Saturday, May 29, 2010
Robert Kaluza, described as a top employee with BP, refused to testify this week before a federal inquiry into the Deepwater Horizon accident, which could be a sign that the U.S. Department of Justice will pursue a criminal liability case against those involved in the decisions that led to the explosion that killed 11 workers and released tens of millions of gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico on April 20.
Kaluza invoked his Fifth Amendment rights to avoid self-incrimination while appearing before a joint investigative panel consisting of U.S. Coast Guard and Minerals Management Service officials.
The BP site leader on the Deepwater Horizon, Donald Vidrine, was scheduled to testify on Thursday, but withdrew because of a medical condition.
Some workers who were aboard the oil platform on the day of the accident have testified that officials from Transocean Ltd., owner of the Deepwater Horizon, and BP, which was leasing it, got into a heated argument hours before the explosion. The subject of the fight was a decision by BP officials to stop pumping heavy drilling fluid into the oil well and instead use lighter seawater, a move that increased the likelihood of gas rising up through the well and causing an explosion. According to a statement he gave to the Coast Guard, it was Vidrine who argued with the Transocean officials.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
BP Worker Takes 5th, Making Prosecution a Possibility (by Erika Bolstad, Joseph Goodman and Marisa Taylor, McClatchy Newspapers)
Big Spat on Rig Preceded Explosion (by Miguel Bustillo, Wall Street Journal)
Tense Day Preceded Rig Blast in Gulf (by Brett Clanton, Jennifer Dlouhy and Tom Fowler, Houston Chronicle)
Comments