Oil services giant Halliburton has
pleaded guilty to a criminal charge of destroying key evidence in the wake of
the deadly 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent massive oil spill.
The New
York Times reports Halliburton will pay a fine of
$200,000, the maximum amount allowed by law, and submit to three years'
probation. The Houston-based company will also continue cooperating with the
federal government's criminal investigation and make a voluntary $55 million
donation to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
The Huffington Post notes that the $200,000 fine is equivalent
to about 23 seconds worth of Halliburton's revenue, based on 2012 figures.
The Justice Department had
charged Halliburton with one count of a Class A misdemeanor for ordering
employees to destroy files related to computer simulations that showed there
would be little difference between using six and 21 metal centralizing collars
to stabilize the cement structure on the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon rig. Before the
devastating accident, Halliburton had recommended to BP, the British oil
company that operated the Macondo Prospect where the rig was located, to use 21
collars to stabilize the cementing in the doomed well. BP chose to use only
six. BP, as well as Transocean, the operator of the Deepwater Horizon rig, have
also both pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to the explosion and
spill. Last November, BP agreed to pay $4.5 billion after pleading guilty to 14 criminal
charges in connection with the disaster.
On April 20, 2010, high-pressure
methane gas expanded from the well into the drilling riser and drilling rig,
sparking a massive explosion that engulfed the platform. Eleven workers were killed. A massive oil
spill followed, discharging nearly 5 million barrels of oil over the course of
the next 87 days and wreaking havoc on coastal ecosystems from Texas to
Florida. The disaster was the world's worst-ever accidental oil spill.
Legal experts say Halliburton's
slap-on-the-wrist fine is not nearly as important as the company's admission of
guilt, which will likely help the government's case in an ongoing civil trial
in New Orleans.
"This could impact how the
civil litigation is resolved, potentially imposing more liability on
Halliburton than we originally thought," University of Richmond law
professor Carl Tobias told the Times.
Halliburton is no stranger to controversy or criminal charges.
Many of the allegations against the company involve its history of doing
business in nations run by brutal dictators. Former CEO Dick Cheney once
infamously declared that "the good Lord didn't see fit to put oil and gas
only where there are democratically elected regimes friendly to the United
States."
In Burma, a military
dictatorship, Halliburton was part of an international pipeline consortium
which relied upon forced labor and
saw the forced displacement, torture, rape and murder of local peasants by
corporate security forces.
In Nigeria, Halliburton, along
with Chevron, Shell and other corporations, share responsibility for an
environmental and human rights disaster on a breathtaking scale. More oil is
spilled into the Niger Delta each year than was released during the 2010 Gulf
disaster, with devastating results for the environment and residents' health.
Nigerian security forces murder, rape, torture and imprison those who speak out
against this massive injustice. Nigeria brought bribery charges against
Halliburton and Cheney; the charges were dropped after the company agreed to a $250 million payoff. Halliburton
subsidiary KBR pleaded guilty to corruption and conspiracy charges and was
fined $402 million by US authorities in 2009.
Halliburton and its subsidiaries
have also violated US sanctions by doing business in Libya and Iran, and the
company enriched former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, itself and Cheney by helping the
tyrant's regime illegally skirt UN sanctions.
The company has also been one of
the leading war profiteers during the US-led 'War on Terror,' and
the Pentagon concluded that Halliburton overcharged the US government for fuel and other
items.
Then-Halliburton subsidiary KBR
has been implicated in human trafficking and a host of other crimes, including
bribery, kickbacks, concealing rapes, knowingly exposing US troops to carcinogenic chemicals,
and the electrocution deaths of at least 18 US troops due to
shoddy barracks construction.
Closer to home, Halliburton has
released toxic chemicals into the atmosphere, including an acid cloud that
forced the evacuation of hundreds of New Mexico residents in 2006.
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