Why Were Two BP Employees Charged for Manslaughter?

Corporate charges generally revolve around money embezzlement, credit card fraud and other cash related jurisdictions. It’s not every day that employees are accused of manslaughter. Let alone employees from one of the world’s biggest oil and gas companies. Yet this is exactly what happened to a pair of two BP personnel in the wake of the 2010 Deepwater spill disaster that led to 11 deaths. The spill went down in history as the wort environmental disaster in US history, and also one of the deadliest.

BP employees come under fire for Deepwater deaths

So why did the two employees come under fire in the first place? In 2010, BP was held responsible for a catastrophic oil spill that saw the Gulf of Mexico swamped in over 130 million gallons of crude. Not only did it drench waters in oil but it also resulted in the deaths of 11 on-site workers. Fingers were promptly pointed, with the US government not satisfied to simply blame BP as a corporation. Instead, they went after two of the mega company’s rig supervisors - Donald Vidrine and Robert Kaluza. As well as penalties for violating the Clean Water Act, the pair was accused of ignoring distinct warnings that the drilling site was unstable and categorically dangerous.

US attorney general Eric Holder praised the government for its pursuit of Vidrine and Kaluza, stating “We remain as determined as ever to hold those responsible accountable.”

Charges dropped, controversy continues

After much controversy the charges have now been dropped, with mixed reactions from the families of the deceased, legislative figures and BP itself.

 “The fact that no one will ever spend a moment behind bars for having killed 11 men by their greed, by their negligence based entirely on greed, is astonishing to me. It’s disappointing,” says Keith Jones, the father of 28-year-old Gordon who died as a result of the Deepwater Horizon accident.

Others have strongly criticised BP for allowing the government to target two lower level employees, as opposed to having decision-making executives step up and take responsibility.  

The dangers of oil and gas

The oil and gas industry is extremely lucrative, but as demonstrated by the Deepwater disaster, it’s not without its controversies. ‘Dirty Bombs and Liability Exposure in the Petroleum Industry’ looks at the emerging ‘radiological terrorism’ trend, and the importance of evaluating liability exposure relative to its radioisotope inventory.

Image via Flickr Creative Commons. Credits: Ideum - ideas + media