NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Two men who worked for BP
during the 2010 Gulf oil spill disaster have been charged with
manslaughter and
a third with lying to federal investigators, according to
indictments made public Thursday, hours after BP announced it was
paying $4.5 billion in a settlement with the U.S. government over
the disaster.
A federal indictment unsealed in New Orleans
claims BP well site leaders Robert Kaluza and Donald Vidrine acted
negligently
in their supervision of key safety tests performed on the
Deepwater Horizon drilling rig before the explosion killed 11 workers
in April 2010. The indictment says Kaluza and Vidrine failed to
phone engineers onshore to alert them of problems in the drilling
operation.
Another indictment charges David Rainey, who
was BP's vice president of exploration for the Gulf of Mexico, on
counts of obstruction
of Congress and false statements. The indictment claims the former
executive lied to federal investigators when they asked
him how he calculated a flow rate estimate for BP's blown-out well
in the days after the disaster.
Earlier in the day, BP PLC said it would plead guilty to criminal charges related to the deaths of 11 workers and lying to
Congress.
"This marks the largest single criminal fine and the largest total criminal resolution in the history of the United States,"
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said at a news conference in New Orleans.
Holder said the settlement and indictments aren't the end of federal authorities' efforts and that the criminal investigation
is continuing. Holder says much of the money BP has agreed to pay will be used to restore the environment in the Gulf.
The day of reckoning comes more than two years after the nation's worst offshore oil spill. The settlement includes nearly
$1.3 billion in criminal fines — the biggest criminal penalty in U.S. history — along with payments to certain government
entities.
"We believe this resolution is in the best interest of BP and its shareholders," said Carl-Henric Svanberg, BP chairman. "It
removes two significant legal risks and allows us to vigorously defend the company against the remaining civil claims."
The settlement, which is subject to approval
by a federal judge, includes payments of nearly $2.4 billion to the
National
Fish and Wildlife Foundation, $350 million to the National Academy
of Sciences and about $500 million to the Securities and
Exchange Commission. The SEC accused BP of misleading investors by
lowballing the amount of crude spewing from the ruptured
well.
London-based BP said in a statement that the
settlement would not cover any civil penalties the U.S. government
might seek
under the Clean Water Act and other laws. Nor does it cover
billions of dollars in claims brought by states, businesses and
individuals, including fishermen, restaurants and property owners.
Holder also said a civil lawsuit will go ahead in February seeking billions more in civil penalties.
A federal judge in New Orleans is weighing a
separate, proposed $7.8 billion settlement between BP and more than
100,000 businesses
and individuals who say they were harmed by the spill.
BP will plead guilty to 11 felony counts of
misconduct or neglect of a ship's officers, one felony count of
obstruction of
Congress and one misdemeanor count each under the Migratory Bird
Treaty Act and the Clean Water Act. The workers' deaths were
prosecuted under a provision of the Seaman's Manslaughter Act. The
obstruction charge is for lying to Congress about how much
oil was spilling.
The penalty will be paid over five years. BP made a profit of $5.5 billion in the most recent quarter. The largest previous
corporate criminal penalty assessed by the U.S. Justice Department was a $1.2 billion fine imposed on drug maker Pfizer in
2009.
Before Thursday, the only person charged in the disaster was a former BP engineer who was arrested in April on obstruction
of justice charges. He was accused of deleting text messages about the company's response to the spill.