The A(ssociation) Team: Advocacy, education, and training support and build Alaska's industries.

• Author: Anderson, Tasha

The editorial team at Alaska Business is happy to present our inaugural Industrial Support Services Special Section. When we were planning the 2020 editorial calendar in 2019. we knew there was some change on the horizon with the introduction of a new special section--we didn't anticipate that we'd be launching it from our respective home offices. But we took the example of many of the excellent organizations represented in this section and adapted: supporting Alaska's largest industries requires the ability to accept the circumstances of a project and get the job done anyway.

We publish special sections routinely throughout the year to highlight Alaska's major industries, including oil and gas. mining, fishing, construction, transportation. engineering. and healthcare. And while we deeply value our opportunities to focus on (and inform our readers about) a specific industry, the reality is many of Alaska's support service companies provide goods, services, and expertise that span multiple industries. Some companies provide a niche service that benefits any natural resource project, while others meet a variety of project needs but only within a certain geological area. Our goal in this special section is to highlight the vast and varied capabilities of Alaska's industry support organizations.

Trade associations and advocacy groups play an important part in supporting the companies and employees working in Alaska's major industries, often acting as the bridge that connects businesses, educational institutions, nonprofits, and government organizations.

The Alliance

According to Rebecca Logan, CEO of The Alaska Support Industry Alliance, it's not a matter of how many companies the association supports, but if there are any that it doesn't. "In the state of Alaska, everybody's in the support industry for oil, gas, and mining," she says. "Our mission statement is that we promote responsible development of Alaska's oil gas and mineral resources... what we really do is advocate for our members to the owner/operators, advocate on behalf of the industries to state government and federal government, and advocate for our members in the industry to the general public, to keep them apprised of the status and the health of the industry and any state or federal policies that are impacting industry."

That advocacy takes many forms. One is the AK Headlamp, a blog that's updated regularly with information on energy and politics related to industry. "That reaches between 30.000 and 40.000 people a day," Logan says.

The Alliance also organizes events, mainly for its members. As an example, recently it presented a virtual update for its members on the Oilak LNG1 Project, a S5 billion proposition to establish a liquefaction plant a few miles offshore of Point Thomson allowing LNG to be shipped directly from the North Slope to primarily Asian markets. The company expects to complete a feasibility study late this year or in early 2021, according to Qilak LNG Chairman and CEO Mead Treadwell, with a goal to begin production...