Those Welds Are Not Faulty!

As Chaplain on the Pipeline Mr. Lindsey Williams was responsible for seven camps—all of the camps north of the Brooks Range from Galbraith Lake Camp to Prudhoe Bay. Each day I had a worship service in a different camp, seven days a week. The camps were approximately 35 to 40 miles from each other.

This meant that he traveled from camp to camp each day, and upon arriving he would check in with the registration desk. The lady at the desk would attempt, if possible, to give him his own room because of my position as Chaplain. I had to do a great deal of counseling, and clearly it was desirable to have a room where privacy was possible.

On one particular day, he arrived at Franklins Bluff Camp, and the lady at the desk said, “Chaplain, I would very much like to give you a room by yourself, but we are just full up today and it is not possible.”

Lindsey Williams replied, “Thank you, I understand the situation. I do not mind at all sharing a room with someone else.” She handed him a room number on a slip of paper, as she normally did. He walked into the 52-man dorm, down the hallway, and started to enter the room when there was an immediate protest from someone inside the room as he was entering.

A gentleman came to the door and said, “I’m sorry, but you can’t stay here.”

Lindsey replied, “Sir, I’m very sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude.” At this point the man walked out of the room, and said “You’ll have to go back to the desk and get reassigned.”

Lindsey turned and started to walk away, but as he did, he asked, “Hey, by the way, who are you?” Lindsey answered, “I’m the Chaplain with Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, assigned to this camp.”

The gentleman smiled and said, “Well, Chaplain, I think you just might be interested in this, since you are a Reverend.”. Lindsey asked the man, “Well, why did you not want me in the room? After all, I don’t want to intrude any place where I should not be.”

The gentleman explained that he was appointed by Alyeska and the Federal government to examine the so-called “faulty welds.” The claims that the welds in the big pipe were faulty had been spread all over the country by the news media—in the newspapers, on radio, and on television. It was put out for the whole world to know that the welds were bad. Every so many feet the pipe must be welded, and the Federal government had claimed that many of the welds were faulty, and that as a result there would be leaks when the oil was flowing.

The pipeline was both above and below ground. From Prudhoe Bay to Valdez was approximately 800 miles. The estimate was that approximately half of the pipeline in that distance was under the ground, and the other half was above the ground. To check the faulty welds, as the Federal government wanted, would mean the digging up of virtually hundreds of miles of the oil pipeline. Each of these welds was supposed to have been X-rayed prior to the pipe being laid in the ground.

Indeed, the problem was even more serious than simply going underground. Much of the pipe was actually underneath river beds. This, therefore, would have meant literally multiplied millions of dollars for the pipeline to have been dug up and X-rayed again. All the X-rays of the welds prior to the pipe being laid in the ground were undertaken by a firm that was subcontracted by Alyeska.

The instructions to investigate the welds came up only some six to nine months before the projected date of oil flow. Obviously such an undertaking would cause great delay, and the costs would be enormous. The claim was that the company that was supposed to have X-rayed these welds had duplicated their film, and in so doing had cut back on their own costs, but had not done the job properly. When every joint of pipe was put together, the weld had to be X-rayed, and the company had films to prove that the X-rays had been carried out.

The man in the dorm smiled and said, “Reverend, come on in.” As they walked across the dimly lit room, I noticed a light table on which were placed many strips of film. He explained that these were the films which represented the welds on each joint of the big pipe. This four-foot pipe that was to carry the crude oil from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez is the largest diameter pipe ever constructed for the carrying of crude oil.

As the gentleman pointed to the light table, Lindsey Williams remarked, “Sir, I know nothing about X-raying the welds on a big pipe. Would you please tell me what all this is… and why it’s so secret?”

The man said, “Chaplain, haven’t you heard about the faulty welds on the big pipe?”

Lindsey said, “Yes, sir, anybody who listens to the radio or watches TV or reads the newspaper has heard about that.”

The man said, “Chaplain, my purpose in being here is to examine those welds.”
 He continued, “Sir, all of this is classified.”

Lindsey asked, “Do you mean that no one is supposed to see these films?”
The man responded, “Chaplain, until this matter is settled, it could be very drastic—it’s of national importance.”

The gentleman was cordial by now, and he took considerable pains to explain what he was involved in. I asked him what on the films would show whether a weld was good or bad. He took a picture and pointed out a good weld, then put beside it a picture of a bad weld. The bad weld appeared to have bubbles internally.

Lindsey asked, “Do you mean to tell me that an X-ray can pick up a bubble inside a piece of metal?”

He replied, “Yes, because the type of X-ray that we undertake is done with radioactive material.”

As I compared the pictures, Lindsey could see a dark crusty area, and to a normal layman, it appeared to have what looked like a bubble. On the picture, a good weld looked exactly like a good weld on the outside of a piece of metal would look.

The gentleman told Lindsey that what had to be proven was whether or not each weld had actually been X-rayed. Lindsey realized that this was very important, and spent a great deal of time going through the details with him as he explained various points.

In the course of their lengthy conversation, it became very clear that this gentleman believed that the whole investigation was unwarranted, that there was no truth to the claim that there were faulty welds, and that it was costing the oil companies millions of dollars for this investigation. He had already been through most of the films, and he had simply not come up with evidence to demonstrate the validity of the claims that had been made relating to the welds.

One other point of background is that this gentleman told Lindsey Williams that there had been an agreement between Alyeska Pipeline Service Company and the Federal. government to appoint him as examiner for these welds. It had been mutually agreed that his decisions would be accepted by both sides. Some Federal inspector, hidden in anonymity, had claimed that the welds were faulty, but here was the expert, mutually agreed to by both parties, insisting that the Federal inspector’s claims were false.

Sometimes in these matters of high policy, sacrifices are made, and there are even those who become scapegoats. The company that had been challenged as to its integrity in this matter of the welds was actually dismissed by Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, and paid off. Another company was appointed to continue the work, and thus a compromise was reached. This was reported as being a face-saving operation, but in fact the gentleman with whom he shared the room that night made it quite clear that basically the charges had no substance.

During that evening, Lindsey and the mysterious man talked at length about what was happening, as this mammoth project was nearing its completion. It again appeared that somewhere underlying the total picture was an attempt by the government to postpone the flow of oil. Lindsey was left with the clear impression that government intervention was quite deliberate, in an attempt to lead the oil companies to financial chaos, even to their bankruptcy, and ultimately to the nationalization of the oil industry.

Time went by, and it was later proven by the actual flow of oil that the welds were not faulty. To Lindsey Williams knowledge, there was no leak that developed in the pipe at any point as a result of a faulty weld.

Nevertheless, the fact is that Alyeska Pipeline Service Company was instructed by the Federal government to dig up certain points of the pipe at extreme expense, to re-X-ray the welds,and to re-lay the pipe. Alyeska had no option but to obey, so they did it.

At this point, Lindsey was told by Mr. X that cost overruns were going to bring the total cost of the pipeline to $12 billion dollars. The pipeline was supposed to cost $600 million, then $2 billion and then $10 billion. Five times the original estimate.

There was a concerted effort to ruin the oil companies,bring them to bankruptcy, discredit them in the eyes of the people, and ultimately nationalize the oil industry.

This became clearer, as Lindsey Williams witnessed rich oil men from Saudi Arabia, as well as the bankers from the lower 48 states, coming to Prudhoe Bay in large numbers.

Reference:  http://www.lindseywilliams.net/lindsey-williams-the-energy-non-crisis-chapter-12/