Safety official blames years of cost-cutting, lack of strong oversight
Years of cost-cutting, operator mistakes and a corporate culture that didn't make safety a top priority contributed to the deadly March 2005 accident at BP's Texas City refinery, a top federal investigator said Monday.
The "ineffective or nonexistent" oversight of safety by the British oil company's board of directors also played a direct role, said Carolyn Merritt, chairwoman and CEO of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board.
"Somebody has to be asking the question: 'What is happening, and is this being done?' " Merritt told the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association's annual meeting in San Antonio. Yet those questions were rarely asked, she said.
Merritt told the industry crowd that she wanted refiners and petrochemical companies to learn from the Texas City case, suggesting they could be facing more government oversight if they do not do more to prevent accidents.
"Performance is what's going to prevent over-regulation," she said.
The speech offered a preview of the report the Chemical Safety Board plans to release today in Houston. This study addresses problems that contributed to BP's Texas City refinery explosion, which killed 15 and injured scores more.
Among its findings: BP failed to investigate repeated warnings of trouble at the facility, slashed costs without taking into account the impact on safety and did not adequately train workers or communicate safety expectations and procedures, Merritt said.
The themes in the report, which is the product of nearly two years of work, closely hew to those found in a January report by an independent panel headed by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III. That panel was assembled at the Chemical Safety Board's urging.
Alvaro Baltran, who works for Grace Davison, an industry supplier, said it's good to hear the ideas again.
"It's very important to hear speeches like this to remind us of the risks in this business," he said after Merritt's remarks.
When asked about the Chemical Saftey Board report, BP spokesman Neil Chapman said the company would not comment until it is made public. BP conducted its own study of the Texas City accident, and is now implementing recommendations made by the Baker panel. It is spending more than $1 billion to upgrade the refinery, which has been running at half its capacity since being shut down for Hurricane Rita in September 2005.
The speech comes at a time when the petroleum industry is trying to fend off attempts by lawmakers in Washington to increase regulation or roll back favorable provisions in the 2005 Energy Act.
A new Democratic majority in Congress is proposing a range of legislation the industry views as threatening, including cutting incentives that encourage refinery expansions. In addition, the Bush administration has a goal to vastly increase production of alternative fuels such as ethanol, a measure that could add costs for refiners.
The fear that such proposals could become law was on the minds of refining industry leaders, who had a call to action of their own.
"We simply have too much at stake to sit on the sidelines and let others dictate the future of our industry and of our nation," Jim Mahoney, chairman of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, said.
"We believe, in our heart, we have to act now or we're going to get regulated," John Rice, vice chairman of General Electric, said in referring to legislation he sees as all but inevitable to reduce carbon emissions by U.S. corporations.
Merritt said her agency is not trying to burden the industry. She said it just wants to reduce the number of deaths and injuries in the refining and petrochemical industries, and believes the cooperation shown by BP in preparing the agency's Texas City report can help.
