Most Ethical Company

By Kenneth Johnson

These are the trials and troubles of a half-breed Alaskan Native standing up for what is right and being tempted and threatened by powerful men in charge of a pipeline owned by several oil companies that won a title as Most Ethical Company in the USA. This book tells one story of many about the fears and trials of one man who prayed and trusted Lord God to help the Alaskan Natives trying to work on the pipeline and the Alaskan Natives who received jobs. This book also tells how Lord God helped them. It mentions organizations directly involved with the pipeline and how they helped. This book tells some of the threats, scare tactics, and the ways they treated Alaskan Natives during his stay with Alyeska Pipeline.

This book is a long time coming because the author was worried for his family. He does see how this might help other Native organizations and tribes across the USA and the world deal with these powerful companies. This book also shows some of the good that came about because a few people who had courage and trust in Lord God came forward and spoke out for what is right. The author has seen the 20 percent Alaskan Native hire in effect and smiles when he sees the Native people with jobs on the pipeline and the other companies. He also smiles when he sees his youngest son with a full engineering scholarship through ANSEP and his daughter doing wonderful work with First Alaskans Institute. The author’s oldest son will be retiring from the Navy soon, and Alaska will be a better place when he comes back. He can see how their books in the future will be much more rewarding than this. Thank you, Lord God!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9781638748625

Kenneth Johnson

Kenneth Johnson has been a successful writer-producer-director of film and television for more than four decades. Creator of the landmark original miniseries V, he also produced The Six Million Dollar Man and created iconic Emmy-winning shows such as The Bionic Woman, The Incredible Hulk, and Alien Nation. He has directed numerous TV movies and the feature films Short Circuit 2 and Steel. Johnson has received multiple Saturn Awards from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films, as well as the Sci-Fi Universe Lifetime Achievement Award and the prestigious Founders Award from the Viewers for Quality Television. His previous novels include V: The Second Generation. He has presented his unique graduate-level seminar, The Filmmaking Experience, at UCLA, USC, NYU, Loyola, New York Film Academy, the National Film and Television School (UK), Moscow State University (Russia), and many others. He and his wife, Susan, married for forty years, live in Los Angeles with their latest two golden-retriever rescues.

Book preview

cover.jpg

Most Ethical Company

Kenneth Johnson

Copyright © 2021 by Kenneth Johnson

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

What a nightmare I seemed to have gotten into. I had people following me around and sneaking into my home, my coworkers were trying to sabotage me, and my boss was warning me about what could happen to me.

I had this high-paying job on one side and right and wrong on the other. If I just kept my mouth shut, then my good life would continue. If I spoke up and did what’s right, then I would have some trials ahead of me.

I got on my knees and prayed, Lord God, I want to do what is right. Please watch over my family if I die. I remember praying this, and this is what happened after the prayer.

I was watching how management handled the section 29 agreement with several companies under Alaska Native Corporations. This agreement allowed the Alyeska Pipeline to go through their property.

Alyeska was supposed to have a 20 percent Alaskan Native workforce trained and on hand. I looked around, and it did not seem like anything close to 20 percent.

I started working for them in 1980. In a short amount of time, I was the lead technician in ballast water at the Valdez Terminal. In 1983 I got transferred to pump station 1 in Prudhoe Bay. I was the original lab technician at PS01. We didn’t have an accurate way to test the quality of oil from the different oil lines coming into PS01 from the different fields. The fields had different qualities of oil, which had a direct bearing on the worth of the oil for each stream.

The owners wanted an accurate way of testing what their percentage of oil was worth in the pipeline since all the oil fields mixed into the 48" pipeline leaving PS01.

I took the job with the understanding that I could get back into operations after helping set up the lab and then training someone to take my job. I was told it would take one year. Well, after one year and me reminding management during the time that I wanted out, they posted my job and started interviewing applicants. After a week or so of this, they came back to me and said they could not find anyone qualified and wanted me to stay put. That was my first lesson in the difference between what a person says and what is written down on paper. I wasn’t very happy and felt it.

I prayed about this, and on a flight up to work, I sat down next to an upper management person who used to be in charge of the Valdez Terminal. We had talked a few times at the terminal. I told him the story, and he said that he would look into it. Well, within a month they hired an applicant who had a master’s degree in chemistry and also a master’s degree in math. Earlier he was told that he was not qualified. Later on, I will mention not qualified again as it pertains to Alaskan Natives. I was happy to get back into operations after training him, and I thanked God for answering my prayers.

I have always had faith in Lord God, and it has grown tremendously after all the trials, tests, and lessons I have been through. This lesson was really hard, so I feel the need to mention earlier lessons that were preparing me for what was to come.

I grew up traveling from military base to military base. My dad was Caucasian with blond hair, and my mother was full-blooded Ahtna Athabascan (Alaskan Native). We had ten children in our family. My parents had drinking problems, and life was hard. My dad only made staff sergeant and always seemed to have a second job. My mother raised the children and also had to work different jobs throughout her life.

Children in different states were not always kind to us. I was a half-breed in what was basically a white man’s world. I could either take the abuse from some prejudiced people and keep my mouth shut or fight.

Lord God helped me over and over again. I seemed to be faster and stronger than I thought I was when the fighting started. I hated fighting but always won when I was in the right. I only got hurt when my human ego wanted to show off. I was always the youngest one in my class because I didn’t go to kindergarten but started first grade at five years old. I was almost always the smartest in my class and did not like getting attention for it. I got a lot of attention for fighting, and the best always seemed to come challenge me. I hated that, so when I moved to a new location, I tried to keep quiet and tried not