Exploding Rig’s Operator Has History of Safety Violations

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/5899/exploding_rig_company_has_history_of_safety_violations/

Thursday April 22 12:37 pm


Fire boats battle the fire on April after a massive explosion on the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon, off the coast of Louisiana. The rig's contractor, BP Exploration and Production, has a history of safety violations. (Photo by U.S. Coast Guard via Getty Images)


By Lindsay Beyerstein

Eleven oil workers are still missing after a massive explosion and fire late Tuesday night on an oil rig off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico. The rig was under contract to BP Exploration and Production (BPEP).

Working In These Times has determined that BPEP has a history of safety violations, according to public records on file with the Minerals Management Service (MMS), the division of the federal Department of the Interior that oversees offshore drilling.

Penalties assessed to BPEP during the past decade include:

* $41,000 for a "loss of well control." MMS found that BPEP "failed to verify employees were trained to competently perform the assigned well control duties."
* $190,000 for an improperly installed fire diverter system. The lapse was discovered in the wake of a fire that damaged property and the environment.
* $80,000 for bypassing relays for the Pressure Safety High/Low on four producing wells.
* $70,000 for low pressure in the fire water system


FULL story at link.

[Webster Green]

1. Shocking news!

Can this possibly be true? :banghead:

[AndyA]

2. But...their television ads make them seem like such a responsible, green company!

I'm shocked!

Whatever happened to truth in advertising?

I guess it isn't enforced any longer. I think we need truth in Congress, too. If there were such a thing and it were enforced, most of our Congress people would be removed from office.