Stephen Bertone, former chief engineer of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, has refused to comply with a subpoena from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB), arguing that the CSB does not have jurisdiction to probe the April 20 accident because the disaster occurred in federal waters rather than at a “stationary source.”

 

The CSB is an independent federal agency established in 1998 that investigate chemical accidents, including the 2005 explosion at the Texas City refinery owned by BP, which was leasing the Deepwater Horizon at the time of that accident.

 

Bertone, who works for Transocean, did testify earlier this year before a joint investigation carried out by the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Coast Guard into the cause of the offshore disaster.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Deepwater Horizon Engineer Refuses Chemical Safety Board Subpoena, Challenges Jurisdiction (by Ben Geman, The Hill)