Sidebar: On
July 28th, it will celebrate the 45th anniversary of the
Trans-Alaskan-Pipeline starting up and oil delivered to Valdez, Alaska. As a
worker for the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, my memories of what it meant
working for the company that operated that 800-mile pipeline.
So here we go again, Chapter
“Endless” of “The Little Red Hen” more like a “Chicken Little” revival revision.
“Who will help me…” the same story over and over again with this “Climate
Change” fascination in denial syndrome, why so this new found fame in interest once
again we give not a damn about it. For real, then STOP driving around in
confusion and pay a few extra cents for that much needed gagoline instead of
wasting money and time and generating “more gas fumes” waiting in that mile
long COSTCO gas station lineup for a “discount” – as it ain’t worth the “pollution”. And
just because you can buy cheap gas on a “Reservation”, well pollution is
pollution for all those extra highway robbery miles just to get that “taxation
free” petro. We are all tied and tried onto this mess, like it or leave it you
cannot. Just look at how many cars are on the road today! Yes in assurance
“baby you can drive my car” better gas milage with expanding technologies, so
driving is affordable for the masses – like I have already called it out, we
don’t give a rat’s ass about polluting the air and water we rely upon, that
stuff we breath and drink the basic foundation of “life”. And “Let’s make the
water turn black” is how Frank has thought about it all along, as climate
change was a problem way back when the same damn problem today – and we still
don’t give a rat’s ass another generation come and almost gone by the wayside, not
in denial but castrated on what one can do about it. We are cursed by it! We
talk a good tune, but same old story in the end, that “chicken little”
sentiment. And that brings me to my conclusion in consensus – can an individual
take a stand against this inevitable human destruction targeting the Mother
Earth through this “climatic climax”? Hey Monsieur Reminiscsky, was not the
reason we learned it all in kindergarten with the “Red Hen” was to challenge
our wherewithal in what it means for “hard work” and “personal initiatives” all
things concerning? OK, let me rewind like with “don’t look back”, as sometimes
that can cause a hernia. Look, a white or black Tesla will cut you off today,
as these idiots of the Musk believe they are doing something almighty to save
the earth so can cut the line, as they believe because they are going green
with battery powered…well battery technology is still in its destructive
infancy and where does that “charge” come from? OK, it accounts for localized
pollution, a point source phenomenon but one in the same the same as if one was
using the antagonistic fossil fuel instead of the energizer bunny. But in
rewind, that this “give not a rat’s ass” attitude about pollution persists when
it comes to everyone’s bottom line, “what’s in your wallet”, well “take me back
to gasoline alley” back to a very special day for Alaska, when it was announced
that it was “Oil In”! When the spigot of the Trans-Alaska-Pipeline was “opened”
for business and North Slope “crude oil” could then make its way away from its
once “stranded” position and make “Big Oil” and Alaska very wealthy. Wherein
each and every individual of the “Lost Frontier” that clamed “citizenship”,
including the bastards that promote these “Intelligence Below Zero” Alaskan
reality crap shows, a free $dividend welfare check$! All made possible through
a pipeline filled with “oil”. And that 800-mile pipeline dream, it was years in
the making to make sure it was designed and constructed then operated in an
environmentally safe ways and means, in an industry in infamy destructive to
the environment. Yes, maybe this time we would get it right! It meant more oil
for more gasoline, just to satisfy our addiction to using a 4000-pound
4-wheeler to transport our 200-pound fat ass through the fast-food drive-in. The
“ratio” outweighs any worthwhile reasoning, why are we “still” against “mass
transportation”? Because “we don’t care”! Wow, penny-wise pound foolish ring a bell of Shylockism?
And guess what, an EV weighs more which means it takes more energy and Confucius
says…Now to demonstrate that a pipeline through the wilderness would be built
according to the demands of “do it right the first time”, cost overruns sank
the original construction era estimates of $900-million upwards $9-billion by
the time the first drop of oil made its way to the “END”, down yonder Valdez
Alaska on July 28th of 1977. Then it meant the State of Alaska was
“rich”, even though the Sarah Palin politics settled for pennies on the dollar
what that valuable “Black Gold” resource was all about. It was like a fire
sale! Said again, for many years that resource was considered “stranded”, so it
was worthless until “Big Oil” made a deal of a lifetime with the “resource
owners”, that being the State of Alaska. So once the rip-off was signed, sealed
and delivered it was time to build that “Pipeline”. Now that demand and insight
to “do it right” in obligation to protect the environment, it was soon just a
fallacy, as the operator of that pipeline – the Alyeska Pipeline Service
Company – did not give a rat’s ass about environmental responsibility, when the
latter justification got in the way of “profits”. Sound original? OK, the “Big
Oil” barons made a “scapegoat” company to manage the construction and operation
of the pipeline, for legal reasons so the blame game found a convenient “ghost”
factor! See, once oil started flowing south, one thing “Big Oil” was still
afraid of was the power of the “Union”, so the “scapegoat” was given its
marching orders, “Kill the UNION”. It was the “Union” that built that pipeline
and made damn sure it was built to tough standards, the reason the cost
escalated some 10x - an additional $8-billion - from start to finish, as the
798 “Brotherhood” welders were going to stick that pipe together right, no
other way. It meant 42000 sticks of 4-foot diameter steel pipe 60-feet in
length that needed a Junior Leslie yielding a torch with love and care. And they did the job “right” with the assistance
of other trade “UNIONS”, like the Teamsters. And when the “scapegoat” company
managers went mad at construction deadlines not being met, well all efforts to
scare the “Union” was burdened with strategic work slow-downs, egg in the
pipeline owner’s face it was! No Teamsters No Pipe - No welders No Pipeline! So
it was quickly realized who was in charge. Testament to how well a job was performed
by the “Union” some 45-years gone bye-bye by now, never once has a single “girth weld”
failure caused a leak - and there were 100000 such welds! Now once the construction crews packed up and left, then
the operating company executive management said “No More Union” on George
Nelson’s watch. George was the idiot in charge of the “scapegoat”, until EXXON
decided a drunk tanker captain met the burden of “qualified” and could easily drive a tanker "hard aground" into Bligh reef. Now soon into the
operations of the pipeline, two things started to show its evil side effects of
a management more focused on $honey it’s all about the money$ and started to
cop an attitude that there was plenty of environment left in Alaska. So what is
wrong with a little pollution here and a little pollution there and started to entertain
itself with that Zappa tune, “let’s make the water turn black” and Kenny’s
little numies were also allowed to attack the clear blue sky, especially in Valdez
at the end of the oil’s journey. I was a worker in Valdez, and when we realized
that the management did not give a rat’s ass about drunk tanker crews or the
fact the pollution control systems at the “Valdez Marine Terminal” were in a
state of chaos because some idiot manager was trying to save money so he would
look good, well we had but one way out of the mess. Yes, we called upon that “UNION”,
and the management instead of hearing us out, started to molest our children and rape our spouses, by threatening
our jobs, our livelihoods. And Alaska being a small out of place “place”, once “blackballed”
it is tough getting a job anywhere in Alaska, as by the early 80’s it was all
about “oil”. I was an outspoken “Union” advocate, because I was sick and tired
of being directed by the “scapegoat” management to carry drunk tanker crews
back to their ships, now filled with toxic crude oil and soon that same crew
would be escorting that ship through the Valdez “Narrows” on its voyage “south”.
The drunk slobs were the talk of the town, as Valdez was a small enough town
that the drunks stood out. What was not known to the town was the fact these
drunk bastards were allowed right through the Alyeska Pipeline Security “Check-point”
at the Marine Terminal, un-checked that was an out-of-sight out-of-mind
mentality “boys will be boys with booze”. One time, not only was I called to
assist carrying the drunks up the gang-plank to their fully ladened tanker
filled to the brim with “crude oil” you can smell the off-gassing vapors please
don’t light up a cigarette, but what was with the two cases of beer? It was
well known abuse, and the management failed to act as everyone was afraid of
George! It was only a matter of time that an EXXON Valdez wreck would “wreck it
all”. Still today weathered crude oil remains in Prince William’s Sound, “Please
Do Not Disturb” and don’t eat those clams you just dug up – you can still smell
the aging oil vapors as the water temperature in the “Sound” trying to
dismantle oil that has seeped into the shorelines, it is too cold to break up
the toxicity, a forever curse! It would have been just a “drill” this EXXON
Valdez, had we been successful in getting that “UNION”! But the management
fought our efforts tooth and nail, they did everything in their power to punish
us, as if George Nelson saw it as a game, as besides not giving a rat’s ass
about the environment this blowhard Alyeska president thought the pipeline workers
were scum! And so the plan to sabotage our efforts to be represented by a “Union”
that would have addressed the drunks, welcome aboard the EXXON Valdez wreck!
And all the time that the drunks were being helped aboard those ships when it
would have been better for the environment to have a police escort them drunks into
the “sober up” slammer…well the “scapegoat” decided it was time to pollute the air
in Valdez. By manipulating the off-gassing of crude-oil vapors from 18-crude
oil storage tanks that held upwards 9-million barrels of toxicity, wherein the
vapors were supposed to be annihilated through a “Thermal Oxidizer” process. I
was in charge of getting that monster working, and keep it working when
pipeline throughput made the 2-million barrel a day goal, as with more oil it
meant more vapors to contend with. And we were successful, until an idiot that
was looking for a feather in his cap and in the position to demand “pollution”,
well it appeared that it was all about the $money$ and instead of spending the
time and effort to make sure things that would or could pollute the water and
pollute the air were addressed and arrested, well the “scapegoat” used all its
influence both political and legal to curse our “Union” efforts, the rest is
history. But being “black-balled” for trying to get help from a “Union”, it was
not an easy thing to fend off in Alaska as the HR of the “scapegoat” had a
secret list that was passed around to other Alaskan employers that said “No” to
this guy. Time indeed does its best to heal, except for the Sound being wrecked
by the EXXON, but on how I was treated for doing a job that “exceeded
expectations” but destroyed financially for being guilty of trying to “Unionize”
so we could STOP the “scapegoat’s” environmental wrecking ball. It is no longer
a scare but more in tune to a scar still on my “hard work” and “personal
initiative”, as the Chicken Little won! I have no regrets, as I tried but was
out-numbered by those men and women that did not care about the “environment”
as their paycheck and employment status meant more and I was one that paid for
it dearly in a career that faded away to nothing, but still have a story to
tell and guess what, you cannot pin any responsibility for this “Climate Change”
on me, as my efforts back in the 70s and 80s were well deserving and I captured
a “climate credit” for trying to save the Mother Earth. Time for a cigarette!
Yes, the EXXON Valdez wreck, NOT could have but would have been avoided had a “UNION”
been allowed to be established in Valdez back in the late 70s, as that was our
intent. We lost, so did the environment and the bastard like George Nelsons’
just rode off into retirement with a golden parachute, because it appears that
some make a killing for “Killing” the environment.
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