Comments (21)

scritch wrote on August 8, 2007 11:02 AM:

Does this offshore work place him outside of the U.S. as far as arrest by U.S. law enforcement authorities is concerned? If so, drilling for oil is probably a better bet than fishing. Fishing boats eventually fill up with fish and need to return to port, but drilling rigs routinely stay offshore for months at a time, and could conceivably provide a safe refuge for a refugee.

Punchy wrote on August 8, 2007 12:02 PM:

scritch just stole my comment. How fast can those tankers make it to Dubai, or Yemen, or some other foreign gov't unwilling to hand him over?

Seems really fishy here. Pun intended.

someparisian wrote on August 8, 2007 12:04 PM:

i hear he's gonna be sealed in a capsule and shipped to the bottom of the arctic ocean, where he'll fight to the death against a solid-titanium Russian flag.

bryan wrote on August 8, 2007 12:09 PM:

Yes, the work off the shores and outside the continental shelf is outside the US for personal jurisdiction. When i saw the first story about him being on a boat -- i thought he is ducking service and likely arrest. I wish i had friends like SHELL. I wonder what his salary is -- I don't think he has geological experience and his boating experience would be likely be limited to fishing vessels. HMMM. Could SHELL be cited for aiding and abetting; accomplices after the fact.

CFBosworth wrote on August 8, 2007 12:14 PM:

A "work boat" is usually less than 200 feet long and provides support to drilling rigs or oil platforms in a specific drilling area. They don't cross the globe.

TheraP wrote on August 8, 2007 12:15 PM:

My question remains: Has he left the country?

Next question: Can one serve a subpoena on board a vessel?

Anonymous wrote on August 8, 2007 12:19 PM:

Shell & fast and loose MMS employees overran the process at the Bush Inc subsidiary and federal agency MMS otherwise known as Mineral Management Service in order for Shell to book reserves in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas

MMS is now getting sued
http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/115016978.shtml

Guess where MMS Alaska is located?
JL properties building in Midtown Anchorage

Guess who own part of JL properties in Real Estate?
Ted Stevens

The Ol' boys club of contractors got the support contrats VECO use to get in probably no bid

This will pay for Ben's defense. Thanks Shell

Grumpy wrote on August 8, 2007 12:24 PM:

According to the report, Ben Stevens is not working on an oil platform, nor is he aboard Shell's exploration vessel. He's on a work boat delivering supplies ot the Shell vessel.

blank 12:19... So, Ted Stevens is part-owner of a firm which is the landlord of a federal agency with oversight over a Dutch company now using the services of a contractor which employs Stevens' son. These facts either point to corruption at the highest levels, or the fact that JL Properties owns all the decent office space in town.

Sneezy wrote on August 8, 2007 12:31 PM:

Ben Stevens is the Where's Waldo of our time.

Anonymous wrote on August 8, 2007 12:33 PM:

Ben Stevens is the Where's Waldo of our time.

steve duncan wrote on August 8, 2007 12:37 PM:

Ben is likely drawing a six figure salary for his work.

Stephen Taufen wrote on August 8, 2007 12:53 PM:

Look up Lynden Inc. website, Bering Marine subsidiary. See Anchorage Daily News story today. Realize that Ben was also a hovercraft operator in mid-1990's, right after Ted Stevens legislation allowing former military (surplus) hovers to operate in exemption of Jones Act.

It may be a good guess that you can expect to hear a lot more about it as the probes continue into native corporations and pass-through schemes.

Lynden's owner Jansen was on the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board that Ben chaired and his partner (former Ted fishery aide) Trevor McCabe co-chaired: they/its activities are subject of the FBI probes. Lynden offered Ben the job on the ARCTIC SEAL.

Scritch - you really made us laugh - Ben a refugee. You're gonna make the boy upset!
Bosworth - do check out the geography, Alaska's pretty close to Russia... and far smaller but seaworthy vessels can make it.

Although if Ben heads through the Adak area first, he can hide in the fog along with the salmon poachers from Japan and China!

Be kind to Ben, he's just trying to earn a little cigarette money and get toughened up before going to the greybar hotel.

Codeword: Landing Craft - as in this baby could come ashore anywhere and let the refugee run for the borders.

aklocal wrote on August 8, 2007 1:00 PM:

Maybe Ben's cooperating.

ChrisO wrote on August 8, 2007 2:06 PM:

It's comments like these that make me embarrassed to be a liberal. I certainly hope you people are just screwing around here. I'm sure Ben Stevens is as corrupt as they come, but I think there's more elegant ways to avoid capture than to go live on a drilling rig. And whatever you think of Shell, they're a bit more pragmatic than to shelter an accused felon on the lam from the US. The Stevens family may have done them plenty of favors (which is how Ben probably got on the boat) but what's the percentage for them? Ben Stevens is worhless to them now.

dingus day wrote on August 8, 2007 2:22 PM:

"And whatever you think of Shell, they're a bit more pragmatic than to shelter an accused felon on the lam from the US."

Hmm are we talking about the same Shell that is activley involved in funding African death squads?

How's that land on the pragmatism scale?

Since we now live in a corporate dictatorship I won't put anything past these unregulated corporate monsters.

Amos Rutledge wrote on August 8, 2007 3:19 PM:

Work boats in the oil fields are much closer kin to semi trucks than to ocean liners. They see land and make port quite often. Usually the same port. When I worked them we went into the same pestilential shit hole in Louisiana every 10 - days - two weeks.

This is normal work for many Alaskan seamen. You'll find a lot of overlap between crab fishermen and workboat crewmen due to the seasonal nature of both.

FYI, wages can vary between $4K and $12K, Gross, per month, depending upon tonnage, horsepower and the generosity of the Employer. It is gonad-busting, back-breaking work which might well take your life. I did it in the Gulf of Mexico, and you couldn't pay me enough to do it for a month in Alaskan waters.

If this is what Stevens is doing, it ain't Carnival Cruise Lines, sports fans...

CFBosworth wrote on August 8, 2007 5:20 PM:

Taufen, my response was to Punchy, who asked how fast a "tanker" could make it to Dubai.

Apparently there are no restrictions on Ken's travel, so why would he go through the trouble of getting a job on a work boat, and having that work boat bring him to Russia (which it wouldn't do anyway), when he could fly there himself. I know you are trying to be funny, but I was just giving background on the industry - I know the geogragy.

someparisian wrote on August 8, 2007 7:02 PM:

"Hmm are we talking about the same Shell that is activley involved in funding African death squads?
How's that land on the pragmatism scale?"

Fairly high, when you think about it (and when ou're a cynic).

Barbarians At The Gate wrote on August 8, 2007 8:19 PM:

Hey Ben...do you still have your hovercraft license? Ask your buddy Carl if you can take one of those LACV-30's out for a spin over at Bering Marine. Oh that's right Carl gave those to Lynden back in 2003. It's has a shell game feel, but Jim Jansen at Lynden should be able to help you out...again. Don't worry son, in time the folks in Bellingham and Moses Lake should be getting a call. Tell your Daddy to say hello to Greg Craig.

Barbarians At The Gate wrote on August 8, 2007 8:19 PM:

Hey Ben...do you still have your hovercraft license? Ask your buddy Carl if you can take one of those LACV-30's out for a spin over at Bering Marine. Oh that's right Carl gave those to Lynden back in 2003. It's has a shell game feel, but Jim Jansen at Lynden should be able to help you out...again. Don't worry son, in time the folks in Bellingham and Moses Lake should be getting a call. Tell your Daddy to say hello to Greg Craig.

busdrivermike wrote on August 8, 2007 11:16 PM:

The last time I heard of a guy hiding out on a drilling rig I was 12. I think the guys name was Goldfinger and it took Sean Connery and Jill St. John to apprehend him.

Might I suggest Valerie Plame?