The first criminal charges stemming from the BP Deepwater
Horizon disaster led to the arrest of a former BP engineer for
obstruction of justice Tuesday.
Kurt Mix was arrested on charges of destroying evidence
requested by federal authorities investigating the Gulf of Mexico
rig explosion that set off the worst environmental disaster in
U.S. history.
Mix, 50, from Katy, Texas, faced two counts of obstruction,
according to the Department of Justice.
"The department has filed initial charges in its investigation
into the Deepwater Horizon disaster against an individual for
allegedly deleting records relating to the amount of oil flowing
from the Macondo well after the explosion that led to the
devastating tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico," said Attorney General
Eric Holder.
If convicted, Mix faces as much as 20 years in prison and
upwards of $250,000 in fines for each count.
According the Justice Department, Mix deleted on Oct. 4, 2010,
more than 200 earlier text messages between himself and a
supervisor suggesting that BP's "top kill" effort to stem the
leak was failing. A top kill is a method of sealing off a
wellhead by pumping heavy drilling mud into the wellbore.
Mix is accused of deleting the messages after he learned that
his electronic files were to be collected by BP's lawyers.
His string of messages suggest the flow of oil coming out of
the well was much more -- 15,000 barrels a day -- than what BP
had at the time estimated -- 5,000 barrels.
Mix is also accused of deleting at least 100 additional
messages with a BP contactor on Aug. 19, 2011, after receiving
several legal notices ordering him to preserve his
conversations. This second string of messages concerned how
much oil was flowing out of the well, said the DOJ.
BP was not saying much on the issue Tuesday.
"BP had clear policies requiring preservation of evidence in
this case and has undertaken substantial and ongoing efforts to
preserve evidence," said the company in a statement. "We will not
comment on the government's case against former BP employee Kurt
Mix and we will continue cooperating in the Department of
Justice's investigation."
On April 20, 2010, an explosion on BP's Deepwater Horizon oil
platform caused it to sink, rupturing a wellhead near the ocean
floor.
Eleven workers died in the fire and roughly 5 million barrels
of oil leaked into the Gulf of Mexico.
BP is facing billions in liabilities and its environmental
fines are contingent on how large the spill is finally
assessed.
"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," the DOJ said.
Under the Clean Water Act, the company could face as much as
$4,300 in fines for every barrel of oil spilled into the Gulf if
it is found grossly negligent.
Earlier this month, BP announced it finalized a $7.8 billion
settlement with hundreds of thousands of third-party business and
property owners affected by the spill.
So far, the company has paid $6.3 billion in claims out of a
$20 billion fund it set aside to cover costs of the spill.