Federal investigators suppressed safety concerns with BP Atlantis oil platform

A Democratic lawmaker this month accused federal investigators of suppressing concerns about the structural safety of BP’s Atlantis offshore oil platform, a facility similar to the Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded four years ago.

Rep. Raúl Grijalva (Ariz.) said in a Nov. 6 letter to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell that the Bureau of Ocean Energy and Management, Regulation and Enforcement failed to disclose key details about its investigation of the Atlantis, which is located about 150 miles south of New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico.

All three structural engineers who took part in the investigation thought the final report should mention signs of trouble with some of the rig’s underwater parts, as well as disagreement over whether BP had all of its final designs in place.

None of those concerns made it into the final analysis. A December 2013 inspector general’s report revealed that the bureau, which falls under the Department of the Interior, narrowed its review in a way that excluded them.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2014/11/26/lawmaker-says-agency-suppressed-safety-concerns-with-review-of-bp-oil-platform/