Deepwater Horizon litigation to communicate with BP through their attorneys and to take orders from their attorneys." The contracts have the added impact of limiting the number of scientists who are able to work with federal agencies. In August 2010, 77 cases, including those brought by state governments, individuals, and companies, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana under Multi-District Litigation docket MDL No. 2179, captioned "In re: Oil Spill by the Oil Rig "Deepwater Horizon" in the Gulf of Mexico, on April 20, 2010", presided over by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier. Judge Barbier is trying the case
Deepwater Horizon oil spill a 193-page report on its web site. The report places some of the blame for the accident on BP but also on Halliburton and Transocean. The report found that on 20 April 2010, managers misread pressure data and gave their approval for rig workers to replace drilling fluid in the well with seawater, which was not heavy enough to prevent gas that had been leaking into the well from firing up the pipe to the rig, causing the explosion. The conclusion was that BP was partly to blame, as was Transocean, which owned the rig. Responding to the report, Transocean