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      WASHINGTON (AP) - A presidentially ordered investigation of the
Gulf oil spill lends support to BP's own conclusions about the
disaster and challenges congressional claims that the oil company
and others made decisions that sacrificed safety to cut costs.


      Fred H. Bartlit, Jr., the panel's chief investigator, said
Monday in a presentation to the seven-member oil spill commission
that he agreed with about 90 percent of BP's findings, although the
company left out some critical details and there were other areas
where the panel's probe will conflict. The preliminary findings are
expected to be released later Monday.


      Bartlit also challenged a narrative that has dominated the
headlines and Democratic probes in Congress since the April 20
incident killed 11 and unleashed more than 200 million gallons of
crude into the Gulf of Mexico: that BP made perilous choices to
save money.


      "We see no instance where a decision-making person or group of
people sat there aware of safety risks, aware of costs and opted to
give up safety for costs," Bartlit said. "We do not say
everything done was perfectly safe. We're saying that people have
said people traded safety for dollars. We studied the hell out of
this. We welcome anybody who gives us something we missed."


      Daniel Becnel, a Louisiana lawyer suing BP and others over the
oil spill, called the commission's findings about money not
jeopardizing safety "absolutely absurd." He also took issue with
Bartlit's endorsement of BP's view of events.


      "They are pasting over because they know the government is
going to be a defendant sooner or later in this litigation,"
Becnel said.


      According to testimony before the government's joint
investigative panel, the Macondo well project was nearly $60
million over budget days before the explosion. That panel has been
paying particular attention to the issue of whether money was put
ahead of safety.


      BP PLC's internal investigation found flaws with contractor
Halliburton's cement job and the maintenance performed by rig owner
Transocean Ltd. on critical pieces of equipment. The company also
questioned how its own employees misread a critical pressure test
before the blowout.


      Democrats in Congress have focused on BP's well design, saying
the company made decisions that sacrificed safety to save millions
of dollars. Those choices included running a single piece of pipe
from the seafloor to the bottom of the well, something called a
"long string." BP also chose to use fewer centralizers, devices
that hold the pipe down the center of the well for cementing.


      In a June letter to then-BP CEO Tony Hayward, Reps. Henry
Waxman, D-Calif., and Bart Stupak, D-Mich., questioned at least
five decisions BP made in the days leading up to the explosion.


      "The common feature of these five decisions is that they posed
a trade-off between cost and well safety," said Waxman and Stupak.


      "Time after time, it appears that BP made decisions that
increased the risk of a blowout to save the company time or
expense," the lawmakers wrote.


      After months of hearings, investigations and finger-pointing,
there is still disagreement over what and whose mistakes triggered
the explosion that killed 11 workers and released more than 200
million gallons of crude oil from BP's Gulf of Mexico well.


      The president's commission will bring needed clarity, as the
first independent body to weigh in, co-chairman Bob Graham said
Monday.


      Graham, a former Democratic senator and governor of Florida,
described the panel's early findings as the "clearest presentation
the American people have received to date about what led to this
tragedy."


      Bartlit said his job was not to assign blame, but to deliver a
report about what happened aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig.


      He started his presentation with a moment of silence for the
blowout's victims.


      "We will honor them if we can get to a root cause without a lot
of bickering and self-serving statements," Bartlit said.
      


      Associated Press Writer Harry R. Weber contributed reporting
from New Orleans.


      Online:
      National Oil Spill Commission: www.oilspillcommission.gov
      
      

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A presidentially ordered investigation of the oil spill challenges congressional claims that BP and others made decisions that sacrificed safety to cut costs.

Panel: Dollars did not trump safety in Gulf spill

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