BEYOND PRISON? No BP directors were jailed for the Texas City deaths
This week UK magazine the New Statesman announced its ranking of ’20 green heroes and villains.’ Among the ‘panel of environmental experts’ judging the awards was John Browne, the UK peer whose reputation was earned at the helm of global petrochemicals giant BP.
Lord Browne may be especially well qualified to assess environmental villainy. In 2007, environmental crimes committed under his leadership at BP attracted the “largest criminal fine ever for air violations” handed down by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The firm is still on probation for the incidents EPA said had “terrible consequences for people and the environment”.
Under Lord Browne’s rule, BP didn’t restrict its criminal activities to the USA. In January 2002, it had the unhealthy distinction of being the first firm in Britain to receive a £1m fine for safety crimes, relating to offences committed at Scotland’s Grangemouth oil refinery that put both the workforce and the public at risk.
At the time the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) acknowledged: “The court has confirmed, by the high fine imposed today, that BP must employ the highest standards of management of safety, health and environment to prevent major incidents. Only good fortune avoided fatalities and serious injuries.”
The good fortune ran out when BP’s Texas City refinery exploded in March 2005, killing 15 and injuring 170. Read More
First lead, now mercury makes a toxic comeback
GREEN COLLAR Workers suffered mercury poisoning at this UK recycling firm.
The world could be facing an epidemic of poisonings by highly toxic metals you’d be forgiven for thinking were a hazard of yesteryear – and all in the name of the environment. The problem arises from new uses for the toxins in “green” products or from a disregard for health and safety in recycling and reuse operations.
Lead is the most notable comeback kid. Use of the metal, which can cause cancer, neurological, reproductive and a host of other problems, has increased dramatically in recent years. And increased production of electronic equipment worldwide is set to see the use of lead soar over the next decade.
The hazards come both in lead’s production and use, and in the profitable but often poorly controlled practice of recycling – over 50 per cent of lead used today is recycled.
And now it looks like mercury, the metal that turned hatters’ mad, is to have a major revival. The long term downward trend in mercury production stalled in 2006 and 2007. Latest figures, published in the 2009 edition of the authoritative World Mineral Production, show 1.4 million kilograms were produced in each of these years, a figure the report suggests is an underestimate.
As the mercury use in medical equipment declines on environmental grounds – it’s been the subject of a long-running and successful campaign by Health Care Without Harm – the same metal is being pressed into routine use in soon to be mandatory low energy lightbulbs, supposedly also on environmental grounds.
Old style incandescent lightbulbs are being phased out across the European Union by 2012. But the mercury risk from the “environmentally friendly” alternative is so apparent the UK government recommends evacuating the room for 15 minutes if you break one.
That’s not an option if your job involves recycling mercury-containing lights, as workers at the UK-based Electrical Waste Recycling Group found to their cost.
Read More »