A former BP rig engineer was found not guilty Thursday on a charge that his negligence in interpreting a critical test contributed to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
Robert Kaluza was a rig supervisor aboard the Deepwater Horizon offshore rig when it exploded, killing 11 workers and resulting in millions of gallons of oil spewing into the Gulf and fouling wetlands and beaches.
Kaluza was charged with a single count of violating the federal Clean Water Act and could have faced up to a year in prison if convicted. Jurors got the case Thursday afternoon and reached a verdict after less than two hours of deliberation.
“We’re just pleased and thankful,” defense attorney Shaun Clarke said as he walked out of court with Kaluza, 65, and co-counsel David Gerger. A smiling Kaluza declined comment. He had jubilantly hugged his lawyers immediately after the verdict was read.
Prosecutors told jurors Kaluza and a former co-defendant, Donald Vidrine, botched a crucial pressure test indicating oil and gas could be flowing from deep beneath the sea floor into BP’s Macondo well, which was thought to be securely plugged with cement and mud.
“All of the red flags in front of him should have told him that it was a bad test,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Winters told jurors after showing them images of smoke billowing from the flaming, crippled rig, followed by pictures of oil-coated coastal land.
Clarke cast Kaluza as a scapegoat. He said federal prosecutors failed to make their case.
Clarke said Vidrine, who has pleaded guilty in the case, was the rig leader who declared the test a success — after Kaluza’s watch aboard the rig had ended.
“The Macondo well was under control during every single second of his watch,” Clarke said.
Clarke also said other rig workers with 97 years of combined experience in drilling agreed with Vidrine. Clarke disputed Winters’ statement that the test was a simple one, saying there were no government standards for the test the prosecution is citing.
“There is no dispute that others were negligent,” prosecutor Jennifer Saulino argued later. But Kaluza shared in the negligence that caused the disaster and he should be held criminally accountable for the pollution, she said, as a video of oil flooding from the sea floor flashed on a screen behind her.
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2016/02/25/jury-deliberating-in-former-bp-engineers-oil-spill-trial/
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