BP Failed to Fix Safety Device, Worker Testifies
KENNER, La. — BP failed to fix a leak from a critical safety device in the days before the Deepwater Horizon exploded, a company official testified on Tuesday.
Drilling was allowed to continue despite a leak on a control pod connected to the blowout preventer, an emergency mechanism that failed to activate after the disaster, said the official, Ronald Sepulvado, a BP well site leader. He testified that he had expected BP officials in Houston and the Minerals Management Service, the federal agency that regulates offshore drilling, to respond to the leak, but they did not do so before 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.
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