WASHINGTON (AP) - Rep. Henry Waxman says that his committee's
investigation into the Gulf oil spill reveals that a key safety
device, the blowout preventer, had a leak in a crucial hydraulic
system.
The California Democrat said in a hearing Wednesday that the
investigation also discovered that the well had failed a negative
pressure test just hours before the April 20 explosion.
He cited BP documents received by the Energy and Commerce
Committee that showed there was a breach in the well integrity that
allowed methane gas and possibly other hydrocarbons to enter the
well.

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