilities."
Dziubinski said Thursday he was fired for his age and because the company was "retaliating" after he’d raised safety concerns. Various government bodies that Dziubinski filed claims with against BP, including the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, found his complaints unfounded. He eventually ended up settling with BP. The terms are unknown.
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But here’s what’s known for certain:
-- The Lisburne spill was discovered Nov. 29, 2009.
-- On Jan. 30, 2010, an employee sent out an email complaining about the facility. That email included a laundry list of issues that needed to be resolved at Lisburne.
-- Lisburne field management received the employee-generated email. According to testimony from BP, and from BP’s spokesman, the company acted promptly to resolve the safety issues, at least one of which was an OSHA violation.
-- Dziubinski received the email at the end of February 2010. He talked to various managers about it, some of whom acknowledged receiving the email and claimed to be addressing the concerns it raised.
-- In early March 2010, Dziubinski contacted the area manager Mikal Hauge about the email to find out what was being done. Dziubinski said Hauge told him that the problems at Lisburne were “systemic of overall conditions due to budget and resource constraints.”
-- Dziubinski was told March 15 that he would be fired effective June 30.
-- On April 3, Dziubinski sent the letter to the federal probation officer.
-- On April 21, Dziubinski was escorted by security guards out of the BP building.
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The hearing continues Friday.