The U.S. Department of Justice -- an entity that owes us an explanation for so many things on so many levels -- owes us another one for Halliburton.
Earlier this month the DOJ fined this multinational, multibillion-dollar oilfield services company $200,000 after it pleaded guilty for destroying evidence in the BP oil spill, deadliest in this nation's history.
Think about it. Think how much money that isn't. Every 23 seconds Halliburton makes $200,000.
How long does it take you to walk from your kitchen to your mailbox? Twenty-three seconds? Halliburton has paid its fine.
A better look at $200,000? It is one-eighth of Halliburton CEO David Lesar's 9.9 percent pay increase in 2012 (his annual compensation package is $17.45 million); it is about the same as 20 round-trip, business-class air tickets on Jet Blue, between Houston, where Halliburton is headquartered, and Washington, D.C., where it wheels and deals; it is0.3 percent of its second-quarter profits (in the second quarter of 2013, the company earned profits of $679 million).
Chicken feed for the company that ranks 118 on the Forbes 500 list.
The Department of Justice will tell you it had no choice. It handed out the stiffest penalty the law allows under the federal statute used to calculate the penalty.Sure it did. After Halliburton pleaded guilty to criminal charges, it allowed the company to strike a plea deal -- changing the charge to guilty onone count of a Class A misdemeanor. The $200,000 fine includes three years of probation -- that'll show 'em.
A DOJ spokesperson reminded me it isn't as as bad as it looks, thatHalliburton agreed to contribute $55 million to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. But neither the government nor the law did anything to impose the $55 million as part of the penalty. It was voluntary, he said, and "not conditioned on the courts acceptance of its plea agreement."
Yes, it is as bad as it looks. Eleven men were killed in the April 2010 oil rig explosion. Asea-floor oil gusher flowed for 87 days, until it was capped.The total discharge is estimated at 4.9 million barrels, or 210 million gallons.Some reports claim the well site continues to leak.
Extensive damage to marine and wildlife habitats, fishing and tourism industries, and human health problems have continued through 2013. Yes, that's as bad as it looks.
Halliburton's destruction of evidence wasn't an oversight, either, it was a deliberate cover-up.
The oilfield products and services giantdestroyed computer simulations it performed in the months after the accident, simulations that contradicted Halliburton's claim that it was BP that had not followed its advice. BP had employed Halliburton to oversee the process by which cement is used to seal its pipes -- to prevent leaks. Government investigators had ordered companies involved in drilling the well to preserve all relevant evidence.
Now, I generally like big, American, multinational showoff companies. They employ tens of thousands of people and compete well in tough markets around the world. But I'll make an exception for Halliburton. In the lead-up to the 2003 war with Iraq we gave the company $2.5 billion to "restore Iraqi oil." The result was supposed to pay for itself as well as for reconstruction of the entire country. But Halliburtons work on the pipeline crossing the Tigris river at Al Fatah has been called a failure by virtually every historian, economist or analyst to touch the story.
The world's largest supplier of hydraulic fracking services isa company very good at cutting its own breaks. It didn't need the Department of Justice doing it another favor.
Hopefully, as the government tries to determine how to allocate blame and damages for the 2010 explosion, Halliburton's admission of guilt will have value for the people of Louisiana, Alabama and Florida in the ongoing civil trial in New Orleans.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423.
