TEXAS CITY — A stockholder sued BP late last week claiming repeated environmental violations at its Texas City refinery were dragging down the oil company’s stock value.
In the lawsuit filed in the 122nd District Court in Galveston County on Friday, Nancy Goldstein charges former and current members of BP’s board of directors of being indifferent to problems at the Texas City refinery.
The complaint points to criminal charges brought by the Department of Justice for violations of the federal Clean Air Act and that even though BP reached a plea deal with the government in 2001, it “intentionally or recklessly” continued to pollute.
While the lawsuit references the March 23, 2005, explosions at the Texas City refinery that killed 15 people, it does not raise that as an issue in the lawsuit.
BP recently agreed with the Texas Attorney General on an injunction related to a lawsuit the state filed against the company for violations of state environmental regulations. Many of the incidents cited in the state lawsuit are found in Goldstein’s complaint.
