BP workers, executive plead not guilty

NEW ORLEANS - Two BP rig supervisors and a former executive pleaded not guilty Wednesday to criminal charges stemming from the deadly Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and the company's response to the 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP well site leaders Robert Kaluza, 62, of Henderson and Donald Vidrine, 65, of Lafayette, La., with former BP Vice President of Exploration for the Gulf David Rainey, remained free on bond after their arraignments in federal court.

Kaluza and Vidrine are charged with manslaughter in the deaths of 11 rig workers. They are accused of disregarding abnormally high pressure readings that should have been indications of trouble just before the blowout of British Petroleum's Macondo well.

Rainey was charged with concealing information from Congress about the amount of oil that was leaking from the well. Millions of gallons of crude oil spewed from BP's well for months.

Kaluza professed his innocence on his way into court, making his first public comments since the April 2010 explosion that killed his co-workers.

"I think about the tragedy of the Deepwater Horizon every day," he said. "But I did not cause this tragedy. I am innocent, and I put my trust, reputation and future in the hands of the judge and the jury."

"Bob and Don did their jobs," said Shaun Clarke, one of Kaluza's lawyers. "They did them correctly, and they did them in accordance with their training."

Also Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency put a temporary stop to new federal contracts with BP, citing the British company's "lack of business integrity" and criminal proceedings stemming from the disaster.

The action by the EPA bars BP and its affiliates from new government contracts for an indefinite period but doesn't affect existing contracts.

BP will be disqualified from winning new leases to drill for oil or gas on taxpayer-owned land until the suspension is lifted. The federal government planned a sale Wednesday of more than 20 million acres of offshore land in the Gulf of Mexico. BP was not eligible for that sale, according to the Interior Department.

EPA officials said the suspension was standard when a criminal case raises responsibility questions about a company.