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BATT
Mark Dore, Editor in Chief
Aimee Breaux, Managing Editor
Jennifer Reiley, Asst. Managing Editor
Lindsey Gawlik, News Editor
Samantha King, Asst. News Editor
Katy Stapp, Asst. News Editor
John Rangel, SciTech Editor
Katie Canales, Life & Arts Editor
Carter Karels, Sports Editor
Shelby Knowles, Photo Editor
Allison Bradshaw, Asst. Photo Editor
Meredith Collier, Page Designer
Claire Shepherd, Page Designer
THE BATTALION is published daily, Monday through Friday during the fall and
spring semesters and Tuesday and Thursday during the summer session (except
University holidays and exam periods) at Texas A&M University, College Station,
TX 77843. Offices are in Suite L400 of the Memorial Student Center.
News: The Battalion news department is managed by students at Texas
A&M University in Student Media, a unit of the Division of Student Affairs.
Newsroom phone: 979-845-3315; E-mail: editor@thebatt.com; website: http://
www.thebatt.com.
Advertising: Publication of advertising does not imply sponsorship or endorsement
by The Battalion. For campus, local, and national display advertising, call 979-
845-2687. For classified advertising, call 979-845-0569. Office hours are 8 a.m. to
5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Email: battads@thebatt.com.
Subscriptions: A part of the University Advancement Fee entitles each Texas A&M
student to pick up a single copy of The Battalion. First copy free, additional
copies $1. ,
THE TEXAS A&M STUDENT MEDIA BOARD
INVITES APPLICATIONS FOR
Eclitor-in-Ghief
BATT
The Independent Student Voice of Texas A&M since 1893
Fall 2015-Spring 2016
(The fall and spring editor will oversee print and digital editions,
and serve Aug. 16,2015, through May 14,2016)
Qualifications for editor-in-chief of The Battalion are:
REQUIRED
• Be a Texas A&M student in good standing with the University and
enrolled in at least six credit hours (4 if a graduate student) during
the term of office (unless fewer credits are required to graduate);
• Have at least a 2.25 cumulative grade point ratio (3.25 if a graduate
student) and at least a 2.25 grade point ratio (3.25 if a graduate
student) in the semester immediately prior to the appointment, the
semester of appointment and semester during the term of office. In
order for this provision to be met, at least six hours (4 if a graduate
student) must have been taken for that semester.
PREFERRED
• Have completed JOUR 301 or COMM 307 (Mass Communication,
Law, and Society) or equivalent;
• Have at least one year experience in a responsible editorial position
on The Battalion or comparable daily college newspaper,
-OR-
Have at least one year editorial experience on a commercial
• newspaper,
-OR-
Have completed at least 12 hours in journalism, including JOUR 203
(Media Writing I) and JOUR 303 (Media Writing II)
or JOUR 304 (Editing for the Mass Media), or equivalent.
Application forms should be picked up and returned to
Sandi Jones, Student Media business coordinator, in Suite
L406 of the MSC. Deadline for submitting application:
5 p.m. Tuesday, April 7, 2015.
PROVIDED
An overhead view of the refinery site after the explosion in 2005.
TEXAS CITY CONTINUED
He said the explosion can be used as
a lesson for all.
“The problem in the oil and gas field
is that there will always be top-side
pressure for production,” Buzbee said.
“It takes a well-trained work force,
with discipline, to resist that manage
ment pressure. When management
puts production above safety, people
die.”
Eric Newell, Class of 2000, works
for Brent Coon and Associates, a firm
that represented about 400 people, in
cluding the well-known victim Eva
Rowe, who lost both her parents in
the explosion. Newell said at the heart
of the explosion was BP’s initiative to
cut costs by 25 percent.
“There were any number of rela
tively cheap things they could have
done to prevent the explosion,” New
ell said.
A culture existed at BP, Newell
said, that disregarded workers and their
safety in favor of profit. To address this,
Newell said there are documents from
the time of investigation that other
companies can use to show their em
ployees what they can do to prevent
explosions occurring in the future.
Other efforts have been made to
improve safety. Newell said part of the
settlement in the Rowe case required
BP to donate $32 million to university
programs and hospitals, including the
Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety
Center at Texas A&M.
Sam Mannan, director of the
O’Connor Process Safety Center,
said one objective of the center is to
make safety second nature in process
industries. The center was established
in 1995 in response to a 1989 chemi
cal plant explosion in Houston, killing
Mary Kay O’Connor along with 22
other workers.
“The center’s mission is to lead the
integration of process safety through
education, research and service into the
education and practice of all individuals
and organizations involved in chemical
operations,” Mannan said. “The vision
of the center is to serve as the premier
process safety resource for all stakehold
ers so that safety becomes second nature
for managers, engineers and workers.”
Mannan said lessons from the explo
sion permeated various areas including
design issues, technical safety issues,
management system flaws and safety
culture.
“A major finding was how risk
should be managed with regard to
placement of occupied buildings within
plant boundaries,” Mannan said. “Yet
another finding was related to the dif
ferences between personal safety and
process safety and the need to have
separate and specific performance indi
cators for each.”
Looking forward, Mannan said he
does not think there is a quantifiable
way to look at changes made.
“There is presently no reliable means
for evaluating the performance of in
dustry in limiting the number and se
verity of accidental chemical releases,”
Mannan said. “There is also limited
data with which to prioritize efforts to
reduce the risks associated with such
releases.”
Newell said he would want people
to look at the events surrounding, the
explosion and remember that it was
preventable.
“There was absolutely no reason for
it to have occurred,” Newell said. “I
wasn’t an engineering student when
I was at A&M, but I became fairly
knowledgeable about things like pro
cess safety, which is something that
A&M has one of the foremost centers
in the country.”
Newell said engineering students
going into the industry, especially in
management, need to be aware that it
is their job to make safety a priority and
try to not focus only on profit.
“If you focus too much on the short
term to make some money, people can
get hurt,” Newell said.
At an academic level, Mannan said
universities like A&M can respond by
adjusting and changing curriculum.
“Academic and research organiza
tions as well have a societal responsibil
ity to respond to incidents such as Tex
as City in studying these incidents in
order to determine what changes may
be needed in the curriculum to better
prepare our graduates,” Mannan said.
FEDERAL BUDGET
CONTINUED
which is essentially the final clearing
house before Congress,” Issa said. “Our
director works directly with the presi
dent.”
Starting in the summer, federal
agencies finalize their individual
budgets for consideration by OMB.
Issa said these agencies compete for
money as OMB works through the
fall and winter holidays to final
ize the budget. After completion,
the budget is sent to Congress in
early Febmary as a request, pending
amendments and approvals.
Arnett, Class of2014, and Stalcup,
Class of 2013, also act as represen
tatives for federal agencies. Stalcup
said although he has never worked
for the Department of Homeland
Security, he provides budgetary
oversight for the various agencies
within the department.
“I took courses in nuclear threat
assessment as well as engineering
courses ... I interned at the U.S.
Pacific Command and the Pentagon
in offices that dealt with countering
and responding to nuclear threats,”
Stalcup said. “Much of what I do is
oversee programs that aim to pre
vent attacks with these weapons.”
All three Aggies said their expe
riences at the Bush School and in ex
tracurricular involvement contribute to
their success within the national gov
ernment.
“Academics are of course very im
portant, but my extracurricular in
volvement gave me skills to think on
o toi
\y
"Academics
are of course
very important,
but my
extracurricular
involvement
gave me skills
to think on my
feet, get to know
people and be
comfortable
talking."
Patrick Issa,
Class of 2013
my feet, get to know people and be
comfortable talking,” Issa said.
Stalcup said the Bush School yielded
lasting connections to people in the or
ganizations he had dreamed of working
for.
“During my two years at the Bush
School, I picked up some incredibly
important skills ... but without a
network it’s difficult to get face time
with the people who hire,” Stalcup
said. “As a direct result of research
I conducted at the Bush School, I
landed an internship at the Penta
gon.”
Stalcup also said active involve
ment in his classes at A&M was in
tegral.
“My professors taught me how
to disagree and challenge others,
and my classmates taught me how
to agree and find common ground,”
Stalcup said. “I learned a lot from
my classmates and our experiences
together made me a better analyst
and colleague.”
Issa said the last six months spent
crafting the budget and being part of
such a historic process was incred
ibly rewarding.
“These are a handful of people
making really important decisions
that go into the president’s budget,”
Issa said. “We’re working on things
most people don’t get to work on.”
THE TEXAS A&M STUDENT MEDIA BOARD
INVITES APPLICATIONS FOR
Aggieland 2016
Qualifications for editor-in-chief of the Aggieland
yearbook are:
REQUIRED
• Be a Texas A&M student in good standing with the University
and enrolled in at least six credit hours (4 if a graduate student)
during the term of office (unless fewer credits are required to
graduate);
Have at least a 2.25 cumulative grade point ratio (3.25 if a
graduate student) and at least a 2.25 grade point ratio (3.25 if
a graduate student) in the semester immediately prior to the
appointment, the semester of appointment and semester during
the term of office. In order for this provision to be met, at least
six hours (4 if a graduate student) must have been taken for
that semester;
PREFERRED
• Have completed JOUR 301 or COMM 307 (Mass Communication,
Law, and Society);
• Have demonstrated ability in writing, editing and graphic design
through university coursework or equivalent experience;
• Have at least one year experience in a responsible position on
the Aggieland or comparable college yearbook.
Application forms should be picked up and returned to
Sandi Jones, Student Media business coordinator, in Suite
L406 of the MSC. Deadline for submitting application:
5 p.m. Tuesday, April 7, 2015.
THE TEXAS A&M STUDENT MEDIA BOARD
INVITES APPLICATIONS FOR
Ed itor-iri ““Chief
BATT
The Independent Student Voice of Texas A&M snce 1893
Summer 2015
(The summer editor will oversee print, digital and special editions,
and will serve May 17,2015, through Aug. 15,2016)
Qualifications for editor-in-chief of The Battalion are:
REQUIRED
• Be a Texas A&M student in good standing with the University and
enrolled in at least six credit hours (4 if a graduate student) during
the term of office (unless fewer credits are required to graduate);
• Have at least a 2.25 cumulative grade point ratio (3.25 if a graduate
student) and at least a 2.25 grade point ratio (3.25 if a graduate
student) in the semester immediately prior to the appointment, the
semester of appointment and semester during the term of office. In
order for this provision to be met, at least six hours (4 if a graduate
student) must have been taken for that semester.
PREFERRED
• Have completed JOUR 301 or COMM 307 (Mass Communication,
Law, and Society) or equivalent;
• Have at least one year experience in a responsible editorial position
on The Battalion or comparable daily college newspaper,
-OR-
Have at least one year editorial experience on a commercial
newspaper,
-OR-
Have completed at least 12 hours in journalism, including JOUR 203
(Media Writing I) and JOUR 303 (Media Writing II)
or JOUR 304 (Editing for the Mass Media), or equivalent.
Application forms should be picked up and returned to
Sandi Jones, Student Media business coordinator, in Suite
L406 of the MSC. Deadline for submitting application:
5 p.m. Tuesday, April 7, 2015.