A federal report, based on an investigation by the Coast Guard and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Regulation and Enforcement, has officially placed the blame for the BP oil spill at the feet of — who knew? — BP.
The report, released Wednesday, said in the days leading up to the disaster, BP made a series of decisions that complicated cementing operations, added risk, and may have contributed to the ultimate failure of the cement job.
BP isn't alone in the stocks here — cement contractor Halliburton (THOSE guys!) and Transocean, which owned the rig, also made mistakes. But according to the report, BP deserves the lion's share of blame for using insufficient barriers, making risk-increasing decisions about how to place important structures in wells, failing to do adequate risk assessment, prioritizing cost-cutting over safety, and failing to communicate with Transocean.
It's kind of amazing/appalling that this even needs to be said at this point, but you know the government: they like to make sure things are done right. Or anyway they like to make sure things are done slow.
