BP faced with $10 billion lawsuit over Texas City toxic release

Just as BP began celebrating a proclaimed success in its Gulf of Mexico catastrophe, the company now finds itself in the woeful position of facing a $10 billion lawsuit over a 40-day toxic chemical release in Texas City, Texas earlier this year.

A $10 billion class action lawsuit was filed Tuesday on behalf of 2,000 claimants against oil behemoth BP after the company engaged in a 40-day upset during April and May that released at least 538,000 pounds of known toxins into the Texas City skies. The event began just two weeks before the company became very well-known over its Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico.

Tony Buzbee, a Texas attorney who also represents Gulf coast residents impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, filed the suit on Tuesday for his clients seeking compensation for “health effects including all symptoms associated with acute benzene exposure,” according to The Telegraph(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/7925565/BP-hit-...).

As reported earlier by Digital Journal(http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/294675), the toxic leak, or upset, occurred at BP’s Texas City refinery from April 6 to May 16, releasing hundreds of thousands of pounds of toxins into the air, including benzene, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides.

In a ProPublica(http://www.propublica.org/article/bp-texas-refinery-had-huge-toxic-release-just-...) report of the incident, company officials were aware of the situation, underestimated its severity, and kept the plant in production to allay the chance of investors’ worries. It notes “the company’s corporate culture favors production and profit margins over safety and the environment. The 40-day release echoes in several notable ways the runaway spill in the Gulf. BP officials initially underestimated the problem and took steps in the days leading up to the incident to reduce costs and keep the refinery online.”

Buzbee, already involved in legal action against BP as he represents 15 Deepwater Horizon rig workers, dozens of fisherman, dock workers, and restaurants - all impacted by the Gulf of Mexico debacle - is a prominent Houston lawyer with a solid record in winning settlements from oil companies, Mother Jones reports(http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/06/rigs-fire-i-told-you-was-gonna-happen).

The lawsuit over the Texas City incident alleges “tens of thousands of individuals were injured and had his or her long-term health put in jeopardy after being exposed to extremely high levels of Benzene and other toxic chemicals while working at the BP Texas City Refinery or by simply living or working in Texas City,” according to Yahoo News(http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100803/bs_yblog_upshot/bp-faces-10-billio...). The lawyer is seeking “punitive damages against BP in excess of $10 billion.”