Halliburton Dodges Charges Again
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
21 February 2014
By Timothy Puko, Business Writer
Halliburton Energy Services Inc. will not be charged criminally
for transporting large quantities of hazardous waste for 12 years
and storing it at an Indiana County site in violation of state
environmental laws, the state Attorney General's Office said on
Thursday.
The decision marks the second time the Attorney General's Office
reviewed the matter and declined to pursue criminal charges. It
followed an announcement on Tuesday that Halliburton will pay a
$1.8 million civil fine to settle citations by the Department of
Environmental Protection.
“Our review has indicated no reason to change that decision,” Joe
Peters, a spokesman for Attorney General Kathleen Kane said in an
email. He declined to explain the decision, saying his office
won't discuss “investigative details.”
The DEP first referred the case in 2012 for criminal
investigation, but after a five-month review, state prosecutors —
working under Kane's predecessor, Linda Kelly — found
“insufficient evidence existed to bring criminal charges,” Peters
said.
DEP officials declined to comment on the request for an
investigation and the decision by prosecutors.So, too, did Kelly
and former DEP Secretary Michael Krancer, who were in charge when
the case surfaced.
The civil penalty may be a record DEP fine for drilling-related
work. From 1999 to 2011, Halliburton mischaracterized hydrochloric
acid as residual waste instead of hazardous waste, according to
the DEP. It kept no records of how it handled the material.
The company admitted to taking more than 255 shipments of the
waste through its Homer City-area site without DEP permission in
trucks that were not labeled as carrying hazardous waste or
permitted to carry it. It disposed of some of the waste at a plant
that didn't have a permit to handle the corrosive acid.
Neither the company nor the DEP has publicly explained how or why
the mischaracterization happened. A spokeswoman at the company's
Houston headquarters has declined to address those questions. She
did not respond to a request on Thursday for an interview about
the criminal investigation.
Environmentalists have called for criminal charges to find out
whether the company intentionally deceived regulators and to serve
as a deterrent. The fine comes out to $150,000 for each year of
the violations for a company that had $29.4 billion in revenue in
2013.
“These enforcement actions are supposed to take into account the
economic advantage of not complying,” said Myron Arnowitt,
Pennsylvania director at Clean Water Action. “There are companies
that comply and follow the rules, and they shouldn't be at a
disadvantage to the companies that don't.”
Criminal referrals from the DEP are so rare that regional offices
can go a full year without one, said Matthew L. Wolford, an Erie
environmental lawyer who has worked for the DEP and the attorney
general. Pennsylvania environmental law doesn't require
prosecutors to show intent, but DEP usually refers cases for
criminal review only in extraordinary cases, Wolford said.
“It's only when they see some fact pattern that suggests someone
is lying, maybe falsified documents that suggest criminal conduct.
Sometimes they'll look at extraordinary environmental harm,” he
said. “It's usually because there's something about the case
that's not right here.”
Timothy Puko is a Trib Total Media staff writer. Reach him at
412-320-7991 or tpuko@tribweb.com.
Read more: http://triblive.com/business/headlines/5628390-74/dep-criminal-halliburton#ixzz2twYyv7uc