Families oppose BP guilty plea, fine

HOUSTON -- Oil giant BP PLC formally entered a guilty plea Monday as part of an agreement with federal prosecutors for its criminal conduct in a deadly explosion at its Texas City refinery in 2005.

A federal judge said she would listen to blast victims and their attorneys, who have been highly critical of the agreement, before deciding whether to accept the plea.

Texas City plant manager Keith Casey entered a guilty plea on behalf of BP, saying the company had failed to protect its workers. The explosion killed 15 people and injured more than 170 others.

"The result is a terrible tragedy that could have been avoided. We deeply regret the choice we made and are profoundly sorry for the harm we caused," said Casey, who was not the plant manager at the time of the blast.

U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal was originally ready in November to accept the company's guilty plea and the $50 million fine that goes with it. London-based BP would also be on probation for three years for its role in the explosion.

But several attorneys for victims of the blast objected, calling the proposed fine "trivial." They also said the deal doesn't push to improve safety at the plant or fully detail BP's history of safety violations.

The judge agreed to let them voice their complaints and delayed her decision on whether to accept the plea.

"I think this plea agreement stinks," said Eva Rowe, whose parents, James and Linda Rowe, were killed in the blast. Rowe told Rosenthal about how her mother's body had to be identified through DNA testing because it was decapitated and badly burned.

"If the purpose of punishment is to give incentive to the wrongdoer to change their ways and do the right thing, this agreement utterly fails," Rowe said.

The explosion at the plant, about 40 miles southeast of Houston, occurred after a piece of equipment called a blowdown drum overfilled with highly flammable liquid hydrocarbons.