Alyeska - A Fucked Up Organization

OK, this shall be the END of my pipeline storyline! I have penned enough pages, this “Uncle Al’s Closet” BLOG my testament directed towards a perverted “Corporate” culture, that which could be published as a novel. And anybody that has taken the pleasure, on the other hand pain & suffering as the truth can hurt, to read the “TRUTH” get over it I am very outspoken about that “UNION”. Why not, as it was the underlying curse upon the sabotage of my career with the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company. A career that a past supervisor once quoted: “…he has the potential to advance far within the company(1984)”. Let’s face the facts, my guilt in a Constitutional Right to form a “Union” was well known to the company President James P. Hermiller, that’s bad for the “Boss” and was bad for this guy. All because Alyeska’s HR “Boss” Kathy Carr told him so “in writing” highlighting the fact “While in Valdez back in the 1980-82 timeframe he was a vocal IBEW supporter” and I would not come to understand this “back stabbing” until it was way too late to save a career and the timeline, well it was known about back to the days of Frank Turpin on through the George M. Nelson reign and with Hermiller. And my “Union” activity was monitored when I went north. Too bad the “bad news bears” didn’t show early on, as I would have packed my bags and went to work for an honorable and ethical company. Here’s the bottom-line! I WAS NOT A VOCAL UNION SUPPORTER! But the Filth Floor of Bragaw had that in writing from some CUNT that got false information from a “SPY” using that fake information to climb the corporate ladder! So it must be “TRUE”. And guess what, whomever that mole in the organization that provided this character assassination garbage about me and against me my well-being, it was wrong! There was this guy in the same department as I that had a first name like mine. And a last name very close to mine. And we looked the same, beards when still permitted and he was a very vocal UNION supporter. I was not him, but the mole passed on identifying information that caught me in a guilty by “face” plot. And if this does not point to a fucked organization - and in the end when it back-fired and Hermiller got caught with a “falsehood” and I called the “Boss” on the CUNT’s bluff, I get a 5-cent apology. After all the career promotions that were mine due dedication and qualifications gone by the wayside due “Fake News” from CUNT central, after they punished me for doing a good job until I was forced to quit - an apology. How in hell Alyeska’s Filth Floor Bragaw would except an award based on the “World’s Most Ethical Company”, I guess when compared against 3^rd world organizations that still believe in slavery and NO worker rights. So in ending, don’t need to believe me, but believe in what my co-worker managers said about my character and I will challenge any ex-Alyeskan or current to surpass my performance appraisal credentials - which is based solely on “dedication” and which don’t matter how good if someone has placed a noose around your career. This is the Alyeska you worked for and maybe involved still today. BEWARE!

PERSONNEL FILE - LETTERS OF COMMENDATION

To: Lynn McArthur I&E Maintenance Manager - Valdez Marine Terminal
cc: John Jaegar - Employee Relations

From: Howard Nitzkowski - ARCO/Owner Company Field Auditor
Subject: Mike Kelley

Date: 11/14/79

I want to publicly commend Mike for the fine job he did in calibrating the pressure instruments in East and West Metering last week. His work was of high caliber, he worked quickly but thoroughly, and his documentation was excellent. Mike should be a fine addition to the Instrument Department. Thanks for his help.

To: Michael Kelley

cc: Employee Relations, T. C. Smith/Maintenance & Operations Superintendent
From: L.R. McArthur/ I&E Supervisor

Subject: Letter of Appreciation

Date: 3/10/80

I would like to express my sincere appreciation for the outstanding job you did in developing the berth flow control instrumentation test panel. This test facility has contributed significantly towards improving the operating efficiency of the I&E Maintenance Group, and minimizing berth flow control system downtime. As a result of this panel, instrumentation maintenance work, which in the past required days to complete, is now finished in a matter of hours. You have been actively involved in this project since its conception, and because of your many technical contributions and hours of work, the project is a total success.

I compliment you on a job well done, and I am confident that your future assignments will be handled just as professionally.

To: Michael Kelley

cc: Employee Relations

From: T. C. Smith/Maintenance & Operations Superintendent

Subject: Letter of Appreciation

Please accept my thanks and appreciation for your significant contribution. The test panel concept, design, construction, and successful application in the berth flow control system is a tribute to your technical competence. It is always fun to strive for excellence and your achievements demonstrates the rewards for excellent performance.

Truett C. Smith

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Date: 9/3/81

OVERALL RATING

A. ABOVE STANDARD - Employee's performance exceeds requirements.

SUPERVISOR'S COMMENTS

Mike has craft ability, work habits and a positive job attitude so exceptional they provide a foundation of strength for the entire division.

(Robert Miller - Instrument/Electrical Supervisor - Valdez Marine Terminal)

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Date: 10/18/82

OVERALL RATING

A. ABOVE STANDARD - Employee's performance exceeds requirements.

SUPERVISOR'S COMMENTS

Mike Kelley's job contribution is significant to the point of being difficult to evaluate. His field work is excellent, his shop accomplishments are innovative, his personality is uniformly pleasant, and his capacity for work seems limitless. To list the positive aspects of his job performance is to write personal accolades past the point of embarrassment.

(Robert Miller - Instrument/Electrical Supervisor - Valdez Marine Terminal)

*******************************************************************
Date: 1/18/84

OVERALL RATING

A. ABOVE STANDARD - Employee's performance exceeds requirements.

SUPERVISOR'S COMMENTS

Mike's positive work attitudes and inst. abilities add a platform of strength for the entire "A" shift.

(Robert Miller - Instrument/Electrical Supervisor - Valdez Marine Terminal)

*******************************************************************
  Date: 12/10/84

OVERALL RATING

A. ABOVE STANDARD - Employee's performance exceeds requirements.

SUPERVISOR'S COMMENTS

Mike is an outstanding I&E technician and has the potential to advance far within the company. He is presently serving as the "A" shift PV/OM&S I&E lead tech an is doing a very good job. He has excellent understanding of the operating processes at the Terminal and uses this knowledge to troubleshoot and repair the equipment quickly and correctly. I would highly recommend Mike for any first-line supervisory position that might become available.

(John Runnels - Instrument/Electrical Supervisor - Valdez Marine Terminal)

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To: Michael Kelley

cc: L. D. Norman/SCADA Pipeline Manager

From: T.L. Jenne/TAPS SCADA Manager

Subject: Commendation for Excellent Performance
Date: 11/24/86

Mike,   I want you to know how much I appreciate your

accomplishments especially during the past few months. Since being assigned to SCADA Pipeline Maintenance in September 1985, your performance has been outstanding. Your excellent background and experience in electronics plus a solid background in measurement maintenance enabled you to assume responsibility for measurement activities at PS 1 with only location familiarization required. Your professional approach to problems, ability to work well with people, and a desire to enhance equipment or system performance is a very valuable asset to SCADA.

Your talents and dedication were especially visible during the initial testing and subsequent improvements to the Lisburne Metering Module. It is quite evident that several questionable situations developed during the initial testing of this module. Your recognition of these situations and the ability to communicate your concerns brought about several days of detailed testing by SCADA personnel. The results of these tests brought about a meeting of SCADA, Projects, Oil Movements, and Pump Station Personnel on the problem.

In the final analysis it is your technical expertise and personal dedication which has ensured that we are ready to support oil in. Thank you for a job well done.

To: Michael Kelley

cc: All SCADA Technicians

From: M. E. Henrie/SCADA-CEI Supervisor - Pipeline
Subject: Michael Kelley

Date: 3/19/89

...Mike has performed outstanding as PS01 SCADA tech.

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 Date: 11/1/88

OVERALL RATING

ABOVE STANDARD - Employee's performance exceeds requirements.

SUPERVISOR'S COMMENTS

Michael is responsible for maintaining the oil measurement and all SCADA equipment at PS 1 and PS 2. His concern for accuracy and quality maintenance has been constantly demonstrated. He has been contacted by Owner Company representatives, auditors, and manufacturer's for his counsel on Oil Measurement. He has met these contacts with skillful approach which has significantly contributed to the respect of Alyeska in Oil Measurement, While doing this he has maintained all normal SCADA equipment while on shift. During this period he contributed significantly to the replacement of the Oil Measurement equipment for ARCO and SAPCO producers, assisting in the design, replacement, and commissioning. As a Level VI I can offer no suggestions for improvement or development. In addition to all this Michael is responsive to any request and a pleasure to work with.

(Leon Norman - SCADA Manager - Pipeline)

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Date: 1/16/90

OVERALL RATING

ABOVE STANDARD - Employee's performance meets requirements.

SUPERVISOR'S COMMENTS

Mike was transferred from the SCADA dept. to the Pipeline Operations Dept. at the beginning of this reporting period and was assigned the responsibility of Lead Technician for measurement maintenance. In this position he has the responsibility to train the other measurement technicians and to establish and organize the metering maintenance effort. He has directed a lot of energy into the maintenance of the measurement systems. It must be emphasized that Mike is a top-notch technician that can be relied upon in any situation and with the responsibilities of Lead Technician come broader responsibilities to training and organizational effectiveness.

(Jerry Laarsguard - Pump Station Supervisor - "A" shift)

The END!

Oh Happy Day - Once Upon A Time!

It was one such “Oh Happy Day” for the “Best of the Best” in that September of 1980, down yonder Valdez at the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company’s “Marine Terminal”, at the “END” of the Trans-Alaska-Pipeline. A time when the Alyeska 5^th Floor Bragaw Street executives still held a smidgeon of respect for the Valdez workers - yet it wasn’t enough to hold off a “My Lai Massacre” by that authority against the workers trying to “Unionize”. And yes, it was an “Oh Happy Day” when that bronze statue in “tribute” to the “Teamsters” and Junior Leslie’s “798ers” finally went unveiled, as there was an empty six pack of “BUD” hanging off of the welder’s stick and with that the “76 trombones led the big parade” came to a screeching halt! It was symbolically realistic, the Red with the White with the Blue dangling cans reflecting the sunshine of a decent day for Prince William Sound, that this was “My Country ‘Tis of Thee sweet Land of Liberty” and “UNION” made! And at the time the “Sound” had not yet been sabotaged by a wreck which wrecked the image of the “Pipeline People” and time for “Wreck-it-Ralph” to move over for an Uncle Al fill-in. So this “beer can” caper, it lasted to stay around for a few laughs, then the festivities went on - “Hail to the Jimmy” it sounded like, as in “Hoffa”! Yes, a statue in celebration of the “Teamsters” who deserved such notoriety for making “Oil In” a reality. Not to forget the dedication of the “798ers” that dared to go where no man has gone before with a welder’s torch - like the treacherous Thompson Pass to mend together that pipe. Hey, this “statue” was a tribute to the “UNION Labor” that built that 800-mile dipstick, get over it Mr. Serpentine Turpentine’s fan club and your George M. Nelson Seaton mouth-piece in butt-plugging fascination!

OK, and so what does it amount to the local technicians playing hookie away from job responsibilities in aiding and abetting this prank, with the beer cans we were trying to get a point across. Actually, it was a baited trap without a snare, as we knew if a “Tanker Crew” closing in at the “berths” got a whiff of “Free Beer”, it would be pilferage and consumed on the job. What Security? We set that gig up before the ceremony, laughs not intended, it was promoted as a protest. If only had the Alyeska Filth Floor Bragaw listened to our concerns, that we were ready to break the knuckles of them drunk tanker crews not minding their own business and break the balls of some dip-shit “Marine Supervisor” demanding we provide escort services for the bums back to their pirate ships - after the once “Able Bodied” spent hours in town binge drinking. I did not get hired by Alyeska to skirt the law and entertained no idea wherein that extra activity would help me on a job resume - Please list additional Qualifications: Assisted drunks! And when one technician hurt his back packing a “dead-weight drunk” up the gang plank on Berth#3, surely one could not file a workman’s compensation claim, as you have to be honest upon how and when an injury occurred - and that would have been a red herring. Hey Joe, take a few days off with pay!

Today, that statue is but for a sanctuary, I meant depository for bird turds. What a disgrace! OK, Alyeska finally got rid of that “Union” image after getting rid of the “vocal Union supporters” and then gave the statue away, to someone that cares and no longer is it a target for EXXON Valdez aftermath sick birds with the “runs”. So, it is a sanctuary to the “Union” still, but out-of-site and out-of-mind the Alyeska “mentality” of “Shoot the Messenger, Kill the Union”. But during its heyday that statue, but for a reminder what the “hard working salt of the earth” in dedication Alyeska workers were all about. Those like myself that tried to live peacefully in Valdez while raising a family and working to keep that “Pipeline” at attention to operate “responsible” and that once shat upon “Statue” became the tribute that the “Corporate” mentality ordered, in efforts to disgrace the “Union” drives back before that EXXON Valdez got away with murder Joe wrote.

It required a “UNION” to build that pipeline and another “UNION” was of necessity in Valdez following “Oil In”, not for any construction efforts as that era was now history, but to maintain the sanctity of merits consistent with the obligation to operate within the law, instead of above it the reason Joe Hazelwood would get away with that “murder”. So would the Mighty EXXON Corporation find leniency following the EXXON Valdez wreck, as neither the three-sheets-to-the-wind “Hard Aground” Captain or the “Tiger” was named as the guilty party this “wreck” in the END. At appeal after appeal after appeal, this was realized as it was due to Alyeska reneging on its responsibility to police any and all actions detrimental to the safe operation of the steel beast accordingly, which includes the “Tanker Trade” and the crews that would in time prove foolheartedly some people don’t give a rat’s ass shitting on another’s back door! Yes “guilty” by association and all other legal “links” as what was going on in Valdez was not some secret. But instead of attacking the problem, instead of putting resources to condemn a serious problem, well let’s harass them workers that want a “Union”. Frank Zappa wrote a tune, called “Kenny’s Little Creatures on Display”, the words best describes the Alyeska Corporate “mindset” wherein instead of the kids attending school like they were supposed to, for that all important “we learned it all in kindergarten” to Not lie and play nice, instead playing hookie and hiding away in a basement just to explode their flatulence, the same thing Alyeska’s Corporate was doing instead of addressing problems that would one day culminate in dead whales washing ashore sea to sea in the “Sound”. And if a new statue is ever envisioned for the Alyeska Filth Floor Bragaw…Thank You Frank and right up Frank’s alley:

OK, my tribute a for real statue in honor the Alyeska “workers” in Valdez that bucked the system, that went against the “grain” and saw reason that a “Union” was of necessity to survive a “management mindset” that was dangerous - else the EXXON Valdez would have never crashed “Hard Aground”. The latter ended up in history as a wreck, but I am talking the SS Manhattan, which used to call on the Port of Valdez and the Alyeska Marine Terminal when it was in the “crude oil” trade. And that ship had a history akin to what the Alyeska “workers” were all about. It was a beat-up rust bucket, an eye-sore to those of us that had the opportunity to know of that tanker’s existence, in history and see it, right there at Berth#4. That ship made the Northwest Passage and had to free the ice-stuck U.S. NAVY vessel that accompanied it on that voyage. The NAVY’s pride and joy vessel was sent on that voyage in efforts to help a disabled or stuck tanker, it was a vice-versa thing good thing for the Manhattan! So, it reminds me of the dedicated Alyeska “workers” that were there to bail out “Corporate” and instead of taking that heed, the Filth Floor Bragaw Street “mentality” balked and that set the stage for the EXXON Valdez “wreck”. The sides we take. It sucked!

The Alyeska 2024 Super Shuttle

So, I have before me an angry fan club told you so, “YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH”. Anger and fit-to-be-tried social-media blitzkrieg mobilization in disagreement with what I offer from the annals of Uncle Al’s Closet. That sad fact of the matter Alyeska could have “easy as 1-2-3 taking candy from a baby” prevented the EXXON Valdez environmental crime scene spree, so was an accomplice to the pain & suffering all the slick-sick soon to be dead sea-life. It gave slow death a new meaning and reinstated the fact that humans know how to torture! This was NOT an accident by any stretch of one’s ethical imagination that March 23^rd defining moment, it was a premediated sin against this Earth - as it was so easily preventable. Told you so “You Can’t Handle the TRUTH”. And no, a correction not needed on the 23^rd as that is when it all began at Alyeska’s “Causeway” to Berth#5. About face, a prescription for “preventative medicine” had the “Corporate Whores” listened to the workers in Valdez. As it was a well-known about perversion in bad habit with the few bad apples the likes of the “Joe Hazelwoods” returning to the Captain’s quarters following shore leave furlough after spending an afternooner with Jack Daniels. Now it is the year 2020, and many of Alyeska’s staff today were in “diapers” back in 1989 so the “crying baby” is testament that weening period was disrupted on or about that March 24^th disaster and the paternal pattern recognition from a warm boob abandoned, so they feel neglected. Upon the fact I speak the Truth, “the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth, so help me God”! To reiterate how Simple Simon it was, that Uncle Al was a 100% culprit responsible for that “wreck of a lifetime” in achievements award:

March 23^rd, 1989

Hour 2024: The “Yellow Cab” with Joe and Company arrives at the Alyeska Marine Terminal. A STOP at the Security Checkpoint.

Hour 2029: Joe is on the “Gang Plank” of the EXXON Valdez for its maiden voyage of destruction.

Just a mere 5-minutes wherein Joe was under the influence, I meant under the jurisdiction of Uncle Al and thus under the jurisprudence of “grown tanker captains don’t drink and drive ships hard aground”, as once aboard his ship it means “King Immunity”. Pinch yourselves, there was plenty of time to handcuff the bastard, just like how Alyeska would handcuff the “UNION” - that which tried in vain to mobilize in the 80s in efforts to STOP the madness of “Tanker Captains” allowed access to “Restricted Areas”, on our watch! Instead of a “Restraining Order” against “high seas crimes and misdemeanors”, the Valdez workers were “ordered” to stand down.

So what happened during that 300-seconds as “seconds” matter the “countdown” to the fuse of destruction ablaze? First and foremost, the…they were in a hurry because the scheduled departure time of the EXXON Valdez had been changed from 2200-hours to 2100-hours and in “haste makes waste” Joe’s crew was granted a “Get Out of Jail Free” carte blanche run amuck hall pass. Yeeha Ridem’ Causeway Cowpoke, time to get behind the wheelhouse of a tanker loaded up to the gill with “Let’s Make the Water Turn Black”! Yes, tanker loading times had been streamlined with efficiency because the Valdez “Instrument” crew devised a ways and means to safely increase the “flow regime envelop”, the reason we went pissed when the “Hazelwoods” would show up for work half confused which way was south, as we did not want all our efforts doing a good job wasted in vain. Damn it, didn’t it suck when “I read the news today oh Roy”!

The bottom-basement tapes-line, it was all about the “Wreck’s” aftermath and very little emphasis the “cause”, as the Valdez workers had complained as far as that voice could carry in a Valdez “blow” about this habit of the “tanker crews” not able to walk a straight line. And when the “Corporate Whores” failed to heed that “warning” and the workers went disgusted because of a management mentality that had “wreck” written all over it, the workers sought representation from a “Union”. And when the Corporate Whore “SPY” network encroached on the Valdez workers’ well-being in violation of  that “Right to Privacy” as is guaranteed within the Alaska State Constitution, the “Union” perpetrators were considered “Traitors” and were thus rewarded with a “Kill the Messenger” tombstone blues 21 Bums “Don’t Give a Hoot” salute. The “Corporate Whores” had a choice, send the drunks to the grave-yard, or a death wish upon its dedicated workers - and you can send me dead otters every morning, send me dead shore birds by the millions, send me dead eagles to my wedding and I won’t forget to piss hard-aground on your grave.

But I do have one all important question. When the Alyeska Filth Floor Bragaw “Golden Boy” - aka Yellow Rain Man - Bill Howitt was allowed to cross examine the EXXON Valdez “Tanker Crew” that remained aboard the ship instead of a date with Jack Daniels, and when Alyeska lawyers were in hiding and Bill had to engineer his way through the “Order in the Court”, his only question: “Did you ever catch a “Taxi”? Very interesting, because it was not a trick question but one that precisely tells it all in that realm of the legal “nutshell”, they knew what we concerned workers were talking about back before the “wreck” and this was the ultimate in the Alyeska, “do the shuffle”!

Pipeline Blues - Booze & Whores

Booze and Whores, what else best describes the Trans-Alaska-Pipeline “Construction” days during the mid-70s? As fat paychecks and time off for “good behavior” in “glitter gulch” whore towns like Fairbanks and Anchorage, it finds its placemark in History. I didn’t jump on the bandwagon conclusion that “pick & shovel construction work” was in my “bag of tricks”, so maintained my income survival with the University of Alaska - in Fairbanks. OK, my “shanty-shack” no-pay-per-view room with $$$board$$$ was a one-roomer at a whore house, as housing was hard to find during this “black gold rush”. No, NOT a “sugar-shack”, praytell no one not a misspelling! See, as headline news talked about the “Johnny Paycheck” from digging pipeline ditches providing for an awesome income that which provided for “More Booze and More Whores”, well outfits like the University being a subsidiary of the “State of Alaska”, it stood its ground. It was well known that come “Oil In” the state would be rolling in dough, so to keep the work staff happy please don’t abandon this ship, paychecks increased accordingly even if not a “Teamster”. And I wasn’t a “construction” guy so kept my promise to the campus Chancellor and for real, digging a ditch for Jimmy Hoffa’s corpse? Rumors galore, booze galore, whores galore! But after “Oil In” 1977, I did go to work for the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, as the distinguished operator of the pipeline found me through an acquaintance. I remember the interview in Anchorage, a round-table discussion of 6, and I was offered a job in Valdez. But before that assignment at the END of the line, it was off to Pump Station#5, as that was wherein “Basic Training” was stationed and “Thay gonna make me a pipeliner” indoctrination christening. And I remember this “Tender Foot Camp” very well as a guy named Chris was my assigned “Hey pardner”! He knew everybody, especially Will the instructor, so I was glad to be his room-mate only to find out early on his dad was a “Big Wig” that ran the “pipeline”, so why not buddy up! Now PS#5 is a great place to get your feet wet what this 800-mile “dip-stick” was all about. It’s a station on the “mainline”, but no pumps involved just a pipeline relief station so would over time second as a “retirement home” for “old people just grow lonesome waiting for someone to say”…re-pipe that latrine line into the “mainline” send thum human “floaters” south! Senior citizen plumbing issues, again! But at “Basic”, all-in-all one gets to learn all about the “pipeline life”, how you will gain 20-pounds the first hitch from all the food, donut trays everywhere. Not for me though, as Valdez did not afford that kind of luxury as down there you had to pack your own lunch. All-in-all again some more, it was a wonderful experience this “Basic Training Bootcamp”. And head instructor Mr. Will, well he liked the “bottle”, but was an excellent teacher supposedly once-upon-a-time an engineer for Boeing - and the pump stations’ “power turbines” were nothing short an engine in likeness found on a plane’s wing so he had a lot to offer. So that was my first introduction into “pipeline life” and even though one is taught all about “No Booze Allowed”, hey it was still the aftermath of the “construction days” so it takes time to ween away what this pipeline was built upon - said again “Booze & Whores”. OK, there were no whores at the “Basic Training”, I thought! Not bad, one out of two let bygones be bygones a good sign of the times.  OK, after class a handful of the “regulars” would head down the road to some abandoned construction camp, and come back talking about “sweater girl” and smelling of…And after that training was complete, my bags were packed and off to Valdez. And it would be only a matter of time wherein “that damn booze” would once again hound-dog my conscious, not far behind the whores in full force, as in “Corporate Whores”. Now the “booze bottle” revival, well that was reserved for the “Tanker Crews” that called on the “Port of Valdez” with their Super “shit-don’t-stink” Tanker mentality at the time so declared “Off Limits”, not the “booze” but any attempt to STOP this high seas binge drinking, they were getting away with this “drinking on the job” a habitual like routine. Now this was NOT a systemic like problem, as it was only a few bad apples that took advantage of the “Mutiny on the Bottle Ban”. There were probably 18-dedicated tankers that came and went through the “Valdez Narrows” with dock-side accommodation privileges at the “Alyeska Marine Terminal”. And even though we complained “out loud” when we were called upon to help “gang plank” a crew that could not walk a straight-line after a 12-hour free-for-all furlough in town at the one and only “Pipeline Club”, a crew that would soon find the privilege behind the helm of a tanker loaded up with crude oil, nobody was listening! It was a totally fucked up state of affairs! Behind the wheel of a tanker, front door service from the local bars in town via the “Yellow Cab” that held entrance access privileges to the “Restricted Terminal” above what was afforded by my own personal Alyeska badge! We complained again and again and again, went angry and took up arms - RIGID 818 pipe wrenches as knuckle busters of defiance in strength - yet we were then considered the “villains” and the drunks the “victims”! It sucked. Then Joe Hazelwood…the rest is history in the making once again and would stain forever the once good reputation of the “Pipeline People” not to forget very easily stain forever a once “pristine” wilderness at sea. Alyeska had the time but not the sincere effort to STOP such madness! They set their sights on the wrong damn problem! Said again, those that stood up and against this crazed fixation that DWIng through Prince William Sound was an OK thing, we were targeted as “disgruntled” Union sympathizers. Look, when I singled out this “Corporate Whore” thing, no doubt about it the Alyeska President George M. Nelson was such a whore for his bosses, the President of British Petroleum - aka SOHIO and of course ARCO! And yes another Nelson at the helm, a George N. Nelson and Harold Heinze. Yes “whore” as in “mouth-piece”. Here is what I mean. A few days after the EXXON Valdez wreck on “Bligh Reef” back in 1989, said again had the “Corporate Whores” listened to the voice of a UNION this disaster would have never had a chance of happening, well this “Corporate Whore” mentality did not give a rat’s ass that the “house of ill repute” had been raided. Just get the bed-sheets made up and get that sign lit up “Open for Business” as the clientele was getting pissed off. See, as oil was still exploding overboard the sunken ship-of-fools, from a massive 30-foot “can opener” like crack in the hull of Joe Hazelwood’s broken dream-weaving machine because it was not a “Steady Ahead Mate” but “full speed ahead to the next saloon” peddle to the metal then “crash”…gives joyriding a whole new dimension. But listen up what the “whore” mouthpiece finds:

MR. ARCO HEINZE: Well, if you can convoy tankers through minefields, you can -- you can get them through a little oil.
MR. ALYESKA NELSON: Yeah. You can get then through a little oil, yeah.

That was the “Corporate Whore” mentality! So booze and whores here, booze and whores there…Go North Young Man I did to Pump Station#1 as my family disowned me for wearing an Alyeska logo after the “wreck”. And my first trip North on a company charter, it was delayed getting off the runway in Anchorage, as everybody kept saying where’s Cal? Like in Cal Worthington and his dog spot I thought? No, it was the calling out for the Station Supervisor, AWOL check-in time and by this time a few of the station technicians set out on a “mission” the 4^th Avenue “skid-row” bowery boys just want to have fun. What The Freud held my most inner thoughts, and soon enough here comes the crew carrying a guy “Dead Drunk”. Thrown onto the plane and when we arrived at the Deadhorse airport 3-hours later, carried on to the company bus then carried to his PLQ bunk at the station and 3-days later, low and behold there’s Cal at the morning meeting! Like nothing happened, as this was the “routine”! And this was routine, supported by a “Corporate Culture” that would one day think it was OK to “SPY” on its workers. The sad thing, it was in Alaska way up far and away from…the U.S. Constitution finds no boundaries but “Corporate Whores” and “Booze’m Buddies” seem to not give a rat’s ass about what that American flag is all about, as if “Patriotism” was on the agenda, had the “Corporate Whore” mentality listened up to the voice of its “dedicated workers” in UNION struggling to not have to commit a felony by busting the chops of a drunk sea captain that went fascinated pissing off the berth to feeding salmon below that we fish for and eat…instead getting a hard-on to “Kill” that “UNION”. Just think had they listened and taken appropriate action, that “wreck” would not have had the opportunity to wake those “Corporate Whores” in the early morning hours of March 24^th, 1989. But “whores” sell their souls, to the “Call of the Wicked”. But wait, there’s more to this story. See, I would be sent back to that “Basic Training Bootcamp” after 11-successful years as a “Lead Technician Level VI” and it baffled the instructors. But not to fret as it wasn’t back to “basics” to learn the ABC’s of “pipelining” but the Ps & Qs of minding my own business and accepting the fact that “drinking” and “whores” were still part of it all, get over it and don’t ever entertain that UNION again. So I quit, as Alyeska and its compact with the “Corporate Whores” of the “Owner Company”, it didn’t intimidate this American Patriot as when the “voice” is silenced, the enemy wins.

They Killed the “HOSS”!

Lynn McArthur, we called him the “Hoss”, he reciprocated in the same namesake our brethren vein, it had meaning greater then friendship his inspiration. Lynn was an electrical engineer, and the best that money could buy, the latter in the sense of you get what you pay for. And Alyeska had deep pockets, so it was not a surprise that McArthur would come to work for Uncle Al - in one of the most challenging and demanding positions found along that 800-mile pipeline. Settling in as the “Valdez Marine Terminal I & E Supervisor”. In that position, providing the guidance to a crew of control engineers, instrument and electrical technicians a head-count greater then all the pumping stations combined those same disciplines - so the gravity of what was a stake at the END of the line mind-boggling. And the “Operations” relied heavily on McArthur and his department, in efforts to grasp an understanding what all the bells & whistles meant on over 150 separate control systems, hundreds of process transmitters, analyzers, flow & ESD valves the list is long not to forget a local grid generating 127000-volts in electricity! And boy did McArthur have his work cut out for him, as did the technicians that he supervised. Look, in my career and YES there is life before & after Alyeska, I have worked with engineers from Texas Instruments to Bell Aerospace to Siemens, very few come close to what Lynn McArthur offered as an all-around spokesperson and advocate of ethical engineering principles though practice and fellow worker respect. With Lynn, there was no such thing as a “dumb” question when it came to control theory and that RESPECT resonated the rank and file! And it was the greatest of achievements in technical accomplishments to get the “Terminal” and all of its critical control infrastructure up to standards. Matter of fact, if Woody Guthrie was today penning his patriotic tune “The Biggest Thing That Man Has Ever Done”, after the verse about the Grand Coulee Dam and “I built mines and mills and factories to run for Uncle Sam”, there would be a verse about the building of the Trans-Alaskan-Pipeline, because “There's warehouse guys and teamsters and guys that skin the cats.” And another attribute our trials and tribulations at the end-of-the line in Valdez, we relied on Anchorage for not very much in support. OK, HR remembered a worker’s birthday. It was like a separate company, in the beginning that is, but it was only a matter of time the “corporate” bowel-weevils would infiltrate, and that was bad for our business! Sad, as some of the pipeline’s management rejects were sent our way, upon arrival they went confused the immensity and intensity the “Terminal” infrastructure and how it was supposed to work so tried in vain to confuse us. A smokescreen in efforts we NOT figure out their incompetency, and they went confused on simple issues from their pipeline time, like why they had to pack their own lunch! Look, unlike the “pipeline” there was No Free Lunch in Valdez! And we didn’t have a “cafeteria plan” like what was afforded over at the “Corporate” in Anchorage. So by the early 80s with “throughput” anticipated reaching upwards towards that 2-million daily goal, we were “Oil In” ready in Valdez. After a lot of “hair pulling” and blown fuses, all the control systems were in alignment, everything was working as designed, it was challenging but so cool to see how it all came together and worked accordingly. Except for the “Ballast Water Treatment” facility, every component worked in unison to accomplish a goal. So amazing, from the storage tanks to berth loading and the vapor recovery element in between, all working “Oh say can you see by the dawn’s early light, what so proudly we hailed” no pollution. It was well worth our efforts directed towards success by McArthur, as it provided us an understanding of a “one-of-a-kind” super-system. The 1000-acre site, it was all connected as a single process designed to accommodate the pipeline’s deliveries and do it safely with the sensitive surrounding environment in mind. And when it was all said and done, it allowed the “Operations” a safe and sound system, understood and very reliable. We were happy and so proud of our efforts, Thank You Mr. McArthur, for caring and showing us the way forward this massive undertaking in complexity. And this bull-crap, about the Thompson Pass “slack line” and all the “White Papers” produced when some engineers thought they were on to something? Look, that creature, the “oil column in separation” was known about way back before it found bar tab popularity or 5^th Floor Bragaw Street fodder, as even the original Fluor Engineers warned of this phenomenon. The reason at the bottom of that “Pass” there exists a construction “blind Tee” for the inclusion of a 5-Mw power reduction turbine, as a means of dead-heading that momentum and quieting down that “incipient cavitation” that was to one day become a reality. And back in the early days when we had already realized the potential damage this unwanted component could allow when “gas bubbles” so generated survived a 14-mile journey to then enter the “East Metering”, the I&E under McArthur’s guidance designed a control system using a Cyborg computer and could monitor and control both “Back Pressure Control Valves” in unison and minimize the damage associated with this “slack”. We could easily control it by pushing the oil-head back up the “Junior Leslie” roller coaster! But it caused the OCC controllers a hissy-fit tissy-fit, because they had not an understanding of the effects of pressure surges on the “Incoming East Metering Custody Transfer” system, a “nothing burger” as the skid was designed to handle any and all pressure surges, the reason instead of time averaging the system incorporated “Flow Weighted Averaging” for compensation. Because some “idiot” thinking he was god’s gift to “flawed” flow measurement thought “pressure” surges were worse then “hick-ups”, the latter caused from that “column separation” and reforming as “bubbles” that could over-spin the flow meters. See, on our side we had control, the other side out-of-control, get the point! There was nothing we could not accomplish, except for that one thing, STOP those drunked-up tanker crews from invading our “Tranquility”! But put aside McArthur’s many success stories, our own success stories, when the “Union” was gaining traction again in Valdez because we were waving our RIGIDs in solidarity and warning the “drunks” not to “fuck” with us and had no qualms making it known we would bust knuckles the next confrontation, it meant time for the “Chill the Messenger” season which would morph into “Kill the Messenger” as somebody in Anchorage liked “blood”. So, I stand corrected as that is what we received from Anchorage, pure interference and a birthday wish! Lynn was the first victim of this “open season” and following that hit, the plan was to tear apart the “gang” that had made the “Valdez Marine Terminal” the pride and joy of Alyeska - look that 800-miles of dip-stick was nothing without us! I still believe that there came a “Townie” jealousy that circumcised our efforts - as we were going it alone without help from Anchorage, they wanted “blood”! They wanted us out of the way. And it would be a price to be paid, when we bargained for a “Union” because of them drunk tanker bastards, for standing up for our “Workers’ Rights”. See, when McArthur was finally transferred the writing was on the shit-house wall, it wasn’t to a deserving position as the “Boss” for a PS#1 management position, it was to a place which we all realized was a dead-end street. Let’s face the facts, PS#1 was a small fry “Valdez” with metering skids, storage tanks and a vapor recovery system. Right up McArthur’s alley. So if Alyeska really wanted to replace the Madman Cal and his puppy dog every hair in place sidekick up at Mile Post “0”, it would have been better off to transfer McArthur way north. But Pump Station#12? So this was an attempt to intimidate a born leader, the “Hoss”! Look, Lynn had not a single bone of disgruntlement and for all the years I worked under his supervision, his management style, it was a “Super Vision”. It sucked, to what was looking like a new future for the “Pipeline People” and at the same time a future for those drunks that captained those tankers in and out of Valdez. Now like already alluded upon, Alyeska always remembers the worker’s birthday, and on August 19^th in 1985 the “Hoss” called me to wish me well and in that conversation he told me about a “turbine” problem but was holding off getting help from Anchorage due poor weather. He seemed a little uptight, unusual and I sensed that maybe he was under pressure. See, as “Terminal” workers were transferred to break the “Union” because we complained about the drunk tanker crews and almost had a “brawl”, the reason we carried the RIGID 818s for protection, we were starting to get a hint of what life on the pipeline was all about - it sounded like a skunks work kiss every thing that looks like an ass and I was given my walking papers, also heading north but to PS#1. After talking with the “Hoss”, it hit me, the good ol’ days were done with! Not over with, just change was here to stay. Well in the early morning hours on the very next day, the “Hoss” was still dealing with a turbine problem at this “semi-critical” station just north of Valdez. No big deal, except this was during the time the 5^th Floor Bragaw was trying to break all records and one thing you don’t do is give George Nelson bad news in that morning meeting. So McArthur understood the ramifications. He also realized you never place workers at risk, and with challenging weather in Glenallen, well Lynn stalled any help flown over from Anchorage. At least not until daylight and maybe safer flying skies, not a popular call. He was over-ruled by Fat Alex Two Chairs and at 0205am the chartered Lear Jet with the “turbine mechanic specialist” from Anchorage crashed on approach to PS#12, 3-dead. Lynn would never forget that! And that is when we realized a sad fact of the matter at hand, they didn’t give a rat’s ass as it was “Throughput is King” over everything else. We heard the same damn thing when that EXXON Valdez wrecked, instead of getting ahead of the mess it was a push and shove to re-open the port for tanker traffic and guess what, nothing was ever done our disgust in drunks wanting to brawl, that which was the catalyst of breaking up a good thing in Valdez, and there did come a wreck! We told you so? Alyeska’s “Kill the Messenger” was in effect. Yes, they “Killed” the “Hoss” and I was also targeted, my career. But Alyeska would use me, milk me for the likes of a paycheck as I had a family to feed, and then when happy days are here again getting all they wanted from a valued employee, “Kill the Messenger” some more as I was labeled a “vocal UNION supporter”! A “Union” supporter is one thing, but place a “vocal” ahead of the pack, hope you get the point. They did it to the “Hoss”, they did it to me, so beware! And remember one other thing, Alyeska was the “brain-child” of the “Big Oil” and for real, I was told by a confidant that a “blacklist” was the fun at Human Resource luncheons! Amazing without grace, cutting the throats of those workers that did give a rat’s ass, management taking sides and strides with the bastards that abused the system, drunked fools! And when I was transferred up to PS#1 in 1985, my first trip that far north, the fucking station supervisor had to be carried off the plane into his PLQ bunk, for a three-day dry out after a week-long bender - and this was routine according to the crew? No wonder the tanker crews got away with it - preferential treatment the Alyeska way START to END! In the beginning of this lecture, “The Man Was A Hero” my association with Lynn McArthur, I mentioned a “Patriotic” undertaking by Woody Guthrie. I end with another piece of that “Biggest Thing That Man Has Ever Done”:

There was a man across the ocean, I guess you knew him well,
His name was Adolf Hitler, goddam his soul to hell;
We kicked him in the panzers and put him on the run,
And that was about the biggest thing that man has ever done.

Sounds like a remedy made to order for how Alyeska fucked over a “few good men” that saw a problem with drunks and made a stand and found retaliation their only reward or as that song of national importance finds its “a.k.a.” also a sign of the Alyeska times, “Great Historical Bum”!

Lynn, thanks and RIP always in my soul!

The “Insider” Cover Story

OK, some are asking why I am so negative towards Alyeska and use this “BLOG” as a sounding board? I was featured in the “Insider” along with Lynn McArthur back in 1983, the good ol’ days, that’s why! And both of us got screwed over by “Corporate” for caring about our jobs. This was the time “Corporate” was “spying” on the Valdez pride and joy workers. Hey pump station people, your pipeline was “dead-in-the-water” without us in Valdez. So here we were, working in dedication and making break through accomplishments to keep the 800-mile beast up and running, we kept lifting the bar in achievement higher and higher for our own self-worth as we enjoyed the challenge. When all the time, the “bastards” were “spying” on us and for that reason our efforts were wasted. And during my career with Uncle Al, I spent many hours in David Pritchard’s office and many hours in Theo Polasek’s office and many, many hours in Larry Wood’s office as the “invitee” not to forget time wasted with BPO Ted and his crybaby melodrama that gives “Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche” a facelift! As part of the “Executive Management” branch, they were trying to get a hold on what was causing a dereliction upon that “Trust” bond between management and the workforce. It had nothing to do with the “workers”, it was a one-sided like cyclops that which they could not understand, because they were part of it! They were looking themselves in the “mirror”, nothing wrong so “shoot the messenger” found reason to fulfill a “monster mindset”. And “spying”, please read your U.S. Constitution and the Alaska Constitution what it means to infringe upon that “Right to Privacy”! If I had to pick a book that best describes the Alyeska 5^th Floor Bragaw “Management Mindset”, well since the Filth Floor Bragaw better suits their “shoot the messenger” mandate, verdict finds that there are two all-important writings of record that best describes the reason Joe Hazelwoods crash tankers on rocks. Take your pick.

But make no doubt about it, my testament boasts still that when engaged as a worker with Alyeska along that 800-miles of wilderness and stomping through way too much snow in Valdez to get to a “valve”, it was with the “Better then the Best” the friends and acquaintances made along the way. We were a family, yet the few “bad apples” of Bragaw ruined it, take my word I am testament to that ritual in ridicule. I spoke up, and paid the fine, so what as that is how I practice my American Patriotism. And as Junior Leslie spoke out after finishing the last “mainline” weld right before it was “Oil In” in the treacherous Thompson Pass, “I did it for the Union”, well so did I. Had the few “bad apples” of Bragaw listened to what the Valdez technicians were worried about, with the likes of the Joe Hazelwoods returning from shore leave back to the “Alyeska Marine Terminal” a little wobbly and confronting the workers like their shat didn’t stink because of their “Owner Company” privilege, the EXXON Valdez would have never made history as a “wreck” and maybe instead history in the making the Coast Guard arresting the pirates. But instead, it was time to “SPY” on the dedicated workers! The real sad fact of this matter, there are those now deceased that were made aware of this problem and did nothing when they had the chance, yet sent to their graves never once making an effort to come clean and honest. That is forever gone. But there remains a handful of those that were also in the know, that did nothing. More then likely they visit the “Alyeska Pipeline People” site, and I hope they have the courage to read this “BLOG”, as it is the truth the whole truth so help me God! IMAGINE, instead of wasting resources stopping me in my tracks “My Vocal Union” advise, that they wagered their efforts to STOP Captain Joe and may the “Bastards of Bragaw” enjoy that golden handshake retirement all this time the wreck lingers on.  ~ Mike Kelley

Uncle Al’s Closet BLOG - Public Feedback #1

Uncle Al’s Closet BLOG - Public Feedback #1: On the subject of “…Cowitts in Cowards” - Nonsense and contrary to popular opinion, “Cowitt” it is not a metaphor or memorandum in understanding directed at any particular present or ex-Alyeskan as an individual as a “Coward”. As used herein, “Cowitt” finds its roots in the “Matter of Stuart Spencer Cowitt”, an attorney and counselor-at-law finding himself before a “Grievance Committee” for making false statements of fact or law to a tribunal and failure to correct a false statement of material fact or law previously made to the tribunal, in an attempt to violate the Rules of Professional Conduct which orchestrated the committing of a criminal act that which reflects adversely on the lawyer's honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer in other “respects" while engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, and or misrepresentation". It is a “metaphor” consistent with the Alyeska Filth Floor Bragaw “management mindset” that saw it proper to SPY on its workforce, as that in itself in these United States of America in this day and age is but for administered through dishonesty, but for untrustworthiness and calls into question the fitness of a “Corporation” under the Red, White & Blue. There ought to be a law!

NOTE: This “feedback” is a rebuttal to a “Comment” made on a published article with respect to Uncle Al’s Closet “BLOG”. I reserve the right to conceal all “Comments” to protect the originating party’s identity, but will when required to correct the record answer faithfully said comments. If such “feedback” requires a correction and or a retraction, such may be forthcoming but because the author of this “BLOG” is the recipient of documents that were delivered outside an intended distribution sourced from the “Executive” branch, that which is NOT CONFIDENTIAL because I didn’t ask for it, so that information finds merit towards the accuracy of these writings. Yes, I am at an advantage, and will divulge what I know to get the “TRUTH” accounted for. This “BLOG” is designed to benefit the dedicated “workers” that were hoodwinked.

The Alyeska COWITTS in COWARDS

Editor’s Note: This BLOG is dedicated to the “cause & effect” of an inept and incompetent and impotent management style the company that guaranteed to the U.S. Congress…well shameless lies. That company - the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company - was designated as the “caretaker” of the Alaskan oil scene, for safely transporting that precious commodity that makes our “motor gasoline” and boils our water for morning coffee. Yes, that “safely” was quarantined to the grave because of greed and thus the ugly sin of the EXXON Valdez “WRECK” is here to stay for a long, long time. Yes, all the blame the unprecedented “WRECK” contributed to a company that satisfied instead a “shoot the messenger” mental mindset ego, instead of taking care of a few “bad apples”. Alyeska could have STOPPED Joe Hazelwood “dead in his tracks” and this environmental disaster avoided, yes by exercising a preferential treatment, as not all tanker crews abused that “Free-for-All Free-at-Last Furlough” when a ship was tied up and loading up with crude oil at the TAPS Valdez Marine Terminal. Instead, Alyeska’s recipe for disaster called for apple sauce - smashing away the opposition to hell with the “bad apples”. I am talking the “workers” in solidarity so attacked as the “bad hombres” as that was fashionable - as going after the “bad apples” trampled on the Trans-Alaska-Pipeline’s “Owner Company” rights to be let alone, and to condone that action to target the “guilty” it amounted to character assignation and could be reasons for dismissal reaction. You don’t mess with the hand that feeds! George Nelson was the epitome of a “bully” and on that dreaded day in March of 1989, he showed his true colors, a limp noddle a wimp poodle! Funny it was when the other George Nelson of British Petroleum ridiculed Alyeska’s Nelson, because the U.S. Coast Guard had closed the “Port of Valdez” so no tanker traffic was allowed to move - it meant $money$ loses. Alyeska was a consortium of the most powerful oil conglomerates in existence, best mind your P’s & Q’s as to get permission for any consideration that affected the “Owners”, it required outside direction and to get the “Owners” to coordinate an answer like how to deal with tanker crews “drinking” during “shore leave”, forget about any answer. Even the “designated agents” that maintained the ship’s logs and had the privilege to visit a tanker’s galley before “ship off” and observe the crew’s demeanor and maybe get a hit of “vodka breath”, they stayed clear of this well-known “few bad apples” abortion on seamanship ethics. All around, they did not give a rat’s ass and this was apparent only 48-hours into the “wreck”, the hell with the overboard oil killing thousands of shore-birds get the damn port opened as we are loosing $money$. The only way such abuse could be STOPPED by those thinking getting behind the controls in the wheelhouse of a humongous vessel filled with “toxicity” a little pie-eyed, that such malfeasance was daring, deny shore access to the crews - that simple it was. But now you are talking a very difficult legal issue - unless you pay the steel-hull incarcerated victims, as this is America so when not on the clock…look the crews chose this career so stay in your freak’n bunk and watch porn. The crews were off the clock, they could come and go as they pleased, but Alyeska maintained the “keys” to that privilege and could have easily put the foot down. That 1400-foot “Causeway” between the tanker’s gang-plank and “land ahoy” was an easy target - and it was “RESTRICTED ACCESS” to begin with. I worked for the company and my duties often required access to that “Causeway”, but never without “Permission” - like a “Permit” and radio contact before entry as the berths held “oil” and explosive atmospheres. The tanker crews had more freedom then the workers, as it was a turn a blind-eye, even when they urinated off the berths! Yes, this was a simple thing to address. It didn’t budge the management, as that would have interfered with the “Owner Company”. The crews returning from “shore leave”, the condition of the Able-Bodied seamen was well known about, said again a small fraction required time-and-time again to being carried up the gang-plank to the sober up ward. This was a time before hi-tech invaded and gave us cameras 24/7, to bad! There was a terrible weakness in the “shore leave policy”, and thus came the EXXON Valdez wreck. But those of us so concerned about this “behavior” unbecoming a seaman, we tried and were screwed over. Like in Sympathy for the Devil: “Just as every cop is a criminal ~ And all the sinners saints ~ As heads is tails ~ Just call me Lucifer 'Cause I'm in need of some restraint.” When the local management did nothing, the only recourse was to seek “Union” representation. This tanker crew abuse started the day the Daily News went to print with “Oil In”, in 1977. So the workers mobilized, seeking an outside representation with “Labor Department” clout, that would provide a ways and means to address the dereliction of the company in keeping the workers safe and sound and the same with the environment. When the 1st “UNION” drive of 1979 was history and the Alyeska lawyers were successful in that “squash” the opposition, that was only Phase I of the plan of attack. It would be only a matter of time before another concerted effort “UNION” drive would disrupt the Corporate keepsake of “No Unions”. And that “Corporate” sentiment was not just in Alyeska’s selfish interest, it was dictated by the “Owner Companies”, like SOHIO-British Petroleum and ARCO all the “Big Players” considered under the umbrella of the “Seven Sisters”. Amerada Hess was the only neutral faction. There came a full-court press, to detain any “Union” activity. At the time, other “Unions” were trying to gain favor up on the North Slope, so we are talking a 10000-man workforce that if “Unionized” could wield a whole lot of clout - especially sensational it could shut-down the pipeline that was essential to this nation’s energy supply. And that “shutdown” scare, it didn’t require an entire workforce, as a small group of Instrument & Electrical Technicians in Valdez alone had the wherewithal to sabotage the “Owner Companies” profit stream. Yes, a handful of knowledgeable technicians at the “Marine Terminal” could wreck havoc, not intentionally but with a simple “sick out”, as the control systems through lack of maintenance and attention lacking would demonstrate this TAPS beast at “The END” was not capable of “lights on” without that I&E faction. Amazing, that a handful of labor activists exercising their Constitutional “Rights” could have such control. So came to fruition the plan of attack by Alyeska’s management, use that proverbial “solution to pollution is dilution”. It’s an oil company, that works! Which meant a plan that would take apart the department lead by the “Hoss”, distribute the technicians to one of the 4-operating departments at the “Terminal” and then it would become very difficult to get the required votes to even consider a “Union”, as now all the employees of each department get to vote in consideration of a “Union” representation. Let the break-up begin, and Alyeska was very successful in fucking up a good thing when at the same time, well the Hazelwoods continued to come and go with no accountability - Alyeska took the focus off of the PROBLEM based on the fact one too many jerks more concerned what the “Owner Companies” were preaching. See, the company’s Bragaw Street mentality - the 5^th Floor more likely to succeed as the “Filth Floor of Bragaw” - it gave not a rat’s ass about an environmental disaster in Prince William Sound - let bygones be bygones the sentiment even today some 30-years after the “Wreck” when 11-million gallons went overboard within 35-minutes of “ground zero hard aground”. Waves of crude oil boiled out of the breached hull of the EXXON Valdez like a Tsunani, as when you don’t obey the “speed limits”, you end up with 30-foot long gashes in the shell. This was not a “bumper car” jolt a little off course, it was a massive undertaking to destroy a 2-year old pride and joy of the EXXON fleet. Yes, only 1400-feet separated safe fate to disaster and with “boys will be boys” the ship was reprogrammed on a crash course at full throttle, upon the worst of the worse best known navigational hazards in the “Sound”, a sunken reef that peeled away the hull like a sardine can under attack by famished Captain Cook pirates. There was no excuse there is no excuse, and the George Nelsons that knew about this problem along with the Ivan Henmans and all the rest of the idiots, better yet “Cowitts” that were told about this misfitting bellicose, you’re dead but so is the “SOUND”. Like financial gains are allowed as an inheritance, so should environmental atrocities be passed on as an “inheritance” and the people leftover, the sons and daughters standing in line for a giveaway, how about instead of $money$ how about hand cuffs and sentencing to “hard time labor” cleaning up the mess that lingers still. It was a “Cowittly” mindset that allowed the wreck to occur, and instead of taking care of business target those that stood up for the rights in “righteousness”. Many of the Alyeska “Executives” that were aware of this “Tanker Crew” abuse but instead engaged in attacking the workers bent on the “Union”, many are 6-feet under and I am so sorry that before passing on they had not the “Patriotism" to amend their stance and admit what really happened - just too damn embarrassing and when enjoying a retirement “golden parachute” from “Big Oil”, of course they would remain off-course and the “Truth” diluted away just like their pollution. And to those Alyeska “Cowitts”, the Alyeska “Cowards” still breathing, still holding off telling the “Truth” what they were warned about, FUCK YOU and may a Prince William Sound seagull shit on your grave as we all find death in the end, just like the “SOUND” forevermore! I welcome feedback. I also welcome ridicule, but be careful as I have all the goods that testifies to an Alyeska “mindset” that was fit but for a single mission, “Portnoy’s Complaint”!

Uncle Al's "Filth Floor Bragaw" Executive "Circle Jerk"

Corporate Policy
“I am the Raskolnikov of jerking off – the sticky evidence is everywhere!”
― Philip Roth, Portnoy's Complaint

“If you're losing your soul and you know it, then you've still got a soul left to lose”
― charles bukowski

Alyeska's "Oil Measurement Manual"

Chapter I - Introduction to Custody Transfer ~ "Mission Statement"
“So. Now you know the worst thing I have ever done. I fucked my own family's dinner.”
― Philip Roth, Portnoy's Complaint

In the event the "OM Manual" is missing or misplaced from the Pump Station#1 "Technical Library", as a substitute use of Roth's "Portnoy's Complaint"- which can be found in Manager Rick's top draw - it should satisfy the requirements and responsibilities of the "Oil Movement's Department" with respect to "fucking your family's dinner".

The “Real” END of MY LINE

It’s been a few weeks since I published my selfish memoirs my employment history with a company I stood proud with in the beginning, all things considered. I tried my best and not asking anyone to believe my word so why not the word of others. “Performance Appraisals” equal to none, letters of commendation for “excellent performance” from management in that “Best of the Best” I challenge any past employee to show a better announcement of “dedication”. Always achieving in the “Exceeds Expectations” category progressing from Technician I to Technician VI in less then a year and “No daddy Alex” to help me along the way and “Lead Technician” duty calls for 11-years - before I was demoted overnight to Technician Level I because I was a “Union” supporter. I guess it was Morgan Henrie’s first test as a PHD, most likely to succeed in how to rake fuck someone over the coals, maybe it was his thesis - must have been through Trump University! Yes, after 11-years of “Dedication”, my reward was “back to boot camp”. Funny, as instructor Rick cancelled the class because it was too damn embarrassing to him that I was to sit in his class, not as an auditor but a student - when he would be teaching “new hires” about things like “Custody Transfer” at Pump Station#1 - and guess who taught Rick? I am not bragging, just pointing out the fact that dedication awards can be consumed by factions in jealousy, those that think they can place a feather in their caps with the “Executives” by cutting the throats of others. And it was well known, that the closer to Bragaw, the easier it was to cash in on that “attacking” other workers, especially those that worked and lived in Valdez as we were far and removed from the “Filth Floor Bragaw Street” mentality. I would become amazed and nauseated at the same time, how some technicians on their week off but living in Anchorage would waste time away from their families to hob-knob at corporate headquarters - be seen at the cafeteria hoping to get a hand shake from a high up mucky-might-mucker. The culture at Bragaw was hand-job “sick”.  IMAGINE, having to survive by dicking it to your brothers and sisters best have a good excuse when that Pearly Gate is confronting your future. Reminds me, some even use religion as a decoy in “peace be with you” and the CUNTS know what I am talking about. There existed a posse out to get me because of my “UNION” affiliation, an over aggressive “bon voyage boyardee” due my “Vocal Union Support”, and in the end it would amount to career castration - and unfortunately it follows you down that open road. There ought to be a law, as those that get involved in this sabotage attacking another fellow American, the Founding Fathers had a name for that dismissal in righteousness - it’s called “Treason”. And because HR maggots in Alaska stick together like bed bugs, a small community that passes around the “blacklist of bad folks”, my future was doomed - best make the best of it. But I am a survivor and time after time, it was my work ethics “No Bullshit Allowed” that kept a paycheck coming and grub in the refrigerator food on the table. But time and time again, only a matter of time that “stigma” leftover from Alyeska would once again play a role in some ass-wipe chastising my dedication, more rough times ahead. I was branded, no doubt about it and did not deserve it. Sure I was on the “black list” and you would be surprised whom else as that list and its confidentiality went compromised. I know many will be disgusted in me using the word “CUNTS”, the shoe fits so what’s in a word!

Interesting, that I have received no “Cease and Desist” motions from the angry mob “my memoirs” consistent with that “Obligation or Opportunity To Retract”. That legal remedy that allows a “time out” in defense - as everything I have published is TRUE, and that provides me the wiggle room to opine. That is all this is about, an “opine” with facts to support my allegations that Alyeska was more in it for the “Owner Company & Public” image then any moral and ethical responsibility to make sure, well that a “wreck” should not have happened on Uncle Al’s watch - it did and I place 100% of that dereliction and environmental stewardship abandonment upon Alyeska’s shoulders. Alyeska had all the power in the world then some to STOP Joe Hazelwood from entering the “Marine Terminal” only to then drive a tanker laden with toxicity into the best known navigational hazard in Prince William Sound. A little attention is what went missing, that which would have then prevented the drinking Captain from boarding his ship and that would have cost a shipping delay and that may have cost Joe his credentials - end of story. Alyeska, as the entity yielding a whole lot of responsibility that guaranteed to the U.S. Congress this king of wrecks would never happen, unless through a pure accident or terrorist sabotage. It had the opportunity and was so warned about the bad habits of drunk sea captains. But not the focus, as the sights targeted the wrong “persons of interest”. The “CAUSEWAY Rebellion” was the litmus test, and Alyeska’s management failed to heed the warning the rest is history and the reason oil still lingers in Prince William Sound. They spied on us, wasted time and resources trying to find “filth” on the workers when all the time they should have been demanding sobriety tests for the “drunks” that trespassed on Alyeska property proper, so they could board the engine running tankers for a much needed sober up sleep over. Let them sleep it off in a roadside ditch! Every dam crew member returning by TAXI should have been property searched and body scanned and if the scent of booze, send them back to town. Hey, that is what I was up against every damn day I entered the “Terminal” to commence work, along with my fellow roustabouts! See, IMAGINE if instead of wasting time following my “Vocal Union Supporting” activities, to make sure it would be squashed any resurgence, instead we found the wherewithal to apprehend them drunked up tanker crews returning from furlough and getting through Alyeska’s own security. But our victory was short-lived. The fucking drunks were right in front of their eyes, what straight line as the only straight line was the fact they were the employees of “Big Oil” and with Alyeska’s management, it was that sentiment “boys will be boys” so instead we have to harass somebody so why not the dedicated workers. Another challenge, I was the most dedicated SCADA and Instrumentation Technician that ever worked for the “Pipeline People”, and once again challenge anybody my accomplishments to their own. I am willing to wager that had Alyeska dedicated the same attention to Joe Hazelwood as it did my “vocal support for the UNION”, said again the “wreck” would be still just a nightmare bad dream that never really came true. Of course I went pissed, but moved on.

I would come to find out the person(s) responsible setting the trap for any prosperous or sustainable career with the “Pipeline People”, the mole the rat, as HR doesn’t just randomly attack an individual - it does so only on the evidence it must proceed to “Kill the Messenger”, something Alyeska was well known to fancy an admiration upon. When I discovered the “plot”, I retaliated by becoming a pain in the ass as it was the only remedy - as even lawsuits were…they had at their disposal judges through a well-connected legal linkdom! Even before it was discovered through our own “SPY” network that I was a target to be eliminated career wise, just use the hell out of my steadfast dedication then when there is an opportune time, assassinate the messenger. I was a pain because I could run circles around that ”Spreadsheet Masturbation” gang that thought they understood “Custody Transfer”, fancy name for who owns the oil - it was the ultimate in circle jerks - all the way up the chain within the  Oil Movements. Fast and furious funny, that after I finally decided to leave Alyeska alone as BPO Ted was crying like a left out in the cold puppy dog, said I mistreated him and NO you are not going to make me your poster child by making a “stigma” movie about how you fucked me over, well I had burned a whole lot of bridges - not by choice but in my getaway car. The sad fact, Alyeska let this attack go on so those with an input into my career assassination - because there was a “mentality” that upper management liked such attacks - the scoundrels learn one thing, that it is OK and that becomes a trait so is inherited and propagates. See, a human weakness is grudge holding. And when the HR CUNT robbed me of my career, because she was good friends with the “mole” Bigly Rat, when she left Alyeska I would have the opportunity to cross paths again - with this CUNT. She just happened to go to work for the same organization I was gainfully employed, within a few weeks of her promotion as an HR SPOC for a contract with British Petroleum, I was disciplined for an off the wall incident - as some punk manager trying to look good in front of the BP boys wanted me to do an unsafe act. I refused, and low and behold the BP workers united to back me as they were members of the OCAW - the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers “Union” that was making headway into the “North Slope” workforce.  So once again, I was affiliated with the “UNION” and with that was reprimanded based on what the CUNT recommended and when there came a reduction in force, I was the first one let go on the BP contract. In fact, the BP management went pissed, but they can only make waves so big, but they respected my work and made mention I was the only dependable technician on the contractor’s staff. Matter of fact, the first supervisor I worked for “There is life after Alyeska” and before he retired, I scored a 4.14 out of a 5, for my annual rating. But that didn’t count, just more “Filth Floor” retaliation. Yes, I scored a 4.14 that is, well some said “walks on water”. But when the ex-ARCO manager left the BP contract a CUNT was hired and she hired another CUNT and she hired the CUNT from Alyeska, and my stigma never went south, so I was soon fired. That is the sad fact of the matter, Alaska is a small community and if you have “baggage” from someone’s desire to fuck you over, even by way of mistaken identity, you are fucked and there ain’t no labor laws “yet” that can help you out. Maybe a poem will suffice:

Three Blind CUNTS
Three slime lice
Like peas in a pod
Three stool stooges
Marsha blows the Moe Machine
Sally reams the Larry can
Kathy swallows a Curly Cue
Three slime lice
Three Blind CUNTS

And like already mentioned, IMAGINE taking Alyeska to task with a lawsuit. I tried, then was alerted to the law firm representing Alyeska was good friends with the assigned judge in the case - Case Closed by “Summary Judgement”. Look how Joe Hazelwood and EXXON got off the hook? Red-handed evidence, but a penance a pittance circumstantial leniency that sets the stage for “precedence set” and when it happens again, same outcome. So when Alyeska allowed an HR pigeon toed CUNT to interfere with the workers, it carries on even with life after Alyeska. It sucks and all Alyeska workers should be aware - maybe the culture has changed, but that would have required an entire purge, as the culture was corrupt in the sake it did not support the workers engaged in legal activity to “Unionize”. There are a few in the know, our trial and tribulations to do things right and “I won’t forget to put roses on your grave.” To all my brave Brothers & Sisters that saw it fitting to call on the “UNION”, remember the words of “Junior” Leslie, the rough and tough protégé of the 798ers, the guy that stepped forward to volunteer to weld that last remaining piece of 48” pipe in the treacherous “Thompson Pass” - not the last piece of that 800-miles of pipe, but a serious challenge: “I did it for the UNION” so did I and when I stood in solidarity with the “Hoss” during the “CAUSEWAY Rebellion”, wielding RIGID pipe wrenches in defiance of a drunked out tanker crew disrupting our “Paradise”, had the Alyeska management…they didn’t care! And for the “HOSS”;

I knew that he had died that week
After fighting death a year or more
But I had had a rule before
That funerals were a waste of flowers

But something said I had to go
To be a witness to his gift of love
A man who never once gave up on life
Until death took him in his tracks

The man was a hero
He played the music of our souls
He knew that we all have in us
A place where beauty always grows

The man was a hero
He played the music of our souls
He knew that we all have in us
A place where beauty always grows

(Songwriters: Judy Collins)

~ The END of the Line ~

One final thought: I had spent many, way too many hours of my precious time with David Pritchard and Theo Polasek and Larry Wood and Senior Crybaby Ted Owen, as they understood the existence of a systemic problem but could not find a ways and means to eliminate what was promoting such a corporate disease. These were senior managers with experience and legally minded authorities, yet went baffled at the problem at hand. All those 3^rd party professionals that were hired, they can only do justice with “textbook” already solved problems, this was not what Alyeska was up against. They understood my potential and track record, and could not grasp an understanding of how such dedication could invite a “stigma” in the negative and deny what one manage was quoted: “Mike has the potential to advance far within the company. I would highly recommend Mike for any first-line supervisory position that might become available.” That was in December of 1984. It never materialized, it was the opposite effect, no rewards just a boot because I was already “branded”. Had I known, had the “Spy v. Spy” acknowledged this, I would have packed my bags a long time ago and went to work for a decent company that was legitimate.  And by the late 80s, it was way beyond a “problem” it was beyond repair conventional wisdom of modern management techniques, so came the panic and it didn’t help as the same people causing the problems were the ones called upon to fix it - it don’t work that way! Only a UNION had the wherewithal to fix this problem, because that would have allowed the employees a “grievance process” that can have ties in remedy to the U.S. Labor Department - yes it invites outside interference that was necessary to make a difference. Yet that was not even a consideration - and instead continue to “shoot the messenger”. Alyeska took many shots my direction, but remember, some of us were the epitome of that “Best of the Beat” and could dodge those bullets. I was threatened, like so some inspectors being harassed and told don’t fly in a helicopter, as it may mean a trapdoor to death. With respect to a “Union”, it had to do with politics and image - the Owner Company said NO. And with that, Alyeska lost control and set it sights on the workers that were “vocal”, like myself and that allowed the Joe Hazelwoods to infiltrate, and we know the outcome of that “boys will be boys” sentiment. Remember the CAUSEWAY Rebellion!