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(1) In Oct. 2007, BP pled guilty to a felony involving safety
violations in connection with the March 2005 explosion at its Texas
City refinery, in which 15 were killed and hundreds more injured.
The plea included a $50 million fine and three years' probation —
still in effect. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration
assessed BP the largest fine in OSHA history — $87 million — after
inspectors found 270 work safety violations that had been previously
cited but not fixed, and 439 new violations, at the Texas City
refinery. According to BP's own statement, one of the conditions of
probation was compliance with the OSHA settlement agreement. BP
acknowledged that it had paid $1.6 billion in compensation to
victims of the explosion.
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(2) BP pled guilty to a criminal misdemeanor in connection with the
March 2006 oil pipeline spill from its Prudhoe Bay, Alaska pipelines.
Prosecutors attributed the spill to BP cost-cutting. This case also
included three years' probation — still in effect.
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(3) BP entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the DOJ for
price manipulation in propane trading, and also entered into a consent
order with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). This
included a criminal penalty of $100 million, and other civil fines.
The deferred prosecution agreement has a term of three years — so it
is also still pending — and it requires BP compliance with all its terms.
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(4) Earlier, in February 2000, BP pled guilty to a felony violation of
the Clean Water Act for illegally dumping toxic and hazardous materials
down oil well shafts on the Alaskan North Slope. BP was fined $500,000
and was placed on five years' probation. It was still on probation when
the Prudhoe Bay pipeline spill took place, caused by corroded pipelines.
In 2009, another criminal investigation of BP was opened in connection
with another North Slope pipeline spill; the status of this investigation
has not been made public.
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source:
www.thomhartmann.com
June 17, 2010
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