Oil Spill Hearings Reveal Deepwater Rig Lost Power to Fight Fire

Posted in BP British Petroleum,Deepwater Horizon,Environment,Government,Gulf Coast,Louisiana Maritime News,Maritime Law,Transocean on June 1, 2010

KENNER, La. – The following story is an update from the joint hearings of the U.S. Coast Guard and Minerals Management Service held in Kenner on Saturday into the explosion and fire aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20, which killed 11 workers and created the Gulf of Mexico oil spill currently fouling Louisiana’s coast.

Members of the Deepwater Horizon Joint Investigation team, from left, are: Lt. Robert Butts, USCG; Ross Wheatley, USCG; Capt. Hung Nguyen, USCG; David Dykes, MMS; Jason Mathews, MMS; and John McCarroll, MMS. Photo: Chris Granger / The Times-Picayune

Testimony of Motorman Paul Meinhart III

During the explosions April 20 on the Deepwater Horizon, the rig’s diesel engines revved up and tripped an automatic power shut-off as gas seeped through ducts into the engine room, according to testimony Saturday in investigative hearings. 

Motorman Paul Meinhart III testified that emergency generators didn’t work after the first explosions rang out, and his subsequent attempts to manually start a backup electrical generator were also unsuccessful.

On Thursday, the rig’s chief mate, David Young, testified that with no power, the rig’s fire pumps didn’t work and attempts to fight the fire were abandoned.

But given the enormity of the explosions from unexpected kicks of gas from the well below, Meinhart was skeptical that any power would have helped fight the fires.

“Due to the fact half the vessel was on fire at the time,” he said.

Steve Gordon, a lawyer questioning Meinhart interrupted and continued the thought: “One more fire wouldn’t have mattered, right?”

Source: David Hammer, The Times-Picayune