Two supervisors with a Houston-based oil company are facing federal charges after U.S. prosecutors said they knowingly allowed oil to leak from their platforms off Louisiana’s shores, bypassing safety and environmental protocols meant to prevent such leaks, reports NOLA.com.
Both served in leadership positions for Fieldwood Energy, working on different rigs located on the continental shelf. The two were charged in connection with separate incidents in 2015 and 2018, after which an oily sheen could be observed on the Gulf of Mexico’s surface, according to the grand jury indictment.
The two indictments allege that they each failed to stop production when sand built up and clogged the water filtration systems on the platforms they supervised. When the filtration system became clogged, it couldn’t clean the water properly before being discharged back into the Gulf.
Federal prosecutors also allege that the defendants asked operators to falsify dozens of inspection records. See NOLA.com for the full story.
