By Grady Hurley ( June 6, 2017, 11:50 AM EDT) -- In February 2017, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana issued a press release[1] advising that, in a plea agreement, an offshore contractor was levied fines of $9.5 million and criminal penalties arising out of a November 2012 explosion on an offshore oil platform owned by Black Elk Energy Offshore Operations. The contractor had been charged with falsely reporting safety inspections for several years prior to the incident and also for discharging oil in the Gulf of Mexico following the explosion. Two other offshore contractors still face manslaughter charges, and one contractor faces eight felony counts of regulatory violations under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act....