Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Grand Isle News

Company to Pay $9.5 Mln for Actions Leading to US Gulf Explosion

Wood Group PSN Inc., a Nevada corporation headquartered in Houston, was ordered to pay $9.5 million in two separate cases involving its conduct in the Gulf of Mexico. Specifically, Wood Group PSN was ordered to pay $7 million for falsely reporting over several years that personnel had performed safety inspections on offshore facilities in the Gulf of Mexico in the Western District of Louisiana, and $1.8 million for negligently discharging oil into the Gulf of Mexico in violation of the Clean Water Act after an explosion on an offshore facility in the Eastern District of Louisiana…

Photos: Oil Platform Catches Fire in the Gulf of Mexico

(Coast Guard imagery courtesy of Coast Guard Aviation Training Center Mobile)

The U.S. Coast Guard said an oil production platform has caught fire in the Gulf of Mexico, roughly 80 miles southwest of Grand Isle, La. The fire, which broke out aboard the Ship Shoal 266 A oil production platform at approximately 2:30 a.m. Thursday, was reported to have been full extinguished by approximately 5:50 a.m., according to the rig’s owner Renaissance Offshore. There were four crew members aboard the platform who, after initial efforts to extinguish the fire, evacuated into the water aboard a life raft and were recovered by the offshore supply vessel Mary Wyatt Milano, Renaissance Offshore said in a statement.

New Charges in 2012 Fatal Platform Blast

West Delta 32 platform after the explosion (Photo: BSEE)

Black Elk Energy Offshore Operations LLC, Grand Isle Shipyards Inc., Wood Group PSN Inc., as well as Don Moss, 46, of Groves, Texas, Curtis Dantin, 50, of Cut-Off, La., and Christopher Srubar, 40, of Destrehan, La., have been charged with crimes for a November 2012 explosion on an oil production platform that resulted in the death of three workers, the injury of others and an oil spill, announced the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Manslaughter Charges Filed in 2012 Oil Platform Blast

Two companies involved in the deadly 2012 explosion of an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico have been indicted on federal charges of involuntary manslaughter, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement on Thursday. Black Elk Energy Offshore Operations LLC and Grand Isle Shipyards Inc. were charged on Thursday with three counts of involuntary manslaughter, eight charges involving federal safety laws and one violation of the Clean Water Act. Three people and a third company, Wood Group PSN Inc., also face criminal charges related to the explosion, the department said.

BP Spill Compensation Battles Rage On

BP pays billions in compensation but some claims still unpaid; Oil still appearing on beaches in Gulf of Mexico. Company says claims process is flawed, not all oil from spill. Four years after the Deepwater Horizon spill, oil is still washing up on the long sandy beaches of Grand Isle, Louisiana, and some islanders are fed up with hearing from BP that the crisis is over. Jules Melancon, the last remaining oyster fisherman on an island dotted with colourful houses on stilts, says he has not found a single oyster alive in his leases in the area since the leak and relies on an onshore oyster nursery to make a living. He and others in the southern U.S.

Years After BP U.S.Oil Spill: Compensation Battle Rages

Four years after the Deepwater Horizon spill, oil is still washing up on the long sandy beaches of Grand Isle, Louisiana, and some islanders are fed up with hearing from BP that the crisis is over. Jules Melancon, the last remaining oyster fisherman on an island dotted with colourful houses on stilts, says he has not found a single oyster alive in his leases in the area since the leak and relies on an onshore oyster nursery to make a living. He and others in the southern U.S. state say compensation has been paid unevenly and lawyers have taken big cuts.