Bechtel
Bechtel Corporation is a privately owned, multinational civil engineering firm based in the United States. Bechtel, headquartered in San Francisco, was founded in 1898 by Warren A. Bechtel, who got his start contracting for the burgeoning U.S. railroad industry.
Bechtel Corporation was a major contributor in the building of the Hoover Dam in the 1930s. It has also been involved in several other high profile construction engineering projects, including the Chunnel, several oil pipelines and refineries across the world, the BART, Jubail Industrial City in Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong International Airport, the Big Dig, and most recently the rebuilding of the civil infrastructure Iraq funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
In 2000, the government of Bolivia privatized its water industry and awarded a large water contract for Colombia's 3rd-largest city, Cochabamba, to a Bechtel subsidiary named Aguas del Tunar (which was formed for that purpose). Shortly thereafter, the company tripled the water rates in that city, an action which resulted in protests and rioting. Despite the Bolivian police's attempts to quell the rioting, the situation deteriorated. Amidst Bolivia's nationwide economic collapse and growing national disturbances over the state of the economy, the Bolivian government was forced to withdraw the water contract. In 2001, Bechtel filed suit the Bolivian government for $25 million in lost profits. The continuing legal battle has attracted attention from anti-globalization and anti-capitalist groups.
In early 2003, the Boston Globe launched an investigation into Bechtel's role in massive cost overruns and accounting irregularities in Boston's Big Dig project totaling over $1 billion. The Globe, along with the Associated Press, filed papers requesting that Massachusetts Turnpike Authority make public the results of all Bechtel's performance audits related to the Big Dig. Bechtel sought a preliminary injunction to block the release of the documents, but the superior court judge in the case denied Bechtel's request on April 11, 2003, opening the way for public release of the documents.
On April 17, 2003, Bechtel was awarded a $680 million contract by USAID to rebuild the infrastructure of Iraq. This placed Bechtel in the spotlight along with other American firms like Halliburton who have come under intense international scrutiny for receiving no-bid contracts for the rebuilding of Iraq.
Like most large American companies, Bechtel has contributed large amounts of money to United States politicians (over a million dollars in campaign contributions between 1999 and 2002). The company has particularly close ties with the current U.S. administration.
Critics both in the U.S. and allies like Britain have questioned the process by which the U.S. awards Iraq contracts to American companies.
George Schultz, former U.S. Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan, currently sits on both the board of Bechtel and the U.S. Committee for the Liberation of Iraq. Gen. John J. Sheehan, who currently sits on the U.S. Defense Policy Board, is also a vice-president at Bechtel.
Bechtel was ranked as the 6th largest privately-owned company in the U.S. in Forbes Magazine's 2002 "Private 500" list. The company employees over 50,000 people worldwide.
People
- Riley P. Bechtel, CEO. Net worth of $3.2 billion, listed as #50 in Forbes Magazine's 2002 list of richest Americans.
- George P. Schultz, former U.S. Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan and a current Bechtel director.
- Caspar Weinberger. Prior to serving as the U.S. Secretary of Defense under Ronald Reagan, Weinberger was the Vice President, Director, and General Counsel of Bechtel.
- Gen. John J. Sheenan, USMC (ret.), former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic, former Special Advisor to Asia for the U.S. Defense Department. Currently serving as Bechtel's General Manager of the Petroleum and Chemical Business Unit for Europe/ Africa/Middle East/South West Asia and is also a Bechtel partner.
- Georganne Proctor, CFO
References
- Official homepage
- Friends in High Places: The Bechtel Story: The Most Secret Corporation and How It Engineered the World, by Laton McCartney, 1988. (ISBN 0345360443)
- Welcome Aboard the Iraq Gravy Train, an editorial by Terry Jones, April 12, 2003.
- Crude Vision, a report by the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Policy Studies, March 24, 2003. Reproduces the full text of internal Bechtel memos detailing the corporations long involvement with Iraqi oil
- Bechtel v. Bolivia: The Bolivian Water Revolt, anti-globalisation viewpoint on Bechtel's involvement in Bolivia