Bechtel
Profile
Bechtel is a privately-owned construction company that was founded in 1906. It builds big projects like dams, roads, fossil fuel and nuclear power plants. In the 1930s, it was charged with 70,000 separate labor violations during the construction of the Hoover Dam. It has also been charged with installing the San Onofre nuclear reactor backwards and botching the clean up of the nuclear meltdown at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania. Bechtel was in charge of the Boston Central Artery tunnel project (aka the "Big Dig") estimated to be the most expensive highway project in U.S. history. (The $2.5 billion cost estimate ballooned to $24.3 billion.) The company’s contract to privatize the water system in Cochabamba, Bolivia, resulted in price hikes of up to 300 percent.
Infrastructure, Mining & Metals, Nuclear, Security & Environmental, Oil, Gas & Chemicals
Violations
Top 5 Offense Groups (Groups Defined) | Penalty Total | Number of Records |
---|---|---|
government-contracting-related offenses | $911,475,000 | 4 |
employment-related offenses | $19,169,153 | 8 |
safety-related offenses | $4,339,185 | 20 |
environment-related offenses | $10,000 | 1 |
(May 24, 2021)
Stories
Activism
SOAKING THE POOR: S.F.'s Bechtel wants the Bolivian people to pay for its bad water investment
Daniel Zull | Blue Planet Project | December 13, 2000
Last spring, thousands of residents of Cochabamba, Bolivia, seized control of the city's central plaza to protest a dramatic increase in their water bills, which by some accounts had doubled or even tripled. The protests triggered clashes across the country over a wide range of other ...
- Union of Concerned Scientists
- Center for Health, Environment & Justice
- Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families
- American Friends Service Committee: Investigate
- Publish What You Pay
- Pacific Environment
- International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions
- Greenpeace
- Friends of the Earth International
- Friends of the Earth Europe
- Environmental Rights Action, Friends of the Earth Nigeria
- EarthWorks
- EarthRights International
- Corporate Watch
- Oil Change International
& Lawsuits
$450 million settlement covers Big Dig tragedy
Associated Press | January 23, 2008
Contractors will pay more than $450 million to settle the state's lawsuit over a fatal tunnel collapse and to cover the costs of leaks and design flaws in the Big Dig, officials said Wednesday
Bechtel Surrenders in Bolivia Water Revolt Case
Earth Justice | January 19, 2006
Bechtel, one of the world’s largest corporations, reached agreement with the government of Bolivia today, dropping its controversial legal demand over the public water revolt that forced it out of Bolivia in April 2000.
Dying Ex-NRC Inspector Sues Plant Where She Worked
Sally Streff Buzbee | Tulsa World | February 4, 2019
Rung Tang always believed she was perfectly safe working as a Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspector inside the San Onofre nuclear power plant. She thinks differently now. Tang is dying from a rare form of cancer at age 44. She is suing the plant's operators, contending she was exposed to leaking radiation.
Workers' leave revoked for protest day: leaked email
Helen Spelitis | Sunshine Coast Daily | August 10, 2015
GLADSTONE construction giant Bechtel has been accused of cancelling employee leave to stop workers joining a protest rally aimed at protecting Australian jobs.
Workers Blow Whistle At Midland Nuke Plant
David Stoll | Ann Arbor Sun | December 6, 1974
The Consumers Power nuclear plant at Midland, Michigan continues to be plagued by inadequate testing of the materials going into its construction, the SUN has learned from knowledgeable workers on the site.
Financials
Note: Not a complete list.
- Bantrel Co
- Bechtel Oil, Gas and Chemicals, Inc.
- Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory
- Concolidated Nuclear Security
- Tube Lines
- Bechtel Jacobs
- Bechtel Nuclear, Security & Environmental, Inc.
- Bechtel Construction Operations Incorporated
- MORE
Croctail Subsidiary Tool using the CorpWatch API - This API uses automated parsers to extract the subsidiary relationship information from Exhibit 21 of companies' 10-K filings with the SEC.
Privately Held.
Political Influence
OpenSecrets.org PAC Profile of Bechtel Group
& Evasion
Six Rigged Rules Corporations Use to Dodge Taxes
Sarah Anderson and Scott Klinger | The Nation | April 16, 2012
As American families rush to complete their annual tax returns, many will have paid more in federal income taxes than some of America’s largest and most profitable corporations.
Procurement
Bechtel contracts with the U.S. Federal Government (via USA Spending)