"Halliburton Keeps ‘Losing’ Evidence Of Its Fossil Fuel Screwups"

"A Halliburton-owned company says evidence that is needed in the Aliso Canyon gas leak investigation was stolen."

"Turns out the excuse of “my dog ate my homework” can be used by multibillion dollar corporations as well as grade schoolers. The LA Times reported Wednesday that a company owned by Halliburton is making wild excuses about evidence in its involvement in fixing a gas leak, in what may be an attempt to deflect blame for the massive leak from the utility responsible.

The case concerns a California Public Utilities Commission investigation of the Aliso Canyon methane leak 25 miles outside of Los Angeles, where a breach in a natural gas storage well in 2015 sent more than 100,000 metric tons of methane spewing into the atmosphere for months in one of the biggest environmental disasters in U.S. history. The leak caused widespread health impacts among people living in the area and forced some 4,400 residents to relocate while Southern California Gas, the utility that owned the storage well, tried to fix the problem.

SoCalGas didn’t act alone: they hired Boots & Coots (yes, that’s the name), a well control company owned by oilfield services giant Halliburton (the same one that turned a tidy profit from the Iraq war). Unfortunately, Boots & Coots blew it—repeatedly. Between late 2015 and early 2016, the Halliburton subsidiary tried and failed six times to plug the faulty well; SoCalGas finally succeeded in fixing the leak using another tactic in February 2016, four months after it started in October."

Molly Taft reports fot Earther December 22, 2021.

SEE ALSO:

"Halliburton Failed To Stop A Massive Gas Leak. Now It Claims Key Evidence Was Stolen" (Los Angeles Times)

Source: Earther, 12/23/2021