BP challenges 'spurious’ claims from Macondo oil spill (21 May 2013)
Oil major BP has petitioned a US court regarding the company’s payouts stemming from its 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico, accusing a judge of allowing “absurd” compensation claims. BP wants to halt payouts, amounting to millions of dollars, in what it calls “spurious” compensation claims to victims of the spill.
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Texas fertiliser plant investigation inconclusive (20 May 2013)
Investigators have not ruled out arson as the main cause of the explosions at West Fertilizer that left 15 people dead, the Texas fire marshal said on May 16. State Fire Marshal Chris Connealy said investigators were unable to rule out three possible causes, including a spark from a golf cart, an electrical short or an intentionally set fire.
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Worker injured in flash fire at California Amgen facility (17 May 2013)
A worker at an Amgen research facility in South San Francisco has been hospitalized after a "flash fire" involving hazardous materials. "There was a flash fire at the research facility there," spokeswoman Ashleigh Koss said. "There was an incident with a flammable liquid." There was no report on the worker's condition.
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Chemical leak at Bayer facility in Texas (13 May 2013)
On May 9 several hundred people were evacuated from a suburb of Lubbock, Texas after a tank at the Bayer Crop Science facility leaked a potentially dangerous chemical. The tank contained hydrogen chloride, which reacts with moisture in the atmosphere to form hydrochloric acid when released, the Lubbock fire department said.
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Criminal investigation launched into Texas fertiliser plant explosion (13 May 2013)
A criminal investigation has been launched into the massive Texas fertiliser plant explosion that killed 14 people, after weeks of the blast being treated as an industrial accident. This came on the same day US government agents said they found bomb-making materials belonging to a paramedic who helped evacuate residents on the night of the explosion.
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Utility pays $200K for Pennsylvania pipeline blast (13 May 2013)
The Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/New Era reports that utility UGI has agreed to pay a $200,000 civil penalty to the state Public Utility Commission for a central Pennsylvania explosion caused when a contractor hit one of its underground natural gas lines, which was not properly marked.
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Canadian sawmill blast caused by wood dust accumulation (10 May 2013)
The Vancouver Sun says a British Columbia Safety Authority investigation has concluded the root cause of the explosion at the Babine Forest Products sawmill, which killed two workers and injured 20 others in January 2012, was a failure to recognise and manage the explosive risks of wood dust.
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Refinery safety award withdrawn after Michigan fire (10 May 2013)
According to Huffington Post, the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration cancelled an award it was due to present to the Marathon Oil company after a fire at the company’s Detroit refinery.
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Mexico gas tanker truck blast kills 24 (10 May 2013)
On May 7 a gas tanker exploded on a road north of Mexico City starting fires that killed at least 24 people and injured at least 36. The blast rocked the suburb of Ecatepec damaging some 15 cars and 40 homes, officials said. Ten children were among the dead and eight more were wounded.
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US Nuclear Regulatory Commission outlines priorities for next 25 years (09 May 2013)
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) annual 2013 Regulatory Information Conference in mid-March saw more than 3,000 nuclear industry executives, experts and government regulators, including representatives from 30 different countries, convene at the NRC’s HQ in Maryland.
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