I hope that the Alyeska Pipeline
Service Company is the first kid on the block to face the new OSHA establishment
fines, effective February 2022. See, that is about the time when Alyeska’s
management forgot that snow in Valdez gets very, very wet and heavy and can
destroy things in its path no longer defying gravity. Like damaging roofs, and
that includes roofs of crude oil storage tanks made of steel 60-feet high and
250-feet in diameter that can store away 500000-barrels of “toxic” crude oil
that came tumbling down the Trans-Alaska-Pipeline from Prudhoe Bay! And because
Alyeska put away the snow shovels way too early - should have known better as
it has been 45-seasons of snow by now so well documented what can happen in
Valdez in a few hours-time with Mother Nature - well a bunch of safety relief
valves went overboard from up top from 7 of the tanks still in service. From an
ice avalanche! And what that meant, drum roll please, violations of the Clean
Air Act! And that according to the State of Alaska “watchdog”! So Alyeska is
already in hot water, again! Yes indeed, chalk up another violation, as when
there came tank breathing gapping holes in the tanks’ tops, well it released in
estimate 110000-cubic-feet of vapors per hour, that includes crude oil vapor
constituents like “BETX”. “B” what? Nasty things like “benzene”, cancer causing
stuff thrown into the air we breathe. And at this time of this criminal act,
Alyeska asleep at the wheel again just like in the Joe Hazelwood EXXON Valdez
wreck, well the corporate lawyers were in “Contested” status with a law judge
for a prior OSHA fine, categorized as “High” on the “Seriousness” chart in
fines exceeding $40,000. Which allowed Alyeska to be in the “TOP 40”, for
“Historical” OSHA “Enforcement Action”, pretty good standing considering a
current list that finds over 10000 offenders! Not quite at the top, but getting
closer and I am sure the lawyers trying for the last 2-years to soften the blow
with this “Contested” - basically “leniency” - well wasted efforts now with
another “violation” event as it may mean now Alyeska listed under the “Repeat
Offender” program! But the VP of “Operations and Maintenance” responsible for
that event occurring back in 2020, asleep mind you well…what Alyeska just hired
her back as the CEO? Anyway, Alyeska should not be allowed to “contest” any
such violations and let’s hope that with this latest fiasco, wherein the snow
shovels went missing, that the “Clean Air Act” violation police finds Alyeska
the 1st to be subject to the new fines under the 2022 addendum.
Better yet, besides getting more snow shovels with able-bodied workers behind
the “push”, reading glasses may help but avoid breathing the air in Valdez as
it appears to be fogging the Alyeska management’s brains! Wow, I just got off
the phone with an OSHA agent, inquiring about that “Contested
- torments my heart. Contested - keeps us apart. Contested - why torture me.” and
why it is taking so long for a decision. And when I explained my calling to
check in on the status of OSHA Complaint 1449993.015, which lists 36
“Violations” with 31 in the “Serious High OIS 10”, well the agent started
laughing. OK, it’s Friday but! And then she apologized because she had never
seen a company with that many “Violations” in a single report consistent with that
“without advanced notice” inspection, because it was a “Complaint” by a
whistleblower. And when I told her that the true count, based on the same
location at the same time, well several of Alyeska’s contractors controlled by
Alyeska were part of that same investigation. And share so the ramifications of
“asleep at the wheel” just like how Joe Hazelwood was asleep in the wheelhouse
when the EXXON Valdez went full stern ahead into “Bligh Reef”, all total it
means a fine of $675000 and it means 57 “Serious Violations”, which made her
laugh even harder! At 1st she could not believe it, then I told her
“believe it” as I once worked for that company! They don’t learn from their
mistakes. It is the token “imbecile” child of “Big Oil” as Alyeska is merely an
agent for companies like EXXON, and once upon a time British Petroleum and
SOHIO and ARCO…”Big Oil” with lots of power especially in Alaska. So now what?
More “Contested” which means more lawyer wasted stupidity. And the problem with
this “Contested“ BS, well back in the 80s before the EXXON Valdez “Wreck” a
small faction of dedicated workers in Valdez went concerned about the “drunk” ocean-going
tanker crews that were being allowed through the Alyeska Valdez Marine Terminal
“Security” without a “Sobriety Check”. And when a crew would show up in the town
taxi, with a bunch of drunk slobs falling out of that cab, the workers were
directed by management to help carry the drunks back abord their tanker - already
filled with a million barrels of crude oil, engines at idle and just waiting
for a drunk captain to take control of that steering wheel. So we protested,
and after the management said be quiet and that “duty” to assist the “drunks”
started to become the normalcy of the job, well enough was enough and we
decided to go “Union”. It was not for the wage or working conditions we sought
outside interference, it was due the fact we went tired of being an accomplice
to a crime, by helping the “drunks”! Guess what, the company “Contested” the “Union”
drive after we had voted to go “Union” and won that battle before the NLRB and
then Joe did his deed, an environmental nightmare that had we succeeded in
getting “Union” coverage - correction had Alyeska failed in that “Contesting” -
that EXXON Valdez “Wreck” would have never occurred. But that is the Alyeska
way, “Contest, Contest, Contest” and at it again. The sad thing, just be honest
and admit you screwed up, pay the fine for doing the crime and learn from your
mistakes. See, by getting off the hook, there is no “lessons learned” the
reason Alyeska is still polluting the air we breathe due STUPIDITY, which can’t
be CONTESTED!
