In a recent interview
with Patriotic Alaskan Chronicles, this author in the know makes it clear and
convincing that Charles Hamel was far from any modern day John Muir
environmentalist gadfly, and used that cover merely as a masquerade for his own
personal vendetta against Big Alaskan Oil men. He was smart to use such a
disguise, such a decoy, due inherent vulnerabilities his followers - the same
cult that despises the oil men but first in line for that State of Alaska “oil
revenue” bonus handout. Hamel’s posture, it gained overnight notoriety anybody
that held a grudge or bone of contention upon the dreaded oil industry in
Alaska. And for Mr. Oil Broker himself, a public spectacle and a stage to claim,
that he was “born again” to save Alaska from an environmental Armageddon Apocalypse
Now. When all he cared about was saving his own bacon. Of course he failed, as
there was never ever any dedicated passion that “mission”, as with all his huff
and puff the EXXON Valdez wreck came to be no matter how loud mouthed he became
- no one was listening. Why? He was an oil broker with $billions$ at stake in
the lucrative Alaskan North Slope oil trade, but went to bat, up against the
titans in “Who’s Who in Big Oil”. He lost his shirt in bankruptcy, big time and
went to his grave some say a broke man with physical and mental fatigue. Not
all a lost cause all surrounding, as Hamel was right about one thing, that Big
Oil “spiked” the oil coming down the Trans-Alaskan-Pipeline with copious
amounts of “water”. Even though an administrative law judge ruled differently,
that it was not of concern as it was considered part of the normal processing
cycle when extracting the “black gold” from downhole. See, once an issue hits
the courts, that gavel can find discretionary inability for justice served. As
the lawyers make money by seeding doubt and using that ace-in-the-hole that “expert
witness” to…well “Half of the people can be part right all of the time, some
of the people can be all right part of the time, but all the people can't be
all right all the time…I think Abraham Lincoln said that.”, and that is
what happened to Hamel as Big Oil had the better convincing legalsleaze.
It all started when a
concern executed as a complaint found Hamel making waves and at odds with EXXON
with that “water”. See, water is part of the pay zone, as even though oil and water
don’t mix, it can combine in unison when money is to be made. Downhole “Duke of
Earl” - maybe best said “Dukes of Hazard” when a boatload of that “earl” gets
in the wrong hands of an “I abuse alcohol” Captain Joe Hazelwood - well unadulterated
“Earl” brings water topside when extracted. There is the original “pooled” formation
water that has been trapped for eons with the “black gold” and then the
additional water that comes by virtue of “tertiary recovery”. When a field
starts producing, usually it is the original water that must be dealt with,
when once topside the oil finds before a marketable price-tag water extraction
- through a settling period - wherein the heavier water molecules rest away at
the bottom of the barrel. And then as the field gets tired even before any
senior senile moments, water flooding is used to lift that oil “I want to
take you higher, Boom shaka-laka-laka Boom shaka-laka-laka”, so the
drill points can continue to make money, a ways and means to control the “pay
zone”. And of course not to forget an all important ingredient this “greed squeeze”
the addition of a blanketing gas, to top-heavy squish the formation dry. In
Alaska, that gas is a byproduct of oil extraction, boatloads of natural gas
with no place to go but back down hole. That gas pays off handsomely, to assist
oil extraction and the reason that after 40-years since it was “Oil In” for
Alaska, there has yet to be built a natural gas pipeline to bring that
commodity to the world marketplace - its advantage is to stay “home alone” where
it belongs. These are oil men, not gas men explorers we are dealing with. Mr. Hamel
was one of thum “Oil Men”! Oil extraction is a simple process, yet when we see
the magnitude of how much oil is involved up North to Alaska, it becomes a very
complicated scheme. Like in a court with jury showdown, the party with the
greatest waste of paper in discovery deposition…no different with lots of oil. Yes
it is a scheme sometimes turned sham if not a scam take that to heart, oil men
are smart and wherein “blood out of a turnip seed” resonates their goal in
life. So water is here to stay in that oil that tumbles down that one-and-only
800-mile long pipeline, and the extent of removal follows that proverbial diminishing
returns, and thus the pipeline has limits on just how much water is allowed. Yes
it is so, only extract what is required. And that is wherein Charles Hamel was
right, but there was nothing wrong with the way the Prudhoe Bay producers were
minding their business and maximizing that water content to the “limit” and
often times a temporary without restraints deviation above and beyond, as there
was a time constraint before Alyeska the pipeline operator could threatened to
block in a producer - like EXXON - for over douching the pipeline with that “Water”.
It was a game. Over the limit alarm, start the STOP watch. Times up, give “Warning
Number 1” and start that worn out STOP watch for round number 2 - yes a game! Never
once in my many years working at Pump Station#1 did I ever see Alyeska block in
a producer due too much water in the crude oil stream, even though the limits
were exceeded, well on a routine and regular basis. There came many phone call
threats to behave or else, but no action just big talk. To shut in a producer, one
of the Seven Sisters, hari kari hairy scary! Water geysers, especially on
Sunday night when a producer’s “slop” tank went unloaded, uploaded to the
Trans-Alaska-Pipeline! Water “spikes” up and down all night long, in alarm then
out of alarm - it was a game they played! See, Hamel held interests in that water,
but he was not in a position to benefit so went on the warpath. Water was
making $money$, and “I want in” was this Oil Man’s sentiment! His interest goes
way back, and those interests were shared with EXXON and many other major
players in Alaska - the oil scene of the 49er. Bottom line, water made money
for a few producers. Nickle and dime ya? Yes, that simple - and when 2-million barrels
each day heading south, you do the math a penny saved that penny earned adds up!
Oil is measured as a “fluid”
as in anything that flows. Yes, peanut butter is a fluid as is olive oil as is crude
oil mixed with water. And the devices used to accurately account for that commodity
with respect to ownership rights, the “cash register meters” measure that fluid
by a force administered against turbine wheel blades subject to movement by
that “fluid’s front” and then it’s those wheels in motion. Each revolution of
that “wheel” means a specified volume. These “meters” don’t know the difference
from oil to water to peanut butter, or urine. And to adjust for the water
percent, specialized analyzers were used to measure the oil content and then
the metered fluid is adjusted down, for that included water to yield Net Oil -
free and clear. But it was well known that by using the Best Available Technology
- like in Al Capone’s BAT of revenge - there was an inherent weakness in this
subject matter in expertise lacking, when forced by the regulators to use that
BAT, when studies indicated that old technologies had a better chance of
accurately and timely measuring the water content then the new stuff -
especially when controlled spiking occurred. And the new stuff cost a whole lot
of $loot$ and a maintenance headache to boot. Yes, the BAT was a step backwards
and the oil companies took advantage of it, as the water that was not measured,
it was realigned to be called “crude oil”. Yes, a barrel of water bringing in
the price of a barrel of oil through some simple “fudge factoring”! So with
that, the North Slope producers pushed the limits of just how much water was
allowed pumped in that pipeline heading south. And Hamel was an oil broker, he
saw the $$$$ in water. See, in some locations every drop of water extracted with
oil development is re-purposed, for that “tertiary” thing. Take it out and
reuse it. But in Prudhoe Bay, the entire Arctic Ocean is at the producers’
fingertips for…well so water can make $money$ as it is not necessary to retrieve
every drop of the bucket.
OK, for shits and
giggles. On a good day with the TAPS, how about this water registered as oil
equates to an additional “year-end” profit margin of…drum roll please,
$70-million bucks plus when that stuff is refined and delivered to those
gasoline pumps for you and I to enjoy - buying air pollution “carbon credit” time
shares. Now Mr. Hamel, he understood very well the Alaskan oil scene, from an
investor and producer and lease owner objective standpoint, yet failed at
Pipeline & Oil Field Roustabout Fundamentals 101. See, seeing the writing on
the wall he was not to be included in this preferential water-boarding club, thus
he started his vendetta, one of many against “Big Oil”. Hamel complained about
too much water in the oil, when he was really engaging in a bitch session that
he was not finding an advantage like the others, with this miracle water
barrel. As that “miracle barrel” Hamel thought was hidden in Valdez, 800-miles
off course and we thought Joe Hazelwood went confused? Hamel felt left out, as
in if he cannot take advantage of it why should Mighty EXXON, so tried to put
the brakes on tranquility by bringing in outside interference - a.k.a.
Regulators. He fought and fought, until an oh shit was about to take down the
House of Raymond. Talking Lee Raymond of EXXON and all the big players in Alaska,
that you can have your cake and eat it to, just don’t overeat. See, water and
oil don’t mix for a whole lot of reasons. The operator of the oil fields and
the operator of the pipeline, together these organizations measure 1000 and 1 things
of interest to make sure things are on the up and up, for the safety of the
environment as mandated by state and Federal jurisdictions. And also some rigid
oversight upon the financial incentives to dig where no man has dung before. Somebody
once tallied the agencies with oversight just on the Alaskan pipeline alone, it
was over 110 individual governors. Now then, well that 1000 and 1 was “1” governor
short, as it was a mister-meaner that was unregulated and had a name, called
NORM. Hey Norm!
When water flows
through underground caves, in that journey it can find an affinity for this Mr.
NORM, as in Naturally Occurring Radioactive Matter and not really of matter due
the background level of nuclear fallout, well very shallow but still a concern.
And when massive amounts of water are part of the process, well that shallow
matter can become a “Shadow Knows” matter, a hidden bastard that can take one
by surprise. And that is what happened in Valdez. See, the Alyeska Marine Terminal
was designed with a hi-tech “Ballast Water Treatment” facility designed to
strip hydrocarbon molecules from the water de-ballasted from the incoming
tankers. Ballast is required for a ship’s sobriety, I meant stability when on
the high sea and there is no such thing as an empty tanker coming into the Port
of Valdez. Stop it, not talking a booze bottle on empty, with a note like in
which way is Bligh Reef! So a tanker calls on the Alyeska facility and the
usual course of events, 8-hours to de-ballast and another 10-hours to load up, it’s
a done deal of a day gone bye before it is all said and done. And that de-ballasted
water, it costs the shippers to treat that tainted seawater, through additional
costs so tied to the transport tariffs. And you and I pay for that also, at the
pump. Now Big Oil went smart, as in design of its new age class of tankers
calling on the Alaskan Oil Trade in the late 80s, it meant “segregated ballast”,
as that would kill two birds with one stone - decrease the docking time due no
need to de-ballast as that water was thrown overboard when a tanker reached the
“Narrows” with calm waters ahead and therefore no additional processing fees
with the tariff. So the turn-around time for a tanker, cut in half so was Joe’s
freelance binging. Now that allowed the BWT facility to work at its minimum
design rate, well below its level for efficient removal of leftover bits and
pieces of oil. Well, fill it up with water spiked to the incoming crude oil
from the pipeline! What a solution! And herein is how it worked that magic.
Tony the Tiger brings two barrels of something to the pipeline for delivery to
his tanker in Valdez. That something is a barrel of oil and a barrel of water,
still measured as “oil” and when it finally gets to Valdez after a 5-day
journey, it spends time asleep in one of the mighty storage tanks at the
Terminal. And the water settles out and now Tony gets but for a single barrel
of, not something but good old North Slope “black gold”. Then the Tiger’s bean
counters cry foul, as the receipts from up north show 2 barrels of something,
and no bullet hole leaks along the way, so what gives and takes? Creative
accounting as 2 minus 1 equals a loss of 1 barrel of that something that they
thought was “crude oil”, “You got
to beep-a-gunk-a-chucha, Honk-konk-konk-kadanta, Each-ya puna-ney-cha, Bap-pa-lula-ni-chao,
Pao-pati-cha, Ni-saong-kong, Yeah, ride. Well I woke up this morning and I got
myself a beer.” Then comes a 1-barrel write-off based on the value of “Crude
Oil”. Cha-ching? Of course it was, and this is what Hamel wanted in on, so his
venture looked for a way to purchase North Slope oil and take advantage of the
added value of the water. Hey, everybody else was taking advantage of it, why
not he? It failed, as when his tanker showed up in Valdez, he received
stabilized oil, the water was cut! Remember, that “miracle barrel” was
somewhere else! It was a shipwreck this first bon voyage, and his investors were
pissed as this was a loose lips sinks ships venture from its inception. But he
fought and fought, until such time the cat was out of the bag.
Brilliant, as that adaptation
of “Extra” water pushed to the maximum the pipeline’s limits, it was used to
make sure the BWT facility could work, and erase away the comingled water,
offer up a loss factor, until there came a drastic reduction in the hearing
stocks in Prince William Sound. Low and behold, the designers of that BWT through
permitting by state and Federal oversight agencies back in the early 70s, the cesspool’s
outfall line was sunk smack in the middle of the Valdez Bay wherein ocean currents
exited towards the Sound, to take advantage of a sweeping like action of the
tide cycles. Yes, that proverbial “solution to pollution is delusion”, I meant “DILUTION”!
And that is how the herring species navigate, using those incoming currents and
swimming through water that was…well glowing with extracurricular activity. And
those particles that look like gleaming gems, those minute “pieces of eight”,
battle down the hatches as that fish food is oil field pipe scale - highly
concentrated NORM sieved through the process. And like mentioned already, oil
men are smart. And of course “Big Oil” scientist not off course were aware of
this problem not considered a problem, so did Hamel find an understanding as
this NORM is a common everyday occurrence in the “Oil Patch”. Matter of fact,
in Texas as the second biggest oil producing state, the water and scale from
oil development from those itsy-bitsy leases in the middle of a cow pasture,
the NORM contaminated stuff is allowed to sit and bake in the sun - as the
radio-nuclides in the half-life cycle will eventually make things safe for
humans, and maybe the cows. But nothing to fret as this stuff was “unregulated”,
so no environmental crimes committed. Yet you did not see the Mighty EXXONs
claiming to be “ENVIRONMENTALISTS” did you? And try to explain that herring
stock crashing to the local gadabout gaddis fishermen that rely on a catch that
relies on the herring for breakfast. So BIG Oil understood this problem and how
it could backfire, and instead of an age
old mindset of letting bygones be bygones, get proactive and offer up
assistance with financial help and at the same time, well already changing the
ways and means how it handled production up north to minimize this NORM. That
was easy, as the formations can be delineated to indicate the NORM patterns,
and corrective measures taken already. And this remedy, sure Hamel can have
what he wanted with that water, but he would have to pay up just like all the
rest were willing to do so. Hamel understood the financial wherewithal of that
water, as an added value and should have also understood the fallout. It was
that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde sentiment, wherein you cannot have that cake and
eat it to - a dueling banjos responsibility. So Mr. Hamel complained only about
the Dr. Jekyll side of things, and dismissed the Mr. Hyde side, in a hide &
not seek out-of-state out-of-mind environmental madness - the NORM. Of course
he knew about, or should have, as an accomplice as it was all part of the game,
how the oil industry was aligned. And what if he had come forward with this as
part of his environmentalist movement message? He couldn’t, as that was apples
and oranges it don’t mix he was part of the problem. Said again, he was an Oil
Man, and Oil Broker and just as guilty as his cohorts in shame “Big Oil” men. Between
a rock and a hard place? Look, pinch yourself, as one cannot be an Oil Man, an
Oil Broker and at the same time a vocal environmentalist with a “mission”
statement against that same oil.
Then on March 24th
in 1989, with the wreck of the EXXON Valdez, well that cratered the herring
population’s health already weakened so why worry about a little radioactivity activity!
Why even bring it up, as the Sound was on a death wish watch, for a spell and
still somewhat deranged 31-years after the wreck. So here it was, maybe for the
first time wherein Big Oil was willing and able to show an ethical outreach, something
it had a responsibility upon without any negligence per se just blame the
G-men, instead of hiding this something. Said again, this NORM was unregulated,
so there was not a court in the land that would have sided with any far-reaching
class action lawsuits against “Big Oil” having to defend itself, should the
lawmen get involved. Any such attempts, it would have been a dismissal on day
one on the court house steps. And after that “Wreck”, how about a “Prove It” lullaby
if all else failed. So by considering a proactive approach to invite some ways
and means to make whole the fishing industry so robbed by NORM, after the wreck
forget about it. And that’s what happened, no need to open up a can of worms
and Mr. NORM was silenced. That wreck, if it were not planned by disgruntled
investors that were about to lose a whole bunch of their investments and on the
verge of bankruptcy, well simple stupid get rid of the evidence. As a little
oil overboard in the “Sound”, case closed. Look, Hamel had a thousand and 1
reasons to see destruction of the oil industry, a self-serving prophesy get
even Steven interest. Since 1984, Charles Hamel fought “Big Oil” and lost
$billions$ and in 1989, just before the wreck, landmark court decisions in
favor of Big Oil that saw Hamel’s empire - well entering that “Emperor Has No Clothes”
zone. The same in 1993 as he was not about to give up, as he had nothing else
to lose. And maybe the EXXON Valdez wreck was an insurance policy, that no
matter what in the end that the fishermen and many cult followers would remember
Hamel as an environmentalist - and maybe that is why dogs piss on his grave and
nothing grows green and the only thing of significance in that “green” category
- a soylent green. OK, let’s make a movie about this Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
personality in Mr. Hamel and from the profits, pay for a gardener!
The EXXON Valdez “Wreck”
was not a coincidence, not of human error but human manipulation. It was not
due bad weather, it was not due to a Captain known to abuse alcohol, as the
first sobriety test was a “Negative”. It was not due a malfunction, like from
an engine failure. It was a premeditated cover-up, the perfect storm at the
right time. Because of failure on top of failure on top of failure and more
failure ahead, by and through an individual that found a following, a cult,
that helped bid fare the well, to Tarwathie.
