KBR received $83 million bonus money after troops electrocuted

Senator: KBR received $83 million in bonuses

By Kimberly Hefling - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday May 20, 2009 12:34:10 EDT

WASHINGTON — Military contractor KBR Inc. was paid $83.4 million in bonuses for electrical work in Iraq — much of it after the military’s contract management agency recognized the contractor was doing shoddy electrical work, a senator said Wednesday.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said he learned of the bonuses from Pentagon documents. Dorgan chairs the Democrats’ Policy Committee, which examined at a hearing the electrocution deaths of U.S. troops in Iraq.

At least three troops have been electrocuted while showering in Iraq, and others have been injured and killed in other electrical incidents. Houston-based KBR, which has the responsibility of maintaining electrical work in tens of thousands of U.S. facilities in Iraq, has denied any responsibility in the deaths.

But Dorgan said evidence suggests KBR’s work was involved in some of the deaths. He said $34 million in bonuses was paid three months after Green Beret Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, 24, of Pittsburgh, was electrocuted while showering in his barracks in Iraq on Jan. 2, 2008. Maseth’s family has sued KBR, alleging wrongful death.
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Senator: KBR received $83 million in bonuses


KBR's chief defends electrical work in Iraq
By KIMBERLY HEFLING – 53 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The chief executive of the military contractor under scrutiny in the electrocution of U.S. troops in Iraq said Wednesday the electrical codes it used in the buildings it maintained in the war zone "were known and thought to be acceptable" by the Pentagon.

William P. Utt, the chairman of Houston-based KBR Inc. told The Associated Press in an interview that the company was not expected to meet the U.S. electrical code in a wartime environment. He said the company was striving to meet the British electrical code, which was more in line with the Iraqi electrical system.

Earlier Wednesday, Jim Childs, an electrical inspector hired by the Army to help review U.S.-run facilities in Iraq testified before the Democrats' policy committee that 90 percent of KBR's wiring in newly constructed buildings in Iraq was not done properly, meaning an estimated 70,000 buildings where troops lived and worked were not safe.

"When I began inspecting the electrical work performed by KBR, my co-workers and I found improper electrical work in every building we inspected," Childs said.
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KBR chief defends electrical work in Iraq