CHAIRMAN, HOUSE INTERIOR AND INSULAR AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

OVERSIGHT HEARINGS ON ALYESKA COVERT OPERATIONS

NOVEMBER 4, 1991

This is the first of two days of hearings before the House Interior Committee on the subject of covert surveillance authorized by the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company and conducted by The Wackenhut Corporation.

On August 7 of this year, the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs filed a written request for documents from Wackenhut and Alyeska in connection with allegations that the Wackenhut Corporation conducted undercover surveillance of Charles Hamel on behalf of Alyeska and its owner companies. In letters to both Wackenhut and Alyeska, I expressed concern that the surveillance of Mr. Hamel was for the purpose of obtaining information on and/or interfering with Mr. Hamel's communications with this Committee.

Charles Hamel has been a source of information for Congress, state and federal regulatory agencies, and the media, concerning environmental, health and safety violations by Alyeska and its oil company owners. Mr. Hamel has served as a conduit for whistleblowers, including Alyeska employees, to make public information on oil industry practices. At the same time, Mr. Hamel has at least two significant business disputes with Alyeska and Exxon.

I want to make very clear that it is not the purpose of these hearings to determine whether Mr. Hamel, Alyeska or Exxon are correct in the matter of their lawsuits and business disputes. Nor is it the purpose of these hearings to examine whether Mr. Hamel's various allegations about oil company environmental violations are true or not. These are matters for another day and other forums.

While the validity of Mr. Hamel's environmental allegations is not the focus of these hearings, the fact that Mr. Hamel was an important source of information for this Committee's ongoing investigation of the Exxon Valdez oil spill and Alyeska operations is very relevant.

In the next two days, we will explore the issue of whether Alyeska's use of a "bogus" environmental group formed by Wackenhut spies was an effort to disrupt and compromise a source of information for this Committee's continuing investigation of oil industry practices in Alaska.

These hearings are intended to lay bear the full story of what happened during the covert surveillance of Mr. Hamel and others. We also will seek to determine why the spy operation was initiated and, equally important, why it was terminated.

In my view, it is important to find out why some of the largest and most powerful corporations in this country would resort to such elaborate "sting" tactics to invade and destroy the privacy of Mr. Hamel, federal and state officials, environmentalists and ordinary citizens.

It has been suggested that the sole purpose of Alyeska's spying on Mr. Hamel was simply to recover "stolen documents." However, if the explanation was that simple, this Committee would not be involved in these hearings. If Alyeska's sole concern was "stolen documents," the laws of this country provide an adequate means of redress in the courts.

We believe that the testimony and the evidence presented in these hearings during the next two days will show that the covert surveillance operation involved the much more sinister and disturbing motives of silencing environmental critics and intimidating whistleblowers.

In the course of the Committee's investigation, we have received large numbers of documents, electronic recordings and other materials. At various times, the Committee members have authorized by unanimous votes the issuance of subpoenas and the use of certain documents for which attorney-client privilege was claimed.

Our goal has been to conduct a thorough and fair investigation. We have attempted to accommodate a number of concerns raised by the witnesses. In conclusion, I especially want to express my appreciation for the cooperation that I have received from Congressman Young in this endeavor.