DISASTER

Feds File Charges in BP Oil Spill

Against former engineer accused of ruining evidence.

Criminal charges have been filed against a former BP engineer who is accused of destroying evidence in the disastrous oil spill two years ago, the Justice Department announced Tuesday. They are the first criminal charges in the disaster, which claimed 11 lives in the initial explosion on the oil rig and then spewed 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Kurt Mix, 50, has been charged with two counts of obstruction of justice, with the Justice Department claiming he deleted a string of 200 text messages with a BP supervisor in October 2010 that had internal information about how effort to cap the well were failing.