Still, I couldn’t help but notice.
This story just came in:
TEXAS CITY, Texas (AP) – All but one of the 1,800 or so oil refinery workers have been accounted for after overnight search efforts following the thunderous blast that killed 14 and injured more than 100, officials said Thursday….
BP refinery records indicate the one unaccounted-for worker checked out and left the refinery, but no one has heard from him, Parus said. Those who died were all contractors for Los Angeles-based field services company J.E. Merritt, he said….
This one is from last July:
HOUSTON (Reuters) – Law enforcement officials said on Monday they are looking for a man seen taking pictures of two refineries in Texas City, Texas….
The man, described as white with dark hair, was seen taking pictures outside the refineries, all located on the same highway, at about 5 p.m. CDT on Saturday, said Bruce Clawson, emergency management and homeland security director for Texas City….
“This is based on the idea that al Qaeda does its homework,” Clawson said. “That’s not to say we don’t have enough home-grown idiots already who might want to do something.”
And this one from January 2004:
While FBI, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs, the U.S. Coast Guard, state police and local law enforcement sources are publicly downplaying terrorism fears in the shooting of a guard at a BASF Corp. ammonia terminal in Freeport, Texas, some of those same sources are telling Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin, off the record, they strongly suspect the guard stumbled into a terrorism reconnaissance operation….
Robbie House, the guard, questioned the driver of the truck about why he was in the vicinity of a large, multi-story ammonia tank. He told police the truck driver explained that he was taking pictures of it. When the guard turned to radio for help, the driver pulled out a handgun and shot House in the shoulder….
Of course, this explosion was most likely just an accident, but the vulnerability of the refineries has long been noted.
UPDATE: All workers are now accounted for (thanks to the Truth Seeker).
SECOND UPDATE: From AP, with thanks to EPG: Terrorism Ruled Out in Oil Refinery Blast
TEXAS CITY, Texas (AP) – FBI agents have ruled out terrorism, but federal regulators estimate it will take them months to determine what caused an oil refinery explosion that killed 15 and injured more than 100.
Investigators from two agencies, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, arrived Thursday at the 1,200-acre BP plant to start sorting through the debris.
Also Thursday, an FBI spokesman in Houston dismissed a statement posted on an Islamic Web site claiming responsibility for the blast. He said there was no indication of foul play.