The Alyeska Pipeline Service Company Killing Fields
IMAGINE, that which John Lennon sang out about so clear and convincing in tribute what the human race could accomplish if we wanted it so! And I could add a verse, in that IMAGINE, in what it would be like today if the EXXON Valdez had not “killed” Prince William Sound! Better yet, if the Alyeska Howitt Cowards had listened to some advice, that drunk tanker crews…hope you get my point as there came ample opportunity back before that historic “Wreck of 89” wherein the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company could have done something about it. To make sure a “drunk” could not take over the helm and drive a fully laden tanker, while under-the-influence, towards such destruction. Read my lips, Alyeska is to blame for that environmental disaster as that opportunity to STOP it existed, well before the 1989 “wreck”! With all the time-tested regulations and so, so many regulators in oversight with this Alaskan pipeline, a single element of destruction went overlooked – as this bad habit with a bottle, it was not included in the playbook of the “can” and “can not” get away with. Had the “drunk” sailors been STOPPED, held accountable before it went too late, that wreck would have been STOPPED. There was but for a single nemesis to that “Wreck”, Alyeska’s refusal to act! Instead, the “Cowards” banded together and climbed up Alyeska’s “Con-Artist” President George Nelson’s asshole, to help this lame excuse for an executive extend his “kill the messenger” edict and then with his cohorts in shame came the will to “lie” all about it when Alyeska was under the heat for not being prepared to fight off that un-precedented oil spill. Yes “Con-Artist” as Nelson was in control of everything, even when still serving as the lower-in-rank VP, I think it meant company President Turpin then asleep at the wheel! Hazelwood was asleep at the wheel, maybe a pass-out when his ship sank, let us not forget the Alyeska boss that went back to “asleep at the wheel” when Joe hit that “Rock” and oil was gushing out in a “black tide” of marine life devastation! That it is so important, for what went on in the early 80s before that “wreck”, anybody wanting to get a grip on the “root cause” of what caused that environmental nightmare and how that “shoot the messenger” message from Nelson came to be the company’s goal, in its very own Putin like “Special Military Operation”! Made possible by Alyeska’s very own top achieving “ass kissers”, the Howitt Cowards! It was pathetic, that ethics went gone with the wind with respect to “No Action” we told you so, that tanker crew addiction to the bottle and a do nothing about it attitude! And those maggots in the Alyeska organization guilty of profiteering through this “Cowardly” attitude, they know who I am talking about. Those in retirement today, like Bill and Chuck(I need a nap) and Kathy a whole lot more to name but a few, enjoying a very big retirement bonus for kissing George’s ass. While some dedicated workers like myself lost everything in a career, because we were not afraid to speak up and did our best to get the attention of the Alyeska management, that there was a very serious problem down in Valdez. It was the early 80s when Alyeska was made aware of that bosom-buddy-booze problem child, alerted by the workers in concern. Based on the way the “Alyeska Security Checkpoint” on Dayville Road turned a blind-eye when a town-taxi transporting an inebriated tanker crew on its return to the Valdez Marine Terminal, after an all-night bender at the Pipeline Club, as that is what the Alyeska management allowed and there would come a “wreck” due Alyeska’s argument “boys will be boys” let it be! Likewise, the nauseous fumes of lingering weathered crude oil from Joe Hazelwood’s bad turn joy ride, you can still smell the stench from the bowels of these “Cowards” that could have made a difference, especially down south of Alaska in Oregon, from Sutherlin to Langlois, as the “Cowards” still stick together - still in denial, still in belief that they did the right thing in “cheating” for the company when a cover-up to the managements’ incompetency reigned. Which means never learning from mistakes through such dishonesty, thus appropriate safeguards can never be implemented to fix things, it continues on just waiting in the wings for that opportunity for that next “wreck”. And that “mistake” thing is showing its ugly face again today with Alyeska, as a near-miss in March of this year came very close to a catastrophe, that which would have made the EXXON Valdez quaint in expectations to reek havoc on the environment. The Alyeska stench continues as it becomes an incest, even after those that gave not a rat’s ass went away into the sunset in retirement, remiss in their duties as righteous citizens and behaving like professionals a joke as the “ass kissing” gets in the way of any “righteousness”. See, after “wrecking” Alaska those responsible just moved away, in denial until “death do us part”!
But even though it meant the end of the line, the end of any Alyeska Pipeline career road for some of us, we did indeed try to make a difference and thus targeted in that “shoot the messenger” mandate. And that “Murder Most Foul” went full speed ahead after that March 24th “wreck”. Just like how Captain Joe Hazelwood allowed the EXXON Valdez full-steam full-stern ahead into the best-known navigational hazard in the “Sound”, Alyeska’s “Kill the Messenger” went into high gear, but praytell at least some of us are still alive to talk all about it – EXTRA, EXTRA! I guess “black-listed” for life in the Alaskan oil sector is still better then 6-feet under, can always get a job flipping burgers. A blessing in disguise such survival. But Alyeska was known to “kill” workers, and still thinks the company can claim PRIDE with HONORS for its accomplishments! To be clear, the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company had the opportunity to STOP such a “Wreck”, it refused and instead wrecked the livelihood of some of the workers, those “Best” of workers on the payroll. It is like a rotten apple scenario, inside the Alyeska organization it is a putrid morbid rendition of human garbage like scum, even though the outside looks so spit shinned. When the image goes tarnished, just cut another big fat check to the United Way, that “Good Corporate Citizen” buyout! And yes, Alyeska would “kill” a worker through both physical abuse and or mental abuse, if it made the 5th Floor of Bragaw Street executives “happy”! Hey, Sarah Palin once said she could see Russia from her Alaskan “crapper”, so was that close-proximity influence of an iron-fist ruthless Russian rule so embedded in the Alyeska organization. With George Nelson, it was a ruling by “scare” tactics “my shit don’t stink” and that was carried out against the dedicated workers by the “Cowitts”! Look, Nelson had a cult, a following of Alyeskan ass worshippers that would do anything to please the “boss”, even if it meant back-stabbing another worker! For real, you could go to an Anchorage church on a Sunday, and during the ”Peace” offering Theo and Kathy would offer a warm enough handshake and on Monday they would be back in the office and helping Nelson with his “shoot the messenger” fascination.
For sure the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company gives not a rat’s ass about a worker being “Killed” on-the-job, the Alyeska Killing Fields is alive and well! And no different today, as to allow snow to cripple safety relief valves and allow crude oil storage tanks to vent cancer causing stuff called “benzene” in violation of the “Clean Air Act”, that is more abuse as that stuff can “kill”. Pinch yourselves, any idea on how many ex-Alyeska workers, not those that worked in Anchorage and in comfort always up a member of the “Executive” posse’ asshole for protection, but those in direct contact day-in day-out with crude oil vapors, how many have died from cancer or other “benzene” contributed causes? The count will go higher, give it time. Like we were treated as experimental lab rats by the “Big Rat”! And still today, workers in Valdez treated as “lab rats”, just ask OSHA as the Department of Labor has most recently fined Alyeska over $500000 for exposing numerous workers to hazardous working conditions – through uncontrolled release of cancer causing agents! See, there is always a reason given for any and all mishaps on the Trans-Alaska-Pipeline through the Alyeska legal gang issuing out fraudulent and frivolous lullabies, as Alyeska always finds a way around the “Truth” due liability exposure. It is an organization that since day one has found a way to exist as a corporate nightmare in that time tested, “Can’t Stand the Truth”, as its executive “modus operandi”. Stand by your Bragaw Street man, stand by the “Sound” as long along the way there is an empty bottle of Jack Daniels. And it appears those that go along with what the company lawyers say is so with a smile in a “do it or else”, they get promoted up the corporate “poop chute”, but that fascination becomes a no-return dead-end street for those bastards, as there would then never come any way to retreat. Yet getting by with no accountability an entire career and these bastards then just walk away with a very generous pension and think they have a conscious. With Alyeska, that staying in “good grace” with the Filth Floor of Bragaw, it was no different in behavior a bad habit in addiction no different then with what we witnessed with those inebriated tanker crews roaming about un-escorted on Alyeska property proper – so inebriated they could not walk a straight line but given the key to open that door to destruction, by Alyeska. Given the “opportunity”, because that is how the Alyeska Corporate cesspool ruled, in a “with them not against them” the saving grace corporate policy. Yes, serious problems down Valdez, wherein workers were called upon by the local management to assist getting the drunk bastards back aboard those soon to depart ocean going tankers filled with “toxicity”. Yes, being called upon as a condition of our continued employment, as accomplices to a crime! See, back in 1984 when Alyeska President George M. Nelson made it the goal to “shoot all the messengers”, it was to equalize the enemy, that being the “Union” which meant direct hits upon some of the “dedicated” workers and with that came collateral damage. And as is the solution to pollution “dilution”, that is exactly what became the plan of attack when the maintenance workers in Valdez decided a “Union” was the last ditch effort approach to get the attention of outside interference, because of the drunks that were taking advantage of no restrictions to leave the “Terminal” sober after arriving in an empty tanker and then when the engines were running and that tanker filled up with toxic crude oil and a sail away time, well return to their stations intoxicated right in front of the Alyeska management. It was out in the open, there was no attempt to hide it! Alyeska let it go on, unabated and there came that “Wreck”! And before that disastrous event, never once did I ever see any sincere action to STOP the abuse of that bottle being passed around. I will say it out loud again, that habit was well known about to all at the Valdez Marine Terminal, and the Alyeska management balked! And the Marine Supervisor always held a smile, when witnessing this harassment. Yes, to call upon the dedicated workers, to drop everything we were doing to assist the drunk bastards, that was pure harassment! So the Technicians in Valdez that were trying to promote a “Union” were tared & feathered. And the interest of a “Union” was not carved out of frustration over wages and or working conditions, we were seeking an outside influence that would for once interfere with respect to our concern of the drunk tanker crews – like in a “Strike” had we succeeded in getting organized. Maybe instigating a “walk-out” or “work slow-down” until Alyeska resolved the issue of that drinking-on-the-job, as without the maintenance technicians in attendance, especially the Instrument & Electrical workers, the Marine Terminal was dead in the water and it meant shutting down the pipeline! And it was so easy a solution, a fix for this fixation that the boozing was OK, yet when push came to shove and the technicians rebelled, Alyeska President George Nelson understood only one thing, attack! And his posse of “Cowitts” went into action. This included the Human Resources “witch”, those in the middle to upper management ranks - you name it! But not any efforts any attack on the problem, it meant a direct attack on those trying to get a fix for the problem! So when the Alyeska management caught wind of our intent to “organize”, and I am sure with assistance from its cast of lawyers in legal knowhow and employing a “snitch amongst us”, well it meant time to break up the trouble-makers, in efforts to break up the votes and the “Union” vote would never survive – that dilution phenomenon. And with that “pollution”, there was no longer a “one voice” with respect to the jobs at task and safety found itself in the cross-hairs of our “corporate enemy”. And to destroy forever any “Union” drive ambitions, Alyeska even targeted the local management, displace those managers that stood with the workers, the few that also understood that “Drunks” don’t belong in this business of transporting boatloads of “crude oil”! Even with the “boozers” as a well-known violation of the rules of the road, many Alyeska managers were afraid to confront Nelson! Look, there were some excellent Alyeska managers that were destroyed, it was the Howitt Coward gang that demonstrated it did not give a rat’s ass about anything except screwing us over and staying in favor with that Nelson and his corporate whoredom!
Now when the maintenance group at the huge 1000-acre Valdez complex existed in harmony and unity as “one”, that voice had the power to make sure we did things right – none of that Bragaw Street management getting in our way, to make sure the dads and moms that worked at the Valdez Marine Terminal would get home after work and enjoy supper with the family. Enjoy attending a school outing on our days off, things like that! We worked in a “hazardous” environment, sitting on the hills above wherein we worked, storage of 9-million barrels of “volatile” crude oil! So we did not need more reckless actors out-of-control and out-of-our-control in abandonment our responsibilities – especially with safety! So mid-1984, it was sanctioned by the Alyeska Executives - that 5th Floor Bragaw - to destroy the continuity that kept us together as “one voice”, it sucked the wind out of our sail in what was occurring and we started losing grip of what we were all about as a dedicated workforce. The PRIDE and HONOR, in that “Best of the Best” corporate motto, it soon turned to “Arrest the Best” wherein that “Honor” was displaced by “HORROR”! And it was so easy to see what was happening, with the way the Bragaw Street “Filth Floor” started changing out the Terminal Superintendent during the “Union” activity – from Ivan Henman to Earl Boling to Bob Westerheid then turned to Bill Howitt to castrate the “voice” and then it was turned over to Chuck O’Donnell and disaster struck! When the “voice” was silenced, the “Wreck” came to be as the management set its sights on things other then safely transporting ¼ of this nation’s energy needs. That is what “shoot the messenger” intrigues, as “Cowards” think they can get a feather, for destroying the will of the workers. And workers DIE because of that, and Alyeska is proof of that dereliction in the conviction AWOL to be “Thou Brother’s Keeper”! To make my point that the “Alyeska Killing Fields” went alive and well when the “Union” drive was pissing off George Nelson, there came some work down at one of the loading berths on December 15th in 1984, yes just before Christmas. Wherein that work required a crane to perform a “pick”. But early on there came a problem with the “outriggers” not being able to add stability to the task – basically somewhat of an “unsafe” operation as planned. The workers went concerned and I was made aware of it by the mechanic crew assigned the job, as the crew knew I was one to stand my ground, but by this time we were considered “troublemakers” and anything we did that appeared to purposedly delay work, it was considered insubordination. Due the “Union” drive, there came a total disconnect between the dedicated workers and the local management, which was how the Bragaw Street office was handling the concerted effort for organized labor to rule – conquer by dividing. Now at the time, with the way the Alyeska management was destroying the “one voice”, it meant dividing the “Terminal” into two-different entities, and I was assigned to the Power/Vapor area, which meant a different supervisor then those being asked to perform the unsafe work down at the “Marine” side – the tanker loading berths. And that “Marine” side of things was once my specialty area, the reason I held first-hand knowledge the abuse of the tanker crews walking about in an inebriated like stooper looking for their tanker. And since I complained, well when the shake-up went down just move me away from the action – that out-of-sight out-of-mind mentality? Wrong! This game plan in dividing the workforce up, it was orchestrated by the Alyeska Human Resources’ “Legal” maggots, as our “vote” was then headed to the NLRB and with the “break-up”, well it was an intent to STOP that “Union” dead in its tracks. We had a good thing going in Valdez, now due legal issues, it was all falling apart. So I spoke up to my new supervisor about this unsafe crane operation about to commence, who was one of those ass-kissing “Cowitts” that had worked on the “pipeline” and was known for placing workers at risk. He was a reject sent to Valdez in an out-of-sight out-of-mind ass kissing venture and I was told point-blank that my concern relayed from the maintenance workers was someone else’s domain. It was the same damn company, yet we were now faced with a two-faced management style! This idiot Larry was not about to take any action, when I reported an unsafe act about to take place. That was to become the “New” Alyeska “United Way” by un-uniting the workforce. And on that day, when the workers were forced to perform an unsafe job task, else face disciplinary measures as such delay tactics were causing a headache for the Marine Supervisor due a heavy tanker berthing schedule, well that crane with Ray Marcy(RIP) on board went overboard. Yes, a worker was killed, getting tangled in the crane’s winch cables while stranded underwater. Sad, especially when the work crew had offered up a solution, before the accident. See, there was a “contracting” barge with a crane that was always available to be used by Alyeska, just a few minutes away docked in the Valdez harbor just across the bay. And run by a “Union” work crew! But when the management was provided this “solution” wherein there would come no stability problems and that job could be performed safely, they flat out said no and that Marine Supervisor declared that due to heavy tanker traffic incoming and outgoing due increases in oil coming down the pipeline and tanks filling up, that “contracting” crane was not an option. Basically, mind your business get to work came the demand from management – and a great worker, a dedicated safety conscious worker, a friend and a family man died that day. This was in Valdez, a small surreal like time forgotten town, wherein it hurts even more as the word gets around. And that word was the fact that Alyeska was now “Killing the Messenger”! And that bastard Marine Supervisor, the same one that gave not a rat’s ass about the “drunk” tanker crews, all he cared about was satisfying his anal craving with George Nelson. Same with my new supervisor who refused to take any action, when I complained of a safety concern! That is why people die! Because in the “shoot the messenger” mandate, we had lost our voice, and when it came to “safety” it was becoming a joke, a crap-shoot. The “shoot the messenger” was starting to show its ugly side effects, which has a tendency to scare workers into bending over in that “do as I say” mandate. I cannot blame them, but that is not what I stood for and the reason again we needed a “Union”. But by this time Alyeska was using its legal might to fend off that “Union” drive, using all of its available ammunition to shoot it down and thus “shoot the messenger” into oblivion. And when this went down, guess what? That tanker crew binge drinking continued on still unabated, because the Alyeska management understood that was a problem that it could not STOP. A problem it did not want to STOP as from the looks of things it did not even try! The reason for a “Union” as then we could “STRIKE” to force a remedy to that blatant disregard of drinking on the job by the Owner Company tanker crews! See, Alyeska was merely an agent for what was considered the “Owner Company”, a conglomerate of “Big Oil” like British Petroleum-SOHIO and ARCO and several other majors. But the Alyeska President was a “loanee” from the “Owner Company” so there was a connection, a consensus that “Big Oil” was still in control of Alyeska from the top down. And at this time already in mention, soon-to-be President George Nelson was such a loanee, but also enjoyed being that “kingpin” and behind that “shoot the messenger” mandate. So of course the corporate sights went away from the drunks and instead focused on the “Union” and thus in fallout targeting the “Vocal Union Supporters”, like myself. Dear Alyeska friend and co-worker Ray, sorry but we tried, Rest In Peace!
And it was fear of the STRIKE that scared Alyeska, as it did
so scare “Big Oil” had we been successful in getting that “Union” credential
and the force of organized labor behind us! Said again, the
Trans-Alaska-Pipeline would get shutdown if the Valdez I & E Technicians
decided to “walk-out” if under a “Union Contract” and had to go to such
extremes to be heard, to get that booze away from the tanker crews. The
“Terminal” could not operate without us and no way would the management or
scabs be capable of running this show on their own – it was way too
complicated. We were prepared for such in a “walk-out”, had we won the rule of
a “Union”. And so Alyeska was given its marching orders to “Kill” the “Union”
and anybody and everybody associated with it! Which means things started to get
for real ugly at the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company’s Valdez Marine Terminal,
besides workers being “killed” why not pollute the air. That feather in the cap
syndrome was somewhat extensive. Whole nother story, but it is happening even
today at that Alyeska facility, just listen to what the Alaska Department
of Environmental Concerns chief said just a few months ago: “snow has
sheared off valves along the upper edges of the tank roofs, venting petroleum
vapours to the atmosphere. Moses Coss, an official with the Alaska Department
of Environmental Conservation, told the paper that at least seven tanks were
venting vapours, in violation of the state’s Clean Air Act.” And
the sad fact of the matter, likewise with the drunks that would wreck the
“Sound”, it was and is avoidable but Alyeska still seems to get it wrong after
45-years in operation!
Now by the mid-80s, I did not understand yet that I was
labeled as one of the key “Vocal Union Supporters” and on the Alyeska Human
Resources “Watch List”, but by now there was enough Bragaw Street filth
floating around that we knew we best watch our backs. That “Kill the Messenger”
mandate was killing workers! And then we were made aware that Alyeska was
sending a corporate rat-fink down to Valdez to run things – a snitch that was
being sent that way to put the final nail in the coffin to “Kill the Messenger”
and thus “Kill” the “Union” interest. So I saw the writing on the wall and was
able to get a transfer, to the pipeline but under the authority of an old boss
from Valdez that understood the rights of workers and had warned me that some
of us were being watched. He had been displaced early on from Valdez following
the initial “Union” drive, so I accepted the opportunity and would soon move on
– not in realization that I had already been targeted by Alyeska’s HR as a
“Vocal Union Supporter” and not to be trusted, which meant black-listed from
any future promotions to better my career and or advances with income. See,
this same manager tried to promote me in Valdez, and his offer was turned down
by HR, the reason Leon warned me about moving away from the “heat” as he was
confident he could protect my interest in a future still, with Alyeska. Had I
known it back then that there would be no future, I would have “quit”, but
Alyeska needed my talents, use me then abuse me was the plan so things looked
OK from the surface, that was not the case and time would tell I was naïve. But
before all of this “bad stuff” that would come our way from the Corporate
Office, some of the things we accomplished in Valdez, without any help from
Bragaw Street with respect to technologies and making damn sure the system
worked to not pollute, well our only award in the end would be castration. See,
we cared, that was our problem. Not only about our job responsibilities, we
cared beyond that and did not want to see some drunk bastards ruin it all. But
guess who would in time ruin it all, the Howitt Cowards! Instead of siding with
righteousness, instead of siding with the workers’ rights, they sided with the
George Nelson “mentality” and in the end that proved its point and unleashed an
Armageddon environmental disaster, not through an accident but dereliction any
conviction to the dedicated Alyeska workers. Look, we wanted to do it right, we
did so except we could not do anything about the “drunks”, the reason we wanted
to go “Union”! That activity turned the tides on what Alyeska was as a “good
corporate citizen”, as workers would DIE!
Now my best working friend and former direct boss in Valdez, Lynn McArthur, he was also taken out of his position and transferred away from Valdez, moved to the pipeline in what appeared to be a demotion. Lynn was the best control systems, electrical and automation engineer on the Alyeska professional roster and became the Supervisor for the Instrument & Electrical crew in Valdez – during start-up of the pipeline. OK, what does it mean. There were over 200 process transmitters with associated control mechanisms that had to be in “tip-top” shape to properly operate the “Terminal”, as many “control loops” and that count more then the entire pipeline in total with its 11 operating pumping stations. McArthur’s crew alone was more then what could be found at any station, so it was an almighty job. In comparison with respect to “complexity”, a pump station didn’t come close to the everyday 24/7 activities required to keep the “END” of the Trans-Alaska-Pipeline “running” and without the “Terminal” the pipeline was dead in the water. And we were now into 1985, and the rat had been preparing to take over the Terminal, to finish off “Killing the Messenger”. Yes, the new superintendent sent to Valdez was there but for a signal reason, to crush dead forever the “Union” and he was well known as the ultimate in that executive ass kissing, upon his desire to climb to the top of that corporate “poop chute”. Sad, when a career means only that! And due my affiliation with that “Union”, thank God my transfer was finalized, and I was heading to Pump Station #1 as a SCADA Technician and by now with the “Union” drive close to abandonment as the Alyeska lawyers won that battle, things were beyond ugly at the “END” of the 800-mile Trans-Alaska-Pipeline. George Nelson was winning, as his “Cowitts” were doing what he wanted, it sucked! One could see who was behind Nelson’s success story, through the company acknowledged and advertised “promotions”! If you stayed in good grace with George, if you were out in the field doing his dirty work, that meant that ticket to ride up the corporate “poop chute”! But it was so sad to see what Alyeska would do to the dedicated workers, especially Lynn McArthur who had done so much in Valdez to “keep the lights on” and that oil heading south. Herein is what I mean. On August 19th, I received a call from McArthur, as he always remembered his technicians’ birthday, even though by now he had been displaced away from us and many of us were being moved around, some by choice some not. He was not in good spirits, of course that started when he was transferred away from Valdez, held accountable in blame the reason the I&E Department Technicians under his wing had chosen to organize under a “Union”. He was the fall guy no doubt about it. So when the company lawyers said break up the workers, well Lynn’s position as Supervisor of the Instrument & Electrical Department, it conveniently went away and he was given a mediocre job on the pipeline, as a station supervisor at Pump Station #12. It is the last station on the pipeline before the oil rushes downhill to Valdez. And during this call, he informed me that he was being forced to agree to OK an unsafe action, in priority but refused and was over-ridden by the Pipeline Superintendent. And what was behind this “action” was the fact that one of the 3-pumps at the station had failed and needed the experts from Anchorage to deliver replacement parts. But the weather for flying was marginal, so Lynn refused to accommodate the Operation Control Center’s request to expedite whatever it would take to fix the problem, that operation under Chuck O’Donnell, efforts in getting that pump back online. It wasn’t really needed, as the inventory in Valdez was normal for loading tankers and a small time duration curtailment of the pipeline throughput, well what isn’t pumped today can be pumped tomorrow. And when there comes a slow-down, as this was in no way shape or form a shut-down that can be of concern, well “Big Oil” that sends its oil to the TAPS can easily accommodate a slow-down, known as a curtailment. Such delays are also written into the “Transport Tariff”, a legal document that allowed for “delays”! So it was no big deal to wait out the storm! But when Lynn argued with the OCC chief, that rat-fink ran to Fat Alex and a charter flight was ordered, to deliver the parts with a turbine mechanic from Anchorage. See, Lynn had made arrangements for a specialized maintenance crew to drive to the station the next morning, as the weather forecast for flying was iffy and in day light a drive was the best way to accommodate the needs and wishes of getting things back to normal, with the safety and wellbeing of the workers in consideration. That was what McArthur stood for! But that flight was ordered by the Pipeline Superintendent, against what Lynn thought was the best way to handle the situation. So that meant instead of a drive a company chartered Lear Jet leaving Anchorage at 1:29am with Alyeska worker David Blosser on board, age 38 and one of Alyeska’s top-notch turbine mechanics well respected by everybody – except Alyeska’s management. As that order to deploy so early in the morning in marginal flying conditions, it placed Blosser in harm’s way as the plane went lost on approach to the runway near that Pump Station #12. At 2:05am that jet crashed into trees killing Blosser and two pilots. Lynn would never get over that, it “killed” him in spirit, that order by Fat Alex because OCC Chuck was having a conniption shit, and in “haste makes waste” it killed a damn good worker. And even today the “accident investigation docket” of that crash remains sealed, some 37-years by now best ask yourself why? That death of an Alyeska worker due foolishness, it also KILLED Lynn McArthur, a guy that should have become the President of Alyeska, because he stood with the workers, he stood for safety, he stood for everything Alyeska claims it to be as a good corporate citizen it is not. Blame it on the ass-kissing management, as like with the crane accident at the Valdez Terminal in 84 and then this plane crash, had the management listened…so workers were getting killed and the “drunks” were setting their sights on unleashing an environmental catastrophe in Prince William Sound. Two worker deaths that could have been avoided, in an 8-month duration - pathetic record! Lynn would die at an early age of 56 and like I have already mentioned that death of a co-worker he was so close to, he never let it go – it strangled his consciousness as Alyeska never once admitted any malfeasance even though Lynn tried to STOP that flight!
See now, by this time in the history of Alyeska, the tanker crews down Valdez way knew there was no STOPPING that bad habit of drinking-on-the-job. They had gotten away with indulging in it for so long by now, well they realized that Alyeska OK’d it, and more then likely by now the “trouble-makers” like myself in complaint this booze-bottle fascination had been displaced. So that “Union” threat was no longer and Howitt the rat was now in charge of the Valdez Terminal, so of course all was well just ask Joe Hazelwood if he ever went concerned about Alyeska being concerned about binge drinking and driving a fully loaded crude oil tanker through the “Valdez Narrows”? So David Blosser was “killed” by Fat Alex Two Chairs, the Pipeline Superintendent, because the fat bastard wanted to please George Nelson is what it was all about. So that at the corporate morning meeting he could then have told George “we got a charter and the problem is already fixed.” But instead, the bad news broke that morning meeting, that a worker had died and they blamed Lynn McArthur, saying he had the last word in an OK for that flight. That was a “LIE”, and it “KILLED” Lynn McArthur, that the blame in shame was placed on the wrong guy! It was the Alyeska way! See, that was already two-strikes against McArthur. It was the blame for the “Union” drive in Valdez and now he was to blame for that worker killed in a plane wreck. That is how the Alyeska management worked, pass the burden of responsibility to someone else and we would see that play out in its “ultimate” rendition of irresponsibility after the EXXON Valdez “wreck”, wherein Alyeska never once footed the bill in blame but sure had a way of blaming…hey the dog ate my homework even seemed to work for the Executive climbing Cowitts!
Now Fat Alex seemed to have only two important expectations in life. First on the agenda, making sure he had enough food to feed an army as he was a fat ass, the reason he needed “Two Chairs” which became his namesake and trying to use his bible thumping pilgrimage to get pipeline technicians to kneel before him. He was an asshole’s asshole, and the reason I would never work for the pipeline, not directly as we had been warned about this blimp and his attitude with religion on-the-job! OK, he stunk of soiled underwear when he was out on the pipeline, like maybe he was too fat to wipe clean! And second on that agenda, stay employed as an “executive” with Alyeska as long as possible to make sure his Sonny Boy Brat had gainful employment for doing nothing. There was a joke that floated around the pipeline, that Alex’s son and Bill Howitt never got their hands dirty! I was well acquainted with Sonny Boy, as we started working for Alyeska at the same time. I remember it well, as new hires arriving aboard the crew change plane to Pump Station #5, which was also wherein Alyeska maintained its Pipeline Technician Training Academy. It was a way to get new hires indoctrinated into “Pipeline Life”. Now when we landed and departed the plane, we were directed over to the camp to get a room assignment, a priority as for the next two-weeks it meant hitting the books through the midnight hour to get signed off on tasks that were required before we were let loose in our new positions. Now even though I was destined for the Valdez Marine Terminal, there was still the requirement for all newbies to attend this classroom get together. There was also one other candidate destined to Valdez, Frank Devlin, an Athabaskan Native. Now when we started getting our room assignments, it meant the buddy system as it was supposed to be a team-work like atmosphere working with your room assignee, double occupancy meant getting through all those training modules sooner than later and it was a way to see if one was cut-out for the “Pipeline Life”. Like living in cramped quarters, listening to that roommate fart through the night not to forget being away from one’s family. Now when the camp manager tried to assign Sonny Boy with Frank as a roommate, the brat flat out had a conniption fit in front of about 25-new hires, that he would not room with a native. He was not silent about his discontent sleeping in the same room with a “Native”! The place went silent, as it was 1979 and there was some semblance of acceptance no discrimination allowed, especially with the Trans-Alaska-Pipeline and Alaskan oil as the Native Claims Settlement Act made it so. Now the camp manger was quick to put the fire out, as Frank looked scared, I saw a tear in his eye when he was confronted with such blatant discrimination in the workplace the first day on this new job, like that well known poster of the “Crying Indian”. I was then assigned as roommate with the “bigot”! And after the room assignments went complete, we headed to the PLQ cafeteria for a morning break, and the talk of the town was this first-hand discrimination witnessed by everybody and all in agreement that Sonny Boy would be getting back on that plane for a ride home and an invite to the unemployment line! Some thought he had already been fired, as he was a no show nowhere to be found after that confrontation. Were we wrong with that assessment, as he was seen hanging out in the Pump Station managers office. Now for two-weeks, as Sonny Boy’s roommate, I was always asked if Sonny Boy was still around, as he never showed up for any classroom training sessions and it seemed he knew all the instructors on a first name basis. And when we were allowed private time to call home, it was a 5-minute only freedom in some little cubby-hole phone booth. Except for Sonny Boy, who seemed to have free reign in the supervisor’s office, unlimited minutes! But soon we would come to an understanding that he was the son of an Alyeska “big wig”, so did not have to attend the classroom training and showed up every night only to eat and sleep. The sad fact of the matter, when Fat Alex Two Chairs showed up to hand out the “Pipeline Academy” certificates, Sonny Boy was right there and received what he needed to go work on the pipeline. And Larry the instructor told us that for the past two-weeks, Sonny Boy was seen hanging out in a “van down by the river”, a pipeline contractors camp, so that was the reason for his no-show during the training sessions. Larry also told us that the blow-up “Anny Dolls” used for fire-fighting and first responder training would also end up down at that camp! What in hell did I get myself into? And over the years, this worthless piece of nothing son of a big wig, he would have all kinds of job promotions as well as job advancement opportunities, because that was the Alyeska way. And poor Frank, that outburst in discrimination would bother him until the day he died, as that is what can happen in spirit to an individual subjected to such demeaning hate without any accountability, especially in the workplace. That incident “KILLED” Frank. Frank could never understand why Fat Alex’s son was still working for Alyeska and advancing upwards in the company, all part of that Cowitt handshaking that did not give a rat’s ass about such discrimination in the workplace. And when Bob Malone became the Owner Company “Loanee” CEO for Alyeska in the mid-90s, he was appalled by the discrimination that was felt throughout the company. That which appears to have started with George Nelson, and was allowed to survive, for some 15-years before a loanee CEO saw it first-hand, and was appalled and would challenge it. Hear what Malone said: “You look and you will find we(Alyeska) have intimidated, harassed and discriminated against people. There is a level of discrimination going on across this company, documented, that I never would have thought existed," Alyeska President Malone said, "...against people of color, people of diverse background, women and Alaska Native people. And these people are beginning to raise their hands and say, Help.” But how and why did it survive for so long? Because the “Howitt Cowards” thought that was what the management wanted. No different then how the Alyeska management thought to do nothing about the tanker crew drinking, like it was supposed to be a condoned behavior without any after effects.
And one last addition to the “Alyeska Killing Fields”. Betsy Haines is supposedly the new Alyeska President, called back from retirement her last position as VP of “Maintenance & Operations”. Look Alyeska does not learn from its mistakes, as the only way it can recover from going off course, it can’t as by now the EXXON Valdez “wreck” is history! But in that role, as VP the position that is supposed to make sure Alyeska does things right with respect to the “Operations” and making sure things are working right, the function of a “maintenance staff of workers”, well when Haines was in that role is when Alyeska was awarded its greatest OSHA DOL fine of record! For subjecting dozens of workers, direct Alyeska workers and contractors alike no discrimination herein, to hazards associated with crude oil, in Valdez alone, over 50-categorized as an “OIS 10” violation can’t get any higher of a severity call-out, aka “SERIOUS”. Now they call her back? Look, she was the Howitt Coward SPY since the 90s, the reason Alyeska cannot even use a snow shovel correctly and to this day is still harming the environment. When I hear Betsy Haines is in charge, looks like Bill Howitt’s wet-dream has come true, as a street-walker from 2-Street is always welcome in the Alaska oil trade as for some they are still stuck in the construction era of the pipeline! I find it fascinating that the Alyeska management fell in love with the “Union” back then, but when a “Union” was really needed to ward off an environmental nightmare, well we are witness to what can happen.
And to those workers that may have witnessed what went on since the 80’s but remained silent and still work for Alyeska or never moved on, please repeat after Bill: “I sold my soul to the Company whore” as it is the only “motto” you can enjoy. And for the dedicated workers like myself – look I challenge any other Alyeska worker of record since 1977, to compare my performance of record, as it proves I was the “Best” of the “Best of the Best”. Not my words, but the evaluations of over 8-Alyeska supervisors I reported to in my 11-year career with Alyeska – cut short because there came “zero” possibility for any advancements in the company due the fact I was labeled as a “Vocal Union Supporter”. As that debilitating stigma never goes away from the Corporate Dysentery Dynasty that forever punishes those that want to do things right and not afraid to speak out. Not to mention letters of commendation from the “Owner Company” for my job performance. In ending, waaaell laa-dee frick’n doodah, a letter of apology from Alyeska President Jim Hermiller, when a secret e-mail was sent to me about my “Vocal Union Support” and was the evidence that I was “black-listed”. But by the time the letter of apology made it my way, I had already “quit” as Alyeska was successful in “Killing” another dedicated worker. It was a letter that went sorry for “any embarrassment the letter may have caused”? I was honored by that letter, as it for once made it clear and convincing that I was that “Vocal Union Supporter”, when we were trying to STOP the drunks! The only embarrassment I found is the fact Alyeska never got rid of the real troublemakers as the Howitt Cowards succeeded, in ruining what could have been a company proud. Alyeska puts up a good flag, but its credibility in ethics or righteousness doesn’t hold water, just like how a bullet hole in the pipeline doesn’t hold that crude oil at bay from devastating the environment. Nor with dereliction wherein “benzene” laden vapors allowed to escape the storage tanks in Valdez, just this past March when snow turned ice broke off the safety vents. Which means Haines is facing fighting yet another OSHA fine against Alyeska, this time it will probably be an unprecedented $fine$ because Alyeska is now a “repeat offender”, the worst label any corporation could be tagged with. All because Alyeska and its “Executive Chicken Littles” must be way too busy on another venture of “Kill the Messenger” as someone with honor, with guts spilled the beans to the regulators about the “now” unsafe conditions at the Alyeska Valdez Marine Terminal, once again. And the sad fact of the matter, that CEO “Owner Company” loanee is no longer how things work and the reason Bill Howitt is still in control and that is a real scary thought. Because Bill’s highlight as an Alyeska worker, he was the Filth Floor Bragaw’s “hit-man”, well give him credit for threatening to throw a pipeline inspector out of a helicopter. And he got away with that threat, so did Joe hazelwood get off the hook as like I have said time and time again, there is but for a single blame for the “Wreck” and it is Alyeska! So lives were lost and good workers condemned, just so the Cowitts could keep that vigil, pacified in justification that keeping vigil up the corporate poop chute of the Alyeska “Filth Floor Bragaw” Executives was the right thing to do! Wherein a good day at work meant kissing another ass!
When Revenge is SWEET
In closing, I would be remiss in my duty to the dedicated workers of the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company that tried to make a difference, remiss upon that same duty the responsibility in seeking revenge I owed to myself, if I just walked away from it all. In ignorance with my brothers and sisters in Valdez, when we went tired of the Alyeska managements’ lackadaisical attitude in “boys will be boys with a bottle” and because of that concern, we were targeted as “troublemakers”. And because of the Alyeska malignant miss-management under the auspices of the Howitt Cowards - aka Cowitts - taking sides against us, well that reckoned the EXXON Valdez “wreck”! But when I saw the real writing on the wall, that no matter how I performed – said again there was not a single Alyeska Technician or engineer that could top my performance in appraisals and not to forget letters of commendation from the “Owner Company” for the job I was doing to make sure the measurement of the crude oil was accurate beyond doubt – well I was not about to let Alyeska off the hook. And in that letter of apology from Alyeska President Jim Hermiller, after I had already “quit”, he mentions just how valuable an employee I was to Alyeska, that Alyeska “benefitted” from my dedication. Alyeska used me then abused me, that is the true-grit-gist of that letter! So here is how that “valuable” played out in the END! See, when I was being passed around with “no direction home and a complete unknown”, well it came to me a demonstration of a well-planned sabotage, in an eye-for-an-eye tooth-for-a-tooth in sentiment delivery, two can play that game. So yes, I devised an undetectable scheme of sabotage, one that was without detection and when it was made public, it would be an embarrassment beyond recognition to Alyeska, that someone had robed the $Cash Register$. See, in the end I had become my own boss, as Alyeska was relying on me to train a dedicated cast of “Measurement Technicians” in efforts to maintain the most critical component on the Trans-Alaska-Pipeline. That being the Pump Station #1 “Custody Transfer”, which accounts for all the oil entering the pipeline. It must be accurately measured with the most sophisticated technology, that “Best Available” mandate and I was in charge of that system. And even though there was a cast of idiots down yonder Bragaw Street that were not 5th floorers, but lower-level ass-kissing assholes, wherein the shit flows downwards and some willingly accepted the “dump”, well my plan was simple enough even to fool those fools of the “Measurement Department”. Like in “a spoonful of water makes the got screwed go away, makes got screwed go away!” So for over a year before my “Quiet Quitting”, when I was out and about my duties to check on things like the “vapor pressure” analyzers and the composite samplers, well it meant tagging along with me a nice hot cup of coffee from the PLQ. I was unsupervised, I could come and go as I pleased, no one cared what I did day-in and day-out when at Pump Station #1, as long as there came no complaints from town, with respect to that “Custody Transfer” – measuring all that crude oil barrel-assing down that pipeline. See, it is at this “station” wherein official ownership of that oil takes place, the $money$ thing in exchange! And when sitting there watching the “Pipeline Tariff” required sample probe – one for each producer – while watching the mechanical contraptions ejaculate a 1.5cc “bite” of the crude oil so in time enough volume for a “true composite” for testing the “water” content, well what is wrong with a little coffee to “spike” brighten up the day? So yes, I sabotaged the composite samplers for the BP, ARCO, Kuparuk, Lisburne and Endicott oils during my last stay, the time frame April of 1989 through the end of 1990. It means no-one can ever say for sure what was recorded during those times with respect to any semblance of an accuracy statement, as when the coffee made its way into that composite sample, it made for more water in that oil – wherein that 24-hour composite sample was tested and then an adjustment would be made against the computerized water-logged ”Net” barrel count of crude oil delivered during the previous day. It was about the only manual adjustment allowed routinely by the “Carrier”, the latter means Alyeska! So being a manual adjustment, there was no cross-checking of the “composite” what you see is what you get more “water” in the form of “coffee”. I guess like in an addiction? OK, caffeine instead of booze. Hey, no different then the tanker crew addiction with that bottle of booze! And what was best about it, I had two brothers that helped me out, as when I was away on leave for a week or two, I had help to continue with the sabotage. So Alyeska can never claim it knew for sure the amount of oil streaming down that pipeline, “I did it one tablespoon at a time and no one caught me at that crime” as when the water-cut was sabotaged, it was something not even the goons that had run amuck with the “Measurement Department” could ever discover. It was so hidden away, the ultimate in revenge, fuck you Howitt Cowards – aka the “Cowitts”! Let me put it bluntly, you messed with the wrong technician! In short, it meant $millions$ in misguided nominations. Simple Simon means in profits for “Big Oil”, because in reality they let Alyeska get away with killing workers, robing dedicated workers of a career and letting the Joe Hazelwoods free reign while under-the-influence. The “Color of Water”?
In ending, back to the starting line, in that IMAGINE. What if the Alyeska management had listened to the dedicated workers in Valdez, their concern of the drunk tanker crews – interfering with the safe operation of the Valdez Marine Terminal. Yes, fixed that problem before it was necessary for those concerned workers to seek outside interference, with organized labor. It would have meant both the EXXON Valdez “wreck” would have been avoided and the “shoot the messenger” orchestrated by the Alyeska Executives never in existence as the latter would not have been needed, killing two birds with one stone. And had Alyeska taken the high-road instead of the low-blow Coward road, well because it was truly amazing what the technicians under Lynn McArthur had accomplished in Valdez with technologies as Lynn was an advocate of what the future meant, it meant some of us that deserved advancements and promotions in the company could be proud of. Instead of getting letters of apology from the Alyeska President, when the company got caught spying on the workers. And had the dedicated workers been able to move up in the organization, well they would have then been in the position to get rid of the dead-weight – the ass kissing “Howitt Cowards”! And for those maggots and bigots that got away with murder, well they would have been the individuals terminated for cause and maybe today writing stories like this, but not true stories but talking up a storm about the frivolous lawsuits they filed against Alyeska and lost everything. IMAGINE, it could have been a happy ending for Alyeska. Hope Betsy enjoys the $fine$ coming down from OSHA! In the meantime, “one more cup of coffee before I go”!
Michael Kelley – Lead Instrument, Lead SCADA and Lead Measurement Technician 1979 to 1991 – Vocal Union Supporter 1980 through 1984.
Note: Any contesting
or disputed facts in accuracy with the above statements, please direct to my
attention at michael.kelley.tmkf@gmail.com and I will make a
serious attempt to correct the record, but please be specific and not just a
general statement of “nothing” without merit. “Speak now or forever hold your
piece”.