Investigations on BP oil disaster focus on safety lapses before explosion

BP officials gave testimony in Houston again today, during the U.S. Coast Guard and Bureau of Energy Management’s joint investigation into the disaster. Commission members are trying to find out why the BOP, or blow out preventer failed. That was the device that should have stopped the flow of oil, had it been working.

BP’s Vice President for Drilling and Completions Harry Thierens indicated that Transocean made changes to the blow out preventer that hindered their efforts to shut off the flow of oil following the deadly explosion.

"There was a period of time, when Transocean was looking for what was referred to as points of interest or places of interest on the BOP stack. And if that time had not been necessary it could had expedited a faster response to the BOP."

Commission member Jason Matthews with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management wanted to know if BP was aware of changes that could have affected safety. He asked Thierens to read from notes he recorded on April 25, five days after the rig exploded.

THIERENS: "My concern right now is that Transocean made, possibly, an uncontrolled change to the system locally on the rig. It does not appear at this time that they have a controlled process for this change on something which is safety critical.

THIERENS: Absolutely."

Meanwhile, in Washington, the President’s National Oil Spill Commission met today to look at how to prevent and respond to future spills. Much of the emphasis during today’s hearing was placed on how to alter the regulatory structure to prevent a disaster like the BP Oil Spill from happening again.  Michael Lawson has more from Washington.