BP was warned of intimidation (of corrosion employees)

[harpboy_ak]

BP was warned of intimidation

PIPELINE CORROSION: Congress informed of harassment that occurred while the company was on probation.

By RICHARD MAUER
Anchorage Daily News

http://www.adn.com/money/industries/oil/prudhoe/story/8178339p-8071041c.html

Published: September 10, 2006
Last Modified: September 10, 2006 at 02:09 AM

WASHINGTON -- Three times between early 2003 and late 2004, BP officials were warned that a "chilling atmosphere" made workers engaged in critical pipeline-corrosion work in the North Slope oil fields afraid to report environmental and safety concerns.

One of those reports said the fear was justified: At least one worker was summoned for firing because his bosses thought he was responsible for a formal complaint that his inspection crew had been cut by 25 percent with no matching reduction in workload. The man denied any role in the complaint and kept his job, the report said.

The harassment of corrosion workers, reported in testimony before Congress on Thursday and in confidential BP documents subsequently released by the House Energy & Commerce Committee, occurred while BP was on felony probation from a federal court in Alaska and under strict rules to prevent reprisals against workers with environmental concerns.

The company finally removed its corrosion manager, Richard Woollam, in January 2005 and shipped him to Houston, where he no longer supervised anyone. A BP spokesman said the company put him on paid leave last week, just as he was preparing to plead the Fifth and refuse to testify before Congress.

(snipped for brevity)

In the meantime, Alaska legislators keep buddying up to BP, trying to get them to built a natural gas pipeline to get our stranded natural gas to market. Alaska Dems have it right --- tax the gas sitting in the ground so that it becomes too expensive to keep it there, which will come up on November's ballot as an initiative, since the industry blocked any such incentive in the Lege.

[ConcernedCanuk]

1. Y'all should READ this thing - I mean the whole article . .

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From the posted article:

"Nothing we learned in our investigation suggests that the field is, as a general matter, unsafe or prone to catastrophic failure," it said.

The lawyers reached a different conclusion about Woollam, generally supporting the complaints. It blamed Woollam and his "dictatorial" style, which led workers to call his department his "kingdom" and Woollam himself "King Richard."

Contractors also feared they would lose their contracts if their workers complained, the report said.

When a manager for one of the contractors told Woollam that his men were upset about a reduction in staff, Woollam's response, which quickly became legendary among workers, was, "Fire the whole bunch," the report said."
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Sounds sorta like ur King George down there

[dalaigh lllama]

2. Well, gosh. They seem so friendly

in their commercials. :eyes:

There's so much wrong with TPTB, it's hard to keep an eye on all the evildoers. Thanks for keeping an eye on those Alaskan Crabby Kings,harpboy_ak