Andrew Clark in New York
Wednesday November 21 2007
Victims of BP’s Texas refinery disaster are seeking to overturn the oil firm’s guilty plea agreement with the US government, on the grounds that it is unduly lenient.
A lawyer representing a dozen people injured or bereaved when the refinery blew up in 2005 has filed papers arguing that a $50,000 fine by the US department of justice is a paltry criminal penalty for an explosion which killed 15 people and injured another 170.
Corpus Christi attorney David Perry wants BP to hand over profits of $1bn which, he says, the company made from the plant over six years while maintenance was neglected. “We have a saying that crime does not pay,” he told the Guardian. “To let someone keep $1bn in their pocket made from this illegal conduct – that, we feel, is outrageous.”
In a deal announced last month, BP settled a range of criminal investigations into its US operations, from poor maintenance of leaking pipelines in Alaska to alleged price manipulation by its propane gas traders. As part of the deal, it pleaded guilty to a felony over its upkeep of the Texas City refinery, which exploded when sleep-deprived, poorly supervised workers overfilled a container with unstable chemicals. The death toll was America’s worst industrial accident for a generation and led to a record $31m fine for breaching safety regulations.
A federal judge, Gray Miller, will decide on Tuesday whether to accept the criminal plea agreement. Mr Perry has asked the judge to excuse himself, on the grounds he previously worked for a Texas law firm which defended BP against personal injury claims.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/nov/21/oil
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
