Workers on doomed rig say companies cut corners; rig manager denies pressure to speed drilling

Workers on doomed rig: Corners cut to save money

WASHINGTON — Two workers injured when an oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico tell Congress that the companies in charge of the doomed drilling operation cut corners and neglected maintenance in a race toward higher profits.

Laborer Stephen Stone told the House Judiciary Committee Thursday that the companies gambled with workers’ lives.

Oil has been leaking the Gulf since the Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20, killing 11 workers.

But Jimmy Harrell, the Deepwater Horizon’s offshore installation manager, told a panel of Coast Guard and Minerals Management Service officials at a separate hearing new New Orleans that he didn’t feel pressured at all.