What's going on: Commission says Halliburton, BP knew cement was unstable before Gulf oil well exploded

Also, Bill Clinton set to visit Watertown on Monday to stump for Bill Owens, and Spirit Airlines to serve Niagara Falls airport.

File photo / APAn aerial photo taken April 21 in the Gulf of Mexico, more than 50 miles southeast of Venice, La., shows the Deepwater Horizon oil rig burning. Tests performed before the deadly blowout of BP's oil well should have raised doubts about the cement used to seal the well, but the company and its cementing contractor used it anyway, U.S. investigators with the president's oil spill commission said Thursday.

From The New York Times:

WASHINGTON — Halliburton knew weeks before the fatal explosion of the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico that the cement mixture they planned to use to seal the bottom of the well was unstable but still went ahead with the job, the presidential commission investigating the accident said on Thursday.

In the first official finding of responsibility for the blowout, which killed 11 workers and led to the largest offshore oil spill in American history, the commission staff determined that Halliburton had conducted three laboratory tests that indicated that the cement mixture did not meet industry standards.

The result of at least one of those tests was given on March 8 to BP, which failed to act upon it, the panel’s lead investigator, Fred H. Bartlit Jr., said in a letter delivered to the commissioners on Thursday.

» Read the story: Firms Knew of Cement Flaws Before Spill, Panel Says [The New York Times]
» Tests showed unstable cement in gulf oil well before explosion [The Washington Post]
» Halliburton Cement in BP Well Was 'Unstable': Commission [Fox Business]
» Halliburton falls 10% on oil spill report [CNN Money]
» Cost To Insure Halliburton Debt Rises On Increased Litigation Risk [The Wall Street Journal]

In other news:

» Bill Clinton coming to Watertown on Monday to stump for Bill Owens [Watertown Daily Times]

» Upstate Medical University's poison control center in Syracuse one of only two left in New York state [centralny.ynn.com]

» Pulaski secures $500,000 state grant to help fix retaining wall [centralny.ynn.com]

» Spirit Airlines to serve Niagara Falls airport [The Buffalo News]

» DEC official: Chesapeake Bay cleanup plan would have 'jaw-dropping' impact on Southern Tier [pressconnects.com]

» Locke man sentenced to prison for attempting to steal off-duty deputy's SUV [The Auburn Citizen]

» College groups trying to draw more students to polls [Utica Observer-Dispatch]

» Beacon Federal profit falls 14 percent in third quarter [Central New York Business Journal]

» Indonesian volcano's spiritual caretaker dies in eruption [The Associated Press]