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BP Hit with Largest-Ever OSHA Fine of $87 Million |
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Labor Secretary Hilda Solis announced today the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has levied the largest fine in its history—$87.4 million—against BP for failing to correct safety problems identified after a 2005 explosion that killed 15 workers at its Texas City, Texas, refinery.
In a telephone press conference this morning, Solis said the fines are the result of BP’s failure to comply in hundreds of instances with a 2005 agreement to fix safety hazards at the refinery.
Solis said the fines represent the Obama Labor Department’s commitment to maintain safe workplaces:
Let me be clear. This administration will not tolerate disregard of our laws. Employers have a legal and moral responsibility to protect their workers who ultimately are America’s most important assets. The laws are designed to level the playing field for all businesses and ensure that workers in any economic climate are kept out of harm’s way.
OSHA has issued 271 notifications to BP for failing to correct hazards at the Texas City refinery since the explosion. The agency also identified 439 “willful and egregious” violations of safety controls at the refinery.
Wayne Ranick, a spokesman for the United Steelworkers (USW), which represents the BP workers, says the union has not yet read the citation, but “we have faith in OSHA.”
In the past we have offered to work with the company to address safety concerns and that offer still stands.
BP management initially tried to blame the workers for the explosion, but evidence collected in investigations by OSHA and the U.S. Chemical Safety Board forced the company to acknowledge it operated dangerous, obsolete equipment with a history of problems and malfunctioning control valves. Instead of venting flammable liquids to a flair, they were vented into the atmosphere, where they overflowed and exploded—even though OSHA had warned the company years before that the equipment was dangerous and should be replaced.
In addition to killing 15 people, the explosion injured 170 workers and obliterated 13 employee trailers and damaged 13 others, some as far as 300 yards away.
Jordan Barab, acting assistant secretary for OSHA, said the safety problems at BP are systemic.
There are some serious systemic safety problems within the corporation, specifically within this refinery as well. I think that just the fact that there still are so many life-threatening problems indicates they have a systemic safety problem at this refinery.
BP already has pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the explosion and agreed to pay $50 million, the largest criminal fine ever assessed against a company for Clean Air Act violations. Six months after the explosion, BP agreed to pay a $21.3 million OSHA fine, then the largest in the agency’s history.
Since the explosion, BP has settled more than 4,000 civil claims, paid from a $2.1 billion fund it set aside to resolve claims.
Solis ended the press conference by reiterating that job safety is a top Labor Department priority:
Our number one concern is the safety and protection of the current workers. We don’t need to see another loss of one life there. Our motto is that we would like to see people go into work and be able to come home to their families.
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The oil companies typically refuse to correct dangerous work conditions, clean up vast environmental damage, refuse any responsibility for promoting global warming, and certainly don’t give a damn about the “killing 15 people, the explosion injured 170 workers and obliterated 13 employee trailers and damaged 13 others, some as far as 300 yards away.”
Why don’t fines and multi-million dollar judgements cause any change in behavior of these multi-national corporations? A main reason is that these
huge penalties are “chump change” to the vast multi-billion dollar profits being made by these corporate giants. In the last year or so, companies like
Exxon-Mobil (?) made historic profits of over $40 BILLION PROFIT in just one quarter (3 months!).
The oil companies would much rather pay a few relatively minor fines that allows them to maximize their profits. The tens of billions in huge profits will easily pay off the million dollar fines. The oil companies are willing to pay hundreds of millions in lawyers fees, bribes to local governments, support
the arrest and execution of protesting 8 environmentalists (Nigeria?),
destroy vast areas of the Amazon home of local indigienous people, as all these practices are necessary to maximize profit and wealth accumulation.
OIL PROFIT is the core reason why the U.S. has invaded the Middle East and Central Asia. The unending wars for oil, initiated by the Texas Bush/Cheney (and now Obama) oil gang, has further bankrupted the economy of this country.
Corporate lobbying and campaign contributions by the oil industry, along with the military industries forever seeking profit from war, has led to the impoverishment of working people and the destruction of essential social services. Funding to help the states (like California) maintain public health,
public education, public works funding for job creation, etc. are simply not available as funds needed for the common good have been for years diverted into the pockets of these gangsters.
The only solution is to demand that the entire energy industry be socialised. Socialisation, not some temporary nationalisation, of the oil, gas, coal, nuclear, electrical, companies etc. would mean these industries would be directed by the needs of society for sustainable, non-polluting energy. The motivation for wars for profit would end. The major factors affecting global warming would at last be taken away from capitalists who have caused this crisis in human survival.
The socialisation of the energy industry means worker management and control of that industry. The new sustainable technologies (solar, wind, etc.) could be finally implemented that would lead to millions of new “living wage” jobs here in the U.S. and throughout the world. The “clean up” of the environment is going to create millions of jobs.
A new labor movement, realizing the destructive nature of capitalism, must break away from being a “business partner” to the system of economics that is destroying us all. A new political party, representing the needs of all working people, must be created to break away from slavishly supporting the Democratic Party.
All attempts to “reform” capitalism or to try to “fine” or penalize capitalist corporations into a different behavior, are forever doomed to failure. The problems generated by capitalism are intrinsic to capitalism. The vast majority of people will continue to be impoverished, without health care, without education, and killed in unending wars for profit.
A transition to a socialist economy “of, by and for” the people is essential to the survival of working people and humanity worldwide.
Read further on the socialist perspective
at the World Socialist Web Site
http://www.wsws.org
Amen, It’s about time someone recognized the importance of revisiting socialism without the McCarthyistic terrorism of the past. Energy sources should belong to those who produce and consume. Of course, this will never happen as long as our children are brainwashed by capitalists and socialism is demonized. These fines mean nothing. Stop fining the corporations and start punishing the individuals who make these decisions. Put executives in prison for disregarding safety and killing workers. Confiscate their assets and distribute them to the families of their victims. Maybe that will make an impact.
So why in the hell doesn’t the government shut them down until the safety problems are fixed? Personally I think that a company that has that much disregard for human life should be permanently shut down.
About time the companies are being made to do the right thing. This is another area where change is needed!!
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