feds let BP off probation despite pending safety violation

[xchrom]

http://www.nationofchange.org/feds-let-bp-probation-despite-pending-safety-violations-1331650012

BP’s re­fin­ing sub­sidiary was re­leased today from crim­i­nal pro­ba­tion re­lated to a 2005 ex­plo­sion in Texas City that killed 15 work­ers.

The com­pany has ad­dressed the most se­ri­ous safety de­fi­cien­cies ex­posed by the ac­ci­dent and sat­is­fied the terms of a felony plea agree­ment to set­tle charges that it failed to pro­tect work­ers from known risks, a U.S. Jus­tice De­part­ment spokesman said.

The move closes a con­tro­ver­sial chap­ter for the com­pany, but it leaves an array of worker-safety is­sues un­re­solved. BP is still ne­go­ti­at­ing over more than 400 ad­di­tional vi­o­la­tions brought against its Texas City re­fin­ery sep­a­rately from the crim­i­nal case.

Fol­low­ing the ex­plo­sion, the U.S. Oc­cu­pa­tional Safety and Health Ad­min­is­tra­tion and BP reached a set­tle­ment re­quir­ing the com­pany to ad­dress safety is­sues at the re­fin­ery. Fix­ing those prob­lems be­came one of the Jus­tice De­part­ment’s con­di­tions for set­tling felony charges re­lat­ing to the ex­plo­sion and for end­ing the three-year pro­ba­tion pe­riod.