BP engineer arrested in Gulf spill probe
Baku, April 25 (AZERTAC). The US government has filed its first criminal charges in connection with the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill, accusing a former BP engineer of intentionally destroying evidence about the size of the disaster.
Kurt Mix was charged with two counts of obstruction of justice for allegedly deleting records relating to the amount of oil flowing from BP`s stricken Macondo well, after the April 2010 blowout and explosion that triggered the disaster.
According to court documents, Mr Mix, who resigned from BP in January, was part of a team that tried to estimate the amount of oil leaking from the well and was involved in attempts to stop the flow. These included the “top kill”, which involved pumping heavy mud into the blown out wellhead.
The Department of Justice alleges that in October 2010, Mr Mix deleted text messages he sent to a BP supervisor indicating the top kill was not working, contrary to BP`s public statements at the time. In one, he allegedly wrote that the flow rate from the well was 15,000 barrels a day - a level that he and his colleagues had determined was too high for the operation to succeed. At the time, BP`s public estimate of the flow rate was just 5,000 b/d. The flow rate will determine the penalties BP faces under the 1973 Clean Water Act. It has challenged the government`s estimate that 4.9m barrels gushed from the well.
The charges against Mr Mix do not touch on the central question of responsibility for the disaster, which could still be brought against BP employees or the company itself.
“The Deepwater Horizon taskforce is continuing its investigation into the explosion and will hold accountable those who violated the law in connection with the largest environmental disaster in US history,” said Eric Holder, US attorney-general.
BP declined to comment on Mr Mix`s case but said it had clear policies requiring preservation of evidence. The blowout and explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in April 2010 killed 11 men and triggered the world`s worst offshore oil spill.
Mr Mix allegedly deleted another set of text messages concerning how much oil was flowing from Macondo after the blowout - despite receiving a number of legal hold notices requiring him to preserve such data. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on each count.
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