Bechtel Corporation

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Type	Privately held company
Industry	Heavy construction Engineering Project Management
Founded	1898
Founder(s)	Warren A. Bechtel
Headquarters	San Francisco, California, U.S.
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Riley P. Bechtel (CEO)
Products	Construction contracting
Revenue	US$27.9 billion (2010)[1]
Owner(s)	Bechtel family
Employees	52,700 (2010)
Website	www.bechtel.com

Bechtel Corporation (Bechtel Group) is the largest construction and engineering company in the United States,^[2] ranking as the 5th-largest privately owned company in the U.S.^[3] Its headquarters are in the Financial District of San Francisco.^[4] As of 2010, Bechtel had $30.8 billion in revenue and employed 49,000 workers on projects in nearly 50 countries.

Bechtel participated in the building of Hoover Dam in the 1930s. It has also had involvement in a number of other high profile construction engineering projects: numerous power projects such as refineries and nuclear power plants; transportation projects including the Channel Tunnel, the BART system, King Fahd International Airport in Dammam (the largest Airport in the world by land area), Hong Kong International Airport and the Big Dig; and other projects such as the Kingdom Centre and Tower in Saudi Arabia, Jubail Industrial City, the rebuilding of the civil infrastructure of Iraq funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the hauling and installing of more than 35,000 trailers and mobile homes for Hurricane Katrina victims in Mississippi.

The Bechtel family has owned Bechtel since incorporating the company in 1945. Bechtel's size, its political clout, and its penchant for privacy have made it a constant subject of scrutiny for journalists and politicians since the 1930s. Bechtel owns and operates power plants, oil refineries, water systems, and airports in several countries including the United States, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.

History[link]

Early 1900s[link]

Bechtel has always functioned as a family-owned company. Its founder, Warren A. Bechtel, started as an employee of the burgeoning United States railroad industry in 1898 after his Oklahoma cattle ranch failed. Over the next 20 years, he built up a sizeable contracting business that specialised in railroad and highway building. One of Bechtel's earliest major contracts was grading the site of the Oroville, CA depot for the Western Pacific Railroad, then under construction.

In 1919, Warren Bechtel and his partners (including his brother Arthur) built the Klamath Highway in California, and in 1921 Warren Bechtel partners won a contract to build the water tunnels for the Caribou Hydroelectric Facility in that state. In 1925, Warren A. Bechtel's sons Warren Jr., Stephen, and Ken joined him and incorporated as W.A. Bechtel Company. In 1926, the new company won its first major contract, the Bowman Lake dam in California.

1930s[link]

In 1928, the U.S. Congress passed the Boulder Canyon Project Act, which mandated the construction of a hydroelectric dam on the Colorado River. The plan used the name "Boulder Dam", but after some controversy the structure gained the name of "Hoover Dam" (in honor of President Herbert Hoover). The construction involved the largest civil engineering project ever undertaken at the time.

Over the next two years several companies competed for dam-building contracts. To compete for the contract, the W.A. Bechtel Company joined with five competitors to form the Six Companies Corporation. This partnership formed for the sole purpose of the Hoover Dam project, and their combined strength virtually guaranteed that they would submit the most competitive bid. On March 11, 1931, the United States Department of the Interior selected the Six Companies to build the dam. Construction of the Hoover Dam began in late 1931 and finished in 1936, two years ahead of schedule.

Warren A. Bechtel died suddenly while traveling abroad in 1933, in the midst of the Hoover Dam project. His son Warren A. Bechtel, Jr. took over as president of the company and served in that position until succeeded by his brother Stephen.

After the building of Hoover Dam, Bechtel's reputation soared. However, Stephen Bechtel wanted the company to become more than just a construction firm. He pushed the W.A. Bechtel Company to undertake more complex engineering projects and oil contracts.

From 1933 to 1936, Bechtel helped build the 4.5 mile (7 km) long San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge. In 1937, Bechtel joined forces with John McCone's engineering company to form an engineering/construction firm called the Bechtel-McCone Company.

World War II[link]

On July 19, 1940, President Roosevelt signed the Two-Ocean Naval Expansion Act, which authorized the construction of two huge fleets in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters. The U.S. Maritime Commission selected Bechtel to build a new shipyard for the Pacific fleet. Bechtel constructed the Marinship Bechtel Shipyards in Sausalito, California and produced hundreds of cargo ships and oil tankers for the Navy. John McCone's California Shipbuilding Company also gained many large and profitable shipbuilding contracts, starting in early 1941 and continuing through the end of World War II.

While the United States built its "Arsenal of Democracy", American war planners increasingly worried about what would happen if the Axis gained control of the world's oil reserves. The Italian invasion of Egypt in September 1940 caused deep concern, as did the April 1941 coup in Iraq which brought the pro-German Golden Square faction to power.

Matters came to a head after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. War planners became concerned that the Japanese might invade Alaska and threaten the northern oil fields, which had started to become an important part of the U.S. oil supply. In April 1942, the United States Army authorized the creation of the ALCAN (Alaskan-Canadian Highway) to facilitate the movement of troops and supplies to Alaska. Soon afterwards the authorities authorized the CANOL oil pipeline.

The CANOL pipeline contract went to Bechtel-Price-Callahan, a partnership formed for the purpose by the W.A. Bechtel Co., the H.C. Price Co., and the W.E. Callahan Construction Co. In June 1942, the Japanese invaded the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska, and the construction began in earnest. However, due to poor planning by the Army and mismanagement by the contractors, the CANOL project failed totally. The pipeline consumed more oil than it produced and cost taxpayers an enormous amount of money. Furthermore, as time went on, it became clear that the Japanese did not have the resources to invade Alaska. The CANOL pipeline was abandoned after a mere 11 months in operation.

During the pre-war period in late 1940 and early 1941, several scandals and allegations had surfaced involving wartime profiteering and widespread corruption at a number of defense contractors. In 1941, the U.S. Senate created the Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program at the urging of Senator Harry Truman. This committee, chaired by Truman, spent two years investigating waste and corruption in the defense industry.

In 1943, the "Truman Committee" released a scathing judgment on the $143 million CANOL project, calling it more destructive to the war effort than any act of sabotage by an enemy. The judgment singled out Bechtel-Price-Callahan for criticism for its role in the cost overruns and mismanagement that plagued the project.

Post-war era: late 40s through 50s[link]

After the war, the W.A. Bechtel Company bought out John McCone's share in Bechtel-McCone and incorporated as Bechtel Corporation. John McCone went on to head the Atomic Energy Commission and later the Central Intelligence Agency (see below).

In 1947, Bechtel expanded its oil pipeline activities with its construction of the Trans-Arabian Pipeline in Saudi Arabia. At over 1,000 miles (1,600 km), this comprised the longest pipeline in the world at the time. In addition to the pipeline itself, Bechtel built large parts of the modern infrastructures of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, including airports, sea ports, and oil refineries.

In 1946, the U.S. Congress authorized government research into nuclear power with the Atomic Energy Act of 1946. This act created the Atomic Energy Commission, later headed by Bechtel's former partner John McCone. Following President Eisenhower's famous Atoms for Peace speech in 1953, commercial research into nuclear power was authorized.

In 1956, Bechtel won the right to build the world's second commercial nuclear power reactor, the Dresden-1 in Illinois. Construction began in 1957 and the plant came fully online in 1960, four years after the first commercial nuclear power reactor, Calder Hall in Sellafield, England.

In 1959, a Bechtel partnership called Parsons Brinckerhoff-Tudor-Bechtel gained the contract for San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system. The system, completed in 1972, served as a model for other urban transit systems around the world.

60s and 70s[link]

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Bechtel expanded its energy engineering activities. In 1963, Bechtel began construction of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in California. However the company was embarrassed in 1977 when it installed a 420-ton nuclear-reactor vessel backwards at the power plant in San Onofre.^[5]

At this time the Corporation also diversified into other areas. In the late 1960s, Bechtel launched its development, finance, and investment arm, named Bechtel Enterprises Holdings, Inc. This firm leveraged Bechtel's experience, its capital, and its government ties to help other companies compete for engineering contracts throughout the world.

In 1972, Bechtel won a $13 billion contract for the James Bay hydroelectric project in northwest Quebec. The project was completed in 1985 and drew criticism from the growing environment movements in the U.S. and Canada.

In 1976, Bechtel was awarded a contract to build Jubail Industrial City in Saudi Arabia. By 1992, the 360 square mile (930 km²) city of Jubail was one of the most modern cities in Saudi Arabia, with a population of over 70,000. After the successful completion of the project in the late 1980s, Bechtel's contract was extended by the government of Saudi Arabia through 2007.

Also of note in the 1970s, Bechtel was selected to provide Construction Management services, equipment procurement and management, and quality control services on the Trans Alaska Pipeline, an 800-mile long, 48-inch diameter pipeline project which was the largest privately funded project in North America at a total cost of $8.3 Billion.^[6]

1980s[link]

The 1980s were not kind to Bechtel. Employee headcount plunged from 44,000 in 1982 to 16,000 in 1995; one of the 1995 layoffs ultimately resulted in a landmark 2000 employment law decision of the Supreme Court of California, which noted that it was Bechtel who had presented evidence of its massive layoffs to the trial court.^[7]

In 1981, Bechtel constructed the Ok Tedi Mine, the largest mine in Papua New Guinea at the time. An engineering feat, the mine was constructed in one of the most remote and inaccessible regions in the world. Controversy would surround the major shareholder of the mining company, Broken Hill Proprietary (BHP), which is now known as BHP Billiton, when it allowed mine waste to be dumped directly in the Ok Tedi River after a tailings dam built by Bechtel was destroyed in a landslide. The Ok Tedi Environmental Disaster resulted from the riverine dumping of pollution.^[8]

In 1981, Bechtel bought controlling interest in Wall Street investment bank Dillon, Read & Co., and George Schultz joined Dillon Read's board representing Bechtel.

Bechtel's recent history has been fraught with controversy. In 1988, just after Saddam Hussein had earned international condemnation for using poisonous gas against thousands of Kurds, Bechtel signed contracts with Iraq to build a chemical plant. Bechtel never completed the project due to the onset of the first Gulf War in 1990.

In 1989, Bechtel repaired the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge after a 30 ft (9 m) section collapsed as a result of the Loma Prieta Earthquake.

1990s[link]

According to the Wall Street Journal, Bechtel established a strong relationship with the rebel leader Laurent Kabila during the First Congo War of 1996-7 in central Africa, compiling "the most complete mineralogical and geographical data of the former Zaire ever assembled, information worth a fortune to any prospective mining or oil firm" and commissioning and paying for "U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration satellite studies of the country and for infrared maps of its mineral potential." According to government officials, some of the satellite data provided to Kabila by Bechtel was "militarily useful information."^[9]

In the late 1990s Bechtel was awarded the contract from Saudi Arabia's Civil Aviation Authority to build Dammam's King Fahd International Airport, the largest airport in the world in terms of land area (780 km²), thus making it larger than the nearby country of Bahrain, that Bechtel completed later than schedule and at a cost that was over budget while bad transport roads led many locals to fly via the nearby Bahrain International Airport.

2000 to present[link]

Bolivia[link]

In September 1999, Bechtel signed a contract with Hugo Banzer, the elected president and former dictator of Bolivia, to privatize the water supply in Bolivia's 3rd-largest city, Cochabamba. The contract was officially awarded to a company named Aguas del Tunari, a consortium in which Bechtel held a 27.5 percent interest. Shortly thereafter, claims surfaced that water rates in that city went up an average of about 50 percent and that even collection of rainwater was being made illegal as a result of the privatization contract.^[10] Both of these actions resulted in the Cochabamba protests of 2000. Many had to withdraw their children from school and stop using doctors because of higher costs for water. Martial law was declared, and Bolivian police killed at least 6 people and injured over 170 protesters. Amidst Bolivia's nationwide economic collapse and growing national unrest over the state of the economy, the Bolivian government withdrew the water contract.

In 2001, Bechtel filed suit against the Bolivian government, citing damages of more for $25 million. Bechtel argues that its contract was only to administer the water system, which suffered from terrible internal corruption and poor service, and that the local government raised water prices. The continuing legal battle attracted attention from anti-globalization and anti-capitalist groups. This topic is explored in the 2003 documentary film The Corporation, in the 2010 Spanish film Even the rain by Icíar Bollaín and on Bechtel's website. In January 2006, Bechtel and the other international partners settled the lawsuit against the Bolivian government for a reported two bolivianos, after intense protests that followed a ruling on jurisdiction favorable to Bechtel by the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes.^[11]

Saudi Arabia[link]

In 2002, Bechtel finished work on the Kingdom Centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom Centre includes a shopping centre, a Four Seasons Hotel, state-of-the-art apartments, and most importantly the Kingdom Tower, a 302 meter tower, the tallest in Saudi Arabia and the 25th tallest building in the world. The total cost of the project was 1.717 billion Saudi Arabian Riyals and is owned by Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.^[12]

London[link]

In January 2003 as part of the 30 year London Underground PFI, Bechtel has a one third interest in Tube Lines.^[13]

Bechtel announced in May 2010 that it has entered into an agreement to sell its one-third interest in Tube Lines to Transport for London (“TfL”) for £103 million.^[14]

Boston[link]

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. Bechtel rebutted the allegations on its website. 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.^[15]

Bechtel has long had close ties to the American government. From 1974 to 1982 George Schultz, former United States Secretary of Treasury and future Secretary of State, was president and director. The late former U.S. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger was general counsel for Bechtel in the late 1970s. Former deputy Secretary of Energy W. Kenneth Davis was Bechtel's vice-president. Riley Bechtel, the company's chair, was on President George W. Bush's Export Council. Jack Sheehan, a former senior vice-president of Bechtel, was a member of the U.S. Defense Policy Board. The Clinton Administration also appointed senior Bechtel managers to senior positions.^[16]

Like most large American companies, Bechtel and its employees have contributed large amounts of money to United States politicians (over a million dollars in campaign contributions between 1999 and 2002).^[17]

Iraq[link]

Following the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, George W. Bush awarded the first Iraq reconstruction contract to Bechtel through USAID, on April 20, 2003. This contract was worth an estimated $680 million.^[18][19] It is alleged that some of the construction projects managed by Bechtel were either poorly implemented, failing within months of their installation, or designed in such a way that Iraqi engineers did not have the knowledge or components to fix Bechtel's proprietary technology.^[20][21]

On May 5, 2003, The New Yorker ran an article revealing that the bin Laden family had passively invested several million dollars in The Fremont Group, a private equity fund owned by the Bechtel family.^[22]

Oak Ridge[link]

In 2004 BWXT, a partnership of BWX Technologies and Bechtel National are fined $82,500 for a February, 2003 accident at Oak Ridge, Tennessee's Y-12 facility after an accident caused a small explosion, a fire, and contaminated three employees.^[23]

Boston[link]

In late 2004, a significant leak sprouted in the Big Dig's Tip O'Neill I-93 Tunnel, due to a contractor's failure to remove gravel or other debris before pouring concrete. Bechtel acknowledged failing to catch and correct the error. The Boston Globe also made a major issue of many leaks that sprang from gaps in the roof of the tunnel; these were later sealed by the tunnel contractors as part of the construction process.^[24]

Romania[link]

In 2004, a contract was awarded to Bechtel in Romania for building the A3 freeway. The contract came under criticism from the European Union because it was awarded through negotiation, not competitive bid. In 2005, the new Romanian government held up the project to renegotiate the contract but construction is now underway. As of January 2011, after 6 years, Transilvanian Highway is still under construction, 52 km of road finished and 1.2 billion Euro paid from Romania to Bechtel USA. ^[25] In January 2011, Bechtel announced its intention to bid for the contract for building two new reactors at the Cernavoda nuclear plant.^[26]

Harrison County, Mississippi[link]

In 2005, Bechtel was awarded a no-bid contract by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to install temporary housing for the Hurricane Katrina disaster relief effort. The lack of competitive bidding for the contracts was criticized, as was the high cost of the contracts and the failure to support local, minority-owned businesses.^[27]

Boston[link]

On July 10, 2006 a three ton section of concrete suspended ceiling crashed in the east bound lanes of the Massachusetts Turnpike I-90, in Boston. This tunnel ceiling collapse was in the Big Dig which Bechtel along with Parsons Brinckerhoff were responsible for building. This collapse claimed the life of Melena Del Valle, a 38 year old native of Costa Rica. Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reily immediately designated the accident scene a crime scene. He has left open the possibility of negligent homicide charges being levied against Big Dig contractors and managers.^[28]

U.S. Department of Energy[link]

Effective October 1, 2007, the US Department of Energy awarded Bechtel partnership LLNS LLC the contract to operate Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory: Bechtel has a presence, through various partnerships, in the bulk of the US nuclear weapons facilities, including Los Alamos National Laboratory (design and pit production), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (design), Savannah River Site (nuclear materials), Hanford Site (nuclear materials), Pantex Plant (assembly/disassembly), Y-12 National Security Complex (nuclear materials), and the Nevada Test Site (subcritical testing).^[29]

U.S. Navy[link]

Bechtel is under contract for the new A1B reactor, a nuclear reactor being designed for use by the United States Navy to provide electricity generation and propulsion for the Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers.^[30]

Executives[link]

• Riley P. Bechtel is the CEO of Bechtel. With a net worth of $3.2 billion, he is the 50th wealthiest person in the U.S. and the 127th richest in the world. In February 2003, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to the Export Council, which advises the president on international trade issues. He served for one year.
• David O'Reilly serves on the Bechtel Group, Inc. board of directors and is the former chairman & CEO of Chevron.
• George P. Shultz is the former U.S. Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan, former president of Bechtel, and a former Bechtel director. He is a former member of the board of Dillon, Read & Co. Inc.
• The late Caspar Weinberger served as the United States Secretary of Defense under Ronald Reagan. Prior to holding this position, Weinberger was the Vice President, Director, and General Counsel of the Bechtel Group of companies.
• Gen. John J. Sheehan, USMC (ret.) is the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic and the former Special Advisor to Asia for the U.S. Defense Department and the former General Manager of the Petroleum and Chemical Business Unit for Europe/Africa/Middle East/South West Asia and was also a Bechtel partner. He was also a member of the Defense Policy Board.
• Ross J. Connelly is the former CEO of Bechtel Energy Resources Corporation. He served on the Overseas Private Investment Corporation under George W. Bush.
• W. Kenneth Davis is a former Bechtel senior vice-president and is the former U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary.
• David Welch former assistant secretary of state under George W Bush.

Joint ventures and subsidiaries[link]

• Aguas del Tunari
• Airport Group International Holdings, LLC
• Alterra Partners
• Alliance Bechtel-Linde
• Alterra Partners (UK)
• Amey inc (Tube Lines)
• Arabian Bechtel Corporation
• Bantrel Co. (Calgary)
• BCN Data Systems (UK)
• Bechtel Babcock and Wilcox Idaho, LLC
• Bechtel Bettis, Inc.
• Bechtel Canada, Inc.
• Bechtel Capital Partners LLC
• Bechtel China, Inc.
• Bechtel CITIC Engineering, Inc. (China)
• Bechtel COSAPI (Peru)
• Bechtel Constructors Corporation
• Bechtel Enterprises Holdings, Inc. (BEn)
• Bechtel Financing Services, LLC
• Power Generation Engineering and Services Co. (PGESCo) (Egypt)
• Bechtel Great Britain Ltd. (UK)
• Bechtel Infrastructure Corporation (BINFRA)
• Bechtel Jacobs Company LLC
• Bechtel Hanford Inc.
• Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corporation
• Bechtel McCone Parsons Corporation; Engineers, Constructors
• Bechtel Metodo Telecomunicacoes Ltda. (BMT) (Brazil)
• Bechtel National Inc.
• Bechtel Nevada Corporation
• Bechtel Northern Corporation
• Bechtel Overseas Corporation
• Bechtel/Parsons Brinkerhoff joint venture
• Bechtel Petroleum, Inc. (U.S.A.)
• Bechtel Plant Machinery, Inc.
• Bechtel Power Corp. (U.S.A.)
• Bechtel SAIC LLC
• Bechtel Savannah River, Inc.
• Bechtel-Sigdo Koppers joint venture (Chile)
• Bechtel-Technip Joint Venture
• Becon Construction Company, Inc.
• BPR-Bechtel
• Bechtel Telecommunications
• Cimtas Pipe Fab. & Trading Ltd. Co. Bechtel-ENKA Joint Venture (Turkey)
• Cliffwood-Blue Moon Joint Venture, Inc.
• Colstrip Energy LP
• Dabhol Power Company (DBC), joint venture with General Electric and Enron (India)
• Dual Drilling Company
• Eastern Bechtel Co. Ltd.
• EnergyWorks LLC
• The Fremont Group
• Incepta Group PLC
• InterGen (joint venture with Royal Dutch Shell)
• International Water
• IPSI LLC
• Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory
• Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC
• Lectrix
• Lima Airport Partners
• Los Alamos National Security, LLC
• Marathon Oil Equatorial Guinea LNG
• NetCon Thailand (joint venture with Lucent)
• PSG International (partnership with General Electric)
• Saudi Arabian Bechtel Company (Saudi Arabia)
• Sequoia Ventures, Inc.
• Spruce Limited Partnership
• United Infrastructure Company (Chicago) (before Bechtel bought out its partner's share in 1998)
• Technology Ventures Group
• USGen Power Services, LP
• Welded Construction, LP provides pipeline construction services throughout the United States

Major projects[link]

• Hoover Dam completed in 1936^[31]
• Trans-Alaska Pipeline System completed in 1977^[6]
• Bekme hydroelectric dam in Turkey completed in 1991^[32]
• Petrochemical plants in Iraq completed in 1991^[33]
• Dabhol Power Project Phase 1 completed in 1992^[34]
• Kuwait reconstruction after the Gulf War completed in 1993^[35]
• Channel Tunnel completed in 1994^[36]
• Hong Kong International Airport completed in 1998^[37]
• Tengiz Field expansion in Kazakhstan completed in 1999^[38]
• Chemical weapons disposal facility in Anniston, Alabama completed in 2001^[39]
• Three natural gas power plants in Turkey completed in 2002^[40]
• Fissile Materials Storage Facility at Mayak, Ozersk, Russian Federation completed in 2002^[41]
• Araucária Power project, Brazil completed in 2003^[42]
• Jorge Chávez International Airport expansion in Lima, Peru completed in 2005^[43]
• Big Dig completed in 2007^[44]
• Rebuilding of sections of Croatian highway between Zagreb and Split completed in 2008^[45]
• The Y-12 nuclear weapons plant and enriched uranium storage facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee completed in 2009^[46]
• Rrëshen-Kalimash Highway in Albania completed in 2010^[47]
• New Doha International Airport due to be completed in 2011^[48]
• New Muscat International Airport Terminal due to be completed in 2014^[49]
• Transylvania Motorway due to be completed in 2016^[50]
• Dulles Metrorail Extension due to be completed in 2016^[51]

Awards[link]

For its contributions to the U.S.'s built environment, the company was presented with the Honor Award from the National Building Museum in 1998. At the ceremony, at which Stephen Bechtel, Jr. and Riley P. Bechtel accepted the award, former Secretary of State George P. Shultz said of the corporation, "Bechtel has been a wonderful ambassador around the world... No. 1, they're always there to solve problems - the world is full of critics, and what you want is people who are constructive, who are ready to solve problems."^[52]

Environmental record[link]

On January 23, 1996, the Washington Department of Ecology fined Bechtel $5,000 for hazardous waste violations on an incident where a flying drum lid barely missed two workers due to the build-up of pressure inside a drum and improper closure operations.^[53] The penalty was issued because of inadequate worker training which led to an incorrectly labeled drum. Inspections also discovered that Bechtel kept inaccurate records keeping of cleanup waste, which violated state regulations.^[53]

In 1998, Bechtel was fined $90,000 for violating water quality laws in New Hampshire for constructing a gas pipeline, which would have leaked sediments into the stream that would increase turbidity and damage wetland habitats.^[54]

On October 29, 2001, the EPA fined Bechtel $30,383 at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory for not keeping records of any service being performed or of how much refrigerant was added to the cooling systems, which could increase annualized leak rates more than 15%.^[55]

In 2009, it was announced that Bechtel would team up with BrightSource Energy to build solar energy plants. The partnership will have Bechtel build very large solar power plants in the Mojave desert with groundbreaking beginning in 2010. The new plants will have a field of mirrors redirecting sunlight to a tower filled with water, which will then boil and turn the turbines.^[56]

See also[link]

	San Francisco Bay Area portal
	Companies portal

• Big Dig
• Cochabamba protests of 2000
• List of United States companies
• Top 100 US Federal Contractors

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• McCartney, Laton Friends in High Places: The Bechtel Story: The Most Secret Corporation and How It Engineered the World, 1988. (ISBN 0-345-36044-3)
• Mead, Robert Douglas. Journeys Down the Line: Building the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, Doubleday, 1978.

External links[link]

• Bechtel company website
• War for human rights
• Welcome Aboard the Iraq Gravy Train, an editorial by Terry Jones, April 12, 2003.
• Bechtel v. Bolivia: The Bolivian Water Revolt, anti-globalisation viewpoint on Bechtel's involvement in Bolivia
• The Bechtel-bin Laden connection, CNN/Money Magazine, May 5, 2003.
• Bechtel's roots in the Mideast, San Francisco Chronicle, May 4, 2003
• Forbes List of Largest Companies
• St. Clair, Jeffrey, "More Powerful Than the US Army: Straight to Bechtel"
• Center For Responsive Politics

Stephen D. Bechtel, Jr. (born May 10, 1925) is, with his son Riley, co-owner of the Bechtel Corporation. He is the son of Stephen David Bechtel, Sr. and grandson of Warren A. Bechtel who founded the Bechtel Corporation.^[1][2][3]

Education[link]

Stephen Bechtel attended Purdue University receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering in 1946. He earned his Master of Business Administration degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1948.

Political appointments[link]

Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Bechtel to the President’s Committee on Urban Housing. Richard Nixon named him to membership on the National Industrial Pollution Control Council, the National Commission on Productivity, the Labor Management Advisory Committee, and the National Commission for Industrial Peace. Gerald Ford asked Bechtel to serve on the President’s Labor-Management Committee.

The S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation and the Stephen Bechtel Fund[link]

The S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation and the Stephen Bechtel Fund supports many non-profit groups to improve the USA. The Foundation works a lot in the San Francisco Bay Area. ^{[4] [5]}

Boy Scouts[link]

Stephen D. Bechtel, Jr became an Eagle Scout in 1940, and has been recognized by the Boy Scouts of America with both the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award and the Silver Buffalo Award. Stephen's uncle Kenneth K. Bechtel was awarded the Silver Buffalo in 1950 and served as National president of the Boy Scouts of America from 1956–1959. ^[6]

The BSA acquired new property near Beckley, West Virginia for a new high adventure base in 2009. Bechtel donated $50 million towards the new base which is to be named The Summit: Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve.^[7]

Awards and honors[link]

He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1990.^[8] In 1998 Stephen and his son Riley were presented with the Honor Award from the National Building Museum for their company's contributions to the built environment.^[9]

See also[link]

• List of billionaires

References[link]

External links[link]

• Forbes.com: Forbes World's Richest People
• National Academy of Engineering: 1999 Founders Award Recipient
• 2005 Silver Buffalo Awards
• Fact Sheet: Distinguished Eagle Scout Award
• "Stephen Bechtel, Jr.", Bechtel Corporation

This article about an American businessperson born in the 1920s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

This Scouting or Guiding article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Stephen Davison Bechtel (September 24, 1900 – March 14, 1989) was the son of Clara Alice West and Warren A. Bechtel, the founder of the Bechtel Corporation and the president of the company from 1933 through 1960.

Stephen served with the 20th Engineers, part of the American Expeditionary Force sent to assist France in World War I. After the war, in 1919, he attended the University of California, Berkeley for one year to work for his father's company full time. He became vice-president of Bechtel in 1925 and became president in 1933, when Warren Bechtel died suddenly while traveling abroad. His father's death came at a critical time for the company: concrete was being poured for the Hoover Dam, Bechtel's largest project up till that point. Stephen became president and saw the company through the construction of the Hoover Dam. Over the next thirty years, he expanded Bechtel into a huge and successful engineering company with operations all over the world. Stephen handed the presidency of the company over to his son, Stephen Jr. in 1960, but stayed on as the chairman until 1969.

Stephen was awarded an honorary degree in Agricultural Science by UC Berkeley in 1954. In 1980, the school completed construction of the Bechtel Engineering Center, which was named in his honor.

Stephen Bechtel died in 1989. He is buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California.

Stephen was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.

The undergraduate engineering center of the University of California, Berkeley is name the "Bechtel Engineering Center".

The Faculty of Engineering and Architecture at The American University Of Beirut (AUB) is named "The Bechtel Engineering Building" after its donor, Stephen D. Bechtel.

External links[link]

• Time magazine profile of Stephen Bechtel
• About the faculty of engineering and architecture at AUB
• Stephen Bechtel's biography on company web-site

Jim Bechtel
Bechtel at the 2008 World Series of Poker $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event.
Residence	Gilbert, Arizona
World Series of Poker
Bracelet(s)	1
Final table(s)	9
Money finish(es)	23
Highest ITM Main Event finish	Winner, 1993
World Poker Tour
Title(s)	None
Final table(s)	None
Money finish(es)	4
Information accurate as of 15 July 2009.

James Gary "Jim" Bechtel (born 1952?) is an American cotton farmer and poker player, based in Gilbert, Arizona. He is best known for winning the 1993 Main Event at the World Series of Poker (WSOP).

Poker career[link]

Bechtel began playing poker as a recreational player near his home in Arizona while working as a cotton farmer. He cashed for the first time in the World Series of Poker, coming close to winning a WSOP bracelet in 1979 when he finished runner-up to Perry Green in the $1,500 no limit Texas hold 'em event.

He followed up this showing with several more final table appearances at the WSOP tournaments. Bechtel first cashed in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event in 1986, finishing in 11th place. He made the final table of the Main Event in 1988, finishing in 6th place in the tournament which was won by Johnny Chan who earned his second consecutive world championship title. Bechtel earned $49,000 for his 6th place finish.

At the 1993 WSOP Main Event, Bechtel reached the final table in second chip position with $631,000. He went on to eliminate the 1990 World Champion Mansour Matloubi and professional poker player John Bonetti. Bechtel then went on to defeat his final opponent Glenn Cozen, who in the third hand of heads-up play raised all-in with a very short-stack of chips, Bechtel instantly called the bet without first looking at his cards which were J♣ 6♥ while Cozen only held the 7♦ 4♥, the five community cards dealt were 10♦ 8♠ 3♣ 2♣ 5♦ and since neither player's hand improved Bechtel won the title on the strength of the Jack-high alone. Bechtel earned the top prize of $1,000,000 and the WSOP bracelet,^[1] becoming the first amateur player at the time to win the WSOP Main Event since Hal Fowler won the 1979 WSOP Championship.

Bechtel also finished in the money of the Main Event in 1986 (11th), 1988 (6th), 1989 (31st), and 2001 (23rd).

Bechtel was also one of the players to make the final table of the inaugural $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event of the 2006 World Series of Poker, which was won by Chip Reese. The players at the final table for this event were one of the most accomplished groups of poker players ever to sit at a WSOP final table. The table included two world champions, Bechtel himself and Doyle Brunson, WSOP bracelet winners T. J. Cloutier, Phil Ivey, Dewey Tomko, Chip Reese, as well as established professionals David Singer who has since won a bracelet, Patrik Antonius, and Andy Bloch who finished runner-up in the tournament. Bechtel was eliminated after his pocket 7's were beaten by Bloch's pocket 10's. Bechtel earned $549,120 for his fourth-place finish.

In 2009, Bechtel competed in the WSOP Champions Invitational tournament, open only to players who have won the $10,000 No Limit Hold'em Main Event at the World Series of Poker. The tournament drew 20 out of the 24 living former world champions, and the ten-handed final table was broadcast by ESPN. Bechtel finished fourth place in the tournament, which was won by 1983 World Champion Tom McEvoy.

As of 2009, his total tournament winnings exceed $2,500,000.^[2] His 23 cashes at the WSOP account for $1,809,967 of those winnings.^[3]

World Series of Poker bracelet[link]

References[link]