Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Putting out the BP Texas City fire in March 2005
Five years ago, a deadly explosion at a refinery in Texas landed BP on probation as part of a plea agreement it reached with the U.S. Department of Justice. That probation should now be revoked, argues an attorney representing some of the victims from 2005, following the explosion last month that killed 11 workers and sunk the Deepwater Horizon oil platform off the coast of Louisiana.
In a letter to District Court Judge Lee Rosenthal, attorney Brent Coon says BP violated the terms of its probation, which required the oil giant to maintain a better safety records at its petroleum operations. The deal also cost BP a $50 million fine.
In addition to losing nearly a dozen workers as a result of the April 20 blast on the Deepwater Horizon, BP was fined $87 million last year by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for failing to repair safety hazards at its Texas City refinery, where 15 died and 170 were injured on March 23, 2005.
A revocation of the probation could mean jail time for BP executives.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Judge Urged to Revoke BP Refinery Probation after Gulf Oil Spill (by Kristen Lombardi, Center for Public Integrity)
Letter to Judge Lee Rosenthal (Brent Coon and Associates) (pdf)
The Explosion at Texas City (by Daniel Schorn, 60 Minutes)
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