Relatives flew over Gulf of Mexico waters on Wednesday where 11 oilrig workers died a year ago, residents gathered in prayer vigils onshore and US President Barack Obama vowed to hold BP and others accountable for “the painful losses that they’ve caused.”
Even as somber remembrances marked the first anniversary of the worst offshore oil spill in US history, there were reminders that lengthy legal battles lay ahead. BP filed a lawsuit alleging negligence by the maker of the device that failed to stop the spill and the rig owner. Both filed their own claims.
The disaster began on the night of April 20 last year, when the Deepwater Horizon rig burst into flames and killed the 11 men. The rest of the crew evacuated, but two days later the rig toppled into the Gulf and sank to the sea floor. Over the next 85 days, 780 million liters of oil — 19 times more than the Exxon Valdez spilled — spewed from the well.
Photo: Reuters
Late on Wednesday, BP also sued cement contractor Halliburton alleging fraud, negligence and concealing material facts in connection with its work on the rig.
In a statement, Transocean called BP’s lawsuit “desperate,” “specious” and “unconscionable.”
“The Deepwater Horizon was a world-class drilling rig manned by a top-flight crew that was put in jeopardy by BP, the operator of the Macondo well, thorough a series of cost-saving decisions that increased risk — in some cases, severely,” Transocean said.
Parents, siblings and wives of the workers — whose bodies were never recovered — boarded a helicopter on Wednesday to see the waters where their loved ones perished. The helicopter took them from New Orleans out to the well site, circled around so that people on both sides of the aircraft could see and then returned to shore, said Arleen Weise, whose son, Adam, was killed on the rig. The only indication they were at the site was an announcement from the pilot, she said.
“It was just a little emotional, seeing where they were,” Weise said by phone from Houston, where rig owner Transocean planned an evening memorial service.
Asked what went through her mind when she saw where the rig went down, Weise said: “Just rise up. I wanted them to come up, but it didn’t happen.”
In a statement, Obama paid tribute to those killed in the blast and said that despite significant progress toward mitigating the spill’s worst impacts, “the job isn’t done.”
“We continue to hold BP and other responsible parties fully accountable for the damage they’ve done and the painful losses that they’ve caused,” he said.
BP said in its lawsuit filed in US federal court in New Orleans that Cameron International provided a blowout preventer with a faulty design, alleging that negligence by the manufacturer helped cause the disaster. The suit seeks damages to help BP pay for the tens of billions of US dollars in liabilities it has incurred from the disaster.
BP sued rig owner Transocean for at least US$40 billion in damages, accusing it of causing last year’s deadly blowout. BP said every single safety system and device and well control procedure on the Deepwater Horizon rig failed.
Houston-based Cameron noted in a statement that Wednesday was the deadline under the relevant statute for all parties to file claims against each other. It said that it has filed claims of its own to protect itself.
Also Wednesday, Transocean filed court papers demanding that judgments be made against BP, Cameron and other companies in its favor.
A presidential commission has concluded that a cascade of technical and managerial failures — including a faulty cement job — caused the disaster. BP, the oil giant which owns the blown-out well, has paid billions in cleanup costs and to compensate victims.
Seventeen family members, one Transocean official and two pilots were aboard the chopper that flew the families to the site for the three-hour round-trip. Transocean had invited up to three members of each family to attend the flyover, but some families declined.
Janet Woodson, whose brother Aaron Burkeen was killed on the rig, also was on the helicopter ride.
“It was OK, but sad even though there was nothing there,” she said.
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