Just when people in Wichita Falls were beginning to think they had heard all the bad publicity about BP they could possibly hear........the State of Texas filed another lawsuit against the oil giant. The Gulf Oil spill was bad enough. People in barbershops and hair salons in this city near the Red River were shaking their heads over that one for months wondering if the black gold would wash ashore and damage any of Texas more famous beaches including South Padre, Galveston or Corpus Christi.
Then as people in North Texas were beginning to realize the oil spill wouldn't affect any of their vacation plans for the coast and thinking maybe BP's Gulf oil spill wasn't as bad as the national media portrayed it, the scandal about BP's possible involvement with the release of the Libyan terrorist who was convicted of blowing up the Lockerbie airplane, exploded into the nation's headlines.
People at the Wichita County Courthouse scratched their heads and said, "No, this can't be happening. The same BP that allegedly caused the biggest oil spill in American history helped one of the biggest terrorists in history receive a "get out of jail free" card?
No way. Well, maybe....we'll wait and see on that one. The evidence isn't in on that situation although media reports claim that BP received prime oil leases from Libya near the time the terrorist was released.
Now Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has filed his second lawsuit against the British giant in a year. Abbott was born in Wichita Falls.
Are we beginning to see a trend here?
This time BP is being sued over alleged excess emissions from its massive Texas City refinery for the months of April and May.
The State of Texas also earlier filed a lawsuit in June of 2009 in connection with an explosion at the BP Texas City refinery which killed 15 workers.
Seven of the violations in the State's latest lawsuit involved the same compressor which allegedly led to the deaths and 170 injuries in the lawsuit from 2009.
The State of Texas is asking for civil penalties of up from $50.00 a day up to $25,000.00 for BP's alleged violations.
The latest lawsuit filed by the Texas Attorney General's office alleges BP released 500,000 pounds of pollutants into the Texas air as a result of its violations.
This refinery is the nation's third largest.
One Wichita Falls oilman said in regard to the Gulf oil spill , "Well, it could be as simple as one of the workers making a mistake. Of course the whole corporation will get sued over it whatever the cause of the spill was."
Another Wichita Falls oilman said he'd read the decisionmakers at BP had made some bad judgment calls in regard to the ill-fated Deep Horizon well.
Regardless of who was at fault for the Gulf oil spill, BP seems to be receiving more than its share of negative publicity this year.
It will be interesting to see how the two lawsuits filed by the State of Texas against the petroleum giant turn out.
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