The FBI is investigating whether Alaska political appointees improperly punished state regulators who tried to enforce environmental rules against oil companies operating in Alaska.
The inquiry is connected to an ongoing criminal investigation of BP for allowing pipelines it operates to corrode enough to cause a large oil spill on Alaska’s North Slope in 2006. Similar pipeline corrosion discovered later that year forced the partial shutdown of Prudhoe Bay, the most productive U.S. oil field.Now, the actions of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, which is responsible for overseeing oil operations in the state, have also come under scrutiny. ADEC is accused of repeatedly shielding oil companies from enforcement actions that would have required better maintenance and oversight of the industry’s facilities and pipelines.
Yes, Alaska is a target rich environment for the racketeering squad.
ADEC is not the only department where retaliation occurrs. In fact ADEC was just a skills nursery for people who later became statewide Labor-Management retaliators. Same illegal tactics, same cast of characters, many cases.
I personally had to deal with the situation. The AFSCME local 52 wass taken over by the former Commissioner of Administration, and others from the AK Department of Labor in violation of two year disqualification for conflict of interest. They purged Business Agents who had sucess at representing grievances against the Business Manager in his former position as Commissioner od Administration. A one sided grievance procedure and intentional subversion of statutes and contracts resulted.
DOL agents asked if I knew of any pension fraud, and though I did not, I promised that “With the level of corruption I had seen there , there would be irregularities.” A week later I sent news of a $5.7 billion deficit ( now apprachong $10 B.)in the state’s PERS accounts, and a month after that a special session of legislature was called to address the situation.
There are some serious crooked AK Labor management folks that can only learn by some time in a federal pen.