Bechtel

$458m Big Dig settlement exempts firms from criminal charges in tunnel collapse.

Casey Ross reports not everybody's happy with the settlement, such as state Sen. Robert Hedlund, a Weymouth Republican, who says:

There are rivers pouring through our tunnels, one woman has died, and the public trust has been irrevocably broken. Yet Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff has been able to buy themselves out of trouble for just $399 million. That figure represents pocket-change for a pair of firms that have pocketed billions of taxpayer dollars.

Hedlund's complete statement.

The Outraged Liberal reads today's Globe article on Bechtel's apparent non-concern about I-90 connector bolts and concludes: Looks like Mitt Romney got the wrong scalp:

... Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, the well-connected management company designed to oversee the project opted to save money rather than push for safety. Under the oversight of Kerasiotes. And Cellucci.

What say you Mitt? Ready to keep the heat on and find the culprits? Or are you too busy kissing Trent Lott's backside while busting Michael Dukakis?

Dan Kennedy notes that the article points out how unique the concrete-slab construction was and that the story:

[R]aises the distinct possibility that the fatal accident of July 10 wasn't just the result of incompetent workmanship but also of a deeply flawed design.

Seems Bechtel is worried that the tests on the I-90 connector bolts might cause "not readily apparent" problems with the bolts. Which apparently are different from the not readily apparent problems that caused Milena Del Valle's death, Jay Fitzgerald writes.

Beth on Grand Mental Station: How do these guys sleep at night?

... Give me a goddamned break.

Note also that this is the first we've heard from Bechtel since the death in the Tunnel. Apparently it's taken them that long to figure out how to pass the buck.

Real or faked? John Daley ponders the possibly alleged ceiling memo, including Howie Carr's Globe bashing, says it's all great fun but adds:

... But there's also the public interest, apparently lost in all the posturing and foaming at the mouth. Maybe the memo is real. Maybe not. It's an important question for how blame and liability will be assigned. Nothing happening in either newspaper now is contributing to getting the answer. ...

Dan Kennedy asks questions and takes names, saying the Globe should have, at the least, given Modern Continental some more time to respond to the initial story:

... Yet there are times when a reporter is absolutely convinced that he's right, and that giving a source too much time to respond will risk diminishing the impact of the story. Sometimes, for tactical reasons, a news organization will give a source almost no time to respond so that he can't spin it ahead of time. I've been in that situation myself, and it's something that has to be thought through with the top editors. Always, the overriding concern is: Is there any way we could be proven wrong on this? Obviously Murphy, Baron and company didn't think there was. And they got burned. ...

My standard newspaper disclosure.

Aaron Margolis spends some time with a state database and finds some fun financial threads connecting Bechtel with various state legislators and others who theoretically might have something to say about any possible wrongdoing at Bechtel's Big Dig.

The Globe also looks at the Bechtel way.

Well, Bechtel, of course. But also our very own Andrew Natsios.

Via Boston Crazy Driving.