MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal judge is set to decide whether to approve a plea agreement that calls for Halliburton Energy Services to pay a $200,000 fine for destroying evidence after BP’s 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
At a hearing Thursday, U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo can either accept or reject the Houston-based company’s deal with the Justice Department. If she accepts it, she must impose the agreed-upon sentence.
Halliburton was BP’s cement contractor on the drilling rig that exploded in the Gulf, killing 11 workers.
Halliburton agreed in July to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of unauthorized destruction of evidence. The company also agreed to make a $55 million contribution to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, but that payment wasn’t a condition of the deal.