Feds make 1st arrest in BP oil spill
This April 21, 2010 file photo shows oil in the Gulf of Mexico, more than 50 miles southeast of Venice on Louisiana's tip, as a large plume of smoke rises from fires on BP's Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig. The Justice Department says the first criminal charges in the Deepwater Horizon disaster have been filed against a former BP engineer who allegedly destroyed evidence on April 24, 2012. / AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File
Updated 4:30 PM ET
(CBS/AP) NEW ORLEANS - A BP engineer intentionally deleted more than 300 text messages that said the company's efforts to control the Gulf of Mexico oil spill were failing, and that the amount of oil leaking was far more than what the company reported, the Justice Department said Tuesday.
In the first criminal charges related to the deadly explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig in April 2010, the Justice Department arrested Kurt Mix and charged him with two counts of obstruction of justice for allegedly destroying evidence sought by federal authorities, officials announced in a statement.
"The Deepwater Horizon Task Force is continuing its investigation into the explosion and will hold accountable those who violated the law in connection with the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history," said Attorney General Eric Holder in a statement.
The charges came a day before a federal judge in New Orleans was to consider preliminary approval of a $7.8 billion settlement between BP and a committee of plaintiffs in a civil case. Shrimp processors have raised objections, saying the settlement does not adequately compensate them.
Having an accurate flow-rate estimate is key to determining how much in civil and criminal penalties BP and the other companies drilling the Macondo will face under the Clean Water Act.
BP released a statement in response to the criminal complaint: "BP is cooperating with the Department of Justice and other official investigations into the Deepwater Horizon accident and oil spill.
BP expects Gulf spill deal to cost $7.8B
BP, plaintiffs reach Gulf oil spill settlement
"BP had clear policies requiring preservation of evidence in this case and has undertaken substantial and ongoing efforts to preserve evidence."
Mix, 50, of Katy, Texas, appeared before a judge in Houston and was released on $100,000 bail. Mix, who no longer works for BP, said very little during the hearing, answering routine questions about the charges. His attorney declined comment after the hearing. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on each count.
The engineer deleted more than 200 messages sent to a BP supervisor from his iPhone in October 2010 containing information about how much oil was spilling out -- and then erased 100 more the following year after receiving numerous legal notices to preserve the information, the Justice Department said in a news release.
On the first day BP began to use the "top kill" method to plug the leaking well, Katy estimated in a text to his supervisor that 15,000 barrels of oil per day were spilling -- an amount greater than what BP said the method could likely handle. The "top kill" method involved pumping heavy mud into the blown-out well head to cap it, and it was one of many unsuccessful attempts to plug the well. The well was ultimately capped July 15, 2010.
The BP-leased rig Deepwater Horizon exploded the night of April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers and setting off the nation's worst offshore oil disaster. More than 200 million gallons of crude oil flowed out of the well off the Louisiana coast before it was stopped.
As the spill grew into weeks and months, and soiled fishing grounds, beaches and coastal marshes, independent scientists questioned the official flow rates. Academics, environmentalists and federal investigators accused the Obama administration of downplaying scientific findings and misrepresenting data as well as misconstruing the opinions of experts it solicited.
A deepwater drilling moratorium was also put in place, a painful move for the industry and the Gulf states that rely on drilling for jobs and tax revenue.
Meanwhile, BP chief executive Tony Hayward was forced to step down after making a series of gaffes related to the spill. BP's attempts to create an environmentally friendly image were crushed, and independent gas station owners with BP-branded stations lost business from upset customers.
Recently, scientists said they have found fish in the Gulf with open sores, parasitic infections and chewed-up fins -- injuries they suspect are from the effects of the petroleum. The evidence is not conclusive, but it could mean that the environmental damage to the Gulf from the BP disaster is still unfolding and the picture isn't as rosy as it might have seemed just a year ago.
Popular on CBSNews.com
- Officials confirm there's only 1 winning Powerball ticket
- Long Island police defend Hofstra student killing 73 Comments
- 1 winning ticket sold in Fla. on Powerball
- Powerball frenzy locks down most possible number combos
- Authorities: N.Y. college student was killed by police 53 Comments
- The War in Chicago
- Crash in small Va. town injures dozens during parade
- Seven-time lottery winner shares secret to winning Powerball
the high price of oil is found in the threats to oil routes in the mid east that obama has refused to confront.
the strait of hormuz and the suez are exstremely unstable are that is why the price will continue to rise until the threats are removed.
----------------------------------------------
he has 2 carrier battle groups over there right now. By ending the threat are you implying we start another war with Iran? They are just a bunch of Baghdad bobs but the cost would tear what little credit we have left (and I think you are a bagger) into shreds and flush it down the toilet. On top of that the price of oil would rise galactically while this war was going on and probably would settle higher than it is now after such a war.
"All you people stop blowing smoke...my anus hurts".
----------------------------------------
all that smoke seems to made you forget 11 people died on that rig
Commercial fishermen.............
Tourist industry.................
Realtors.........................
THEY ALL SAY...
Come on down and spend!!! There has never been any problem here...even during the spill!!!
But don't settle because we have problems!!!
"All you people stop blowing smoke...my anus hurts".
After all this time, I'd expect the # to be 100 or so - starting w/ the heads of BP. But when YOU got the cash, the influence, the connections - I guess, this is about a 'speedy ' as it is going to get.
Probably some poor smuck(no offense) that they decided to stick it too
The incentive to extract oil today is still profit. The lives lost in the rig seem to be largely nameless and forgotten, and most of us forgot that they were incinerated on the spot. I don't hear people fighting for them. I don't hear oil rig workers screaming about their safety. I don't hear drill rig owners becoming high-profile leaders in the business arenas and telling public audiences that they have room for improvement in their industrial performance, relations or reputations for safety. There are no Lee Iococas in the oil industry.
All the country is hungry for is one leader in the oil industry to lead and remain engaged in a public relations recovery.
Workers who complain too much get slapped with "insubordination" or are fired. Zero union protections.
Lee Iococa was a marketer. Too many coin counters and too few people who see beyond short-term profits are what's needed for any SANE society. And maybe that includes Iococa, but when the genie's out of the bottle how do you shove 'im back in?