The
following is an interview between Patriotic Alaskan Chronicles(PAC) and
Ex-Alyeska Employee Michael Kelley on the root-cause leading up to the EXXON
Valdez “Wreck”. This follows a self-publication by Kelley titled the “To Fool
or Not to Fool - TAPS Quality Bank”, as found on Uncle Al’s Closet -
UncleAlsCloset.blogspot.com:
PAC Interviewer: To start, a few
follow ups from the previous interview…is that OK?
Lead Technician Kelley: Shoot.
PAC Interviewer: You mentioned
that you would be called upon by supervisors, other then your own boss, to
assist the tanker crews to their ships after the taxi had dropped them off at
the beginning of that causeway. I would assume this calling because the crews
were unfit to walk the plank, possibly due to having the liberty to consume
alcohol when on shore leave. Why were you called over other workers in Valdez?
Lead Technician Kelley: Not everyone had wheels,
especially a pick-up as the back bed was a convenient bucket for a crew of 6 or
so once able-bodied sailors. The I&E staff was the most mobile crew at the
Terminal, we were everywhere at once, so the management understood we were
standing by just a radio call away. And the berths had complicated control
systems, so as a proactive approach, we would test the systems so the berth was
ready for the next tanker…as it was getting to be bumper to bumper traffic with
all the oil flowing from up north. Our presence on the causeways was pretty
routine, and with my duty as Lead those calls for help would come to me.
PAC Interviewer: Now back to
Charles Hamel for a bit, and the disgruntled workers he aligned himself with,
the person you said used the “N” word and purposely mismanaged the control
systems to pollute the air…why do you think Hamel found an interest in such
characters?
Lead Technician Kelley: He was desperate, as
his challenges with “Big Oil”, big Alaskan oil, remember he was merely a
disgruntled oil broker himself…well let me put it this way. In January of 1989,
just 2-months shy of the Exxon Valdez wreck, Hamel’s claim that started in 1984
against Alyeska and that big oil, it was dismissed. He was sunk…after a 5-year
battle, it was over with. Then came the other sunken ship.
PAC Interviewer: And how did this
guy, I assume an Alyeska operator, how did he pollute, maybe as an act in
defiance against the Alyeska management and maybe a ways and means to side with
Hamel’s claims?
Lead Technician Kelley: When he was assigned
as the Incinerator operator, and after making it clear that “No Niggers”
allowed on his watch, he would then throw all the controllers into Manual,
human control. It was too complicated, and soon black like smoke would exit the
stacks of the Oxidizers…designed to annihilate the vapors from the storage
tanks.
PAC Interviewer: Why the “N” thing?
Lead Technician Kelley: There was a young
operator, new to the scene, who would ask us how things were supposed to
operate. Yes, a black kid. And when he tried to make the system work right,
that pissed the bigot off and thus the warning on the chalk board. It was a
warning to stay away from his control room and it worked. I would intervene…face
to face confrontations, it was just another reason for a Union.
PAC Interviewer: But he got away
with this?
Lead Technician Kelley: Yes, as the Alyeska management
was afraid of this bigot, because by now it was most likely that Alyeska was on
to who was delivering confidential information to Hamel. And Hamel was smart,
he already had members of the Congress on his side…so don’t mess with the
bigotry. And Hamel was even smarter, as he disguised himself as an environmental
gadfly to gain popularity with the public opinion…so far from the truth. Said
again, he was an oil broker, a disgruntled oil broker that aimed gaining camaraderie
with disgruntled Alyeska workers.
PAC Interviewer: And when this
bigot guy intentionally caused pollution, what did you do, what did your
supervisor do?
Lead Technician Kelley: It was not my
problem. It was not my boss’ problem. But when that black and blue smoke raised
havoc against the alpine like backdrop, from town it was a really ugly site. I
had a brother-in-law that lived at Perkins Cove, he would call and ask WTF? And
what concerned us, when management refused to budge, this inhumane bigotry and
pollution, we would call the local environmental cop about that pollution…
PAC Interviewer: Like calling the
cops on yourselves?
Lead Technician Kelley: For sure…
PAC Interviewer: And…
Lead Technician Kelley: Some idiot would
show up. I would escort him from the security gate and when half-way up the
hill, he would bail out saying he had to return to his office for an emergency.
PAC Interviewer: A dereliction in
his duties?
Lead Technician Kelley: He was with Hamel,
he hated Alyeska. So saw it as another way to discredit Alyeska. He did nothing…do
you get the point, that we needed that UNION?
PAC Interviewer: Wow. So you write
about a time wherein you understood your career with Alyeska was stalled, due
to your support of a union and it would be but a matter of time you would be
forced to quit. And in that time, you admit to sabotaging the so called
“Quality Bank”, by doctoring the sampling. That would welcome a hornet’s nest
inquiry, how is one to believe you?
Lead Technician Kelley: Simple, they need to
ask themselves was I capable of getting away with it and whether or not I was
in a position to pull it off, without getting caught?
PAC Interviewer: So were
you…capable and in such a position?
Lead Technician Kelley: Simple again. Some
misogynist supervisor from Pump Station 1 up north wrote this, during this time
I spike Lee’d the piggy bank; “Mike’s tendency is to avoid supervision and to
establish his own work requirements and priorities. This practice must be
stopped…long term commitments and alterations are required.”
PAC Interviewer: Seems you are
deviating away from seriousness to the cocky doodle do, is this still not
serious business?
Lead Technician Kelley: Cat’s out of the bag
my as well have some fun with it. I had already committed 10-years of
dedication, always above and beyond exceeds expectations and now they want me
to start all over again And I would love to be a mosquito on the wall at the 5th
Floor Bragaw, when the refiners cry fowl, that somebody messed with the “Bank”.
PAC Interviewer: Off the cuff, how
serious was your Spike Lee?
Lead Technician Kelley: It was a calculated
sabotage, very carefully performed to make sure the spiking did not warn of an
outlier, but normal changes to the crude oil Quality. Estimates, it held the
possibility of pulling off an $80-million heist.
PAC Interviewer: But how did you
gain, except for self-satisfaction you pulled it off…without getting caught?
Lead Technician Kelley: My Pretty Boy Floyd
should have helped the State of Alaska, as a royalty owner of the oil. At least
I hoped for that payback. And citizens of Alaska get a free bonus each year,
based on oil revenues. Maybe wishful thinking…but I needed a goal, a mission.
PAC Interviewer: You mention this
characterization, that “Spreadsheet Masterbaters”, what are you talking about?
Lead Technician Kelley: Once upon a time,
when the “Custody Transfer” was still under the guidance of the “Owner Company”
field auditors, things worked accordingly. Then there came a shift in the Measurement
responsibilities, its organization, where idiots thought they could use
“spreadsheets” to fix things. So I called it like it is, as these desk jockey’s
must have enjoyed ejaculations with this “spreadsheet” magic. And all it did
for me was cause problems.
PAC Interviewer: Like in how,
what, where and when?
Lead Technician Kelley: These amoeba brains that
worked in town, they thought they could use a spreadsheet to balance things, so
would tweak the systems to make it look good. Some would call it a fudge
factor. It was too damn complicated for such simplicity.
PAC Interviewer: No different then
your own sabotage it sounds?
Lead Technician Kelley: I guess the same.
But I was the person that the owner company measurement auditors would call,
when say there was an imbalance between Pump Station 1 and a trunk line…which
means mobilizing recon crews to check for a pipeline breach. When it is
minus-90, not time to venture outside but an imbalance didn’t care - wake the
troops up.
PAC Interviewer: Sounds like
corporate sabotage?
Lead Technician Kelley: The reason bullet-holes in the pipeline never
raise a leak alarm…as tweaking out an imbalance, well you get the point. All to
look good.
PAC Interviewer: Well Mr. Kelley,
as usual thanks again…
Lead Technician Kelley: Anytime.
PAC Interviewer: As things are
starting to add up, what may be the untold story behind the EXXON Valdez wreck.
Lead Technician Kelley: Told you so,
30-years ago.
PAC Interviewer: I wish you would
have, but I wasn’t born yet. And one last bewildering question, from one of
your responses today…
Lead Technician Kelley: Shoot again…
PAC Interviewer: You mention that
a few months before the wreck, that Charles Hamel lost a long battle against
Big Oil, and against Alyeska. And I am sure that Big Oil includes EXXON. So, was
that wreck just a coincidence, or do you think sabotage was involved, not to
invite any conspiracy theory, just out of curiosity…as it appears that this Hamel
had a following that…
Lead Technician Kelley: BINGO! Joe Hazelwood
tested negative on that first sobriety test soon after the wreck, the results
that disappeared. As Hamel had friends on the scene that knew something and
here we are today. Finally, is the truth here? To be continued…your call!
~ EOI ~
