10 things you should know about Kiewit

by a guest contributor

10 things you should know about Kiewit

In July of 2013, a consortium of companies led by Kiewit submitted an ’unsolicited’ bid to build out the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway.[1] ADOT didn’t accept the proposal as it was, but recently released a public request for competing bids. Kiewit, having a head start on other firms, is still presumably the frontrunner. While readers of this blog understand how the freeway would be destructive to communities and ecosystems no matter who builds it, there are reasons to be especially concerned about Kiewit. The company thrives on environmentally damaging construction and resource extraction industries, and has quite an eye-opening record on other matters.

Here are 10 things to know about Kiewit

1. It’s a construction behemoth

Kiewit is one of the largest construction services firms in the world, responsible for building highways, offshore oil platforms and other structures. Its annual revenue is just short of $12 billion dollars, which is roughly equivalent to the GDP of Namibia. [2]

2. It’s helping to build Keystone XL

The company provided excavation work and other services related to the construction of TransCanada crude oil pump stations. [3]

3. It’s involved in Alberta Oil Sands extraction

Kiewit built a treatment facility at Imperial Oil’s Kearl Oil Sands project in Alberta, an operation producing 110,000 barrels of oil per day. The company is currently working on an expansion phase of the project. [4]

4. It owns and operates multiple coal mines

Among its many mining-related activities, Kiewit owns two coal mining operations in Wyoming. [5] The company also operates the particularly nasty San Miguel strip mine in South Texas. One blogger describes the operations at San Miguel:  “Even though San Miguel is the smallest power plant in Texas, it’s one of the dirtiest.  It burns a particularly polluting form of coal called lignite.” [6]

5. It built part of the border fence

In 2009, Kiewit was a general contractor for the 38 miles of border fence extending east from downtown El Paso. [7]

6. It built another part of the border fence in Arizona, which was then disrupted by mother nature

Kiewit’s Western operations helped build a 5.2 mile section of border fence near Organ Pipe National Monument.  During a large storm, the fence became a de facto dam. The Arizona Daily Star reported that “the 15-foot-high wire mesh fence halted the natural flow of floodwater during a July 12 storm…” [8]

7. People have died on its projects

Despite the Kiewit website’s assertion that “nobody gets hurt,” people have been hurt on Kiewit projects. On October 11, 2012, a worker was crushed by a large steel beam on a Kiewit Infrastructure West Project in California. [9]

8. It had to pay damages for gender discrimination

Lisa Davis, a box grader operator sued Kiewit Pacific Co. According to a summary of the case, “A jury found Kiewit liable for gender discrimination, hostile work environment harassment, retaliation, and failure to prevent harassment, gender discrimination, or retaliation, awarding her $270,000.” [10] Numerous other workers have filed complaints against the company for racial discrimination. [11]

9. A quality Inspector called one of its projects “A disaster waiting to happen”

In late 2012, an onsite quality inspector at the 520 bridge project in Washington called Kiewit’s work on the pontoon portion of the bridge the “worst” he’d been on. He also claimed that he was laid off because he wouldn’t sign off on Kiewit’s inferior work. News reports stated that the inspector’s claims were substantiated by an internal audit. [12]

10. Kiewit wins unsolicited bids

This isn’t the first time Kiewit has submitted an “unsolicited” bid for a transportation project. In 2012, Kiewit submitted an “unsolicited” bid to build out Denver’s RTD I-225 rail project, and eventually won the contract. [13]

In other words, Kiewit appears to be the perfect contractor to build an environmentally and socially destructive project.

[1] ADOT press release from July 25, 2013: http://www.azdot.gov/media/News/news-release/2013/07/25/public-private-partnership-proposal-submitted-for-south-mountain-freeway

[2] https://www.kiewit.com/files/3514/0025/5698/Kiewit_Basics_Page_2014_140331b_tea.pdf

[3] http://www.kiewit.com/projects/oil-gas-chemical/compressor-and-pump-stations/keystone-oil-pipeline-and-pump-stations/

[4] http://www.kiewit.com/projects/oil-gas-chemical/oil-sands/kearl-oil-sands-froth-treatment-facility/

[5] http://www.kiewit.com/projects/mining/owned-operations/buckskin-mining-company/

[6] http://www.kiewit.com/projects/mining/contract-mining/san-miguel-lignite-mine/ ; see the description of Kiewit’s operations here: http://valleygreenspace.wordpress.com/2012/03/18/the-true-cost-of-coal-appalachia-and-south-texas/

[7] http://texas.construction.com/features/2009/1201_BorderFenceK.asp

[8] http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/media-archive/BorderFenceAZDailyStar08-15-08.pdf

[9] OSHA case no. 314863846; https://www.osha.gov/pls/imis/establishment.inspection_detail?id=314863846 According to the OSHA file, “The cause of the accident was due to failure in ensuring that exposed employees were not working in the zone of danger adjacent to the trailer containing steel the I-beams.” OSHA records state that Kiewit was forced to pay a fine of $36,000.

[10] http://www.manatt.com/uploadedFiles/Content/4_News_and_Events/Newsletters/EmploymentLaw@manatt/Davis-v-Kiewit.pdf ; also see the summary here: http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=8972d922-6171-45fe-b72e-d900dfbf9ee6

[11] Kiewit has faced numerous lawsuits and complaints for racial discrimination. Here are two examples: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/terrace-bay-man-says-racism-drove-him-from-the-oil-patch-1.1183577; http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCOURTS-hid-1_05-cv-00525/pdf/USCOURTS-hid-1_05-cv-00525-0.pdf

[12] http://www.komonews.com/news/local/WSDOT-audit-reveals-failure-and-pattern-of-noncompliance-on-520-project-179856901.html

[13] http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2012/03/13/kiewit-makes-unsolicited-bid-to-build.html?page=all

Loop 202 Extension Public-Private Partnership: a primer

For an updated exploration on the public-private partnership for the South Mountain Freeway, see "Freeway Could Take a Toll on Arizona" posted February 2016. 

Environmental destruction, desecration of a sacred site, displacement of people from their homes, and waste of money on a massive truck bypass for international trade, are just a few of the main reasons many people oppose the Loop 202 extension, aka South Mountain Freeway. Compounding these problems is the fact that private companies are looking to make a profit from this transportation project.

A public-private partnership (P3, or PPP) is in the works for the $1.8 billion Loop 202, pending the results of the final environmental impact statement (FEIS) to be released in mid to late September. P3s involve a business deal between the public sector, usually local government, and a company or companies who take on some combination of design, build, maintain, finance, etc. These arrangements are increasingly promoted in the US for infrastructure projects as a means of accessing funds that are otherwise lacking. They are largely touted as an innovative financing solution by various interested parties described as an "infrastructure-industrial complex composed of global construction corporations, investment banks, private-equity firms, and elite law firms organized as vertically integrated consortiums." You can learn more about the companies and their vast pro-P3 networks in Companies seek partnership with ADOT to profit on freeway, Part1: The Networks. The pro-P3 campaign has become so influential in the US that even the Federal Highway Administration promotes it and provides massive resources for implementation. Arizona law enables many types of P3s but this would be the first for a road.

Across the world, P3s have been used to accomplish infrastructure projects (including water, as well as projects in health, education, and more), in many cases promoted by the World Bank or other such institutions. P3s are a form of privatization, something favored by "free market" proponents often as part of structural adjustment programs, but are said to be more accountable and transparent than full privatization. P3s come from the same ideology that pushes trade corridors like CANAMEX or the Intermountain West Corridor, as well as "megapolitans" such as the so-called Sun Corridor as important nodes of international trade, which all likely have a lot to do with the pressure for completing the Loop 202 which would facilitate this trade traffic.

Essentially public-private partnerships are corporate welfare disguised as a solution to transportation "needs." A P3 for transportation could involve a toll concession, or since this is an unpopular idea in AZ especially for a truck route, could involve some combination of financing options involving tax breaks (e.g. PABs), payments from taxpayers through the local government at a later date (availability payments coming from taxes such as the Arizona Transportation Excise Tax), and lower interest rates on federal loans (e.g. TIFIA loans). Whether one has to pay to use the road, or the money comes from local or federal taxes, the money is still coming out of our pockets. It would appear to be the case that a P3 might possibly be faster, but there is much evidence that P3s end up costing more than the projects would otherwise. This is the case especially if the project wouldn't be built in the first place. You can read more about the financing options available to P3 project in Companies seek partnership with ADOT to profit on freeway, Part 2: The Methods.

Although allegedly within a P3 contract, the private partner takes on the most risk, often the contract terms are used to make the government insure the private contractors' financial success. 
The companies clearly want a low-risk deal, and something they can make a large profit from. Transparency is a major problem, as contracts are often not available for public review and are difficult even for attorneys to understand.

ADOT used a "Value for Money" approach to reach the decision to go with a P3 for the Loop 202. Likely this was done by a pro-P3 consultant. The approach is controversial because it can easily be skewed in favor of the P3 option. "'Value For Money' (VFM) reports are a specialized analysis that compares the predicted costs of a P3 project and traditional public procurement (referred to as a 'public sector comparator'). The VFM process relies on two problematic tools—discount rates and the value of risk transfer—that can be manipulated to favour P3s."

The consortium that put in the initial unsolicited proposal may or may not get the contract, as ADOT plans to put out a Request for Qualifications after the FEIS is released, allowing other companies to put in bids. ADOT held an Industry Forum in February and put out a Request for Information to learn what P3 projects companies might be interested in. You can see their List of Attendees by Company.

Private companies' interest in profit, and their potential contract may make it more difficult to oppose the project. On the other hand, the opposition to the freeway may increase the financial risk enough to deter the companies' involvement. In recent months, the water shortage effecting the southwest has become an immediate concern, indicating that Phoenix cannot withstand more growth and development.