BP agrees to pay Texas $50 million for pollution

HOUSTON (Reuters) - BP Plc's U.S. subsidiary has agreed to pay $50 million in civil penalties to the state of Texas for pollution from its Texas City refinery, including the deadly March 2005 explosion, state Attorney General Greg Abbott said on Thursday.

BP to sell Texas City refinery

Beaumont Enterprise

BP announced Tuesday it plans to sell its Texas City and Carson, Calif. refineries, cutting its U.S. refining capacity in half.

Beaumont attorney Brent Coon, who represented plaintiffs in a lawsuit against BP after the company's 2005 Texas City refinery explosion, said it's not clear how the facility's ongoing probation status under a federal criminal settlement will impact the sale.

BP to divest half its U.S. refining capacity

Reuters

BP Plc put half its U.S. refining assets up for sale on Tuesday, including the huge Texas City plant, a potentially prize asset but one that carries the stigma of a 2005 blast that killed 15 workers.

Half-Baked Justice? Corporate Prosecutions Are All Over the Map

Law.com

The initials BP are by now a household word. It is a name that in the public mind at least has become synonymous with longtime legal, environmental, and safety issues.

DOJ Refuses to Revoke BP's Probation Over Safety Violations at Texas City Refinery

Truthout.org

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has refused to pursue a probation revocation case against BP after the company was found to have violated a federal judge's March 2009 felony judgment, which required BP to fulfill the terms of a settlement agreement it entered into with government regulators five years ago to make certain safety upgrades at its Texas City refinery by September 2009, according to documents obtained by Truthout.

BP’s Probation Over Fatal Texas Blast Won’t Be Revoked by U.S.

Businessweek

BP Plc’s probation for violating a plea deal that resolved the company’s criminal liability for a fatal 2005 explosion at its Texas City, Texas, refinery won’t be revoked by the U.S. Justice Department.

BP gets a break over its 2005 case

Houston Chronicle

The U.S. Department of Justice will not seek to revoke BP's criminal probation for allegedly failing to make safety upgrades at its Texas City refinery following a deadly 2005 explosion, despite pleas from victims' families to reopen the case.

Texas BP Lawsuit Hardly a Harbinger of Change

TruthOut.org

Overshadowed by the explosion on Deepwater Horizon and the subsequent hemorrhaging of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, water pollution was only one of tragedies that marred April 2010. From April 6 to May 16, BP poured over 500,000 pounds of contaminants into the air.

BP Not in Compliance

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Beleaguered BP Texas City Refinery Faces Two Lawsuits

Texas Tribune

On April 6, 2010, the Ultracracker unit at BP's Texas City refinery malfunctioned. What blipped onto a DowJones newswire as an “upset” a few days later was, in reality, progressing into one of the largest chemical emissions events the state has ever seen.