THE UNDERGROUND NAZI INVASION OF THE UNITED STATES - Part 35
(Note: One may wonder why I am submitting the following three files
concerning Wackenhut, the Florida-based security agency which
provides Armed Security 'serivces' for the various top-secret projects
being carried out at the Nevada Test Site (...take note of Wackenhut's
illegel collaboration with ALYESKA -- which as we can see in the
previous posting is a subsidiary of ARCO TRANSPORTATION). To
answer this, I will refer to the name Fred L. Crisman once again.
Crisman, some of you may recall, was heavily involved in the so-called
"Maurey Island" [Tacoma, WA.] "UFO" sighting and investigation which
researcher Anthony Kimory believes may have involved a secret test
flight of joint CIA-NAZI 'wingless' aerial craft -- an investigation which
culminated in the mysterious deaths of two Army G-2 pilots and [accord-
ing to one source], two other investigators. Kenneth Arnold [who had
another sighting over Mt. Rainier just following his investigation of the
Maurey Island incident under contract with AMAZING STORIES editor
Ray Palmer], is the man responsible for coining the media term 'flying
saucers', althrough the aircraft he saw were in fact crescent-shaped
'discs'. Palmer stated that strange men in dark suits, possibly govern-
ment agents, were seen in the area, and his conversations with a high-
ranking Air Force officer were bugged and he himself was under surveil-
lance. Fred L. Crisman who was a principle 'witness' to the Maurey
Island event was a good friend of Clay Shaw, whom Louisiana District
Attorney James Garrison [see the movie "JFK"] accused of being the
CIA-Mafia go-between in the John F. Kennedy assassination. Crisman
was also, according to Anthony Kimory, a good friend of Marshall Ricon-
osciuto, the PRO-HITLER father of Michael Riconosciuto who had gain-
ed notoriety for his role as a witness in the "INSLAW" investigation of
Justice Dept. corruption, computer piracy, etc. Michael was also a
Wackenhut employee at the Nevada Test Site. He had stated that he
turned on his employers and became involved in a plan to smuggle a
helicopter loaded with sensitive documents and evidence of unconsti-
tutional activities at AREA-51 and the Nevada Test Site [areas that
are notorious for the reports of top-secret disc-shaped aircraft -- far
in advance of the "Aurora" craft and with actual antigravity capability
using antimatter reactor drives -- which have been observed and filmed
during test flights over the sites, especially Groom Lake and the Pa-
poose Mts.]. These activities apparently involved illegel non Congress-
ionally regulated biogenetic and mind-control research which is being
carried out by a fascist faction of military intelligence within the under-
ground facilities there. Michael Riconosciuto stated that the chopper
was blown out of the sky before it could leave the base, killing all five
personnel on board. Officially it was labelled an "accident". The "Nazi"
connections to the CIA-controlled Wackenhut and ARCO/Alyeska are
of interest here, and my reason for submitting the following. Several
of the capitalizations are mine and are intended for emphasis. - Wol.)
- - - - - - -
STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE GEORGE MILLER
CHAIRMAN, HOUSE INTERIOR AND INSULAR AFFAIRS
COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT HEARINGS ON ALYESKA
COVERT OPERATIONS --- NOVEMBER 4, 1991
This is the first of two days of hearings before the House
Interior Committee on the subject of covert surveillance
authorized by the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company and con-
ducted by The Wackenhut Corporation.
On August 7 of this year, the Committee on Interior and
Insular Affairs filed a written request for documents from
Wackenhut and Alyeska in connection with allegations that the
Wackenhut Corporation conducted undercover surveillance of
Charles Hamel on behalf of Alyeska and its OWNER companies.
In letters to both Wackenhut and Alyeska, I expressed concern
that the surveillance of Mr. Hamel was for the purpose of obtaining
information on and/or interfering with Mr. Hamel's communications
with this Committee.
Charles Hamel has been a source of information for Congress,
state and federal regulatory agencies, and the media, concerning
environmental, health and safety VIOLATIONS by Alyeska and its
oil company owners (that is, ARCO or Atlantic Richfield. - Wol.).
Mr. Hamel has served as a conduit for whistleblowers, including
Alyeska employees, to make public information on oil industry
practices. At the same time, Mr. Hamel has at least two significant
business disputes with ALYESKA and EXXON (previously known
as Standard Oil / I. G. Farben - Wol.)
I want to make very clear that it is not the purpose of these
hearings to determine whether Mr. Hamel, Alyeska or Exxon
are correct in the matter of their lawsuits and business disputes.
Nor is it the purpose of these hearings to examine whether Mr.
Hamel's various allegations about oil company environmental
violations are true or not. These are matters for another day and
other forums.
While the validity of Mr. Hamel's environmental allegations is
not the focus of these hearings, the fact that Mr. Hamel was an
important source of information for this Committee's ongoing
investigation of the Exxon Valdez oil spill and Alyeska
operations is very relevant.
In the next two days, we will explore the issue of whether
Alyeska's use of a "bogus" environmental group formed by
Wackenhut spies was an effort to disrupt and compromise a
source of information for this Committee's continuing investigation
of oil industry practices in Alaska.
These hearings are intended to lay bear the full story of what
happened during the covert surveillance of Mr. Hamel and others.
We also will seek to determine why the spy operation was
initiated and, equally important, why it was terminated.
In my view, it is important to find out why some of the
largest and most powerful corporations in this country would
resort to such elaborate "sting" tactics to INVADE and DESTROY
the privacy of Mr. Hamel, federal and state officials,
environmentalists and ordinary citizens.
It has been suggested that the sole purpose of Alyeska's
spying on Mr. Hamel was simply to recover "stolen documents."
However, if the explanation was that simple, this Committee would
not be involved in these hearings. If Alyeska's sole concern was
"stolen documents," the laws of this country provide an adequate
means of redress in the courts.
We believe that the testimony and the evidence presented in
these hearings during the next two days will show that the covert
surveillance operation involved the much more sinister and
disturbing motives of SILENCING environmental critics and
intimidating whistleblowers.
In the course of the Committee's investigation, we have
received large numbers of documents, electronic recordings and
other materials. At various times, the Committee members have
authorized by unanimous votes the issuance of subpoenas and the
use of certain documents for which attorney-client privilege was
claimed.
Our goal has been to conduct a thorough and fair
investigation. We have attempted to accommodate a number
of concerns raised by the witnesses. In conclusion, I especially
want to express my appreciation for the cooperation that I have
received from Congressman Young in this endeavor.
TESTIMONY OF SHERREE RICH BEFORE THE
UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OF THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS COMMITTEE
ON INTERIOR AND INSULAR AFFAIRS
2226 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C.
November 4 & 5, 1991
Good afternoon, Chairman Miller and Members of this
Subcommittee -
My name is Sherree Rich. I am testifying today in response to
a subpoena about my employment with Wackenhut. I am currently
a Child Abuse Investigator with the State of Florida. Prior to that,
I worked for six months for the Wackenhut Corporation.
Prior to accepting employment with Wackenhut I had worked for
the Tallahassee Police Department for two and a half years, and
the Hillsborough County Sheriff's office for three and a half months
on a special undercover operation.
I accepted employment with the Wackenhut Corporation in
August, 1990, after applying and being interviewed at the Tampa
office of the Wackenhut Corporation. Since I was interested in
becoming an investigator I was referred to Wayne Black, of the
Miami Special Investigations Division (hereinafter "SID"). Several
weeks after my initial interview I was contacted by Wayne Black
for an interview. Wackenhut arranged to fly me to Miami for an
interview at the SID offices. During that interview I advised Mr.
Black that I was interested in becoming an investigator. He
agreed to train me as an investigator. Because of recent
undercover experience in my previous job, he requested that I
begin work on an undercover operation that Wackenhut was
conducting in the Washington, D.C. area.
After completion of my background investigation I was hired,
and went to Miami for final processing and preparation for the
operation. The final preparation for leaving to conduct the
activity was to get a large amount of cash for use in setting up
the undercover office.
Mr. Wayne Black and I flew up to Washington on or about August
11, 1990. On the flight to Washington, D.C. I was provided a
number of articles to read about Exxon's activities in Alaska,
environmental issues about oil spills, and the Alaska pipeline
from Alaska newspapers. We were joined later by Rick Lund and
Vern Johnson. We checked into the Crystal City Marriot Hotel,
where I stayed for approximately 4-5 weeks. All of my hotel
expenses were covered by Wackenhut.
During the first few days after arriving in Virginia I was briefed
on what my duties were to be in connection with the undercover
operation. Initially I was told very little about what the real purpose
of the investigation was. I was directed to open and set up and office,
posing as "The Ecolit Group," which I knew to be a false identity
standing for "ecological litigation." This included opening a personal
bank account in my name, with ECOLIT on the check. I deposited
several thousand dollars. It also included ordering cards with my
name on the ECOLIT card identifying myself as a "staff researcher."
I also ordered cards for Wayne Black, identifying him as Dr. Wayne
Jenkins. As part of my cover I also joined the Library of Congress as
a researcher. I ordered the Anchorage Daily News as part of the cover
so that the office looked legitimate. I also purchased several books
about environmental issues and several environmental posters, such
as "SAVE THE WHALES" and "SAVE THE EARTH" as props.
The bogus office was located at 2341 Jefferson Davis Highway,
Suite 525, in the Century Building, Arlington, Virginia. The
office was in a suite of offices that shared common secretarial
answering and reception services, and a common lobby. In order
to appear legitimate I also received daily telephone calls from
Miami, posing as if it was the Miami ECOLIT office, as well as
faxes and occasional letters.
At about the same time, Mr. Richard Lund, posing as Mr. John
Fox, rented a suite in the same location called Overseas Trading
Company. Although we were working together in this undercover
operation, we pretended only to know Mr. Fox casually because
he assisted in getting our computers. In fact, Mr. Rick Lund, and
another gentleman named Vern Johnson, wired the offices with
video and audio microphones and cameras for the purpose of
recording all of the communications and transactions between
Hamel and Black. This included putting in a video camera inside a
portable stereo which was wired to Rick Lund's office where it
was picked up on a receiver and recorded. The sound system
was also wired through the ceiling panels to the office two or three
offices down the hallway. I was present when all the wiring was
done in these offices.
I was present during the time when Rick Lund and Vern Johnson
wired Ecolit's office in Arlington, Virginia. We arrived at the QRC
offices (where we rented the Ecolit office) at night. Rick and Vern
ran wires from John Fox's office, International Overseas Trading,
through the ceiling into the Ecolit office. Rick had attached the
wires to a remote controlled, toy dune buggy. He used this vehicle
to drive across the inside of the ceiling from his office, across the
intervening office to the Ecolit office so he could get the wires to the
Ecolit office. He ran the wire from the ceiling through a stanchion
in the wall, cut a hole in the wall to bring the wire out and ran the
wire under the carpet.
Up until the opening of the office all I had been told was that
we were conducting the investigation into a person named Charles
Hamel. According to Wayne Black, Mr. Hamel had spent about
ten years trying to seek revenge on Exxon for receiving a raw deal
on oil brokering. Throughout the entire course of my involvement
with the undercover operation, Exxon and Alyeska were used INTER-
CHANGEABLY by all of my superiors. I came to understand that
Alyeska was a company formed by SEVEN oil companies, and
assumed that it was the Exxon portion of Alyeska that was
requesting the investigation.
As I became more familiar with the investigation I learned
that Mr. Hamel was receiving documents and information, 'allegedly'
illegally, from sources within Alyeska. Wayne Black and Rick Lund
told me that Hamel would receive Exxon and Alyeska information
and then turn it over to Congressman Miller, and also get the
Environmental Protection Agency involved, and that by doing so
Hamel was causing Alyeska and Exxon a great deal of financial
hardship and negative publicity. It was my understanding that the
purpose of the investigation was to find out who the sources of
information were and let Alyeska know who they were, so that they
could handle the leaks. I believed that as soon as an employee
was identified he or she would be terminated. In fact, I believe that
one employee was identified and terminated during this time frame.
It was my understanding that the investigation would last for
six months to a year. In order to staff the office I was told to rent
an apartment in Crystal City, Virginia. I did so; all of the expenses
and costs for the apartment were paid by Wackenhut, including
a rental car, gas, food, and utilities. The only thing I was responsible
for were personal telephone calls and personal items. I was not
aware of any State of Virginia or local authority license to conduct
this activity.
My job was to appear to be researching environmental causes in
and around the Washington, D.C. area, and to convince Mr. Hamel
of the legitimacy of the operation. Throughout the course of the
investigation, when Wayne "Jenkins" Black received documents from
Hamel, I was to scan those documents into a computer. I was
responsible for paying all of the bills for the office.
While the operation was going on, someone from the Miami office
drove up a Recreational Vehicle Camper fully equipped with living
quarters and electronic surveillance equipment, such as portable
telephones, two way radios, and other equipment that I did not
recognize but understood to be used for picking up telephone
calls. The RV was parked near Mr. Hamel's condo and the park for
one night.
I was aware that Wackenhut had someone pick up Mr. Hamel's
trash to go through it for information, and also knew that while
Mr. Black was at Mr. Hamel's house he was wired to pick up all of
their conversations, and that during his visit there he went through
a bunch of Hamel's documents that were lying around and read from
those documents into the "wire" so that the information could be
transmitted back to Rick Lund. On one occasion I was also wired
to go to Hamel's house, when I gave him a check for $2,000.
It was my understanding that Hamel was having personal
financial problems, and that part of the plan was to "hook" him
into working with Wackenhut's undercover operations was to make
funds available to help him support his environmental causes. I
presented two checks to Mr. Hamel, one in the office and one at
his house.
I was never present at any meetings in the office or the hotel
room, and never went to dinner with Mr. Hamel, but I know that
Mr. Black met with him in the office and that those meetings were
videoed taped by Mr. Lund in his office down the hall.
The operation lasted about three months, during which time Mr.
Black came from Miami on a number of occasions. At the end
of that time frame I was told that the operation was closing down. I
was told that it was closing down because Alyeska attorneys
wanted to stop the operation. I believe that one of the concerns
that led to closing down the operation was because Wackenhut
was confirming that Hamel did, in fact, have information on
environmental wrongdoing which Wackenhut had no way to handle.
For the last few weeks of the operations it was unclear to me
how long it would actually last. Comments were made about closing
it down early. Then Mr. Black stopped talking to Mr. Hamel
entirely , and directed me to "cover" for him by saying he was in
a meeting or not in his office in Miami. To the best of my
knowledge Mr. Black never called him back. Then Mr. Black
returned to Miami, and I was instructed to close down the office
and load the computer equipment, files, posters, and all of the
props and papers we had collected into a rental van, and drive it
to Miami, which I did.
I continued to work at Wackenhut until January, 1991. During
that time I had one further follow up involvement with the Hamel
investigation. Sometime in October or November, I was briefly
interviewed by two attorneys regarding my activities in the
Virginia office. I was only asked by them "why" I was hired, and
what my function was in Virginia. Prior to the interview I had
been told by Wayne Black to just answer the questions that they
asked very briefly, and not to add anything.
On my last day of work I was directed by Gil Mugarra to pick
up the trash for one of the other investigator's assignments.
This involved getting up at about 3:00 a.m. in order to insure
that you were able to pick up the trash without being seen and
before the garbage pick up. I questioned this assignment since it
was NOT my case, and 'discussed' it with other investigators and
with Mr. Mugarra. Following these conversations I believed that
the assignment had been returned to the original investigator. No
one ever told me that the trash assignment was to be my last. The
next day, Black called me into his office and asked me what had
happened. He advised me that I was being put on suspension
because I had "refused" to pick up the trash. That was not true.
He told me that he would call me the next morning around 8:30
a.m., instead he called me around noon the next day and advised
me that I could quit or be fired. I asked him if he would give me
a good reference if I quit, and he said that the only thing that
would be on my personnel file would be that I quit, so I
resigned.
I hope that this information is helpful to the Committee
investigating this matter. I will be pleased to try and answer
any questions that you may have.
TESTIMONY OF CHARLES HAMEL BEFORE THE UNITED
STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED
STATES CONGRESS COMMITTEE ON INTERIOR AND
INSULAR AFFAIRS
2226 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C.
November 4 & 5, 1991
Chairman Miller, Members of the Committee, Good Afternoon.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify on the
Alyeska investigation conducted into my business activities and
my private life.
My name is Charles Hamel, of Alexandria, Virginia. May I
introduce my wife, Kathleen Morgan Hamel and my son Chuck, Jr.,
Prince William Sound commercial salmon fisherman of Cordova,
Alaska. Accompanying me this afternoon is my friend and counsel,
Billie Pirner Garde.
I grew up in Watertown, Connecticut, attending Assumption Prep
School and a year at Assumption College in Worcester,
Massachusetts. My sophomore year was at the Universite de
Montpellier in France, after which I was drafted into the United
States Army in Europe during the Korean War. I served in Military
Intelligence on loan to the French Army in Koblenz, Germany. Upon
my honorable discharge, I remained in Europe as Administrative
Officer, Off-Shore Procurement Program, United States Embassy,
in Brussels, Belgium, in support of the U.S. forces in Korea. In
1954 I returned home to continue my studies in foreign trade here
at Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. Senator
Hubert Humphrey helped me gain an elevator operator job in the
Capitol. Thereafter I was a student staff member in the offices
of Senator Ralph Yarborough and Majority Leader Lyndon B.
Johnson.
In 1958 I became the Administrative Assistant to the late
Senator Thomas J. Dodd of Connecticut. Following years in foreign
trade, I again returned to the Capitol for two years as Executive
Assistant to my former prep school roommate, Senator Mike Gravel
of Alaska. Among my duties, as his assistant, I worked
relentlessly to convince Alaska residents, commercial fishermen,
Natives and the public that the oil industry would be good for
Alaska and would surely build an environmentally sound pipeline
and port terminal. Prior to construction, I traveled the 800 mile
right-of-way from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez.
In the foreign trade business, I worked mainly as a management
consultant, and commodities, ship and cargo broker/agent. In this
capacity, I had the opportunity to represent foreign countries
and arrange purchases of grain and other commodities on their
behalf. Once I negotiated the purchase, I would arrange the ocean
transportation of those commodities to other parts of the world.
I also brokered the sale of oil and arranged long term crude
tanker contracts. Eventually, I became an independent oil and
shipping broker. In addition I acquired partial ownership in oil
leases in Alaska and the lower U.S. I worked very hard and was
fortunate enough to be very successful for a period of years.
In 1980, all my hard work and success began to fall apart when
my clients discovered that they were not getting the crude that
they were paying for, but were instead receiving oil that was
significantly DILUTED with water. I could not cover the losses
and by 1982 I had lost my clients, my source of income, and my
credibility in the eyes of the business community I represented.
From that point forward I began to lose everything I had worked
for over the years.
At first, EXXON executives led me to believe the dilution
problem was caused by malfeasance at the Panama Canal trans-
shipment point. My investigations in Panama proved otherwise. I
brought my discoveries to the attention of EXXON and other oil
company executives who I had come to know personally over the
years. However, soon I realized that the water in the oil was NO
MISTAKE and it was, by no means, limited to me or my clients.
In fact, I was provided EXXON documents that proved that EXXON,
ARCO and British Petroleum were quite aware of the water problem.
I had sincerely believed that the Alaska oil executives and
Owners of the Alyeska Pipeline would take prompt corrective
action. NOTHING was done. Instead they DENIED the truth, and
apparently hoped that I would forget about my business, the
damage to my credibility and reputation, and my lost income. I
could not do that then, or now. I built my business not only on
hard work but on the honesty of my word. When the Alyeska
owners CHEATED my clients, they were, in effect, making me
out as a dishonest businessman before my own clients. (The
oil/gas price hikes of 1996, etc., had absolutely no reasonable
basis other than to INCREASE the income of the Oil Companies.
It appears that Mr. Hamel is not the only one being "cheated"
by the petroleum monopolists. - Wol.)
In 1985, I decided to expose the dishonesty of the oil
industry in regards to the water in the oil issue, and attempted
to insure that there was some accountability of the industry in
connection with their business practices. By this time I had also
come to the conclusion that the oil industry was turning Alaska
into an environmental disaster. Employees I talked to in Valdez,
friends I knew in the industry, people I had worked with for
years were all discussing the dismal performance of Alyeska in
regards to their commitment to environmental and worker safety.
I realized that I was not the only victim of the dishonesty of
the oil industry in Alaska -- we were ALL victims, and no one was
doing anything about it. We were living in a CONSPIRACY OF
SILENCE waiting for an environmental disaster to occur and, as
you know, IT DID. I decided that I had to do something to prove
to the public that the oil industry had VIOLATED their legal and
moral obligations to Alaska. The more I heard, the angrier I got
about what was going on. Alyeska was polluting the water by
introducing TOXIC sludge, including cancer-causing benzene, into
the pristine waters of Port Valdez and Prince William Sound.
Alyeska was poisoning the Valdez fjord's air by venting extremely
hazardous hydrocarbon vapors directly into the atmosphere. There
was NO regulatory oversight, and thus no regulatory violations.
It was as if the environmental regulations of the United States
did not even apply north of the Canadian border -- no regulators,
no oversight, no enforcement -- nothing. In fact, the oil
industry wasn't putting out anything but POISON and LIES.
In order to pursue the excessive water in the oil matter, I
filed an administrative complaint with the Alaska Public
Utilities Commission ("APUC"). At the hearing, former Alyeska
employee, Erlene Blake, at great risk, testified that, as senior
laboratory technician responsible for testing the amount of water
in the oil, she continually discovered EXCESSIVE water in the
oil, but had been DIRECTED by her supervisors to FALSIFY the
log entries to show only acceptable levels in the samples. During
this same period, she was REQUIRED TO FALSIFY laboratory
analysis with regard to water quality. The reports to the United
States Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") were FALSE.
Because she was so troubled by those instructions, as suggested
by an assistant lab tech, she secretly maintained log books
of duplicate entries, recording the true lab analysis beside the
falsified data -- a red book for the water in oil and a yellow
log book for the EPA violations.
Alyeska adamantly denied her allegations and DISCREDITED
her testimony by claiming she couldn't produce the notebooks with
the double entries of oil and water. In fact, Ms. Blake could not
produce the logs because an Alyeska supervisor BROKE INTO
HER PERSONAL LOCKER AND STOLE THEM. She couldn't
prove her allegations, and neither could I. But we knew it was true.
So did Alyeska.
Not long after the hearing I was contacted by an Alyeska
employee - Bob Scott. Two Alyeska supervisors BOASTED to Mr.
Scott and several fellow technicians that the log books had been
removed from her locker, had not been destroyed and were not
produced as required by the APUC subpoena. He was ashamed of
Alyeska management's ILLEGAL actions. He knew that Alyeska had
cheated me, had deceived the APUC, and had discredited one of
their own honest employees. He also knew that Alyeska was
violating numerous environmental and worker safety regulations.
Bob Scott was among the first of many employees that provided
me information about violations of environmental regulations by
Alyeska. As I learned of these abuses, I in turn, provided the
information to the appropriate government agencies responsible
for investigating these matters, including EPA, the General
Accounting Office and the Alaska Department of Environmental
Conservation. In the beginning it was very difficult to get any
government action on the employee's allegations. I then turned
the information over to the press and, sometimes, to members of
Congress. There was a profound skepticism everywhere that the oil
industry would knowingly pollute the environment and harm their
own employees in Alaska. The Alyeska public relations campaign
was working. Few newspapers would print the facts. Few regulators
would even listen.
Alyeska tried hard to discredit me by attacking my motives, my
sources of information, my credibility, and attempting to portray
me as a vengeful -- if not slightly insane -- opponent of the oil
industry. But their "kill the messenger approach" backfired. It
seemed that the harder Alyeska tried to discredit me publicly,
the more their employees came to me with information privately.
In fact, frequently the public denial of facts, known to be true
to Alyeska employees, led those employees to my doorstep.
By the end of 1985, I had provided substantial documentary
evidence to the EPA about environmental wrongdoing by Alyeska.
Rather than deal honestly with these facts, Alyeska sued the EPA
to force disclosure of the documents. The United States District
Court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals, I am grateful to say,
denied Alyeska access to the documents because to do so
could have identified my sources, who feared retaliation.
In 1985 the oil industry attempted to find out what it would
take to make me go away. As requested, I calculated my actual
business losses at $12 million dollars. I also insisted that
actions be taken to clean up the environmental issues I had
raised, including an audit of the Valdez terminal, a pollution
monitoring program funded by Alyeska and run by an indepen-
dent group not accountable to the oil industry, and a medical
monitoring fund for the Alyeska technicians who had been
needlessly exposed to toxic vapors. The industry obviously was
not prepared to meet those demands to get rid of me.
I continued to receive information from employees -- horror
stories of poison and pollution which I conveyed to the media,
Congress and government agencies. Alyeska had to be dragged
kicking and screaming through each corrective action. However, it
was apparent to fishing community leaders like Dr. Riki Ott and
Rick Steiner of Cordova, my loyal supporters throughout the
years, that a major disaster was imminent. Early in 1989 the
severity of the problems demanded Congressional intervention and
your Committee's Majority staff agreed. But within weeks the
Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred, and everything in Alaska changed
forever. The allegations I had been pointing out to the EPA for
years to no avail were suddenly "high priority," and even the
public began to doubt the public relations departments of the oil
industry.
[continued...]
