Production Over Protections: A Review of Process Safety Management in the Oil and Gas Industry

Like so many Americans, I am horrified and outraged at the continued devastation that we see in the Gulf Coast. There's been a lot of talk about the economic and the environmental impact, and I want to make sure we don't forget about the oil and gas industry workers, who deserve to be protected: the 11 workers who were killed at the Deepwater Horizon; the 15 workers who died, and more than 170 injured, at the BP Texas City refinery disaster in 2005; the 7 workers who were killed at the tragic fire at the Tesoro refinery in my home State, in Anacortes, WA, earlier this year; and the hundreds more who've been injured or killed at refineries, on rigs, and in other oil and gas facilities over the past several years. Let's be clear. Despite what anyone tries to say, this is not a safe industry.