You will remember this spill which occurred in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Several people died. You might wonder what happened to those implicated in the failure of the cementing and the blowout preventer.

Here’s an update. There was a post-spill review of the cementing. That data was deleted by our current Person of Interest. His sentence: One year probation, $1,000.00 USD fine, and a hundred hours of community service. This for, in effect, destroying evidence – apparently, the winning strategy if you’re going to face a US Court.

As for Halliburton, I quote: “The company agreed to pay a $200,000 fine and make a $55 million contribution to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, but the latter payment wasn’t a condition of the deal.” In short, they got off with a fine.

Now for the dumb question: what message does this send? If the evidence is bad, should you destroy it? It is a dumb question, eh?