Post pipeline engineering: a future chapter for taps.

• Author: Jordan, Darryl
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Engineering & Architecture

Twenty years ago the Smithsonian Museum unveiled their newest exhibit, Oil from the Arctic: Building the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. At the time, the exhibit was highlighting the twentieth anniversary of operation and marking the pipeline's place in engineering history. The exhibit prominently displayed a section of the 48-inch pipe, insulated work gear, route maps, and a red lantern awarded to the poorest performing team during construction. Tucked below the massive pipe were photographs of many of the engineering challenges that required new solutions to make it an engineering marvel.

It makes sense that many engineers were involved to create the pipeline as it was a massive project--and there was that Alaska factor of earthquakes, permafrost, very low temperatures, remote wilderness, and absolutely no infrastructure. Infrastructure is more than a road or airfield, but everything that a worker in a remote location needs such as housing, water, sewer, heat, power, trash, transportation, communication, entertainment, safety, and even emergency care.

That was more than forty years ago, and one would think that the engineer's job was done decades ago. The fact is that there are more than one hundred engineers at Alyeska Pipeline Service Company today and a comparable number of engineers working as contractors. This number is more than 10 percent of the Alyeska in-house workforce and underscores that there are more engineering challenges to be met.

Science and Common Sense

T. William Lambe, a faculty member for the engineering school at MIT for thirty-six years, described engineers as those that could combine science with some common sense. Betsy Haines, the senior director of engineering at Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, agrees with Lambe's sentiment. She points out that it is not enough to come forward with a solution--the solution must make economic reality.

In her role she is responsible for engineering design, standards, technical studies, and facility engineering. The team is an interesting mix of a core of twenty to thirty experienced engineers, international experts loaned from the owner companies, local consultants, and fresh engineers straight out of the University of Alaska Anchorage Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program. The result is an energetic workforce, adept at problem solving, with a deep love of Alaska.

So, for someone that's the head of engineering at a major oil project, worthy of an exhibit at the Smithsonian, looking forward to the future problems requiring solutions, what kind of people or consultants would they need on their team? Haines has a plan that says, "You have still got to fly the plane, so you will always need the core engineers of civil, mechanical, and electrical. My list will have more chemical engineers, process engineers, and...