The New York Times has a link to the full 217-page report the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement. The NYT summary:
The central cause of the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig was a failure of the cement at the base of the 18,000-foot-deep well that was supposed to contain oil and gas within the well bore. That led to a cascade of human and mechanical errors that allowed natural gas under tremendous pressure to shoot onto the drilling platform, causing an explosion and fire that killed 11 of the 126 crew members and caused an oil spill that took 87 days to get under control…
__
The report concluded that BP, as the well’s owner, was ultimately responsible for the accident. But it also said that BP’s chief contractors, Transocean, which owned the mobile drilling rig, and Halliburton, which was responsible for the cementing operations, shared the blame for many of the fatal mistakes.
__
The study goes further than previous reports, citing seven violations of federal regulations as factors. Among them were violations of laws that required BP and its contractors to operate in a safe manner, to take measures to contain oil and gas for the protection of health and the environment, to conduct reliable tests of well pressures and to notify federal regulators of changes in drilling plans.
__
The Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation that could bring indictments and heavy fines…
A Mom Anon
Indictments and heavy fines,oooh. I’m sure the boys and girls at these companies are losing sleep over that.
Jesus. If I was negligent and caused massive death and destruction,I doubt seriously that I’d be fined instead of facing jail.
If corporations are people,they should be subject to a death penalty too.
PurpleGirl
A Mom Anon: You would be subject to fines, punitive damages and jail time.
I agree that if corporations are people, they should be subject to a death penalty or having most of their assets seized and top management getting hard time.
bisquits
Now now proles. These are job creators. They are special. Nothing to see here. Move along and enjoy your gulf seafood on the way!
negative 1
“The Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation that could bring indictments and heavy fines…”
I’m betting up to $500 or 30 days in jail, but that would be the max and they won’t serve it. Anyone want to take that bet?
Dark Patriot
Yay American “justice” system!!!!!!!!!!!
Joseph Nobles
The first time I saw the three main corporations before the Congress, it was the CEO of BP America (if memory serves), the CEO of Transocean, and some lawyer flunkie from Halliburton. And the lawyer flunkie was the only one sweating. That’s when I knew it was the cement.
andybud
Clearly, this could have been prevented with less regulation.
Or at least we wouldn’t know about it happening because they wouldn’t have to tell us.
Ignorance is conservative bliss.
burnspbesq
@negative 1:
Considering that it only takes about five minutes to google the relevant provisions of Title 18 and prove you spectacularly wrong, it wouldn’t be sporting of me to take your money. But don’t let the facts get in the way of a good rant.
TooManyJens
@burnspbesq: Is there any chance at all that BP will actually have to pay a fine severe enough to reflect the damage done (not that any amount of fine will make up for the deaths of 11 people) and to scare BP and other companies into actually following the law? Because while negative1 may have been a bit hyperbolic, I’m pretty skeptical.
Brian
Mistakes were made. Accidents happen. We’re all really, truly sorry, an we promise not to allow this exact thing to happen this exact way again. Plus, what andybud said.
burnspbesq
@TooManyJens:
No, but that’s really not the point. The goals of criminal law do not include compensating the victims for economic loss. That’s a civil-law issue.
Criminal law is about retribution and deterrence. If you want to argue that the penalties for this kind of crime are insufficient to effectively deter, argue away, but let’s have the argument in the proper context.
Also, keep in mind the difference in burden of proof in civil cases is a lot lower than in criminal cases. You’re much more likely to achieve your compensatory goal if you only have to prove bad acts by a preponderance of the evidence.
Epicurus
Want more of this crap? Feel free to vote Republican…if you are sane, on the other hand, throw the rascals out!
trollhattan
I’ll report here a comment I’ve seen proffered more than once from outer wingnuttia: the people responsible for the BP oil spill all died in the explosion.
So I guess that’s everything we need to know, now move along and drill baby, drill.
twiffer
i actually heard (on the weather channel, for reasons mysterious) some talking head remark that the spill did create jobs, because they needed to hire so many people to clean it up. i’m taking this as an insight into the “regulation kills job creation” logic. if we regulate industry, there will be fewer disasters, thus we lose all those jobs created to clean the mess up! also, killing workers is a no-fail way to create a new job opportunity for others!