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Posted in Alabama Maritime News,BP British Petroleum,Deepwater Horizon,Florida Maritime News,Louisiana Maritime News,Maritime Law,Maritime Lawsuits,Texas Maritime News,Transocean on July 22, 2010
KENNER, LA. – Witnesses thought to have sensitive information had little to say at the Deepwater Horizon disaster hearings conducted Tuesday, July 20, by a joint investigative board of the U.S. Coast Guard and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, the agency formerly known as the Minerals Management Service.
At the end of Tuesday’s hearings, lawyers for all four witnesses who had been scheduled to testify Wednesday notified the board that those witnesses were declining to appear. The witnesses, from Transocean, had been scheduled to discuss the blowout preventer. They were issued subpoenas, but the board could not compel them to appear because they did not reside within the geographic jurisdiction of the investigation, the board said in a statement.
According to an article in The Washington Post, a federal panel investigating the blowout was going to hear from some of the top men who represented oil giant BP on the rig, and from a subsea supervisor who could discuss the infamously ineffective fail-safe known as the blowout preventer, or BOP.
Instead, one witness said he was off the rig and out of the loop when pivotal events transpired. Another generally said he didn’t know, couldn’t recall and was just a trainee too inexperienced to opine.
Two more witnesses stayed away altogether – one citing medical reasons and the other invoking his Fifth Amendment right.
Two more witnesses stayed away altogether – one citing medical reasons and the other invoking his Fifth Amendment right.
Following their example, four witnesses declined to appear Wednesday, prompting the board to cancel a day of testimony.
And then there was Ross Skidmore, the subsea supervisor who according to the hearing agenda was to testify on blowout-preventer-related “issues, certification, modifications and compliance.”
As it turned out, Skidmore testified that he had nothing to do with the BOP.
He said he set foot on the Deepwater Horizon for the first time about four days before the explosion, and his mission was to accompany the rig to its next drill site. Once there, he would have been involved in receiving equipment as it arrived, and he would have written down a list of equipment that was needed, he said.
“So whether or not there were new annulars on the Deepwater Horizon is beyond your scope?” asked maritime lawyer, Steve Gordon, who represents one of the crew members.
“I wouldn’t have a clue,” Skidmore replied.