The Galveston County Daily News

TEXAS CITY — A federal judge in Houston approved a plea deal Friday that fines BP $50 million for its role in the blasts at its Texas City refinery that killed 15 people and injured more than 170 others in 2005.

The deal also sentences the oil company to three years probation.

Many blast victims, including Eva Rowe, whose mother and father were killed in the blast, objected to the deal, contending the fine was too low and that BP would not meet its safety obligations at the refinery.

“I thought the punishment would be more than $50 million,” she said. “That’s pocket change for BP.”

U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal’s decision during a court hearing Thursday came after a protracted process in which blast victims unsuccessfully appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

BP spokesman Daren Beaudo said the company regrets the harm the explosions caused.

“We take very seriously the commitments we’ve made under the plea agreement,” he said. “We will continue the work we’re doing at Texas City and our other facilities to reduce risk, improve plant integrity and ensure environmental compliance in order to prevent something like this from ever happening again.”

BP recently completed an overhaul that began about six months after the 2005 blasts. All but the octane-boosting unit where the explosions occurred are back online.

Both prosecutors and BP defended the plea agreement as the harshest punishment available.

“While this plea and penalty will not bring back the lives of those 15 workers or erase the pain suffered by all those who were injured, it demonstrates that the federal government takes seriously its mission to prosecute those who knowingly violate the nation’s environmental laws,” the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement.

During probation, BP must continue to comply with safety agreements federal and state regulators put in place after the blasts.

But Brent Coon, attorney for Rowe and other victims, said BP would violate its probation, having another deadly accident.

“Habitual criminals don’t change their stripes,” he said.

The plea deal between BP and the Department of Justice was first announced in October 2007. It was part of an agreement to pay $373 million to settle various criminal and civil charges related to the plant explosions, energy price-fixing and pipeline leaks in Alaska.

Rosenthal’s decision came after BP entered its guilty plea in February 2008. Blast victims appealed, objecting to not being consulted on the plea deal under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act.

The case made it to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in July denied a request to delay a decision on the settlement.