Summary: Two employees face manslaughter charges and an executive faces lying to authorities in relation to their actions before and after the BP Gulf Coast oil spill.
Two employees and one executive of BP have been indicted for their actions related to the catastrophic Gulf oil spill in 2010. The two employees, Robert Kaluza and Donald Vidrine, have been charged with manslaughter for the explosion that killed 11 workers. The executive, David Rainey, was charged with lying to authorities concerning his job estimating the rate oil was flowing during the event.
The British oil giant agreed to pay the largest settlement in U.S. history, $5.4 billion for the fatal accident. This federal indictment will take some of the pressure off the company. Kaluza and Vidrine are alleged to have acted negligently during their supervision of critical safety tests conducted on the Deepwater Horizon rig. The investigation found that they did not call the proper engineers onshore to raise concern about problems in drilling.
Rainey was BP’s vice president of exploration for the Gulf of Mexico region. He is accused of making false statements and obstructing Congress. The investigation found that he lied about how he calculated the flow rate for BP’s blown-out well following the explosion.
BP has also agreed to plead guilty to all felony charges related to the oil spill and deaths of the 11 workers. The investigation is ongoing and could very likely lead to other charges being filed on other employees that had a role in making the decisions that ultimately led to the terrible accident.
Photo: bbc.com