Houston Chronicle Oct. 27, 2006, 10:38AM TV show confirms warnings given BP 60 Minutes examines blast in Texas City By MIKE MCDANIEL Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle A segment to air Sunday on 60 Minutes confirms reporting by the Houston Chronicle that BP executives knew there were serious safety concerns about the company's Texas City refinery in advance of the 2005 explosion that killed 15 and injured scores more. The basis of CBS reporter Ed Bradley's story is an examination of BP internal documents that show that John Manzoni, BP executive in charge of refineries, was repeatedly warned about safety problems. Brent Coon, a lawyer representing the daughter of a couple killed in the blast, said Thursday the documents show that plant manager Don Parus "personally briefed" Manzoni and BP Vice President of Refining Mike Hoffman "on numerous occasions about the state of the union at Texas City." Indeed, evidence gathered so far in a federal investigation as well as in civil litigation shows that Parus and other plant officials were well aware of the safety risk in Texas City. A survey of employees conducted by an outside consultant and given to management two months before the blast showed that workers believed management put production and profits ahead of safety. And the Chronicle reported earlier this year that three weeks before the blast, BP officials circulated a planning document for 2005 that lamented safety shortfalls and identified the following "key risk" for the year: "TCS (Texas City site) kills someone in the next 12-18 months." Bradley interviews Carolyn Merritt, appointed by President Bush to be chairman of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, who says BP management knew enough about the problems to have prevented the disaster. "Absolutely," Merritt says when asked whether the blast was preventable. "The problems that existed at BP Texas City were neither momentary nor superficial. They ran deep through that operation of a risk denial and a risk blindness that was not being addressed anywhere in the organization." Merritt adds that she believes budget cuts at the facility were directly related to the accident. Her report is expected to be released next spring. 60 Minutes says BP declined to be interviewed on camera but gave Bradley a tour of the Texas City facility and referred to its own report, which concluded there "was no evidence of anyone consciously or intentionally taking actions or decisions that put others at risk." The segment comes a little more than a week before jury selection is expected to begin in Galveston County in Coon's case, the first civil trial stemming from the accident. Chronicle reporter Anne Belli contributed to this story. mike.mcdaniel@chron.com |