Interior Hires Firm That OK'd Failed BP Device To Do Autopsy

"The Interior Department has hired a Norwegian firm to inspect the giant subsea device that failed to prevent the Macondo oil and gas well from exploding on April 20, although the same firm earlier gave a thumbs-up to safety procedures on board the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which sank in the accident.

The Interior Department is planning to pay Det Norske Veritas (DNV) $1.3 million to conduct the autopsy of the 60-foot high, 380-ton blowout preventer, which is now sitting on a dock at the NASA Michoud assembly plant in Louisiana.

But some government and industry officials say that the firm's earlier work for Transocean, the owner and operator of the Deepwater Horizon, poses a conflict of interest."

Steven Mufson reports for the Washington Post November 1, 2010.