The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board pulled no punches in its assessment of BP's role in the deadly explosions at the company's Texas City refinery.

The board's pointed reports and blunt rhetoric imply a regulatory system under which there are harsh consequences when 15 people die and 170 are injured in a plant accident.

Unfortunately, the gaps between what the board says, what it actually can do, and what other responsible parties have done so far, imply something else.

The board has been clear that blow-down pressure-relief systems killed those people.

The board was clear that BP knew that the blow-down drums were a disaster awaiting a spark.

Despite all its certainty, however, the board can do nothing to make plant workers safer. It can only urge and suggest that others do the right things.

It has suggested that the American Petroleum Institute urge its members to use safer flare systems instead of blow-down drums.

The institute said it had a task force examining the guidelines, but had set no deadline for its work and was uncertain about the need for change.

The board asked the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to emphasize the importance of using the right technology.

OSHA said it had launched programs emphasizing greater safety in refineries.

Who knows what the institute's task force and the OSHA programs will mean on the ground? They apparently won't mean that anyone will be compelled to do anything, however.

That's the problem.

If the industry could be relied upon to spend money for things that enhanced safety because it's the right thing to do, those 15 people probably would still be alive.

Confronted with the notion that they should absorb such expenses, companies typically plead poverty — and no body can poor-mouth better than companies that count profits in units of a billion.

But here is the truth:

BP, according to the board, knew it had a problem. BP had the money to correct the problem, but didn't. After the blasts, BP pulled all but one blow-down drum out by the roots and put in flares.

At the same time, it banked more than $1 billion to cover the legal consequences of the blasts and still managed to post fat profits.

The fact is that the industry can afford to get rid of blow-down drums, but it won't unless it's compelled to do so.

© 2006 Galveston Daily News

Editor's Note: Though BP previously blamed workers for the accident, OSHA issued a $21.3 million fine (a pittance for a company of this size) against BP last September and referred the case to the U.S. Justice Department for possible filing of criminal charges. BP backed away from the "blame workers" tactic in its own Fatal Accident Investigation Report (pdf), published in late 2005

Update: The Houston Chronicle has compiled its coverage of the blast and investigation on this handy web page.

Go to Home Page