US probing Gulf blowout preventer testing flap

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The U.S. government is investigating whether a Transocean worker's handling of a key a piece of evidence in the Gulf oil spill probe affected the integrity of the examination of the device.

Michael Bromwich, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, said in a letter today to U.S. Rep. Ed Markey that his investigators have questioned workers from various government agencies and a Norwegian firm the government hired to test the failed blowout preventer.

While no conclusions have been reached, Bromwich says the Norwegian firm, Det Norske Veritas or DNV, admits it was at fault for failing to disclose the Transocean worker's role in the forensic work.

Testing of the 300-ton device that failed to stop the oil spill continues in New Orleans.