Lawsuit seeks closing of BP platform near oil spill that had incomplete engineering documents

Lawsuit seeks closing of BP platform in the Gulf

NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge has been asked to shut down a BP oil and gas platform that operated with incomplete and inaccurate engineering documents in the same part of the Gulf as the massive Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

A lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court says the U.S. Interior Department failed to investigate warnings of possible safety problems with BP’s Atlantis platform.

Atlantis is stationed in 7,070 feet of water more than 150 miles south of New Orleans.

In 2009, an independent firm hired by BP found that the giant petroleum company was violating its own policies by not having completed engineering documents on board the Atlantis when it began operating in 2007.

The lawsuit was filed by Washington, D.C.-based Food and Water Watch.