The long-awaited report from the chief investigator for the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore, released Feb. 17, provides damning evidence that preventable engineering and management mistakes—rather than mechanical failings—were the primary cause of the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion last spring.
The National Commission released its final report to the president on January 11. In that report, the panel concluded that human error, rather than mechanical failings, was the root cause of the explosion. The new report from chief investigator Fred Bartlit’s team, which looked in detail at the well blowout and rig explosion, bolsters those conclusions.