British Petroleum will be charged with felony manslaughter for the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion. The Washington Post reported that the Justice Department announced the news on Thursday. The BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion killed 11 people and contaminated the Gulf of Mexico with almost 5 million barrels of oil in 2010.
Two BP surpervisors on the Deepwater Horizon rig have been indicted with "23 counts of criminal wrongdoing, including manslaughter," reported The Washington Post. CBS reported the well site leaders leaders Robert Kaluza and Donald Vidrine acted negligently during their supervision of safety tests that were performed on the rig before the catastrophic explosion. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that BP's vice president of exploration for the Gulf of Mexico, David Rainey was also charged with lying and hiding information from Congress. CBS reported that Rainey "lied to federal investigators when they asked him how he calculated a flow rate estimate for BP's blown-out well in the days after the April 2010 disaster."
The Washington Post reported that the oil giant also agreed to pay $4 billion over a five year period in a settlement with the Justice Department.
CBS reported, "The settlement, which is subject to approval by a federal judge, includes payments of nearly $2.4 billion to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, $350 million to the National Academy of Sciences and about $500 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission."
"Today's resolution does not, does not mark the end of our efforts," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a press conference, "In fact, our criminal investigation remains ongoing, and we'll continue to follow all credible leads and pursue any charges that are warranted."
Before the hearing on Thursday a former BP engineer was the only person arrested for obstruction of justice charges. CBS reported that the man was accused of deleting texts messages that were about BP's response to the oil spill.
The BP oil spill was the worst in America's history and caused massive environmental damage throughout the Gulf of Mexico.
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