Alaska gas pipeline project: development requires a specialized work force, but will it be available?

• Author: Pielli, Brooke
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: BUILDING ALASKA

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Speculation about the cost and feasibility of the gas pipeline from Alaska's North Slope to a hub in Alberta, Canada, has highlighted the need for specialized workers over the decade it is believed the project will take. This, in turn, has raised questions about whether or not that need for specialized workers can be filled.

The proposed trans-Canada gas pipeline project is expected to require 732 miles of pipeline in Alaska and 1,408 miles of pipeline in Canada, with some 1,500 miles of upgraded pipeline from Alberta to Chicago.

WHAT THE GASLINE WOULD COST

The Alaska part of the pipeline would have five natural-gas delivery points in the state.

"There are various routes for getting the gas to market," said Robert Lang, dean of the School of Engineering at the University of Alaska Anchorage. "It can tie into existing lines or be barged at Valdez for shipment to market. The first step is the pipeline."

The cost for this is projected at nearly $30 billion. Costs for the entire gas line project are greater, with one estimate of 100 billion in construction work over the project's projected life.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, in a May 22, 2008, Associated Press story, set the cost at the lower amount of $26 billion, due in part to what she considers TransCanada's superior proposal that was binding and enforceable.

In the meantime, BP Alaska and ConocoPhillips announced the creation of a new company that will develop a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope called Denali--The Alaska Gas Pipeline. In mid-June, it began the application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to start the formal review of its pipeline license application, a process that could take up to three years.

The state's Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority has also been steadily moving forward in it mission to complete planning and scoping for a 20-inch to 24-inch spur pipeline to supply gas for Southcentral Alaska.

The prize for all this is anticipated to be a stabilization of gas prices for consumers.

The problem of an available Alaska work force to make that happen, however, still exists.

"The project," Lang said, "is on a monumental scale for engineering.

"Then factor in that the terrain in Alaska varies from frozen to not frozen, with permafrost and glacial conditions. Also, when building any pipeline, it is like building a road. You have to provide access for machines and cars. Your route is influenced by topographical survey."

"Another...