Dear Neighbors,
By now you have probably heard or seen coverage regarding the incident here at the refinery yesterday afternoon. I am writing you to give you an update of the situation and make sure you know how to contact us with questions.
First and foremost – we are thankful to report that all 848 employees and contractors on site yesterday were accounted for very early in the incident. Unfortunately, there was one minor injury. A contract employee received medical attention for a knee injury during the evacuation. The person was treated on site then transported to a medical care center for further evaluation and released.
A combination of BP Emergency Response personnel and responders from Whatcom County and Conoco Phillips worked to extinguish yesterday’s fire at approximately 3:30PM.
Within the first hour of the incident, BP began air monitoring to help ensure public safety. With the assistance of the US EPA and the Washington State Department of Ecology, we can confirm that there have been no air emission issues and no contaminated water runoff to the Bay. We will continue to monitor air and water quality to ensure environmental impacts do not occur.
Over the next few weeks we will perform a thorough investigation to determine why this happened and to make sure it does not happen again. In addition, we will cooperate with any state and federal investigations that take place over the next several weeks.
I appreciate all the notes of support and we value our relationship with everyone in the community. If you have any questions, please feel free to submit questions at www.bpcherrypoint.com and click on the Contact Cherry Point Refinery link.
Michael Abendhoff, BP Refinery Manager
The Mt. Baker Foothills Chamber of Commerce is starting their campaign for promoting off-season tourism in Western Whatcom County. As part of this effort, they have asked us to prepare a list of businesses of both Birch Bay Chamber of Commerce members and other Birch Bay businesses as well.
