HOUSTON – The US Chemical Safety Board is launching an investigation into the root causes of the BP oil spill disaster that killed 11 workers and threatens much of the US Gulf Coast.
The agency’s chairman, John Bresland, said in a letter to US house energy and commerce committee leaders that the case will be handled by investigators who examined BP’s refinery safety practices in a two-year inquiry into a deadly 2005 explosion at the company’s Texas City refinery.
“We intend to prioritise this work and apply all of our available resources to ensure the best possible investigation,” Mr Bresland said in a letter released on Monday by the Chemical Safety Board, an independent US federal agency that investigates chemical accidents.
Mr Bresland said the agency would examine what led to the April 20th explosion on Transocean Ltd’s Deepwater Horizon rig, which had drilled an exploratory well as per BP’s design. An investigation of the response to the disaster and subsequent deep-sea spill, which has spewed tens of thousands of barrels a day, “is beyond the CSB’s current resources and abilities”, he said.
Democrat Henry Waxman, chairman of the energy and commerce committee, and Democrat Bart Stupak, chairman of its investigative subcommittee, asked the agency by letter on June 8th to investigate the disaster.
Its investigation into the Texas City explosion, which killed 15 workers and injured at least 170 more, was the longest in the agency’s history. It concluded that years of budget cuts and lax safety practices were factors in the explosion.
BP has consistently denied budget cuts contributed to that disaster and pledged to improve safety. The BBC’s Panorama programme said that a worker on the Deepwater Horizon rig had told it that he identified a leak in safety equipment weeks before the explosion. A congressional committee investigating the accident said last month the blowout preventer had a leak in its hydraulic system.
Mr Bresland said the Deepwater Horizon investigation would examine safety cultures involved and effectiveness of relevant laws, regulations and industry standards.
The agency will tap into its $847,000 emergency investigative fund and ask for more money to cover its costs, Mr Bresland said. Its Texas City investigation cost about $2.5 million, he added.
– (Reuters)