A woman sued BP’s North American subsidiary yesterday, claiming excess pollution from the company’s refinery in Texas City, Texas, contributed to her infant child’s death.
The lawsuit, which seeks $10 billion (€7.8 billion) in punitive damages, is one of thousands being filed in Texas over excess pollution from the giant Texas City refinery, which this month agreed to pay a $50.6 million fine to the US government for safety lapses related to a 2005 explosion that killed 15 workers.
A BP spokesman declined to discuss the lawsuit.
“We are deeply saddened to hear of the death of a child in our community,” spokesman Michael Marr said. “Given the circumstances, we will not have further comment on this lawsuit.” BP also faces a probe by the Texas attorney general and a $10 billion federal class-action lawsuit over the April-May pollution, including benzene, which the company reported to state pollution regulators as due to a malfunction.
BP has said air monitors around the refinery’s perimeter did not detect excess levels of pollution during the time a malfunctioning hydrocracker triggered the release.
Houston attorney Anthony Buzbee, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the child’s mother, said doctors were unable to determine what caused the pneumonia diagnosed in six-month-old Julius Provost.
“It’s almost like the baby drowned to death in its own fluids,” Mr Buzbee said. “BP will continue to downplay this and say their monitors failed to pick this up.”