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Subscribe to RSSIn the first criminal case directly related to the 2010 Gulf oil disaster, FBI agents have arrested a former engineer for BP, who's accused of destroying evidence requested by federal authorities investigating the spill.
Kurt Mix, age 50, of Katy, Texas, is charged with obstruction of justice. Prosecutors say he deleted text messages from his cell phone that he'd been instructed to keep to aid in the investigation.
Mix was a "drilling and completions project engineer for BP" and one of his tasks was to estimate the amount of oil leaking from the well after the blowout.
"BP sent numerous notices to Mix requiring him to retain all information concerning Macondo, including his text messages," prosecutors say.
But they say in October of 2010, after hearing that the files of his text messages were going to be collected, he deleted more than 200 messages from his phone.
"The deleted texts, some of which were recovered forensically, included sensitive internal BP information collected in real-time as the Top Kill operation was occurring, which indicated that Top Kill was failing," the Justice Department says.
According to court documents, in one message, he wrote, "Too much flow rate -- over 15,000."
He and other engineers had concluded internally that the effort to cap the well was unlikely to succeed if the flow rate was greater than 15,000 barrels of oil per day.
"At the time, BP's public estimate of the flow rate was 5,000 BOPD -- three times lower than the minimum flow rate indicated in Mix's text," the government says.
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It is about time. While this is a small fish to fry, it is a start, and should continue anywhere a cover-up was attempted by BP staff. Next up, the Wal(s) as in Mart and Street.
According to the Justice Department,
Kurt Mix is accused of deleting 200 text messages, involving a British Petroleum supervisor (in October 2010).
Our worst oil disaster - B.P's rig Deepwater Horizon explosion killed 11 workers.
More than 200 million gallons of crude oil flowed into the Louisiana coast before it could be capped.
The question is will the ones actually responsible swing for this.
What's the big deal - doesn't everyone enjoy snacking on 3 eyed glow in the dark shrimp?
Throw the book at the environmental terrorists!
Let's not forget that the top of the list should be murder of those that died drilling in a manner they knew to be dangerous, but they were pushed by their bosses to do so.
I feel those responsible will walk just like those who tanked the economy walked and then profited from their crimes by getting their companies "lean and mean" by laying off millions.
They wont do a dam thing they are all bought and paid for by big oil !
Sounds like the lefty liberals are voting "No Confidence" in Barry's and that moron Eric Holder's ability to to do their jobs right in this case.
THAT'S JUST FUNNY AS HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ALMOST as **hellishly funny,
As claiming the 8 million job loss at the end of 2008, was the fault of the incoming Administration.
Feisty - I think that's what I had for dinner last night! Still glowing today.
Joe in Albany - how does this get to be Obama's job? Was he running the drills? I do believe big oil is in the GOP's pocket or actually the GOP is in big oil's pocket!
Wayne you're right on target. The deaths of the 11 who were never found should be charged against those responsible. Maybe then the other oil companies might actually begin to hold lives as valuable.
And guess what folks, the same technology to deal with spills that existed 30 years ago is still the same technology today. But they are drilling at such depths as to be impossible to provide any reassurances--for example if a rig falls on top of the spill there would be no way to attempt to cap it.
Oh, and that Keystone pipeline that would mean sh!t to the US, they don't know anything about cleaning up tar sands either. And fracking, though natural gas is now downgraded from 100 years to only 20 years supply...
No worry, carry on... (Damn worthless Chevy Volt, global warming is a scam, Solyndra was a wasted effort, riiiight). And what of that "too big to fail" and criminal charges on Wall Street?
Joe in Albany - how does this get to be Obama's job?
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Because this story is about federal criminal charges and Barry is the one who put that incompetent moron Eric Holder in at DOJ.
It's always the middle management that takes it on the chin.
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Holy Cow! You always suspect companies like BP of doing stuff like this, but you never imagine they wll actually get caught and be held accountable. Kudos to the FBI!
How much of an engineer was this guy that he didn't know that text messages can be retrieved even after you delete them? If nothing else, he's guilty of criminal stupidity.....
Actually, Amy, I was wondering when they would get around to charging President Obama for sending in SEAL Team 6 to detonate the rig that caused this disaster in order to push his ridiculous "green" initiative?
Crazy conspiracy theories never turn out well in mixed company, man.
That's Chis for you. He assembles his legos with airplane glue in a closet.
Amazing to me that this guy is willing to risk his freedom for BP. Maybe they will flip him for the "bigger fish".
Tek, it's not nice to call Amy "crazy". She happens to be a very sweet woman.
Wayne, still jealous of my avatar, buddy? Dude, get over it. Yours will never be as awesome as mine.
Chris - clearly you're certifiable. Now had it been the Bush administration and blowing the wells had helped start the war in Iraq, well there might be something there!
Certifiable, Seek? Why? Because my theory is the only one that actually makes any sense?
Get out of your narrow-minded liberal view of the world mindset and see the way things really work. This whole administration is a sham and you fell for it, you tool.
Chris' theory is so typical right-wing tinfoil hat stuff, thanks for the laugh man.
My theory is no crazier than the ones the typical left-wing, government worshipping, liberal fools spout about the conservatives in this country. You just don't like it because your little Mullatto-Man Empire is crumbling before your eyes and there is nothing you can do about it.
I think Holder and Justice betgter step up and go after the Lehman Brothers execs who brought on the near Depression of 08.
Yes so true, and send the message that jail time will be coming. Koch Brothers and Bain Capital had better watch their steps.
Securities Fraud, 'Pump and Dump' scheme.
It's a federal, criminal, offense and one that you could easily snag the execs of just about every major banking cartel on.
Fines + Prison time.
Not quite as outright aggressive as a ponzi scheme, but nasty enough to land you in prison.
DO IT, OBAMA! DO IT!