New Concerns Over BP Atlantis Gulf Oil Rig | WPN World People News

The controversy over the BP Atlantis deepwater oil production facility deepened last Friday, as a newly released U.S. Department of Interior Inspector-General report reveals that engineers involved in an investigation of the facility’s safety rebuked the findings that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) sent to Congress in March of 2011. The report casts serious doubts on the agency’s handling of the problems associated with the BP Atlantis platform.

Dark clouds of smoke and fire emerge as oil burns during a controlled fire in the Gulf of Mexico following the April 20, 2010 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon.

The new report, released by a Freedom of Information Act request, states that three structural engineers determined that the platform and its subsea equipment were likely unsafe and required further intensive investigation and that BP's drawings of the platform components, including the subsea components, violate applicable regulations. These conclusions confirm warnings that originated with Ken Abbott, a BP subcontractor-turned-whistleblower, who warned in 2009 that the platform is unsafe to operate.

“No one in America is above the law, not even government agencies. These structural engineers knew that, and they confirmed what Food & Water Watch has known all along,” said Mary Whittle of Earthjustice who is representing plaintiffs. “The fact is, the BP Atlantis platform is unsafe and lacks critical engineering for safe operations. We will continue to press forward because citizens’ groups have a fundamental right to go to court to protect the Gulf of Mexico from another catastrophic oil spill.”

“It’s shocking that it has taken so long for these revelations to come to light,” said Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter. “Did the federal government learn anything from the destruction created by the Horizon oil spill? It is unconscionable that BOEMRE, which should be protecting the public interest by shuttering the platform, is instead bowing to industry pressure by allowing this ticking time bomb to continue operating.”

Source: Earthjustice