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10/7/2026
WT Staff
 Knowledge of an environmental crime? Give us a call at 877-52-WATER (877-529-2837), or email info@wtla.us
Oct 7 2026 1019 am CDT
CrimeBox
Historic Conviction Fiscal Year 2015; Case ID# CR_2703 (Louisiana)
Well site supervisor convicted on CWA charges for faking pressure tests on oil rig blow-out preventer
The Defendant in this case was 49 years old in 2012 when he misdirected safety inspectors checking essential safety equipment on the oil drilling platform under his management. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) staff were given phony pressure charts for the blow-out preventer (BOP) system, just two years after the Deepwater Horizon blow-out that killed 11 and spilled 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf.
See WT CrimeBox brief on Deepwater Horizon, here.
The Defendant admitted lying to mislead BSEE staff, offering a false pressure test, intending that the rig's BOP would pass inspection. For this CWA crime, the Defendant was sentenced to a year of supervision by the court and a week of community service.
According to Schlumberger, now SLB, the blow-out preventer (BOP) is essential to the safe operation of oil and gas drilling rigs. A series of valves is stacked vertically above the well shaft, mounted on the deck of the platform or subsea at the wellhead. This equipment, when properly maintained, allows drillers to quickly seal off an open shaft. Until this equipment was invented and deployed after 1922, there was no way to stop the escape of high pressure, flammable fluids and materials from the drill shaft.
Probation: 12 months; Community Service: 40 hours
See last week's CrimeBox here, "Corrosive chemicals washed into the Mississippi River. A bulk storage facility was convicted of the environmental crime"
CrimeBox briefs are compiled from EPA Criminal Enforcement records.
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