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Dangerous Refineries Get New Guidelines

More than two years after 15 workers died in trailers as close as 121 feet to an explosion at BP's Texas City refinery, the U.S. oil industry unveiled new guidelines for distances between portable buildings and units that process flammable liquid. The guidelines, which the American Petroleum Institute will formally put in place today, are just that. Red Cavaney, the institute's president and CEO, noted that a trade group can't enforce compliance like a regulatory agency. ‘This is a recommended practice,’ he said. ‘How and when individual companies end up implementing it is a decision they end up making.’ But in suggesting minimum safe distances between portable buildings and hazardous equipment, the final version released Wednesday goes further than a draft released last December. The draft outlined a risk assessment process refinery operators should take when placing trailers, but did not recommend specific distances.” Kristen Hays, Houston Chronicle 6/21/07

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