Halliburton Again

The lead article in this morning’s New York Times, “Companies Knew of Cement Flaws Before Rig Blast,” represents the first results of an independent panel investigating the reasons for the Deepwater Horizon oil well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico.

The panel found that on two separate occasions Halliburton knew from lab tests that the cement they were using was unstable. Only one of the tests, on March 8th, was forwarded to BP. The final test prior to the disaster was on April 20th and was not sent to the oil company.

Why is Halliburton at the center of every unsavory activity? The company’s nefarious ways, and those of its former CEO, Dick Cheney, represent the epitome of corporate greed and malfeasance. If it had not been for Halliburton’s faulty cement, and the failure to act on it, billions in cleanup efforts and the anxieties of an entire region of the country would have been spared.

Cement is crucial in preventing a blowout because it prevents the oil from getting into the drilling structure and thus becoming vulnerable to explosion. Halliburton has largely stayed on the sidelines during the Gulf disaster and let BP take the lion’s share of the blame and approbation by so many people. Now, we learn it deserves the primary responsibility.