The US Presidential Commission that investigated last year's massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico says the disaster was caused by risky decisions saying that saving time and money. It warns a similar incident could happen again without industry and government reform. The report also said that BP did not have adequate controls in place to ensure safety. The April blast aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig killed 11 people and caused one of the worst oil spills in history. The Macondo well, about a mile under the sea's surface, eventually leaked millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, damaging hundreds of miles of coastline before it was capped in July.But BP said in a statement that the report, like its own investigation, had found the accident was the result of multiple causes, involving multiple companies. It said, the company was working with regulators to ensure the lessons learned from Macondo lead to improvements in operations and contractor services in deepwater drilling.Transocean, which owned the Deepwater Horizon rig, said that the procedures being conducted in the final hours were crafted and directed by BP engineers and approved in advance by federal regulators.
News On AIR | January 6, 2011 11:13 AM
BP blamed for last year's massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico