Oil Rig Had Host of Problems

On Wednesday, lawmakers revealed a substantial list of problems in the deadly explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig and the subsequent massive oil leak, including a dead battery, faulty wiring, a leak in a "blowout preventer," and sealing issues that may have led to a methane eruption. House committee members read from confidential BP documents that revealed the worrisome findings. The details are the most concrete evidence of what may have caused the worst oil disaster since the Exxon Valdez spill. But a senior BP executive said, "It's inappropriate to draw any conclusions before all the facts are known." Statements from the feds, however, suggest otherwise: Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) said that "Significant pressure discrepancies were observed in at least two of these tests, which were conducted just hours before the explosion," referring to pipe pressure tests that should have signaled the rig's vulnerability to a methane explosion.