[Everett Herald :: Saturday December 6, 2025]
Had a citizen’s initiative survived a legal challenge it might have ensured BP paid full remediation.

BP’s Olympic Pipeline leaked near the Snohomish River recently, forcing a shutdown and emergency response (“BP’s Olympic Pipeline fully restarts after 2-week shutdown,” The Herald, Dec. 1). We don’t yet know the full extent of the damage, but restoring a watershed is difficult, expensive and slow; with wildlife and our waters carrying the burden.

On top of that, a judge struck down the watershed-rights law that our organization led in Everett, though an appeal is underway (“Judge invalidates legal rights for Snohomish River approved by voters,” The Herald, Nov. 24). Had the law survived, this spill would not just be news, it would be a legal liability for BP.

Much of the Olympic Pipeline dates back decades, with segments from the 1970s running through sloughs, tributaries and the Snohomish River. Maintaining, inspecting and replacing these aging pipes has a significant cost, but BP’s billions of dollars in revenue each year is more than enough to cover it. Prevention is fully within its power, but instead, the public and ecosystems pay the price for the company’s inaction.

The 2023 Conway spill from this same pipeline shows exactly what happens when companies such as BP are left to regulate themselves. Roughly 21,000 gallons of gasoline leaked into a ditch and into Bulson Creek, a Skagit River tributary. Only 7,000 gallons were recovered; the remaining 14,000 flowed into the watershed. BP was fined $3.8 million, yet that is far from enough to cover the devastation. Years later, remediation continues: soil excavation, cofferdam management, streambank restoration and replanting of vegetation. The cost of failure is massive, ongoing and borne by the public.

Rights-of-nature laws are not just symbolic; they can force real action. In Ecuador, courts compelled mining and oil companies to remediate polluted rivers. In Colombia, the Atrato River’s legal personhood forced government action against deforestation and illegal mining. In New Zealand, guardians representing the Whanganui River prevented projects that would harm water quality or habitat. These examples show that rivers with legal standing can compel prevention and restoration.

Here’s how it would work in Everett: If the watershed-rights law had remained in effect, residents, local organizations, and the City of Everett could take BP to court and compel full restoration after a spill. The company would be held legally accountable, and the court could assess damages sufficient to fund full restoration of the watershed to its condition before a spill. Funds from BP would flow to the city to hire contractors, support monitoring, and even reimburse the state Department of Ecology. Legal standing would ensure BP is responsible not just for fines, but for the actual restoration of the ecosystem itself, giving the community the power to defend its waters and compel real environmental accountability.

Profitable companies such as BP must be forced to fully internalize the cost of failure; voluntary maintenance, corporate goodwill and regulatory fines are not enough.

Rivers are living systems, not utilities or commodities, and until companies are held legally accountable, spills will continue to be treated as routine costs of doing business. Legal rights for rivers are not radical; they are essential. They provide communities the power to hold corporations accountable, protect ecosystems and ensure that prevention — not just cleanup — drives how we safeguard our waters and the life they sustain.

Abi Ludwig is a board member of Standing for Washington, which advocates for legal standing for ecosystems in the state. Email her at Abi@standingforwashington.org.

Original Article :: Comment: Latest BP pipeline spill proves why a river’s rights matter