A former rig supervisor on BP’s ill-fated Deepwater Horizon was sentenced on Wednesday to 10 months’ probation for misdemeanor pollution charges relating to the deadly 2010 explosion and spill in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the Associated Press.
Donald Vidrine had made a deal with prosecutors and a charge of manslaughter against him and co-defendant Robert Kaluza had been dropped previously.
After the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on 20 April 2010, killing 11 people, the uncapped seafloor well gushed for almost three months into waters of the US Gulf.
The misdemeanor charge fell under the Clean Water Act. Kaluza stood trial and was acquitted in February, whereas Vidrine pleaded guilty in return for probation.
The sentence was passed by US District Court Judge Stanwood Duval in New Orleans, Louisiana.
BP didn’t own the Deepwater Horizon, so in repeating the term “BP’s ill fated Deepwater Horizon” could be construed as mistaken. BP owned the licence on the development, the Macondo Prospect. The Deepwater Horizon Semi-Submersible drilling rig belonged to, and was operated by Transocean and contracted to BP. The correct sentence maybe should have read, ‘the ill fated Transocean rig Deepwater Horizon that was drilling on behalf of BP at the Macondo Prospect”.