In Texas, law enforcement rarely gets involved in any oil refinery accident but in Delaware it is a different story. When the a sulfuric acid tank exploded at a Motiva Enterprises oil refinery in Delaware City on July 17, 2001 the police investigated immediately. The cause: a corroded, leaky tank that had been in service too long.

The investigation found that several people had pointed out the hazard for eight years previous to the explosion, including six reports of leaking acid. Four formal recommendations to scrap the tank were submitted before management decided to retire it in February 2001. However delays meant that on that July day it was still in service, and almost a decade after the first warning signs appeared it finally gave out. One worker was killed and six other injured.

The police were amazed to find such a strong case for criminal charges. Everyone working at the plant knew about the hazardous tank, yet the company did not correct the ultimately deadly situation. The assistant District Attorney at the time told the Houston Chronicle that he was not out to criminalize a true accident, if that’s what the investigation found. But, as he said, “there was a tank that had a hole in it that everybody knew had a hole in it, and it wasn't fixed and someone died.”

The explosion was the last of a string of other fatal accidents at Motiva plants across the country in the three years prior to the Delaware accident.

Criminal charges were eventually laid against Motiva, a subsidiary of Shell, though the prosecutor in the case said that it was difficult to decide who was to blame since everyone knew about the problem. The company accepted a plea and took responsibility, stating that they were committed to making changes.

Unfortunately, this type of accident is not the exception in the oil business. Federal regulations allow criminal charges to be laid in cases where willful negligence results in death, but these cases are rarely pursued. Perhaps this is because the penalty is so low: a misdemeanor carrying a maximum of six months in prison. In Texas, there has not been a federal homicide prosecution for any workplace death in over ten years.

But just because the government chooses not to pursue a case does not mean that an oil company is not negligent, even criminally negligent. Contact Jim S. Adler & Associates if you have been involved in an accident at an oil refinery or some other industrial site. With our years of Personal Injury litigation experience, we’ll make sure that your rights are protected, and you get the compensation you deserve. Don’t let another incident get swept under the rug. Talk to us first, and find out what we can do for you.

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