BP letter defends handling of emissions release

[maddezmom]

Source: the Daily News

BP letter defends handling of emissions release
By T.J. Aulds
The Daily News
Published August 14, 2010

TEXAS CITY — For the first time since it was revealed that more than 500,000 pounds of emissions — including several tons of benzene — were released into the air by the BP Texas City refinery, the refinery’s manager addressed the incident publicly.

In a letter to Texas City’s mayor, BP Texas City Business Unit Leader Keith Casey defended the company’s handling of the 40-day chemical release that has the company facing a lawsuit by the state as well as a $10 billion lawsuit by thousands of residents who claim they were made ill by the incident.

“There are three assurances I would like to offer you and your constituents,” Casey wrote in the Aug. 9 letter to Mayor Matt Doyle.

“First, real time, scientific data monitored during the event indicates that the event did not have a health impact to our workers or the community. Second, we took steps to minimize the event’s environmental impact.



Read more: http://www.galvnews.com/story/168978

[Turbineguy]

1. That letter

in and of itself constitutes an emission

[primavera]

2. Yet we're supposed to see the oil spill as an isolated incident

We really need to wake up and smell the benzene: this kind of environmental and public health harm is the NORM for these guys, not some rare aberration.