Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.LINCOLN — The U.S. Labor Department has dismissed a complaint by an Indiana engineer who alleged he was fired after raising safety concerns during construction of an oil pipeline that runs through eastern Nebraska.
Michael Klink, an engineer involved with the 2009 construction of TransCanada's Keystone pipeline, said Friday he intends to appeal.
"I know what I saw, and I said what I saw," Klink told The World-Herald.
In a complaint filed two years ago, Klink alleged he saw numerous examples of work in North Dakota and South Dakota that didn't meet design specifications or safety standards. Klink did no inspection work on the Nebraska section of the pipeline.
TransCanada is the same company working to build the Keystone XL pipeline, the subject of a siting controversy in Nebraska and a political battle in Washington, D.C., where this week President Barack Obama rejected fast-tracking the approval of a permit for the company on the recommendation of the State Department.
Klink's complaint was investigated by the Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
"There is insufficient evidence to establish a causal connection between complainant's protected activity and adverse employment action," said a letter signed by Gregory Baxter, a regional OSHA administrator in Denver.
A spokeswoman for Bechtel Corp., a Houston-based global construction company and the main target of Klink's complaint, said Friday that Bechtel "doesn't compromise on quality."
"And we strictly enforce rigorous quality control standards on all of our projects," she said. "Mr. Klink's job was to raise concerns, and when he did they were addressed appropriately."
TransCanada hired Bechtel to build the $13 billion, 2,150-mile pipeline, which carries 590,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Canada's tar sands region to terminals in Oklahoma and Illinois.
"It is far too easy for people to make trumped-up claims to advance their own agenda, but this independent investigation clarifies the facts about Mr. Klink and his inspection role on Keystone," said Robert Jones, a vice president of TransCanada.
Klink said he was fired by Bechtel after he repeatedly reported his concerns. He said the company refused to rehire him for subsequent openings.
The OSHA investigation found the company's need for inspectors was winding down when it let Klink go in September 2009. Additionally, it found the company earlier transferred him from a job site in North Dakota after he developed a "deteriorating, non-safety related relationship" with a subcontractor supervisor.
Other inspectors hired by Bechtel reported safety and quality issues, and they weren't fired or retaliated against, the OSHA letter states.
Klink's appeal will be heard by an administrative law judge in Washington.
Contact the writer:
402-473-9587, joe.duggan@owh.com
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