The forensic report on the Deepwater Horizon's blowout preventer (BOP) was released to the public on March 23, 2011. The next step in the investigation will be to try and reconcile it with the report of the Chief Counsel of the Oil Spill Commission . There are two major public policy issues: worker safety and spill prevention; we don't want either dead workers or oil spills. While the process goes forward and the issues are debated, a preliminary finding has emerged. The crew of the Deepwater Horizon in the drill shack left the activation of the BOP so late that they were dead before it finished closing. Figuring out why they did not act earlier is a matter of debate; the fact that they acted too late is not.Based on the testimony of the surviving witnesses, the chief counsel states, "Sometime between 9:40 and 9:43 p.m., mud overflowed onto the rig floor, shot up to the top of the derrick, and poured down onto the main deck." (pg 181). Now the flow path at that initial...(Read Full Post)