Who are the goldhats at BP and Halliburton?

[texastoast]

In 1989, the head of Exxon Shipping was Frank Iarossi. He made the cover of several magazines. I recall that one of them bore his picture and the headline "Bearing a Nation's Wrath" after the Valdez spill.

Do we still have wrath in this country for such a preventable disaster? Exxon could have prevented the Valdez on two fronts: (1) double hulling the vessel, and (2) firing the known drunk captain, Joe Hazelwood.

[spanone]

1. i haven't seen any face or name we can attach to bp....

[Xipe Totec]

2. Don't think this is the first BP MFU

BP's Texas City Refinery in Texas City, Texas is the second-largest oil refinery in the state and the third-largest in the United States. BP acquired the Texas City refinery as part of its merger with Amoco in 1998. It has an input capacity of 437,000 barrels per day (18,354,000 gallons or 69,477,448 litres) as of January 1, 2005.

A major explosion occurred in an isomerization unit at the site on March 23, 2005, killing 15 workers and injuring more than 170 others. According to a report issued after the accident, actions taken or not taken led to overfilling the raffinate splitter with liquid, overheating of the liquid and the subsequent overpressurisation and pressure relief. Hydrocarbon flow to the blowdown drum and stack overwhelmed it, resulting in liquids carrying over out of the top of the stack, flowing down the stack, accumulating on the ground, causing a vapor cloud, which was ignited by an abandoned white pickup truck with the ignition on. The report identified numerous failings in equipment, risk management, staff management, working culture at the site, maintenance and inspection and general health and safety assessments.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_Refinery_(BP)

[texastoast]

4. And BP cares so much and learns its lessons well

Not.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/31/business/31labor.html?_r=1

BP to Challenge Fine for Refinery Blast Sign in to Recommend

Published: October 30, 2009

The oil giant BP said on Friday that it would challenge a record $87.4 million fine imposed for what regulators said was the company’s failure to correct problems after a 2005 explosion killed 15 workers at a refinery in Texas City, Tex.

...

Officials at OSHA, which is part of the Labor Department, said the 709 violations included a failure to perform a promised study of pressure relief devices, which help prevent a buildup of undue pressure of hydrocarbons, and a failure to meet industry standards for safety instrument systems to shut down hazardous processes automatically.

Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis said on Friday that BP had allowed hundreds of potential hazards to continue even though it had signed a settlement in 2005 agreeing to take broad action to protect employees.

[kiers]

3. finally an excellent explanaation of how they drill here

http://www.pe.tamu.edu/schubert/public_html/Pemex%20Offshore%20Drilling/

and here:

http://www.pe.tamu.edu/schubert/public_html/Blowout/


NO HELP FROM OUR NATIONAL MSM YET, ON A NATIONAL ISSUE.

IMAGINE HOW THEY DO ON FOREIGN NEWS?!!!!!!!

[texastoast]

5. I hate oil companies

Filthy, greenwashing, greed-mongering assholes. Hate them.