On April 16, a former Transocean executive, Earl Shanks, testified that a key piece of equipment intended to shut down BP’s Macondo oil well in the event of an emergency would have succeeded if its automatic mode function had worked.
The automatic function of the drilling rig’s blowout preventer was designed to seal the well without personnel intervention. The blowout preventer was intended to close off the well when oil and gas from deep below the sea bed start gushing out; however, this is not what occurred on April 20, 2010.
Shanks, who said he had more than 35 years of experience in the oil drilling industry, testified against BP. Shanks spent five years as director of technology development for Transocean, which owned and operated the Deepwater Horizon rig that caught fire and exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing eleven workers, and causing one of the largest oil spills and environmental catastrophe in American history. Shanks testified that the drilling rig’s blowout preventer was flawed and if it had been working properly the environmental catastrophe could have been prevented.
Putting Profits Ahead of People and the Environment
BP violated federal, state and local environmental laws which regulate the discharge of toxic wastes and other pollutants into the environment. BP decided that it is cheaper to pollute than to prevent toxic and chemical exposure to innocent people.
If you have been injured by exposure to an environmental hazard or dangerous chemical in the air, soil or water, contact the New Orleans injury attorneys of Harrell & Nowak today at (504) 522-7885.