Gulf Gusher Constitutes a Crime

Oh, we know that -- whether prescribed from officialdom or not.

Related: Safety fluid was removed before oil rig exploded in Gulf

"Documents show earlier concerns over BP rig safety; Worries raised about key pieces prior to disaster" by Ian Urbina, New York Times | May 30, 2010

WASHINGTON — Internal documents from BP show that there were serious problems and safety concerns with the Deepwater Horizon rig far earlier than those the company described to Congress last week.

And they LIED ABOUT IT, huh?

The problems involved the well casing and the blowout preventer, which are considered critical pieces in the chain of events that led to the disaster on the rig.

The documents show that in March, after several weeks of problems on the rig, BP was struggling with a loss of “well control.’’ And as far back as 11 months ago, the company was concerned about the well casing and the blowout preventer.

On June 22, 2009, for example, BP engineers expressed concerns that the metal well casing that the company wanted to use might collapse under high pressure. “This would certainly be a worst-case scenario,’’ Mark E. Hafle, a senior drilling engineer at BP, warned in an internal report. “However, I have seen it happen so know it can occur.’’

The company went ahead with the casing, but only after getting special permission from BP colleagues because the casing violated the company’s own safety policies and design standards....

It's CRIMINAL then.

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