[29] Litigation ensued, and in January 2008, Bechtel settled with federal and state officials for $352 million with other contractors involved paying smaller amounts. The company later built the United States' first privately financed commercial nuclear power plant, the Dresden Generating Station, for Commonwealth Edison in Illinois in 1957. The documentary seeks to inspire young people to pursue engineering careers. [103] Considered Australia's largest public infrastructure project, the work includes new twin rail tunnels under Sydney Harbour. Rightly or wrongly, Bechtel may be the case study that explains how business is done between multinational construction giants and the governments that approve and fund the projects those giants engineer and build. [25] In 2001, Bechtel was part of a consortium to project manage the US$4.3 billion construction of the CSPC Nanhai Petrochemicals Complex in China. It's a record that few, if any, companies in the world can match. [168], Bechtel's technology was licensed for facility upgrades at the Rijeka Refinery in Croatia in February 2014. [114] The unit completed the Catalina Solar photovoltaic generating facility and the construction of the California Valley Solar Ranch in 2013. Bush remain members), numerous secretaries of state (Shultz, Henry Kissinger, and Colin Powell are listed on a recent roster in the same camp with Riley and Stephen Bechtel), and innumerable political leaders. [58][119] Bechtel also completed the world's largest solar thermal project, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in California, which began producing power in February 2014. [67][184][185] Bechtel and AECOM agreed in 2016 to pay $125 million to settle claims by the U.S. Department of Justice that the companies used subpar work while building a nuclear waste treatment facility at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state, in addition to allegedly using public funds for lobbying. [12][16], In 1949, Bechtel began working with nuclear power after being contracted to build the Experimental Breeder Reactor I in Idaho. October 8, 2019 October 6, 2019 by IWB. But it can't be seen as a rogue firm playing outside the rules, because Bechtel is the textbook example of business as usual. [148] Bechtel has built a third of the world's LNG liquefaction capacity. Two days after the fatal collapse of a Big Dig tunnel, investigators and an angry public are turning their sights on the project manager, Bechtel Group of San Francisco. [page]. American construction and civil engineering company. The center also provides virtual training and augmented reality to train workers. In the 1930s, Bechtel founder W.A. [158] The initial cargo from the first completed train was delivered in 2016. [102] In May 2017, Bechtel was appointed the delivery management partner for the tunnels and stations excavation package of Stage 2 of the Sydney Metro project. Bechtel joined his buddy, Henry J. Kaiser, another Bay Area legend engaged in building the roadways and infrastructure that would shape the west, and Frank Crowe, a former U.S. Bureau of Reclamation superintendent, in the successful bid for a government contract to build Hoover Dam. The company also has secured billions in work from the U.S. Department of Energy, including contracts to manage the Nevada Nuclear Test Site and parts of a massive radioactive-waste cleanup at the former Hanford Nuclear Test Site. [6][27], The recession of the 1980s turned the company's focus toward new areas of growth including environmental cleanup and alternative energy projects. [66][145][146][147] Since the company's founding, it has built approximately 50,000 miles (80,000 km) of pipeline systems, more than 50 major oil and gas field developments, and completed over 380 major chemical and petrochemical projects. [95][96] As of June 2015, the project is 65% complete. [72] The Washington office is home to the government affairs team, and maintains a Political Action Committee. [177][178] Since the 1950s, Bechtel has designed, serviced, or delivered 80 percent of all nuclear plants in the U.S.[90], As of 2019, Bechtel leads or is a member of a consortium that manage a national laboratory and a number of national security-related facilities in the U.S., including: the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the combined operations of the Y-12 National Security Complex and the Pantex Plant. [173][174][175], In June 2019, Kallanish Energy reported that Bechtel had been hired by Thailand's PTT Global Chemical America and South Korea-based partner Daelim to build a $6 billion ethane cracker on the Ohio River in Belmont County, Ohio. In fact, concerned about security, the family is so secretive that it successfully petitioned courts to seal the Bechtels' voter registration records some years ago, and their personal assets are held primarily in the name of a private corporation. George Shultz, distinguished fellow at the Hoover Institution, is a board member of Bechtel. This fire-suppression project was part of the effort to rebuild the infrastructure of Kuwait. Mr. Bechtel is a Republican in politics, and in fraternal connection a member of Columbus Lodge, No. [125] In 2018, the unit completed a new air passenger terminal in Muscat, Oman. As Bechtel's projects have grown larger and more complicated, its owners and managers have manufactured opportunity through carefully cultivated relationships with political and business power brokers. [143] The Bechtel-Techint joint venture team built a dual 112-mile-long pipeline to carry desalinated water from the Pacific Coast across the Atacama Desert to the Escondida copper mine approximately 10,000 feet above sea level in the Andes. The Export-Import Bank of the United States, which loans money to foreign countries for the export of American goods and services, counted Stephen D. Bechtel Sr. among the members of its advisory committee from 1969 to 1972, and the engineering firm has maintained numerous ties since, with a company vice president now on the bank's advisory committee. [189], The unit also manages U.S. Department of Defense contracts to dismantle and dispose of stored chemical weapons, including decades-old mustard and nerve gas from World War II. After limited success on its own, the outfit joined with Texas Oil Co. (Texaco), Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, and Mobil Oil Co. in a new venture called the Arabian American Oil Co. (Aramco). Stephen Davison Bechtel, who built a family business into one of the world's largest construction companies, died today after a brief illness. ", "Boston's Big Dig Construction: a Look Back 10 Years Later", "Chernobyl's Radioactive Ruins Get a New Tomb", "Treatment Plant for Waste in Nuclear Cleanup Has Design Flaws, Panel Says", "Bechtel hands over Sabine Pass LNG Train 2 Control to Cheniere", "It's the first new U.S. nuclear reactor in decades. The surname Bechtel was first found in Hessen, where the family contributed greatly to the development of an emerging nation. But the result was that water rates rose beyond what Cochabamba's citizens could pay, leaving many without water and sparking violent riots. And for the secretive, politically-wired, family-controlled company, it … [10][23], Bechtel completed work on other megaprojects during the 1970s, including major airports in Saudi Arabia and the metro rail in Washington, D.C.[10][17] In 1976, the company began work on the industrial city of Jubail in Saudi Arabia. But Shultz and Weinberger were hardly alone in their use of the revolving door between Bechtel and federal office. Bechtel began working with California Standard Oil Company to build pipelines and refineries. Every year, the most powerful men in America gather at the Grove for what amounts to elite summer camp, where they produce skits and musical shows, listen to keynote speakers, eat, drink, and socialize. Riley Bechtel ran Bechtel, his family's construction and engineering firm, from 1990 to 2014. [107][108] Bechtel is also working on a project for Advanced Power, the Cricket Valley Energy Center in New York. [136][137], In April 2016, Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) announced that Bechtel had been appointed engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM) contractor for the company's Line 6 Expansion Project. [48], Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Bechtel was one of four companies hired by FEMA to build temporary housing. Again, the membership roster here is filled with directors of major corporations and big political donors. [166], The company was part of a consortium selected by PTT GC America in 2015 to provide front-end engineering and design for a new petrochemical complex in Belmont County, Ohio. Marie C. Bechtel brings with her over 25 years of experience in Family Law as well as a strong background in Psychology and Sociology. Bechtel Company,[11] which by this time was the leading construction company in the western United States. [109] Bechtel is also building the Keeyask Generating Station, a hydroelectric power plant for Manitoba Hydro in Manitoba, Canada. 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