Some criminal charges related to a fatal 2012 offshore oil platform explosion of the Louisiana coast have been thrown out by a federal judge. Two companies — Grand Isle Shipyards Inc. and Wood Group PSN Inc. — that did contract work on the platform had criminal charges related to safety and inspections dismissed, as did two workers, Don Moss of Groves, TX, and Curtis Dantin of Cut-Off, LA. Involuntary manslaughter charges remain against Grand Isle and platform owner Black Elk Energy Offshore Operations LLC. Other charges filed late last year (see Daily GPI, Nov. 20, 2015) also remain.

A leak developed and was fixed over the weekend at a third-party operated oil well on Southern California Gas Co.’s (SoCalGas) shuttered 3,600-acre Aliso Canyon underground natural gas storage field on the northern edge of Los Angeles. The Sempra Energy utility reported the incident to Gov. Jerry Brown‘sOffice of Emergency Services (OEM) Saturday. The well is operated by privately held Crimson Resource Management, a Denver-based producer whose operations are concentrated in California’s San Joaquin Basin. SoCalGas told OEM it was an oil spill involving gas venting. Although small and short in duration, the incident prompted nearby residents to repeat their calls for Aliso Canyon to be permanently shut down (see Daily GPI, Feb. 22).