Oil spill hearings: Deepwater Horizon rig's two senior officers now considered "parties of interest"

[Trillo]

Source: NOLA.com

Oil spill hearings: Deepwater Horizon rig's two senior officers now considered "parties of interest" in explosion investigation
By David Hammer, The Times-Picayune
May 29, 2010, 2:05PM

This is an update from the joint hearings of the U.S. Coast Guard and Minerals Management Service held in Kenner on Saturday into the explosion and fire aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20, which killed 11 workers and created the Gulf of Mexico oil spill currently fouling Louisiana's coast.

Capt. Hung Nguyen, chairman of the joint investigative panel, said that because of their "conduct" on the Deepwater Horizon, the rig's two senior officers, Capt. Curt Kuchta and Installation Manager Jimmy Harrell, are now considered "parties of interest" in the investigation.

The other parties of interest are BP, Transocean and several BP contractors, who have lawyers at the hearings to cross-examine witnesses.

Crane operator Micah Sandell:

The joint investigation hearings in Kenner have been dotted with vivid retellings of the harrowing and chaotic moments when the Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20.


Read more: http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/oil_spill_hearings_2.html

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A lot of good information at the link.

[RKP5637]

1. Very informative. Thanks for posting! n/t

[flyarm]

2. and all the big dogs will walk ..and a few little guys will take the blame..same old same old!

the cover up by our government has been extensive! count on that!

from a Gulf Coast resident.

[RKP5637]

4. Yep, that's usually what happens anymore. It's pathetic. You know, what

really irked me yesterday was why Obama did not spend more time there. To me what he did was little more than a photo-op. I would have liked to have seen him spend more time with the people.

That entire area needs so much support, reassurance, something... I would have pushed out my Chicago trip and stayed there at least overnight. I'm so far from the gulf coast, but I felt badly about it from here, and I think a lot of people in the gulf coast area felt the same. I'm not bashing Obama, I just thought is was a severely missed opportunity. It's not that he's going to wave his hand and do some magic, but this is such a major tragedy. Frankly, the more I think about it the more it PO's me.

[Ex Lurker]

6. Obama is acting like he wants a primary challenger n/t

[RKP5637]

7. Yep, I've been wondering if deep down in his private thoughts he wants a second term. n/t

[Ex Lurker]

5. Kuchta and Harrell had better be working on a deal to testify for the Feds

because BP is going to throw them under the bus. Wouldn't hurt to consider the Witness Protection Program either, before they have an unfortunate "accident."

[Rosa Luxemburg]

3. and Halliburton?

[Gowi]

10. Halliburton may have done this intentionally just to make...

President Obama look bad. Do not underestimate them.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

11. they were the 'cementers'

[Arctic Dave]

8. We need to have a poll and a pool for how many people go to jail.

I'm putting my money on lucky number six.

[Adsos Letter]

9. The video of the investigative hearings are in the video library at C-SPAN

Interesting viewing; the lawyers from the various corporations/contractors involved obviously structuring their questions to proove it was somebody else's fault.