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The Gortons and Slades - Washington Secretary of State

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petRoLeuM And Beyond 365<br />

That Gorton knew Baker wouldn’t have it any other way was the key<br />

reason he signed up immediately when the Houston attorney called.<br />

Other panelists included Skip Bowman, a retired admiral who had comm<strong>and</strong>ed<br />

the Navy’s fleet <strong>of</strong> nuclear-powered vessels without an accident;<br />

Irv Rosenthal, a chemical industry safety expert; Paul Tebo, a widely respected<br />

retired DuPont executive, <strong>and</strong> Glenn Erwin, an up-from-the<br />

ranks petrochemical worker who headed his union’s safety program.<br />

BP had paid a $21 million fine to settle 300 federal safety violations<br />

<strong>and</strong> agreed to set aside $700 million for victims’ compensation. <strong>The</strong><br />

Baker panel’s mission was not to investigate the Texas City blast. Rather,<br />

it would spend a year evaluating BP’s corporate safety culture, visiting<br />

all five <strong>of</strong> the company’s U.S. refineries, including Cherry Point near<br />

Bellingham.<br />

Unwilling to come to Houston for an interview, British Petroleum’s<br />

CEO, John Browne—that would be Lord Browne <strong>of</strong> Madingley to you—<br />

flew the commissioners <strong>and</strong> an equal number <strong>of</strong> their support staff to London<br />

first class <strong>and</strong> put them up in a posh hotel. “He spent a lot <strong>of</strong> money<br />

on us,” Gorton says, “but it was probably one-ten-thous<strong>and</strong>th <strong>of</strong> one percent<br />

<strong>of</strong> BP’s daily pr<strong>of</strong>its.”<br />

<strong>The</strong> interview began with a 30-minute monologue that reeked <strong>of</strong> arrogance.<br />

He was a small man, Gorton says, <strong>and</strong> he seemed to have a refined<br />

chip on his shoulder. If Browne actually wanted nothing less than<br />

the unvarnished truth you couldn’t tell it from the way he responded to<br />

Erwin’s questions. A plain-spoken guy with an accent Gorton describes<br />

as “from the deepest, hilliest part <strong>of</strong> the Ozarks,” Erwin fixed Browne with<br />

a steely gaze. “I heard what you did,” he said. “I’d like you to tell me what<br />

you felt when you learned that 15 people had been killed at one <strong>of</strong> your refineries.”<br />

Browne proceeded to repeat practically everything he’d said in<br />

his opening statement, with not one word about how he felt. Erwin <strong>and</strong><br />

Gorton exchanged incredulous glances. Sitting right behind them was<br />

David Sterling, a lawyer from Baker’s firm. “A perfect Michael Dukakis<br />

answer,” Sterling leaned forward to whisper. Gorton nearly burst out laughing.<br />

“That quip was perfection. Lord Browne left that meeting thinking<br />

he’d snowed us. We stood there <strong>and</strong> said, ‘What an asshole!’”<br />

the BAKeR pAneL <strong>and</strong> its staff interviewed more than 700 people, including<br />

refinery managers, front-line workers <strong>and</strong> union shop stewards. Published<br />

in 2007, its report focused on what the Department <strong>of</strong> Labor calls<br />

process safety, as opposed to personal safety. Avoiding slips, falls <strong>and</strong><br />

forklift mishaps is different from preventing leaks, spills, metal fatigue,

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