Halliburton’s Lethal Crimes Get a Slap on the Wrist While Non-Violent Minority Drug Offenders Get Lo

[unhappycamper]

http://truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/18218-halliburton-slap-drug-offenders-prison



Halliburton’s Lethal Crimes Get a Slap on the Wrist While Non-Violent Minority Drug Offenders Get Long Prison Terms
JACQUELINE MARCUS FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT
Thursday, 26 September 2013 09:45

On September 19th, 2013 Halliburton, an oil and construction company that rose to a multibillion dollar industry under Dick Cheney’s supervision, pled guilty to federal charges of destroying critical evidence concerning British Petroleum’s 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion. Halliburton shredded the evidence because it proved that the company had committed gross negligence pertaining to cuts in safety maintenance decisions in order to increase profits. Shredding evidence: that’s probably a felony crime, right? Only if you did it or if I did it, but oil tycoons need not have to worry; the laws are conveniently shredded along with the evidence.

~snip~

Halliburton provided the plugs called “centralizers,” which keep the drill pipe centered in the well as cement is poured. Instead of using 12 “centralizers” they used six. The upshot: When it comes to necessary security maintenance, Halliburton, like BP, chose the cheapest and riskiest way to build the foundation of the well in their reckless pursuit of profits. Given the lack of government oversight, otherwise known as the “cozy relationship between the US government and the oil industry,” the culpable, dripping-in-oil Mineral Management Services (MMS) turned a blind eye to BP’s and Halliburton’s sins, which was and is common practice.

On April 20, 2010, British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, resulting in 11 deaths, followed by 5 million gushing barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, followed by the worst sea mammal and mass bird and fish killings in history. Thousands of dead dolphins, whales, pelicans, turtles washed up on the oily shores and were quickly bagged and buried at secret garbage dumps. To put Halliburton’s crimes reduced to a petty misdemeanor in context: Under the Obama administration, federal laws were passed forbidding photo journalists from taking pictures of the mass fish kill, the secret dump, and workers who became seriously ill from the toxic oil and dispersant Corexit. If caught taking photos, they would be arrested for committing a federal crime, sentenced to several years in prison and charged a hefty fine. Those unjust laws were harshly enforced.

The BP oil spill was and is the most deadly ongoing environmental catastrophe in American history, and the toxic effects are still being felt along the Gulf Coast. For the last three years, BP has been more concerned about protecting profits and presenting a public smiley face image than making the residents of the coastal shores whole.

[Nihil]

1. Kick for the corruption inherent in the system.

Boycott (preferably shut down) Halliburton.