The Wall Street Journal: BP Response to Final CSB Report On Deadly Fire at Texas City Plant

March 20, 2007 12:53 p.m.

Following is the full text of a release from BP PLC in response to the final government report about a 2005 explosion at a BP plant in Texas City, Texas, that left 15 workers dead.

BP Products North America Inc. Statement on CSB Final Report

Release date: 20 March 2007

BP accepted responsibility for the March 23, 2005 explosion and fire at the Texas City refinery. We have apologized to those harmed. While we cannot change the past or repair all the damage this incident caused, we have worked diligently to provide fair compensation, without the need for lengthy court proceedings, to those who were injured and to the families of those who died.

On the recommendation of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), we created an independent panel, led by Former U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker, III to assess process safety management and safety culture at our US refineries. The independent panel undertook extensive investigations, and issued their report in January of this year. BP is implementing the recommendations in full.

We have completed and made public the results of our own investigation of the incident and, as CSB Chairman Merritt has publicly recognized, BP cooperated in an unprecedented way with the CSB investigation. BP voluntarily produced to CSB over 6,300,000 pages of documents, made over 300 witnesses available for CSB interviews, including some of its most senior executives and, importantly, agreed to form the independent panel.

Notwithstanding the company’s strong disagreement with some of the content of the CSB report, particularly many of the findings and conclusions, BP will give full and careful consideration to CSB’s recommendations, in conjunction with the many activities already underway to improve process safety management. BP and its employees are ready, willing and able to achieve the goal of becoming an industry leader in process safety management.

In the two years since the accident, BP has taken significant steps to identify and address the causes of the March 23, 2005 Texas City explosion in order to reduce risk and improve process safety management and performance at its five US Refineries. This effort continues. BP is committed to preventing such a tragedy from occurring again.

 

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