One of BP's site leaders at Deepwater Horizon dropped a bombshell at an investigative hearing into the Oilmageddon spill. Apparently a critical safety device near the blowout preventer was leaking--and BP kept drilling anyway.
Ronald Sepulvado, a BP well site leader, said he reported the problem to senior company officials and assumed it would be relayed to the Minerals Management Service, the federal agency that regulates offshore drilling. The leak was on a control pod connected to the blowout preventer, an emergency mechanism that failed to activate after the April 20 disaster.
"I assumed everything was O.K., because I reported it to the team leader and he should have reported it to M.M.S.," Mr. Sepulvado said.
He could not explain why the company did not respond to his report.
Federal regulations strongly suggest that BP should have stopped drilling until the pod could be fixed. The fact it didn't is just one more chapter in a growing litany of reckless behavior on BP's part.
continued at Daily Kos....
