May 20, 2010, 06:00:00AM. By Charles Benson

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Houston, TX: A new lawsuit filed Monday in the US District Court in Houston seeks to halt an oil drilling operation in the Gulf of Mexico over concerns that the oil derrick may face similar engineering problems as the platform responsible for the massive BP oil spill affecting the region.

The suit, which was filed by a former safety consultant for BP, claims that the company's Atlantis platform has been operating with incomplete and inaccurate engineering documents, and that the US Department of the Interior failed to investigate warnings of the safety problems facing the rig.

Kenneth Abbott, the regulator who brought the case forward, cites BP documents that suggest that a blowout from the Atlantis could result in a far worse spill than the one currently spewing from the Deepwater Horizon rig as proof that the company has knowingly placed the region in danger. He also points to the failing of federal regulatory organizations to respond to these dangers.

In a statement to the Houston Chronicle, Abbott told the news provider that the company cut corners on safety for the rig and created the potential for disaster.

"As bad as the Deepwater Horizon is, it's one well," he said. "This is several wells with three or four times the capability of destruction ... and BP just isn't doing normal engineering practices."

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