The Hits Keep Coming
The Los Angeles Times reports on the on-going Coast Guard/MMS hearings on the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon: Officials knew of key safety problem on rig
Reporting from Kenner, La. — BP officials knew about a problem on a crucial well safety device at least three months before the catastrophic April 20 explosion in the Gulf of Mexico but failed to repair it, according to testimony Tuesday from the company’s well manager.
Ronald Sepulvado testified that he was aware of a leak on a control pod atop the well’s blowout preventer and notified his supervisor in Houston about the problem, which Sepulvado didn’t consider crucial. The 450-ton hydraulic device, designed to prevent gas or oil from blasting out of the drill hole, failed during the disaster, which killed 11 men on the Deepwater Horizon rig and set off the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
The other two BP employees on the rig did not testify, one had a sick note, and the other has invoked his rights under the Fifth Amendment. The three constituted all of the actual BP employees normally on the rig.
