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Justice Dept. sues Transocean to force cooperation in Gulf rig blast probe
The Justice Department is suing Transocean – owner of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that blew up in the Gulf of Mexico last year – to force compliance with subpoenas issued by a federal agency probing the accident.
The Wednesday filing in a Houston federal court faults the company’s noncompliance with months of subpoenas from the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), an independent agency that’s investigating the April 2010 accident that killed 11 workers.
Transocean’s noncompliance has “impeded and delayed” the investigation, according to the filing that asks the court to compel response to the subpoenas.
“Transocean has provided no response or an insufficient response to a total of thirty-eight (38) specific demands for documents or answers to interrogatories,” according to the litigation filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
A separate Interior Department-U.S. Coast Guard investigative team has completed its probe of the Deepwater Horizon accident, and issued a report last month detailing missteps by BP, Transocean, and Halliburton, which performed the cement work on BP’s ill-fated Macondo well.
Interior on Wednesday sent the companies formal notices that they violated drilling safety regulations, a step toward imposing civil penalties.
The independent Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board is conducting a separate probe of the well blowout and subsequent explosion of the rig.
A Transocean spokesman on Wednesday reiterated the company’s view that the chemical board lacks authority and jurisdiction to investigate the accident.
The company notes in particular that the board is not authorized to investigate marine spills.
A July letter from a Transocean attorney to the Justice Department about the subpoenas attacks the CSB’s “improper aggrandizement” of its jurisdiction and notes that company will refrain from formally complying with subpoenas. The letter notes, however, that Transocean has “voluntarily produced numerous documents and other information.”
But the new Justice Department lawsuit defends the CSB's right to probe the accident, noting that the CSB is probing the “accidental release of regulated substances or other extremely hazardous substances ... into the ambient air,” and claiming that the CSB is legally bound to investigate.
“Indeed, due to the resulting and potential fatalities, serious injuries, and substantial property damage, CSB is required ... to investigate this incident,” the court filing states, adding that CSB is not investigating the marine oil spill itself.
