BP Atlantis Gulf Oil Rig

BP Atlantis, a deepwater oil production facility, represents a significant threat to the Gulf of Mexico and Gulf Coast communities because the platform lacks final, engineer-approved safety and operations documents.

Clients

Regional Office / Program

Case Overview

The world’s deepest semi-submersible oil and gas platform, the BP Atlantis sits 150 miles south of New Orleans in a section of the Gulf of Mexico known as ‘Hurricane Alley.’

The BP Atlantis represents a significant threat to the Gulf of Mexico and Gulf Coast communities because the platform lacks final, engineer-approved safety and operations documents. Some of the same problems afflicted BP’s Horizon platform, which exploded in 2010, causing one of the largest environmental disasters in history.

The controversy over the BP Atlantis deepwater oil production facility deepened when a U.S. Department of Interior Inspector-General report, released in September 2014, revealed that engineers involved in an investigation of the facility’s safety rebuked the findings that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement sent to Congress in March of 2011. The report casts serious doubts on the agency’s handling of the problems associated with the BP Atlantis platform.

The report, released by a Freedom of Information Act request, states that three structural engineers determined that the platform and its subsea equipment were likely unsafe and required further intensive investigation and that BP’s drawings of the platform components, including the subsea components, violate applicable regulations.

These conclusions confirm warnings that originated with Ken Abbott, a BP subcontractor-turned-whistleblower, who warned in 2009 that the platform is unsafe to operate.

Earthjustice filed a motion for reconsideration of the federal district court’s recent dismissal of the case originally filed in 2009, based on this new information.

An oil-coated feather washed onto a Pensacola beach on June 23, 2010, following the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill.
An oil-coated feather washed onto a Pensacola beach on June 23, 2010, following the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill. (Tech. Sgt. Emily F. Alley / U.S. Air Force)

Case Updates

November 6, 2014 document

Rep. Grijalva Letter to Interior re BP Atlantis Investigation

Letter sent by Rep. Grijalva on November 6, 2014, to the Secretary of the Interior regarding the BP Atlantis investigation.

Dark clouds of smoke and fire emerge as oil burns during a controlled fire in the Gulf of Mexico following the April 20, 2010 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon.
September 17, 2014 Press Release

New Concerns Over BP Atlantis Gulf Oil Rig

Earthjustice takes legal action

September 17, 2014 document

BP Atlantis: Motion to Reconsider

Motion to Reconsider BP Atlantis decision based on new information revealed in a FOIA.