BP Still Spreading Spill Blame

In a 193-page report posted on its corporate website Wednesday, BP sought to spread blame for the massive oil spill that ravaged the Gulf of Mexico this summer, saying that multiple companies and teams caused the disaster. The report details a complex series of failures, both mechanical and human, and though BP was critical of its employees’ mistakes, it defended its well design. BP has tried to lay some of the blame on Transocean, from whom BP was leasing the rig, Halliburton, and Macondo in past public statements. The report is not a final verdict on the spill, as it was issued before the blowout preventer, which failed to stop the oil from leaking, hadn’t been pulled out of the ocean yet.