Ebasco Services was a United States–based designer and constructor of energy infrastructure, most notably

nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant (NPP), also known as a nuclear power station (NPS), nuclear generating station (NGS) or atomic power station (APS) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power st ...

History

The company was formed from the

Electric Bond and Share Company The Electric Bond and Share Company (Ebasco) was a United States electric utility holding company organized by General Electric. It was forced to divest its holding companies and reorganize due to the passage of the Public Utility Holding Company ...

, a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

that sold securities of electric utilities. Its headquarters were located at 2 Rector Street, New York City. It was created by

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

in 1905. Electric Bond and Share was restructured after the

Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 The Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA), also known as the Wheeler-Rayburn Act, was a US federal law giving the Securities and Exchange Commission authority to regulate, license, and break up electric utility holding companies. I ...

, forming EBASCO Services, a provider of engineering consulting and construction services. Following the passage of the

, the

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market m ...

(SEC) oversaw the closure, re-organization or divestment of EBASCo's holding companies except for its American & Foreign Power Co., making annual reports on its monumental legal breakup case between 1936 and 1961. Among other projects EBASCO designed nuclear power plants. By 1986, Ebasco claimed have built 220 hydroelectric, 700 fossil fueled and 35 nuclear facilities around the world
Ebasco Services Incorporated: the saga of electric power 1986

Documented Acquisition History

1905 to 1937 Intermediate Holding Company Subsidiaries * American Gas & Electric Company * American Power & Light Company * Electric Power & Light Corporation * National Power & Light Company * United Gas Corporation * American & Foreign Power Company The Securities and Exchange Commission ordered the breakup of the above Holding companies in 1937 except for the American and Foreign Power Company
SEC v. EBASCo., 18 F. Supp. 131 (S.D.N.Y. 1937
Boise Cascade acquire
Ebasco in 1969
Boise Cascade then tried to sell off Ebasco'
International Holdings that included the Cuba Electric Company
and others in South America and China. However, it is claimed that the Cuban Electric Company's stock is now held b
Staples Inc.
Yet, in 1969, the U.S. Foreign Claims Settlement Commission denied the claim in it
CU-4016 decision

Halliburton Halliburton Company is an American multinational corporation and the world's second-largest oil service company which is responsible for most of the world's fracking operations. It employs approximately 55,000 people through its hundreds of su ...

acquire
Ebasco in 1973
but on April 24, 1973, the US District Court, Southern District of New York filed suit against Halliburton using the

Clayton Act The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 (, codified at , ), is a part of United States antitrust law with the goal of adding further substance to the U.S. antitrust law regime; the Clayton Act seeks to prevent anticompetitive practices in their incip ...

to reverse the sale. In 1976, the Lone Star Gas Company purchased Ebasco, changing its name to Ensearc
Ensearch Company History
By the 1980s, EBASCO had these divisions: Ebasco Engineering, which provided engineering design and A/E services, Ebasco Environmental, which provided environmental engineering and science services, EBASCO Constructors, which provided construction and construction management and Ebasco Risk Managers (ERMCI) division. ERMCI became the Independent Consultation Services of Ebasco, Inc. or INDECS on January 1, 1984
About INDECS
Ebasco Environmental was sold to Enserch Environmental before being sold to Foster Wheeler, Inc., becoming Foster Wheeler Environmental. Ebasco (EBS) was included in

Dow Jones Utility Average The Dow Jones Utility Average (DJUA, also known as the "Dow Jones Utilities") is a stock index from S&P Dow Jones Indices that tracks the performance of 15 prominent utility companies traded in the United States. The Dow Jones Utilities is a p ...

from 1938 to 1947. Ebasco Services was one of the major US architect-engineers, that coordinated the design of many

s both in the USA and abroad including the

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant The is a disabled nuclear power plant located on a site in the towns of Ōkuma, Fukushima, Ōkuma and Futaba, Fukushima, Futaba in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. The plant Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, suffered major damage from the 201 ...

(units 1, 2 and 6). "Fukushima Daiichi 1 .. Fukushima Daiichi 2 .. Fukushima Daiichi 6 ... Architecture: Ebasco" EBASCO Engineering and Constructors were sold to

Raytheon Raytheon is a business unit of RTX Corporation and is a major U.S. defense contractor and industrial corporation with manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. Founded in 1922, it merged in 2020 with Unite ...

in 1993 and became part of a Raytheon subsidiary, United Engineers and Constructors. In 1996 Morrison-Knudsen Corp. of

Boise Boise ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Located on the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and nor ...

was purchased by Washington Group International, taking the Morrison-Knudsen name until it purchased

in 2000. During the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

of 2001, Raytheon had an office in the South Tower of the World Trade Center on the 91st floor. Their office, being 6 floors above where

United Airlines Flight 175 United Airlines Flight 175 was a domestic passenger flight from Logan International Airport in Boston to Los Angeles International Airport in California that was hijacked by five al-Qaeda terrorists on the morning of September 11, 2001, as ...

collided with the building, was spared from the immediate collision, but was utterly destroyed in the subsequent collapse of the South Tower. Throughout its history of building power facilities around the world, Ebasco would issue insurance policies to each utility company for various aspects of the facility which would later include policies for issues like their extensive use of asbestos. These policies have since become major legal issue
Ebasco Insurance

Whistleblowing case

Nuclear whistleblower Ronald J. Goldstein was a supervisor employed by EBASCO, which was a major contractor for the construction of Houston Lighting and Power Company's South Texas Project (a complex of two nuclear power plants). In the summer of 1985, Goldstein identified safety problems to SAFETEAM, an internal compliance program established by EBASCO and Houston Lighting, including noncompliance with safety procedures, the failure to issue safety compliance reports, and quality control violations affecting the safety of the plant. SAFETEAM was promoted as an independent safe haven for employees to voice their safety concerns. The two companies did not inform their employees that they did not believe complaints reported to SAFETEAM had any legal protection. After he filed his report to SAFETEAM, Goldstein was fired. Subsequently, Golstein filed suit under federal nuclear whistleblower statutes. The U.S.

Department of Labor A ministry of labour (''British English, UK''), or labor (''American English, US''), also known as a department of labour, or labor, is a government department responsible for setting labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workfor ...

ruled that his submissions to SAFETEAM were protected and his dismissal was invalid, a finding upheld by Labor Secretary Lynn Martin. The ruling was appealed and overturned by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that private programs offered no protection to whistleblowers. After Goldstein lost his case, Congress amended the federal nuclear whistleblower law to provide protection reports made to internal systems and prevent retaliation against whistleblowers.

References

{{General Electric American companies disestablished in 1993 1993 disestablishments in the United States Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1935 1935 establishments in New York City Raytheon Company General Electric American companies established in 1935