5 more days of testimony scheduled for government probe of Gulf rig explosion

Panel set to hear more testimony on Gulf rig blast

NEW ORLEANS — A government investigation of the deadly explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig is set to resume next week.

The Coast Guard and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement have scheduled five more days of hearings, from July 19 through July 23, at a hotel in the New Orleans suburb of Kenner.

A panel of officials from each agency heard six days of testimony in May from rig workers, company executives, government regulators and others. A witness list for next week’s hearings wasn’t immediately released.

The April 20 rig blast killed 11 workers and left millions of gallons of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico. The six-member panel is charged with trying to identify the cause of the blast and recommend ways to prevent future rig disasters.