NEW ORLEANS (CN) - BP could have stopped the oil spewing from its broken wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico, but didn't do so for fear it might damage the well and make it no good for future use, a class of landowners claims in Federal Court.
"After the blowout and before the well was finally sealed, BP was aware of procedures that would immediately block the flow of hydrocarbons into the Gulf, yet it delayed the implementation of any such procedures, and limited its efforts to plug the well to options that would salvage the well for future use, instead of selecting procedures that would stop the flow of oil and gas as soon as possible regardless of the well's continued functionality," the complaint states.
Lead plaintiff Guy Mendes III owns land on the Grand Terre islands, and sued on his own behalf and for 100 other Grand Terre islands property owners.
"Plaintiff and the class are owners of some of Southern Louisiana's most important barrier islands - the islands of Grand Terre. These islands sit as the main barrier between the Gulf of Mexico and Barataria Bay, serving an integral role in Louisiana's natural coastal defenses," according to the complaint.
Mendes says the April 20, 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig "marked the beginning of what would become the most pervasive and devastating environmental disaster in the history of the United States. The blowout and subsequent explosions, fire, and sinking of the vessel resulted in an oil spill of unprecedented proportions that damaged, depleted and destroyed marine, estuarine, and coastal environments in and around the Gulf of Mexico, including the Grand Terre islands. Although the blown-out well is now capped, the disastrous environmental effects of the spill are widespread and ongoing on Grand Terre and will likely remain so for decades. ...
"Each day during the course of the spill, tens of thousands of barrels of oil and gas gushed from the wellhead and broken riser, roiling towards the surface and flattening out into a widening slick of oil, as well as spreading out in vast subsurface plumes. On the surface, the shifting smear was large enough to be visible from outer space, at times covering tens of thousands of square miles ...
"The blowout on the Deepwater Horizon and the resulting spill were foreshadowed by a string of prior disastrous incidents and near misses in defendants' operations on land and at sea, as well as poor decision-making by defendants' employees, as they ignored crucial safety issues, cut corners, and violated U.S. law to save time and money at the expense of safety and the environment.