Deepwater joint investigation board concludes 2nd day in 3rd session of hearings

Third day cancelled as four Transocean witnesses declined to voluntarily appear

KENNER, La. -- The Deepwater Horizon joint investigation hearing for Wednesday, July 21, 2010 has been cancelled as the four Transocean witnesses scheduled to testify declined to voluntarily appear at the hearings.  All four Transocean employees were issued subpoenas under Title 46 USC 6304.  Due to the fact that the witnesses did not reside within the specific geographic jurisdiction of the joint investigation, the board cannot compel them to appear.  The joint investigation board will confer to determine a course of action to gather the necessary facts and information to complete the investigation.
Scheduled to testify were:

• Ray Odenwald, blowout preventer subsea supervisor
• Jim McWhorter, blowout preventer subsea supervisor
• Mark Hay, blowout preventer subsea supervisor
• Billy Stringfellow, blowout preventer subsea superintendent

Testimony is scheduled to resume on Thursday.  For a list of witnesses scheduled to appear Thursday, click here. 


Tuesday's hearing
The Deepwater Horizon joint investigation concluded the second day of the third session of hearings Tuesday into the circumstances surrounding the explosion, fire, pollution and sinking of the Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit Deepwater Horizon, with multiple loss of life in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010. 
The joint investigation has the powers of both convening agencies, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEM), and is co-chaired and staffed by representatives of both agencies. For the public hearing, the joint investigation is following the policies and procedures for a U.S Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation contained in 46 Code of Federal Regulations Part 4 and USCG policy (available on the joint investigation Web site: www.deepwaterinvestigation.com).  The facts collected at this hearing, along with the lead investigators' conclusions and recommendations will be forwarded to Coast Guard Headquarters and BOEM for approval. Once approved, the final investigative report will be made available to the public and the media. No analysis or conclusions will be presented during the hearing. 
The joint investigation is conducting the hearings in sessions.  Session one was held May 11-12, 2010, and investigated the circumstances surrounding the fire, explosion, pollution and sinking of the MODU.  The second session was held May 26-29, 2010, with the focus on gathering information on the MODU's materiel condition, crew qualifications, emergency preparedness, and casualty timeline. The third session of hearings is being conducted this week, with the focus on the "how" and the "why" (which might also be considered the "technical verification" phase).
The third session of hearings began Monday and will continue through Friday.  As part of the third session, testimony Tuesday began at 8 a.m. and continued until 5:30 p.m.  Testimony was given by three witnesses.
The witnesses Tuesday were:  
1.  Ronald Sepulvado - BP, well site leader
2.  Ross Skidmore - subsea well supervisor
3.  Lee Lambert - BP, well site trainee


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