In news on the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Center for Public Integrity is reporting the Coast Guard has gathered evidence it failed to follow its own firefighting policy during the Deepwater Horizon disaster and is investigating whether its actions contributed to the sinking of the rig. Officials now admit the Coast Guard lacks the expertise to fight a fire aboard an oil rig and that the Coast Guard did not even have ships in the area equipped to combat the blaze after the BP-operated rig exploded. Investigators are specifically examining whether the saltwater that was sprayed across the burning platform overran the ballast system that kept the rig upright, changing its weight distribution and causing it to collapse into the Gulf of Mexico two days after the initial explosion. The investigation could prove vital to ongoing legal proceedings. The riser pipe from which the majority of BP’s oil spewed did not start leaking until after the rig sank.