Gulf Oil Spill Case: Federal Probe Names Two BP Managers

The law is slowly closing in around Patrick O'Bryan, BP's VP in charge of drilling and Robert Kaluza, a BP staffer who had been overseeing the Deepwater Horizon rig's operations. Both men, who were onboard the rig when it exploded in April, killing 11 and prompting the worst oil spill in America's history, have been named as "parties in interest" in a federal investigation of the explosion. An investigative board had twice summoned Mr. Kaluza to testify since the spill, but he evaded testimony by taking the fifth Amendment. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reports that a "deadman switch," a key safety switch that should have activated a blowout preventer to shut down the well upon the explosion, was nonfunctional.