BP's Atlantis platform being probed -Salazar

WASHINGTON May 18 (Reuters) - U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told a Senate committee on Tuesday that BP's Atlantis oil production platform in the Gulf of Mexico was being investigated, although he did not say whether the government was conducting the probe.

"There is currently an investigation underway with respect to the Atlantis," Salazar said in response to a senator's question on whether government inspectors had checked out the Atlantis platform following the explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig.

It was unclear if Salazar's comments referred to a government investigation or a lawsuit in federal court filed by a consumer group and a whistle-blower over safety issues related to the Atlantis platform.

(Reporting by Tom Doggett and Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by David Gregorio)