Houston To Be Home To Center For Offshore Safety

HOUSTON (AP) — An industry group has decided to establish a center for offshore safety in Houston nearly a year after the disastrous BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The board of directors of the American Petroleum Institute formally endorsed the plan Thursday. API president Jack Gerard says the center will be run by the separately-funded standards and certification arm of the institute. The April 2010 blowout and rig explosion off Louisiana killed 11 workers and released more than 200 million gallons of oil from the damaged well. A presidential investigating panel earlier this year concluded that the government and the oil industry still had not done enough to avert another catastrophic accident offshore. API represents more than 470 oil and natural gas companies.