VitalAccurateThinking

BP to settle lawsuits

BP is doing the only thing it can do with the Texas City Refinery lawsuits: settle. They are right to do so. They will lose in the end if they do not after a protracted legal fight. Just ask Phillips Petroleum and the lawsuits after the 1989 explosion a the Houston Chemical Complex (now named the Pasadena Chemical Complex). They settle a lot, but challenged a few and lost most of them. BP was negligent and knows it. Of course, the Houston Chronicle can't even bother to get the cause of the incident right:

The Texas City blast occurred when faulty sensors did not warn of gathering vapors near a unit that boosts the level of octane in gasoline. The vapors ignited as the unit was starting up.

Um. No. It was not faulty sensors. The blast occurred because the unit was being started up by incompetent people not paying attention their business. The unit's design was poor and hazardous and the company knew it. Flammable Liquid and vapors overflowed an atmospheric vessel and found an ignition source killing 15 people.

posted by Jim VAT @ 6:04 PM