The Alaska Contractor: Winter 2009

Associated General
Contractors of Alaska
8005 Schoon St.
Anchorage, AK 99518
(907) 561-5354
Fax: (907) 562-6118
www.agcak.org
Editorial Board
Sam Robert Brice
Dick Cattanach
Margaret Empie
Mary Killorin
John MacKinnon
Brook Mayfield
Vicki Schneibel
George Tuckness
Lyn Whitley
8537 Corbin Dr.
Anchorage, AK 99507
(907) 562-9300
Fax: (907) 562-9311
Toll Free: (866) 562-9300
www.AQPpublishing.com
Publisher
Robert R. Ulin
Senior Editor
Heather A. Resz
Art Director
Karen Copley
Graphic Designer
Justin Ritter
Production Manager
Len Sullivan
Project Sales Manager
Clem E. Mewmaw
Advertising Coordinator
Janet Thompson
Jo s e ow e n s a n d To n y di l b e c k o n b oa r d
dive supporT vessel sh a m r o c k w iT h T h e
Tyo n e k p l aT f o r m in T h e b ac kg ro u n d.
ph o To: co u r T e sy o f
am e r i c a n ma r i n e co r p o r aT i o n
cov e r de s i g n : Ju sT i n riTTer
Features
Table of Contents
14 Clean initiatives by Ralph Samuels
22 ConocoPhillips Integrated Science Building
is helping to grow Alaska’s workforce by Fran Ulmer
34 Growing new talent:
UAA, contractors team up in training effort by Tracy Kalytiak
40 Big shoes to fill: John MacKinnon reflects
on first year leading AGC of Alaska by Heather A. Resz
42 Excellence in Construction & Safety Achievement by AGC of Alaska
50 The University of Alaska plays big role in workforce training by Mark Hamilton
54 Alaska water permit program approved by Heather A. Resz
56 Alaska mining industry forecast by Steve Borell
60 Smart buildings on the rise in Alaska,
more intelligent towers to come by Rob Stapleton
64 QAP wins $95 million bid for next phase
of work at the Port of Anchorage by Rob Stapleton
66 Progress continues at Port MacKenzie by Marc VanDongen
68 TransCanada moves on gas line pre-construction work by Rob Stapleton
70 Denali posts progress on its version of a gas pipeline project by Rob Stapleton
72 2008 Winners of AGC’s Excellence in Construction Awards Photo essay
80 Website and Training Information
Pr o F i l e s
18 Construction Unlimited LLC by Nancy Erickson
26 Northland Services by Victoria Naegele
DePartment s
4 Winning Bids & Construction Activity
8 President’s Message by Sam Robert Brice
10 Executive Director’s Message by John MacKinnon
12 Legislative Priorities 2009
16 Safety Report by Chris Ross
20 WorkSafe by Matthew Fagnani
The Alaska Winter 2009
The Official Publication of the Associated General Contractors of Alaska
www.agcak.org
28 Financial Services & Contractors by Ted Baran
30 Education, Training & Workforce Development Report by Robert Cress
Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 3

Note: Winning Bids, Low Bids and
Construction Activity
1) Source from projects advertised
in the AGC of Alaska Bulletin
2) Calculations based
on date of bid
3) Supply/Service; Non-Construction
bid results are not always
advertised in the bulletin
4) RFP results are not always
advertised in the bulletin
Low Bids for 2008
Category January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Total
Building
$14,629,542.45 $96,819,173.00 $72,830,508.83 $34,641,707.66 $20,871,728.50 $36,934,002.15 $36,570,046.21 $11,042,683.03 $8,873,203.78 $51,787,855.42 $11,247,659.55 $0.00 $396,284,110.58
Military
$0.00 $0.00 $14,394,350.00 $195,858.00 $78,600.00 $2,325,800.00 $989,500.00 $372,523.73 $10,662,065.00 $967,008.00 $29,985,704.73
Other
$7,268,077.22 $3,299,783.22 $30,616,160.80 $54,813,210.56 $26,639,467.47 $8,919,601.86 $35,854,506.31 $14,187,308.94 $8,638,985.33 $5, 247,358.83 $2,085,593.00 $107,967.00 $197,678,020.54
Trans
$16,462,545.97 $2,311,158.00 $57,717,618.89 $66,462,654.08 $82,810,412.11 $65,963,818.46 $20,871,927.50 $90,075,190.73 $15,836,981.72 $28,445,163.95 $1,832,670.00 $362,534.00 $449,152,675.41
TOTAL
ArcTIc & WESTErn
UNALASKA POWERHOUSE
RENOVATION
$23,997,000
SKW/Eskimos Inc.
SHISHMAREF EROSION CONTROL
$10,548,545
Bering Pacific Co.
NOME BYBASS ROAD
$2,726,725
Pro West Contractors
CHIGNIK LAGOON
RUNAWAY REPAIRS
$2,649,868.25
AIC Alaska Interstate Construction LLC
AK NORTHERN REGION
CULVERT MAINT/REPAIRS
$2,281,200
Great Northwest Inc.
AK NORTHERN REGION
TRAFFIC DATA EQUIPMENT
$1,039,500
Ridge Contracting Inc.
InTErIor
DALTON HIGHWAY DEEP
CULVERT REPLACEMENT
$1,189,871.26
Hamilton Construction
SoUTHcEnTrAL
ANCH OLD SEWARD/BRANDON/
O’MALLEY RECONST
$17,474,062.50
QAP
KODIAK POLICE
STATION CONSTRUCTION
$15,339,367
Alutiiq LLC
PALMER/WASILLA SIGNALS/
INTERSECTIONS
$8,194,566.84
QAP
EAGLE RIVER DES/CONSTRUCT
TOWN CENTER
$4,133,000
Watterson Construction
VALDEZ AIRPORT OFFICE
CARPET REPLACEMENT
$4,061,029
Bell Tech Inc.
ANCH MOUNTAIN VIEW LIBRARY
RENOVATION
$3,150,000
SR Bales Construction Inc.
$38,360,165.64 $102,430,114.22 $175,558,638.52 $156,113,430.30 $130,400,208.08 $114,143,222.47 $94,285,980.02 $115,677,706.43 $44,011,235.83 $85,480,378.20 $15,165,922.55 $1,437,509.00
$1,073,064,511.26
4 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

EAGLE RIVER WWTF
UV DISINFECTION
$1,983,530
Rockford Corporation Inc.
SUTTON WISHBONE ROAD PROJECT
$1,747,381.35
Cruz Construction Inc.
VALDEZ RICHARDSON HWY
FLOODING 10-06 PERM PIPE REPAIRS
$1,406,911.55
Hamilton Construction
ANCH UAA ADMIN
BLDG RENO/MOVE
$1,099,150
G & S Management
Services LLC
SoUTHEAST
AK M/V TUSTUMENA REFURBISHMENT
$7,715,543
Vigor Marine LLC
KETCHIKAN HSC
FAIRWEATHER HULL IMPROVE
$4,909,143
Alaska Ship & Dry Dock Inc.
SITKA WHITCOMB
HEIGHTS WATER TANK
$4,061,029
S & S General Contractors
SITKA INDIAN RIVER
ROAD IMPROVEMENTS
$2,225,703
McGraw’s Custom Construction
KETCHIKAN MULTI-USE
TECH TRAINING CTR
$2,069,300
Northern Management Services
PETERSBURG ML&P
POWER LINE SCHEDULE A
$1,736,728
Chatham Electric Inc.
KLUKWAN JILKAAT KWAAN
HOSPITALITY HOUSE
$1,727,745
North Pacific Erectors
KETCHIKAN KNUDSON
COVE HARBOR
$1,682,500
Pool Engineering Inc.
SKAGWAY BOAT HARBOR SEWALK/
UPLANDS PHS V
$1,573,096
Admiralty Construction Inc.
JUNEAU PARKING GARAGE/TRANSIT
CENTER SITE WORK PHS I
$1,500,297.50
Southeast Earthmovers Inc.
JUNEAU CASEY SHATTUCK
RECONSTRUCT PHS IV
$1,234,789
Arete Construction Corp.
cAnAdA
SHAKWAK HIGHWAY SLIMS RIVER
BRIDGE GROUND IMPROVE
$3,764,105.21
Surespan Construction Ltd.
Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 5

$500,000,000
$450,000,000
$400,000,000
$350,000,000
$300,000,000
$250,000,000
$200,000,000
$150,000,000
$100,000,000
$50,000,000
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
$1,200,000,000
$1,050,000,000
$900,000,000
$750,000,000
$600,000,000
$450,000,000
$300,000,000
$150,000,000
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
$-0
$450,000,000
$400,000,000
$350,000,000
$300,000,000
$250,000,000
$200,000,000
$150,000,000
$100,000,000
$50,000,000
$-0
$-0
Highway
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC
building
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC
annual
ACTIVITY
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC
6 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

President’s Message
Our responsibility
Investment in construction projects is a major driver of
the Alaska economy. According to the 2008 Construction
Spending Forecast compiled by the Institute of
Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska
Anchorage, “Construction is the third largest industry in the
state, pays the state’s second highest wages, employs nearly
22,000 workers with a payroll over $1 billion, accounts for 20
percent of Alaska’s economy and currently contributes more
than $7 billion to the state’s economy.” These investments
boost the economy while the construc-
tion is going on and provide economic
benefits for years after.
But the majority of our highway,
airport, harbor and rural infrastructure
projects in Alaska rely solely on yearto-year
budgets of federal funding programs
and / or earmarks. We all know
the black eye Alaska has received over
the past few years for “the bridge to nowhere”
and other infamous earmarks that
led Congress to earmark reform. Alaska
has one of the lowest state gas taxes in
the nation and in the recent past has
received more than $6 for every $1 paid
into the highway trust fund from federal
gas tax. We are one of a handful of states
that does not have our own state funded
transportation program. Combine this
with our permanent fund savings account and the fact that
residents are paid to live here, you can start to feel the ill-will
headed our direction, spelling out reduced federal transportation
funding for our state. We have a backlog of nearly
$400 million worth of infrastructure projects that have been
designed and are sitting on the “shelf” awaiting funding.
Additionally, there are more than $1 billion worth of
projects along the Alaska, Richardson and Dalton Highway
corridors alone in order to be prepared for the gas pipeline
construction traffic loads. A recent article in the Anchorage
Daily News titled “Infrastructure delays threaten pipeline, coordinator
says…one thing that could kill the project is under
the state’s control – needed infrastructure upgrades, said Drue
Pearce, who heads the Office of the Federal Coordinator for
Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects.”
It is precisely because of these facts that the top legislative
priority for the AGC of Alaska is a State-Funded Transpor-
We have the
opportunity in front
of us to by-pass the
economic hardship
much of our nation
is feeling today and
possibly help to lead
our nation’s recovery
with the continued
environmentally sound
development of our
vast resources.
Sam RobeRt bRice
President
tation Program. Gov. Sarah Palin proposed a $1 billion appropriation
for a sustained transportation funding program
that did not move forward last year, but she is still strongly
in support of a State Transportation Program as per the Fall
2008 article in this magazine in which she wrote:
“My administration’s proposal for a sustained transportation
fund is the right idea at the right time. It would add a
new, certain source of funding for needs we know will continue
long into the future.”
This fall, voters showed their support
for Alaska transportation projects by
overwhelmingly passing the $315 million
statewide general obligation bond issue.
This is a step in the right direction.
Outside of Alaska, people don’t understand
the commitment the federal government
made 50 years ago when Alaska
was granted statehood. Alaska came into
the Union without a transportation infrastructure
system, but with great promise
of natural resources and a strategic location.
It was understood at that time the
magnitude of investment that would be
required to connect our great state. What
better way for Alaska to show how important
these continuing needs are than
by paying a defined yearly portion of our
way forward.
If indeed our infrastructure needs might be “the straw
that breaks the camel’s back” for the proposed gas pipeline,
wouldn’t a dedicated state-funded transportation program
that could spur additional matching funds be worth the
cost? The Obama administration’s planned infrastructure
investment package could be part of this opportunity and
is an example of why time is of the essence for a state funding
initiative.
Alaska is at a critical juncture in its history. We have the
opportunity in front of us to by-pass the economic hardship
much of our nation is feeling today and possibly help to lead
our nation’s recovery with the continued environmentally
sound development of our vast resources. Our state slogan
“North to the Future” has never been more appropriate than
it is today after 50 years of statehood. It is up to us to ensure
it remains so. A state funded transportation plan is a small
initiative in the right direction for our future.
8 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

eXeCUtiVe direCtOr’s Message
We need to keep the lights on
The world was a different place last summer. Oil was
more than $140 a barrel and we were swimming in
a huge surplus. Alaska had momentum and our future
looked bright, but much has happened since then. The
economy in the U.S. and around the world has plunged into
a recession, financial institutions are stagnant and resource
developments are threatened by threatened species.
We put a lot of effort into keeping the sign lit that says
“Alaska, Open for Business,” but it seems there’s a greater
effort trying to extinguish that light.
While I’m still optimistic about our
future long-term, increases in domestic
gas production coupled with the global
economic slowdown have created growing
concerns that our gas line can move
forward as projected and that gives me
pause. It is my view that any delay in
bringing the gas line to fruition will be
costly to Alaska and the U.S. as a whole.
Having said that, we must look at the
challenges we have before us today and
turn them into opportunities. The biggest
challenges we face are of our own
doing. They are energy independence
and the economy, and they are intimately
interrelated. As a nation, we chose to
import our energy, sending hundreds of
billions of dollars overseas every year, and placing our own
resources out of reach. I believe a significant part of the
solution to America’s energy independence is also part of
the fix for our ailing economy. Alaska can and should play
an important role in the solutions.
Can the gas pipeline be used as an infrastructure project
on an international scale to fund employment in the U.S.
and other countries to build the materials, systems and
equipment for the construction? The immediate job creation
helps bridge the recession / depression economy. The end
result is good infrastructure – a pipeline – and a substantial
amount of gas to provide a degree of energy independence.
The U.S. needs to adopt a new energy policy that pushes
forward on three fronts. Conservation is the first and most
immediate action and can be done at an individual and corporate
level. Second, the government can provide incentives
and remove roadblocks to make investments in renewable
There will not be two
gas lines constructed.
Most people
believe eventually
TransCanada
and Denali will
somehow “partner”
and construct one
pipeline.
John macKinnon
Executive Director
energy – wind, solar and hydro for our long-term sustainable
needs. Alaska is doing both. The intermediate fix and
third front is increased domestic production of energy hydrocarbons,
and a hinge pin of this is the Alaska gas line.
Getting a gas line built also involves incentives and the removal
of government roadblocks.
Alaska’s Gasline Inducement Act brought healthy competition
to the market for a gas line. But the competition
that brought us many proposals will now result in unnecessary
duplication of efforts and potential
delays we can’t afford. There will
not be two gas lines constructed. Most
people believe eventually TransCanada
and Denali will somehow “partner” and
construct one pipeline. It is time to bring
them both together and get both moving
forward as one project.
ACES got the attention of the oil
and gas industry as has the state’s position
on non-producing leases. Now is
the time to work together in the spirit of
cooperation for which Alaska is known.
Point Thomson gas is essential to fill the
gas line without dipping into the gas
necessary for oil recovery in our existing
production. Moving forward with Point
Thomson is good for the gas line and
makes a very positive statement for development.
After addressing the immediate needs at home, we need
to take this message to Washington and the new administration.
In Alaska, we have much more to offer than scenery.
Alaska has helped supply America’s energy needs for 30
years, and we’re ready for 30 more. We have the attitude, the
drive and the energy resources. We have the ability to bring
divergent groups together, but we need their help in making
this a national priority. The Alaska gas line project needs to
be made a national priority with expedited permitting and
limited judicial review.
It is not the time for government-as-usual. We need
government-the-facilitator. This takes leaders with vision to
make it happen.
Every so often, we need to look outside our window at
the sign that says “Alaska, Open for Business” to make sure
that the lights are on.
10 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

Associated General Contractors of Alaska
Legislative Priorities 2009
State-funded transportation program
A sustained state-funded transportation
program has been an AGC priority
for many years. In 2008, Gov. Sarah Palin
proposed a $1 billion appropriation for
a sustained state-funded transportation
program, but it had some issues and did
not move last year. The AGC and the
governor are still strongly in support of
a state-funded program.
In an article in the Fall 2008 Alaska
Contractor, Governor Palin wrote:
“My administration’s proposal for
a sustained transportation fund is the
right idea at the right time. It would
add a new, certain source of funding for
needs we know will continue long into
the future.”
The program, at the least, should
have sustained funding commitments
and be focused toward traffic congestion
relief, safety, maintaining the existing system
and new road construction. Initial projects should be
gas line readiness in the near term and a long-term
goal of an efficient and modern transportation system
for Alaska.
Along this line, we need to make sure our scarce
transportation dollars go toward projects that transcend
administrations, not ones that start and stop
with each change of office. Alaska needs to consider
a Transportation Board like most other states have,
that has a broad and informed representation and is
insulated politically. We need fact-based decisions on
which projects move forward and not decisions due to
changing political winds.
Funding for Vocation/Technical Training
Last year the Legislature moved $3.5 million for
Vocational Training from the Capital Budget to the Operating
Budget. This is a clear recognition of support
for the idea that workforce development efforts need
to be ongoing. Having this funding in the Operating
Budget is a big step toward “near-permanent funding”
for voc-tech training. We need to continue our efforts
toward targeted growth in workforce development and
regional centers for technical training, with extended
efforts toward rural Alaska. This is especially important
for Alaska hire and gas line readiness.
Juneau Legislative Building.
2010 Capital Budget
It does little good to put effort into workforce development
if we can’t provide jobs for the new workers
entering the workplace. Improving the number of construction
jobs today, and increasing that number every
year in anticipation of the gas line is the single most effective
thing the state can do to “be prepared.” We need
to steadily increase the state’s construction program
via the Capital Budget for the next six to eight years
(at least) to provide a growing workforce to be ready
to jump to the gas line project when it begins. Many of
these projects should be projects that are needed to aid
in the construction of the gas line. Maximizing Alaska
hire during gas line construction will help to maximize
the gas line benefits to Alaska
Privatization of government work
While this is called “privatization of government
work” it is more accurately described as the ongoing
effort to keep government from doing work that is
better or more effectively contracted out. Every year,
government workers undertake construction work
that could be more efficiently performed by the private
sector. The government employees involved in these
activities should refocus their efforts on more traditional
governmental roles and this work performed by
the private sector.
12 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009
phoTo: karen copley

Clean initiatives
By Rep. Ralph SamuelS
Anyone who has ever dealt with
the legislative process very quickly
learns how frustrating it can be. Committee
meetings, scheduling conflicts,
travel to Juneau, factions that are not
clearly defined to people outside the
day-to-day political arena and personality
conflicts are but a few of the frustrations
that come through in almost
every idea that goes through the sausage
making of the legislative process.
Ideas that seem like no-brainers
somehow get bogged down in the minutia
of the process.
That being said, it is also a very thorough
system, compared to other types
of government.
Attorneys, legislators, staffers,
press and interested parties all pore
over the language, making sure that
the language on the page does exactly
what is purports to do. Amendments
are offered and debated. Some of them
try to water down an idea, while others
try beef it up. Still other amendments
simply clarify the intent of the idea,
using better words.
State departments do an analysis
of how the idea will impact their operations
and budget, and whether or
not the requirements in the bill are
appropriately distributed to the correct
department. Would you want the
Department of Environmental Conservation
implementing regulations
on a death penalty? How about the
Department of Public Safety making
decisions on the permitting of a road
construction project?
Usually the frustration with the
legislative process comes because
nothing happens quickly. From a personal
level, it is aggravating, but from
a policy perspective, it allows a thorough
debate of all ramifications before
we set the public policy.
The flipside of this thorough, grindit-debate
of public policy setting is the
initiative process. Instead of ideas being
vetted by legislative attorneys, with
an initiative they are drafted by….well,
somebody. This “somebody” certainly
has an agenda, as opposed to a legislative
drafter, whose job is to objectively
turn an idea into a statute, whether
they think it is a good idea or not.
“Sign here if you want
a gas pipeline. Sign
here if you like to put
criminals in jail. Sign
here if you like small
dogs and children.”
In the initiative process, there are no
public hearings, no chance for debate
amongst interested parties, no chance
to find flaws. The sponsors collect signatures
from the public and they pay
people on a per signature basis to collect
the signatures. How well do you think
someone who is getting paid for every
signature they collect is going to explain
an issue to an Alaskan that happens to
be walking into a crowded mall?
“Sign here if you want a gas pipeline.”
“Sign here if you like to put
criminals in jail.” “Sign here if you like
small dogs and children.”
Once the requisite number of signatures
is collected, then the real fun
starts…collecting enough money to
buy bumper stickers, television ads,
print ads and clever radio ads.
The money is never spent on actually
debating the issue, only coming up
with catch phrases that do a disservice
to the issue.
Under the current initiative system,
we do not know who is spending money
to support the initiative, how much
Rep. Ralph SamuelS
they are spending or what their real
agenda is. On the flip side, when an
individual decides to become a candidate
and makes the choice to put his or
her name on a ballot and step forward
and say, “I am willing to serve,” we put
limits on how much money they can
get from any one individual, how much
money can come from out-of-state,
the employer/job of the person donating
money, the amount of money and
where the donated money is spent.
Under an initiative, there are no
limits. Current disclosure laws have
loopholes that you can drive a ferry
boat through, and there is absolutely
no public hearing process. Any individual
or group can launder money
into the system and try to affect public
policy in Alaska, with absolutely no
accountability.
There are ways to tighten up the
system. Rep. Kyle Johansen from Ketchikan
sponsored a bill last year, and
will re-introduce it this year, attempting
to put the light of day on the initiative
process.
His bill will require that any money
given to influence an initiative must be
fully disclosed. It will also require that
public hearings be held on the topic, in
various parts of the state. There will always
be those who try and “game” the
system. However, if we work to make
sure that the laws are written and enacted
to ensure the most open system
possible, then Alaskans need to know
who is trying to influence their state
government.
Kudos to Rep. Johansen for taking
on this issue. I have voted both for and
against initiatives at the ballot box, but
I certainly think that those who are
trying to influence how I vote should
be seen in broad daylight.
Rep. Ralph Samuels, R-Anchorage,
represents House District 29.
14 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 15

AK Safety
PLUS safety report
Audit your way to safety
Audit! The very word strikes fear
in the heart of mere mortals!
The mental image of an audit
conjures up visions of being grilled under
bright lights by a “friendly agent of
the government!” In other words, it’s
about as pleasant as a root canal, but
without the anesthesia.
The reality is that auditing is a
powerful tool for safety improvement.
Many organizations are always searching
for a proactive way to measure
safety success, knowing that relying
on lagging indicators, such as injuries
or losses, does not provide a good
“look under the hood” of their safety
systems. Many factors can influence
injury rates, which are not necessarily
predictive of a good safety system.
An excellent tool to analyze your
safety system is auditing. Audits can
be used to evaluate certain elements
of your safety system or to evaluate
the entire system. An example of a
program audit would be to focus on
one element, such as fall protection,
and audit against your standards. You
would review your written program,
then go out into the field and measure
compliance to your program,
noting any deficiencies (and more
importantly, the reasons for those deficiencies).
You would inspect equipment,
interview your competent
persons, assess anchor points, look
for worker compliance to tying off,
look at inspection and maintenance
records, and so on. This type of audit
is very focused.
Another type of audit is a system
audit. The American Society of Safety
Engineers (ASSE), in conjunction with
the American National Standards Institute
(ANSI), has recently re-published
an extremely useful standard entitled
A10.39. The standard “identifie[s] the
By Chris Ross, CSP, CPLP
NANA Training Systems
minimum performance elements, that
when properly utilized, will allow for
a competent evaluation of a construction
health and safety program. Further,
it will identify those areas where
systems, records and performance elements
are required in order to produce
a quality audit.” In other words, it’s a
perfect tool to evaluate your construction
safety and health program, tailor
made for the industry.
OSHA does not currently reference
the standard, but an increasing
number of government agencies do
recognize the standard and are incorporating
it into best available practices
documents. OSHA does require
audits in some of the standards, and
the A10.39 standard would be an excellent
document to use as a base for
developing your audit program. But
just because OSHA does not require
it should not hold you back from
using best available practices. After
all, OSHA compliance should be regarded
simply as the bare minimum,
not the maximum level of effort for
safety and health.
Other uses for the A10.39 standard
include:
• Using the standard as a guidance
document for companies, agencies
and organizations;
• Using it in litigation to determine
industry best practices; and
• Citing and using it in private-sector
contracts and work agreements.
The standard provides an excellent
template for your audit process. It begins
by providing general guidance on
safety audit elements such as responsibilities,
administration, performance
and training. Further guidance is provided
in Appendix A regarding the
development of a robust construction
16 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

audit safety system. Appendix B provides
a comprehensive audit format,
complete with descriptive criteria and
scoring that makes system auditing
much easier than developing an audit
protocol on your own.
This auditing standard also coincides
with the A10.33-1998 (R2004)
Safety and Health Program Requirements
for Multi-Employer Projects,
which provides guidelines for the
basic duties of senior contractors and
project supervisors in providing a safe
construction workplace. The A10.33
standard covers senior supervisor re-
“Proactive
construction
companies and
owners would be
well-served by
reviewing, adopting,
and using the ANSI
A10.39 Standard.”
sponsibilities, corrective actions and
presence at a construction project,
as well as site safety and health requirements,
disciplinary procedures,
construction process plans and prework
plans. Both the A10.39 and
the A10.33 standards are available
for purchase through the ASSE Web
site at http://www.asse.org/cartpage.
php?link=standards.
Proactive construction companies
and owners would be well-served by
reviewing, adopting, and using the
ANSI A10.39 Standard. It will provide
a leading indicator of your safety
program, which helps prevent injuries
and losses. This standard is well written,
easy to use, and should be on every
contractor’s bookshelf.
Chris Ross is the General Manager of
NANA Training Systems in Anchorage.
NTS offers clients training and consulting
solutions in leadership, hiring and
selection, safety and health compliance,
risk management and strategic planning.
Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 17

MEMBER PROFILE
ConstruCtion
unlimited llC By NaNcy eRickSoN
Experienced Alaska company offers
new trenchless technologies
J ohn Herring found an easy solution to long
periods of time spent away from his family
while working construction camp jobs across
Alaska’s vast geography – he started his own
business and involved his family.
Almost 25 years later, 90 percent of Construction
Unlimited LLC’s full-time employees are
family members. Sons Richard, Steven and Bryan
are the company’s project managers and superintendent
while daughter Judy serves as office guru,
aka bean counter. Judy’s husband, Chad Schonbeck,
serves as project manager and IT wiz.
However, Herring jokingly offered
his own interpretation of his
daughter’s job title: slave driver. “They’re not
“Somebody has to keep everyone
on their toes,” Judy Schonbeck afraid to take on
defended herself.
more challenging
Crediting his family and strong
employees, Herring said his com- pieces of work.”
pany has grown substantially in
– Matt Stephl
recent years. Peak employment
this season numbered 50 employees,
queuing down to six or eight
individuals year-round.
One of only two companies in Alaska implementing
new environmentally friendly “trenchless
technology” in underground water and sewer pipe
rehabilitation, Herring estimates his company will
hit the $15 million revenue mark this year.
Bumpy beginnings
A native of Silverdale, Wash., John Herring
came to Alaska in the 1960s where he attended the
University of Alaska Fairbanks, graduating in 1967
with a degree in civil engineering.
Herring honed his engineering skills over the
next few years by working a variety of construction
jobs, from nuclear testing in Amchitka near the tip
of the Aleutian chain, oil rig sites in Beluga, to project
manager on the first ice road built in the Beaufort
Sea in Alaska’s North Slope oil fields.
“I looked at a lot of companies for jobs,” Herring
recalled of his early construction career. “I could go
anyplace in the world and then I thought, ‘Wait a
minute. My family’s here. My kids are here. So I
said, why not.’”
He formed Construction Unlimited in 1984 and
then, “Boy did the bottom fall out,” he recalled.
“We took a big hit. It really hurt,” Herring said
of the recession that struck Alaska and the nation
about a year after he went into business for himself.
“Banks started failing; people couldn’t pay their
bills and started going bankrupt.”
Retaining his sense of humor, Herring credits
his perseverance during that time to bankers who
believed in the young entrepreneur.
“If you get help, you can survive,” he said.
As he did then, Herring is also “tightening things
up” to survive in today’s fragile financial
world. Though concerned,
he said Alaska’s economy is good.
Part of that optimism rests with the
fact the majority of CUI’s work is in
government contracts.
“Government money is there,”
he said. “If you have a government
contract, you know you’re going to
get paid.”
Herring’s rough beginnings
also may have helped mold his
business philosophy.
“If you want the best, you have to work hard
at it,” he stated. “It’s not just five days a week, 40
hours a week. The kids have helped me – they’re
a great asset.”
But as with any family relationship, it can be too
much of a good thing.
“Sometimes it gets to the point we don’t
want to have holiday meals together after we’ve
worked together the whole season,” Judy Schonbeck
laughed.
“There are periods when we butt heads and take
things too personal,” she added. “But we can step
back and take a look at it. Dad ultimately gets the
final say. The rest of us are technically employees.
Projects with a challenge
Herring said all of CUI’s projects present unique
challenges and that appears to be just the type of
work the company attracts.
“We often get the work nobody else wants,”
he said.
His daughter agreed, documenting projects such
18 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

Construction Unlimited crew positions a panel during construction of the Muldoon sound barrier wall a few years ago.
as the Bird Point rock wall a few years
ago that only attracted three bidders
and more recently, phase one of the E
Street Downtown Corridor Enhancement
project that drew one bidder in
addition to Herring’s.
The Municipality of Anchorage E
Street project is providing CUI with the
opportunity to demonstrate its proficiency
in repairing aging sewer lines
without digging up roads and streets.
Schonbeck dubs the process as very
environmentally friendly and fascinating
to watch.
According to Schonbeck, there are
currently two CIPP, or Cured-In-Place
Pipe, systems used in Alaska: a felt bag
system that requires hot water to cure
and the method used by CUI using
ultra-violet light in place of water.
Matt Stephl of Stephl Engineering
has worked with CUI on several such
projects and describes the process as
inserting a flexible liner inside the existing
pipe, blowing it up with air that
presses the liner against the pipe and
then curing the liner with UV light
or hot water. Once the pipe hardens,
a special tool with a drill attached is
used to bore out individual service
lines to customers.
“It’s basically new pipe without
digging,” Stephl said.
Stephl said his firm has been working
with CUI since 2000 and is very
happy with the results.
“We’ve seen them grow in the
last five or six years,” he said of CUI.
“They’re not afraid to take on more
challenging pieces of work.”
One recent project involved checking
the inside of 10,000 feet of sewer
pipe at the Anchorage airport using a
camera on wheels that determines the
pipe’s condition as it rolls down inside
between manholes.
The engineer said the pipe looked
good.
AGC plays a role
Part of managing a successful business
is relying on the support of others
who have been in similar situations.
That’s one reason Herring said his
membership in Associated General
Contractors of Alaska is so valuable.
Construction Unlimited’s membership
in AGC is approaching the 10year
mark, confirmed after conferring
with Herring’s wife Aileen.
Herring said he relies on the support
of members who have been
through the trials and tribulations of
companies like CUI.
But when asked the key to his success,
Herring again turns to his family,
especially his wife.
“Without her support, this company
would have never ever survived,” he
said. “If you don’t have a good partner
with you, you won’t make it,”
Now retired, Aileen Herring remained
employed with the Anchorage
School District while her husband
grew the family business.
“Without her paychecks, we would
have never eaten those beans,” he joked.
Nancy Erickson is a freelance writer
living in Seward.
Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 19
phoTo: courTesy of cui

WORKsAFE
GAO undercover drug testing
audit reveals suprising results
At the Drug and Alcohol Testing Industry Association
(DATIA) Summit in Washington, D.C., the results of
a recent study by the Government Accountability
Office were presented, that indicated shoddy practices in
the drug testing industry. These discoveries will likely be a
topic of discussion in the upcoming Congressional Session,
and we can expect to see additional legislation brought forth
to address these issues, which will affect the drug testing
industry, the Department of Transportation and the Federal
Motor Carriers Association.
The Government Accountability Office recently went
undercover into 24 drug testing facilities throughout the
Lower 48. The results were surprising – 22 of the 24 facilities
did not follow the complete DOT drug collection
protocols. This investigation was part of a bigger inquiry to
determine why many drivers are not enrolled in any drug
testing program, why some drivers are able to avoid detection
after taking a drug test, and why job-hoppers and selfemployed
drivers are continuing to drive even after testing
positive on a drug test.
Many drivers are not enrolled
in any drug testing program
After having conducted more than 13,000 Compliance
Reviews annually from 2001 to 2007, Federal Motor Carriers
Association discovered that approximately 9 percent of the
existing carriers and 30 percent of the new carriers had no
drug testing program at all. The report also stated that due
to the sheer number of carriers that are on the road, Federal
Motor Carriers Association was only able to review approximately
2 percent of the carriers and nearly all of those were
large carriers. Small carriers and the single owner-operators
were not audited.
Some drivers are able to avoid detection
after taking a drug test
These factors were identified as contributing to this
problem: Lack of compliance by collection sites, wide availability
of effective subversion products, and Federal Motor
Carriers Association does not conduct regular oversight of
service agents, such as collection sites and they don’t have
enforcement or fining authority. It should be pointed out
that the collection sites that were audited did not have drug
testing as their primary means of business. As for the wide
By matthew Fagnani
availability of subversion products, there are literally hundreds
of products available online or in your local head shop
to either adulterate on substitute a urine sample. In each of
the GAO audits, the investigators were able to successfully
adulterate or substitute their urine with synthetic urine and
have it go undetected by the lab.
Job hoppers and self-employed drivers are able
to continue to drive even after testing positive
This is due to the fact that positive drug tests and refusals
are not being reported and prior employment background
checks are not completed. Job hoppers are drivers who test
positive for one carrier; then are either fired, quit or are just
not hired due to not completing the return to duty process;
they then abstain from drug use for a short period of time
and then apply to work for another carrier, test negative on
a pre-employment test and then continue their drug use. Of
the 37 job hopper cases that GAO investigated, none of the
drivers disclosed past positives and 19 were subsequently
hired and were able to drive commercial vehicles. Moreover,
of the 12 drivers contacted, none had been evaluated by a
Substance Abuse Professional and five were not even aware
that they needed to. As for the prior employment background
checks not being completed, 18 of the 37 drivers
who were not hired were primarily due to the previous employer
disclosing the positive drug history. GAO confirmed
that failing to conduct the required background check is one
of the top violations cited in compliance reviews.
The most frequently cited drug testing violation found in
new-entrant safety audits since 2003 was that carriers had
no drug testing program (30 percent) and the second most
frequently cited drug testing violations in compliance reviews
in 2007 was that carriers failed to adequately implement
random or pre-employment drug testing. The fines for these
citations had an average of $1,908 for random and $1,605 for
pre-employment tests. Of the 190 cases in which a carrier
failed to remove a driver with a positive drug test from service,
almost 80 percent resulted in a fine averaging $3,141.
This information was taken from the GAO Report
GAO-08-600.
Matthew Fagnani is president of WorkSafe Inc., a fullspectrum
workplace drug and alcohol program that offers instantresults
testing.
20 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

NatioNal oil field
casualties oN the rise
Alaska is the exception
In case you missed it the Anchorage
Daily News ran a story in September 2008,
about a spike in oil-field deaths across the
nation. Sadly, from 2002-07 at least 598
workers died on the job in the oil industry.
Texas led all states in casualties with 111
workers killed since 2002.
Experts say a dramatic increase in drilling,
an influx of inexperienced workers, a
high-pressure environment and rampant
drug and alcohol abuse have all combined
to result in the rising deaths. Nationwide
the likelihood of dying on the job in the oil
industry has risen to seven times that of
other occupations.
The good news is that Alaska is the exception.
Since 2003 we’ve suffered one fatality,
and while that is one fatality too many,
it also shows that Alaska is committed to
workplace safety.
We congratulate our partners in the oil industry
for their commitment to safety. Whether
it is drug screening, fitness for work testing
or HAZMAT education, we are proud to have
helped keep Alaska’s oil workers safe.
Mandatory Direct Observation
Requirement for Department of
Transportation Return-to-duty
follow-up tests delayed
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the
D.C. Circuit has delayed the mandatory
Direct.
Observation requirement for the
U.S. Department of Transportation
(DOT) return-to-duty and follow-up
tests. This “stay” will remain in effect
until the court issues a decision on the
merits of the petitioners’ challenge to
the provisions of 40.67 (b).
Direct Observation for return-toduty
and follow-up testing will continue
to be an employer option, rather
than mandatory.
All other requirements of 49 CFR
Part 40 that went into effect on August
25, 2008 — to include the Direct Observation
provision at 40.67(i) [checking
for prosthetic and other devices
used to carry “clean” urine & urine
substitutes] — remain in effect.
Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 21

ConocoPhillips Integrated
Science Building is helping
to grow Alaska’s workforce
By FRaN ulmeR
H
Health care, engineering, construction management,
natural resource development, fish and wildlife
management – some of Alaska’s highest job demand
areas all have one thing in common: science.
At the University of Alaska Anchorage we are seeing
demand for science education skyrocket as our students
prepare themselves for 21st century jobs. Our new Conoco-
Phillips Integrated Science Building – with 120,000 square
feet of up-to-date labs, classrooms, office space, and planetarium
– is helping us provide the best in science education
and continue to “grow our own.”
Enrollment in UAA’s science programs has grown more
than 27 percent in the past decade, outpacing enrollment
growth in the rest of the university. Some leading areas of
growth in science-dependent fields are nursing, which has
doubled, (from 96 students enrolled in 2001 to 215 students
in 2007), and engineering, which has more than doubled,
(from 129 students enrolled in 2005 to 310 in 2007). Our
WWAMI Biomedical Program, in cooperation with the University
of Washington, has also doubled.
Health care and engineering are obvious areas of growth
reflecting market demand. But science classes are required
of all degree-seeking students at UAA, which makes the
ConocoPhillips Integrated Science Building (CPISB) vital to
our ability to serve all of our students.
When CPISB opens in September 2009 it will bring together
faculty and students in chemistry, biology, geology
and physics who have been scattered across UAA’s campus
in out-of-date facilities. Our teaching labs are running
at capacity, scheduled for every possible hour of the day
throughout the week, with no extra time for breaking down
or setting up equipment – causing instructors and students
to lose valuable teaching time.
CPISB will have 13 cutting edge laboratories designed
specifically for the courses students are taking. For instance,
there will be microbiology laboratories for the nursing program.
CPISB will help us benefit from economies of scale as
we centralize laboratory stock rooms, distribute chemicals
more efficiently, and lessen our environmental burden because
we will have less waste.
The new building will give us the ability to shift some
classes from overcrowded facilities, such as the School of
Engineering, which has seen steady growth in enrollment
without steady growth in classrooms and labs. The opening
of CPISB will also give us time to renovate and refurbish our
old overused labs. As a result, our engineering students will
take chemistry and physics classes in CPISB and other specialized
labs strengthening their educational experience and
Cornerstone Construction continues work on the Conoco
Phillips Integrated Science Building.
enhancing the caliber of our School of Engineering.
We are looking forward to the new 100-seat auditorium
in CPISB. One of our most popular courses, Introductory
Biology, typically has 100 students per session. Because of
limited lecture hall space on campus, these students have
had to go to Rasmuson Hall (the business building) or all
the way to the other end of campus, to the Arts Building.
The new CPISB lecture hall will not only benefit our biology
students and those in other introductory science classes, it
will free lecture halls on campus so that other students will
more easily get their required larger introductory courses.
CPISB will also provide specialized educational and
research opportunities. At the center of the building is a
Planetarium/Science Visualization facility that will allow
students state-of-the-art visual representations of molecular
structures, human anatomy, and the universe. This quasi
3D immersion/animation will interact with students and instructors.
In our video and computer world this technology
has the power to capture our students’ imagination and get
them excited about their subjects.
The open atrium will provide an informal meeting area
for students and faculty from different disciplines, fostering
collaboration, research and a dynamic environment.
The research wing, which includes a Vivarium for research
animals, will house the bulk of our biomedical and chemistry
research. It gives us the ability to bring post-doctoral
work on campus and provides an opportunity for medical
researchers and environmental physiologists to be wellpositioned
for federal grants.
CPISB brings to UAA a place dedicated to world-class instruction,
research and interdisciplinary science. All of these
things will combine to support the sciences at UAA, which
are so essential to our specialized degrees that respond to
Alaska’s workforce needs. The CPISB is a giant step forward
for UAA and for Alaska.
Fran Ulmer is the Chancellor of the University of Alaska
Anchorage.
22 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009
phoTo: courTesy of cornersTone consTrucTion

24 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

MEMBER PROFILE
northland
serviCes By VictoRia Naegele
Northland: Clear sailing after 31 years
T hirty-one years ago when Northland Ser
vices began its tug-and-barge cargo op
eration, it logged six voyages to Alaska. In
2007, the company made 132 trips to Alaska and
another 25 to Hawaii – with even more sailings
scheduled for 2008.
Northland Services offers a variety of yearround
freight transportation services to Southeast
and Central Alaska, and seasonal service to Western
Alaska. Northland’s Hawaii division, Aloha Cargo
Transport, provides a regular service to Honolulu as
well. Much of Northland’s business – to Alaska and
Hawaii – is construction-related.
If the growth of Seattle-based Northland since
1977 has paralleled that of Alaska, it is the result
of the company’s updated technology and experienced
work crew, according to Don Hansen. Hansen’s
had a port-side seat for the growth. Twenty
years ago, he was the only employee of Northland
Services’ Anchorage office. Today there are 15 employees
in Anchorage and 112 in Alaska overall.
“We have the most comprehensive water delivery
schedule in Alaska and are the primary water
Ramp barge Koyukuk working a soil remediation project at Aniak, on the Kuskokwim River.
carrier in Western Alaska,” Hansen said. The company
moves more than 900,000 tons per year through
its Pier 115 terminal. Northland has eight scheduled
ports in Southeast Alaska, three in Central and more
than 70 destinations in Western Alaska.
“One of the keys to growth has been innovation
and efficiency,” Hansen said. “We invest a lot in
good equipment.” Four new barges have been put
into service within the last five years.
Northland is also developing a new common
carrier cargo management system, according to
Bret Harper, general sales manager for Northland.
“This new system will streamline our business
processes and our customers will definitely benefit
from the efficiencies it will provide,” Harper said.
In addition, Northland recently developed NSI
CargoTrak, Northland’s online customer Web site
that offers quick and easy-to-use tools that provide
shipment tracking, documentation and reporting.
By improving efficiency at its Alaska terminals,
Northland spends less time unloading and loading
cargo. But the technology would mean nothing
without the right crew.
26 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009
phoTo: courTesy of norThland services inc.

“Our personnel are the key to efficiency,”
Hansen said, adding the company
has many long-time employees.
One of the innovative changes
Northland instituted was limiting the use
of the traditional hub-and-spoke model
of delivery. In the old days, freight would
be off loaded at the beach in Bethel and
picked up by smaller vessels for transport
to the nearby ports. Northland Services
now has a floating hub that allows those
vessels to travel shorter distances to retrieve
and deliver the cargo. While freight
is still off loaded in Bethel to traditional
tugs and barges for trips up the Kuskokwim
River, freight for coastal cities stays
on the floating hub awaiting the secondary
vehicles, which include landing craft
that are able to discharge cargo directly
to the beach in remote locations.
“It allows us to cut the delivery time,” Hansen said.
With a high percentage of Northland Services’ customers
in the construction business, quick delivery is essential. One
of Northland’s core competencies, Harper said, is the transportation,
loading and discharge of construction projectrelated
cargoes. Often, the destinations for such cargoes are
remote, unimproved sites, lacking port facilities or adequate
shore access.
“Construction-related materials are an important element
to our common carrier barge service,” Harper said. “We
deliver these materials to some of the most extreme, logistically
difficult destinations on earth. We strive to deliver cargo
on time and in good condition. It’s never easy in Alaska, but
we are committed to fulfilling the needs of our customers.”
A key to keeping in contact with construction customers
is its membership in the Associated General Contractors of
Alaska, Hansen said.
“We’ve had opportunities to build relationships because
we’re involved in AGC,” Hansen said.
AGC membership also helps Northland’s staff keep a
close eye on state and federal construction dollars in Alaska.
Hansen attended the 2008 AGC Conference in November to
hear AGC’s forecast for institutional and other construction
projects in the coming year.
“It gives us a good look at the forecast in fiscal year 2009
and some glimpse of 2010,” Hansen said.
Hansen said his company will look at many factors, from
Denali Commission funding to the state capital budget, to
chart its plans. Projects like new schools in rural Alaska can
have a significant impact on Northland’s operations.
Increases in the state’s mining operations also impact
Northland. It was Northland that transported much of the
equipment for the new Rock Creek gold mine near Nome.
The company was also responsible for moving innovative
modular buildings from Port MacKenzie to various Bush
communities.
Opportunities for growth in the construction and mining
industries directly impact Northland. “The economic health
of Alaska is important to us,” Hansen said.
Northland barge (or barges)
underway to Western Alaska.
Landing craft Sam M Talaak delivering cargo on the Yukon River.
While the construction industry is one cornerstone of
its business, another is the fish processing industry. Hansen
said Northland is a primary carrier for materials to and processed
fish from the Bristol Bay fishing ports. Throughout
the summer, dry and refrigerated containers of canned and
frozen fish leave from Dillingham and Naknek, Northland’s
largest hub in Western Alaska.
In the past three decades the industry has not only
grown but changed, Hansen said. More agencies to satisfy
and an ever-increasing number of regulations keep a crew of
Northland Services employees busy.
“It’s mind boggling,” Hansen said.
But the company that has weathered many literal storms
as well as economic ones in the past 31 years navigates
these challenges as well, Hansen said. Its company motto,
“Go with Experience” sums up its ability to chart a successful
course.
“For more than 30 years, Northland continues to fulfill
a vital role for the Alaska construction industry, providing
marine transportation to more Alaska destinations than any
other marine carrier,” Harper said.
Victoria Naegele is a freelance writer who lives near Palmer.
Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 27
phoTos: courTesy of norThland services inc.

finanCial serviCes & ContraCtors
Creating working capital
and cash flow effiencies
American businesses are facing challenging times.
With a weakened economy and limited resources,
businesses – regardless of size and industry – must
ensure they are maintaining a positive cash flow.
Today, more than ever, strong cash management practices
are essential to the sustainability of any organization.
Fortunately, these practices – and the technologies that support
them – are continuously evolving and changing the
way business is done.
By employing specific cash management strategies, a
business can maximize its availability of working capital,
even in these tough times.
Optimizing Receivables
The first step to an effective working capital strategy is to
increase funds availability. The following are some options
that will help you optimize your receivables:
• Outsourcing – Using lockbox services, your receivables
can become available cash faster. These services utilize imageexchange
technology that reduce transportation expenses
and provide increased speed and accuracy of deposits.
• Remote deposit capture – This technology utilizes
desktop scanning devices and software to capture images of
checks at a remote location. Checks are then deposited by
transmitting images to a bank, not the original paper items.
Benefits include consolidation of accounts at one bank, extended
daily deposit windows and faster check clearing.
• Eliminate paper – A fast-growing trend in banking is
the shift from paper to electronic payment processes. Utilizing
the Automated Clearing House network, your company
can experience faster funds availability and reduce risk by
accelerating the receipt of return item information.
Maximizing liquidity
For businesses looking to effectively manage short-term
cash, liquidity solutions – earnings credit rate (ECR), sweeps,
savings accounts and term investment vehicles – are strong
options.
Companies can also increase returns by minimizing
banking fees. To do this, organizations should consider a
managed ECR as a component of a balanced compensation
program. ECR allows companies to offset some banking fees
by allowing them to maintain a balance on their accounts.
Additionally, sweep accounts are designed to invest excess
money from an account once all payments have been
By ted BaRaN
made, enhancing your earnings potential. Some sweep account
investment options are designed for companies seeking
maximum return, while others are focused on providing
maximum security.
Other liquidity options include money market deposit
accounts, jumbo CDs, money market mutual funds and
fixed-income securities.
Payments process
Cash managers are also taking a closer look at the payments
process to ensure that the timing of payments has a
direct link to both optimizing liquidity and managing costs.
Controlled disbursement accounts deliver a high level
of control over the funding of payment accounts. These
types of accounts allow the payer to specify when funds
will be presented to the payee bank, with the ability to
fund the exact dollar amount required on a same-day basis.
This can help reduce the tendency to over-fund disbursement
accounts.
The use of procurement, or P-cards, is another means to
reduce the cost of making payments, providing enhanced
security and transaction details.
Mitigating risk
With fraud being ever-present, it is crucial to mitigate
risk. Here are some measures your business can take to protect
its working capital strategy:
• Reconcile on a timely basis
• Use electronic processes – online reporting is an essential
tool in fraud detection.
• Protect account information, user IDs and passwords
• Use two-factor authentication – verify user identity
with a user ID and password, plus a stronger factor such as
a digital certificate.
• Employ a positive pay method – to verify payee names
and payable amounts
By incorporating elements like these into your company’s
working capital strategy, you can be more certain of
weathering the storm. Your financial partner can help you
determine which working capital solutions are best suited
for your business’ needs.
Ted Baran is vice president in commercial banking for KeyBank
in Anchorage.
28 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

edUCatiOn, training &
WOrKFOrCe deVeLOPMent rePOrt
Following the successful education and training initiatives
made by AGC of Alaska over the past few years, the
newly incorporated and legally separate Construction Education
Foundation (CEF) was established in 2008.
Organized similarly to the Construction Education Foundation
in Washington, Alaska’s own CEF offers funding and
educational options that were, up until this time, unavailable
to AGC of Alaska. As a non-profit 501(c) 3 foundation,
individuals may now contribute, tax deductible, to the CEF.
This allows opportunities and benefits such as endowing
and designating education and/or training scholarships to
establishing University “Chairs” and Construction Charter
or focused Training Schools.
Our efforts are closely aligned with some administrative
differences to those formerly encompassed by AGC
of Alaska in the Workforce Development, Education and
Training. Our current funding comes from primarily grants
for the Alaska Construction Academies from the Alaska Department
of Labor, the rural Construction Careers Pathways
from the Denali Commission, and any revenues from Specialty
Contractor Training classes and seminars.
By RobeRt cReSS,
Training Director
Construction Education Foundation, Inc.
Mari Jo Parks,
Statewide
Coordinator of the
Alaska Construction
Career Day,
presents the very
successful efforts
with the CC Day
2008 Video.
Our Mission Statement
To enhance, develop, promote and provide educational
and training opportunities, programs and scholarships that
support and expand the knowledge, skills, professionalism
and effectiveness of individuals currently in the construction
industry and related crafts and to those individuals in secondary
and post secondary schools considering the industry
as a career path.
Our Vision
To be recognized as a competent, reliable and responsive
source for construction related education and training
throughout the construction industry and for workforce
development.
Together with the effective efforts of our many partners,
the Construction Education Foundation Inc. continues to
see solid gains in Workforce Development and Specialty
Contractor Training.
Kathleen Castle,
Executive Director of
the Alaska Construction
Academy promotes the
job connection with the
statewide Academy
training.
Rick Rios, Anchorage School District Career and Technical
Education Director amplifies the positive connection
between Career and Tech Education and students’ success
through graduation at the AGC Education Track.
30 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

Eddie Packee, Senior
Scientist with Travis
Peterson Environmental
teaches his eighth Alaska
Certified Erosion Sediment
Control Lead class
at the Captain Cook
Hotel in November 2008.
Senior Technologist
with CH2M Hill,
David Fouche
captivates more than
130 attendees with his
extraordinary Building
Information Modeling
presentation at the
2008 AGC Conference
BIM seminars.
Mat-Su Career and Technical High
teacher Pepper Thiede presents
her Teacher Industry Externships
experiences with several AGC member
Contractors at the AGC Conference
Education Track.
Russ McDougal,
President of the
Alaska State
Home Builders
Association and a
Juneau Contractor
discusses the Juneau
Construction Academy
and its positive
impact on students
and adults.
Rural and urban vocation instructors receive NCCER
Certification Training at the AGC office in October
2008. Participating school districts include the North
Slope Borough, Lower Kuskokwim, Southwest Region,
Kodiak Island, Southeast Island and Anchorage.
Kincaid Elementary
School students, Kelly
Lovs and Jake Hanni
demonstrate Build Up!
at the AGC Conference
Education track with
Juanita Kardell, CEF
Programs Facilitator
and Build Up!
Coordinator and AGC
member Kevin Norton.
Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 31

Mat-Su Career and Technical High teacher Pepper
Thiede with AGC Education Committee members
Ben Northey, Rob Dun and Michelle Holland at
the 2008 AGC Conference Education Track.
Department of Labor Career Guides, Gary Abernathy
and Laura Hohman, present their state and
nationally recognized job placement program for
students at the Anchorage King Career Center One
Stop Shop at the AGC Conference Education Track.
20 HoT Jobs
• Accounting Clerks, Bookkeeping Clerks – Median
Wage: $17.18 per hour
• Building Maintenance Workers – Median Wage:
$19.45 per hour.
• Bus and Truck Mechanics, Diesel Engine Specialists –
Median wage: $23.37 per hour.
• Carpenters – Median wage: $25.55 per hour.
• Construction Foremen – Median wage for construction
foremen varies depending on the type of
worker they supervise:
- Construction and mining worker $34.12
- Laborers and material mover $21.67
- Mechanics, installers, and repairer $31.39
- Production and operating worker $27.35
- Transportation and material $29.39
• Drafters – Median Wage: $21.40 per hour to $26.
01 per hour.
• Drillers – Median Wage: Gas and oil drillers:
$31.05 per hour; Construction and well drillers:
$24.37 per hour.
• Electricians – Median Wage: $28.03 per hour.
• Freight Handlers – Median Wage: $13.26 per hour.
32 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

Mike Travis with Travis Peterson Environmental
discusses the SWPPP exercise at the
Writing a StormWater Pollution Prevention
Plan (SWPPP) class at the Captain Cook
Hotel in November 2008.
• Hazardous Waste Removal Workers – Median
Wage: $28.69 per hour.
• Heavy Truck Drivers, Tractor-Trailer Drivers –
Median Wage: $20.81.
• Miners, Mining Machine operators – Median Wage:
$18.80 per hour.
• Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics – Median Wage:
$26.14 per hour.
• operating Engineers – Median Wage: $25.85 per
hour.
• Plumbers and Pipefitters – Median Wage: $27.58.
• Process operators – Median wage: $24.96 per hour.
• Ship Captains and Mates – Median wage: $25.46
per hour.
• Surveying and Mapping Technicians – Median Wage:
$20.91 per hour.
• Transportation Storage and Distribution Managers –
Median wage: $33.75 per hour.
• Welders – Median wage: $23.22 per hour.
Source: Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development
Website and training information
listed on page 80
Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 33

Growing new talent
UAA, contractors team up in training effort
By tRacy kalytiak
For Roger Hickel, the ideal person filling a job with his
company would be someone with real-world construction
experience, a mind honed with formal academic training
and, most important, strong Alaska roots.
“We like to hire Alaskans because they’ve lived here
awhile, know the environment, tend to stay here,” said Hickel,
president of Roger Hickel Contracting Inc. “You’re continually
training in our system with the way we do things.
We make a tremendous investment in people and if they
leave, you have to start all over again. It’s important to keep
your key people.”
Hickel keeps his eye on students in the University of
Alaska Anchorage’s construction management degree program
because it is proving to be an incubator for exactly the
kind of talent he looks for — the kind he’d pay in the neighborhood
of $80,000 in annual salary and benefits.
Jeff Callahan, UAA’s CM department director, said that
as of the end of the last admissions period, more than 200
students had declared CM as their major and that during
the Fall 2008 semester, more than 100 students attended at
least one CM class.
Callahan said the most important statistic he has to
gauge program activity is the number of CM student credit
hours, which increased about 35 percent between Fall 2007
and Fall 2008.
The university’s first four CM bachelor’s degree students
graduated in May; prospective employers were hovering
before the ink was dry on the new grads’ diplomas.
Ryan Bancroft does a digital takeoff of plans for a project at Unit Company. Bancroft graduated earlier this year with a bachelor of science
degree in construction management from the University of Alaska Anchorage, and in May accepted a full-time job with Unit Company.
34 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009
phoTo: renee behymer

University of Alaska Anchorage student at a
job site.
Promising CM interns also pique employers’
interest.
“We tried to hire one guy, because of
his qualifications and background, but
he went to work for Davis instead of us,”
Hickel said of CM student Nate Seymour.
“He worked summers for a contractor
and also has the college education in
construction management. I know him
because he grew up with my son; they
played soccer together. He’s a great kid
with a great work ethic as a soccer player
and as a student.”
Hickel is familiar with UAA’s CM
offerings because he serves on the Associated
General Contractors of Alaska’s
advisory board for the program. But he
and other AGC contractors also meet and
get to know the college’s CM students
through assisting with their competitions,
sending guest speakers and supporting
the program’s required internships, as
well as through more informal networking
get-togethers.
“There was a spaghetti feed last week,”
said Mike Swalling, president of Swalling
Construction Co. “Several of us were over
there talking to them, seeing how things
were going. For us, I think it gives us a
glimpse into the education realm a lot
of us haven’t seen since we got out of
school. It’s a new field. We provide some
industry perspective, let the school know
this is what we’re looking for in the grads
they’re turning out so they can tailor the
program a little better.”
phoTo: Trudy James/universiTy of alaska anchorage
Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 35

AGC of Alaska wins workforce
development award
AGC of Alaska is part of a coalition
that received a 2008 Construction Users
Roundtable Workforce Development
Award from AGC of America
at its national convention in Palm
Springs, Calif.
The Alaska Chapter was a founder
and driving force behind the formation
of the Alaska Construction Academy,
which was formed to recruit, train and
employ entry level workers in the construction
industry.
The 2006 pilot program had more
than 450 high school students enrolled
in construction trade classes after the
regular school day and during the
summer months, and more than 100
adults were trained in a specific trade,
such as carpentry, electrical, plumbing,
drywall finishing and welding.
In the program’s second year, more
than 1,500 students were trained in after-school
courses in six communities
around the state and more than 300
adults received training. Preliminary
reports from the state Department of
Labor indicate that 70 percent of those
adults are working in constructionrelated
jobs.
The CURT Workforce Development
Awards were developed to give
significant national and international
recognition for extraordinary, exemplary
and innovative training and education
programs, which either encourage
individuals to pursue a career in the
construction industry and/or enhance
an individual’s construction skills.
Academies are held in Anchorage,
Fairbanks, Juneau, Kenai, Ketchikan
and the Mat-Su Borough. Other partners
in the academy include: Alaska
State Home Building Association,
Mat-Su Home Builders, Kenai Peninsula
Home Builders, Greater Ketchikan
Builders Association, South East Alaska
Building Industry Association, Alaska
Department of Labor and Workforce
Development, Alaska Works Partnerships
Inc. and area school districts.
AGC of Alaska provides project
management, coordination and administrative
functions for $3.5 million
in state grant funds.
graphic: courTesy of anchorage economic developmenT corp.
Several projects are not included in the graph that will flatten the downward decline toward the
end of the next decade. The graphic is not intended as a projection of a “Boom/Bust” cycle.
The organizer of that spaghettifeed
get-together was Ted Champine,
president of AGC’s student chapter.
Champine, 27, a married father of
three, not only was carrying 23 CM
credits in the fall, but also working as a
U.S. Air Force staff sergeant, aerospace
equipment mechanic and a project
engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers. He started as an engineering
major at UAA in 2006 but changed
his major the following year.
phoTo: Trudy James/universiTy of alaska anchorage
“Once it became a four-year program,
I jumped in as soon as I could,”
Champine said. “I transferred into construction
management because it was
more specific to what I wanted to do.
I wanted to be in that industry rather
than doing design. I didn’t want to be
stuck behind a computer.”
Champine has been working in
construction since the age of 14, when
he started fabricating metal and doing
pipe-fitting for his father’s company.
Now, he prefers to see
construction from a more holistic
perspective. He hopes
to take his education to the
master’s-degree level and
add “six or seven credentials”
to his résumé.
“What I like the most,
when you’re in the owner’s
position, is that you get to see
the project from conception
to completion,” Champine
said. “You get to be there from
cradle to grave. It’s a different
feeling, and it really puts a little
more pride in your product.”
Champine says the student
chapter has instituted a
Blackboard account to which
all students have access, with
a link to outside agencies and
University of Alaska Anchorage
student at a job site.
36 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

2008, UAA Construction Management Team
for the Associated Schools of Construction
Student Competition in Reno, Nev., left to right:
Ryan Bancroft, Thomas Mason, Michael Bacon,
Lynette Warren, Ted Champine, Ryan Audette,
Peter Dedych (faculty adviser).
a blogging area. A so-called “résumé
dump” is also available, where students
can put résumés and cover letters for
companies they want to work for.
“It’s another resource for them to
find internships and full-time careers,”
Champine said. “The biggest hiccup
we find with that program is that right
now contractors are so thirsty for fresh
employees, these jobs are being handed
to them on a silver platter. We’ve already
brought the contractors to them;
the résumé thing is just one more
step in the process. We want them to
be holding hands and shaking before
they graduate.”
Michael Fall, president of Unit Company,
hired a recent UAA CM bachelor’s-degree
graduate, Ryan Bancroft,
on a full-time basis earlier this year.
Bancroft is currently working with
Unit Company’s chief estimator, performing
quality takeoffs, canvassing
subcontractors and suppliers to encourage
them to bid on projects and
tracking down loose items of projects
for pricing.
Fall met Bancroft while visiting a
hockey coach friend.
“[Fall’s friend] knew what I did
for a living. He called and said, ‘I’ve
got this guy coaching with me who’s
interested in construction,’” Fall said.
“That might have influenced his decision
to get this degree.”
Bancroft was a goalie coach for a
kids’ team, has played juniors hockey
out of state and had played as a No. 3
goalie for UAA. He started off in UAA’s
engineering program, went to work for
phoTo: courTesy of Jeff callahan
Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 37

Unit Company and switched
to CM after the university
introduced a four-year CM
degree program. Bancroft
helped set up the student
AGC chapter at UAA and his
class launched the student
competition team.
“We’ve gotten a lot of help
from local contractors for that,”
Bancroft said. “At UAA, they
have you take two internships
as part of their degree. I think
that helps prepare you, helps
contractors see the students
locally are able to come into
the work force right out of
school. It’s not like there’s a
disconnect between contractors
and the UAA program.
You can call them up on the
phone; they’re very forthcoming
with information and willing
to make time for you.”
Bancroft worked for Unit
Company part time for close to a year before graduating,
and spent a summer working at the company’s job site for
its Knik-Goose Bay elementary school project.
2009 selectees for the UAA Construction Management Team for the Associated Schools of Construction
Student Competition in Reno, Nev., left to right: Pat Duggan, Dan Beck, Rayn Aaberg, Josh Hood, Jonathan
Hornak, Nate Seymour, Ryan Audette, Sam Wolfe, and Anthony Podolinsky.
“Ryan was in the job site trailer doing any task they came
up with,” Fall said. “Certainly the education he just completed
was a big item, a big plus. He definitely has an interest in the
38 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009
phoTo: courTesy of Jeff callahan

construction industry, has the skills and
personality it takes. Every day is an adventure
in this business, you’re always up
against challenges. It doesn’t seem to bother
him; Ryan seems to rise to challenges.”
Fall says Bancroft brought with him upto-date
information he learned in class about
new construction techniques.
“Certainly the industry’s always evolving,”
Fall said. “He’s got a specific interest
in LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design) and BIM (Building
Information Modeling) – stuff that came
into the industry after I started.”
In today’s field of project management,
Fall said, people must be able to communicate
in written and verbal form, know
technical aspects of work as well as understand
a set of drawings and specifications.
“The best scenario is to have some
formal education combined with handson
training,” Fall said. “You don’t learn it
all in the field and you don’t learn it all in
the classroom. We have it all with Ryan.”
Bancroft, now 26, says he enjoys working
for his current employer.
“I’ve received other offers, but I like the
people at Unit Company and it was a great
situation and fit for me,” he said. “I come
to work and it’s never the same, day after
day. I look forward to coming to work just
to see what’s out there. Different building
systems fascinate me. The construction industry
has a lot of personality, that’s what
makes it an enjoyable experience. It’s nice
to tell people I worked on that project, the
intimate details of what it took to construct
different buildings around town.”
Coordination of various tasks is one
of the biggest challenges in construction,
and Bancroft’s academic training has
helped immeasurably in helping him enhance
his efficiency on the job.
“Being able to make things flow, run
smoothly, is the ultimate end goal,” he said.
“I understand what goes on as far as procedures,
certain laws, the way the documents
are formatted, proposals are written. Just a
lot of management tools are at my disposal.
Since I started working for Unit Company
and going to school at the same time, I’ve
seen that the two tie together very well.
I’m able to apply real-world situations to
academic situations and vice versa. They
complement each other very well.”
Tracy Kalytiak is a freelance writer in
the Palmer area.
Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 39

‘Big shoes
to fill’
John MacKinnon
reflects on
first year leading
AGC of Alaska
By By heatheR a. ReSz
John MacKinnon wasn’t looking for a new job that day in
the fall of 2006 when when Dick Cattanach called.
Back then, Cattanach was executive director of the Associated
General Contractors of Alaska and MacKinnon
was the the deputy deputy commissioner of the Alaska Department of
Transportation for Highways and Public Facilities.
Cattanach called MacKinnon to talk about the spate of
recent violations by AGC members of the Environmental
Protection Agency’s stormwater permit program.
That October day, Cattanach proposed a collaborative
training program as a smarter alternative to expensive EPA
fines. He also also told MacKinnon he was planning to retire and
mentioned mentioned the opportunity to join AGC as his successor.
“I considered it to be a huge honor to be invited to apply
for the the position, but I wasn’t really looking for a new
job at the time,” MacKinnon said. “Dick has been a very
well known and effective leader for the organization. Even
though I initially said ‘No,’ he kept asking. I think that’s a
hell of a compliment.”
compliment.”
Six months after that call, AGC AGC of Alaska Alaska had collaborated
with DOT and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to
develop the “Alaska Certified Erosion Sediment Control
Lead” training program, rolled it out statewide and certified
several hundred Alaskans as trained.
Some 15 months later, MacKinnon joined AGC of Alaska
as the new executive director, effective Jan. 7, 2008.
“I’ve got big shoes to fill,” MacKinnon said. “My goal is to
find out what I can do to help my members. What can this
association do to help the industry?”
Cattanach said MacKinnon would have started sooner,
phoTo: heaTher a. resz
but there were some details he wanted to see to completion
in his role with DOT. “I give him a lot of credit for that.”
‘We came here a longtime ago and never left’
“We came here a longtime ago and never left,” MacKin
non said of his family’s four-generation history in Alaska.
Both sides of MacKinnon’s family have ties ties to to Alaska’s gold
mining heritage and the MacKinnon family family still still owns the
Jualin Mine north of Juneau, Juneau, which the neighboring Kens
ington Mine holds rights to to explore for gold.
After growing up up in Juneau, he earned a a Bachelor of Sci
ence ence in in Marine Marine Resource Resource Ecology Ecology from from Huxley Huxley College College of of
the Environment at Western Washington University.
He worked as a fisheries fisheries biologist biologist for two years before
forming a construction company company with with a couple of partners
in the 1970s. MacKinnon bought out the remaining partner
after the price of oil crashed and the construction market
dried up in the 1980s.
That’s about the time time MacKinnon began serving on
a planning review board board in Juneau. Juneau. From there he moved
up to the Planning Commission from 1985-90. A few years
later, a friend on the assembly said he was done running and
it was MacKinnon’s turn to serve.
When term limits ended his 12 years of service on the
assembly, he decided there had to be more to do than construction
so he accepted a job as the interim city manager
for 10 months.
He was still interim city manager in March 2003 when
the opportunity arose to join Gov. Frank Murkowski’s administration
in the Department of Transportation.
40 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

“I got involved in local politics and
I really liked doing that kind of stuff,”
MacKinnon said.
As deputy commissioner, he had
day-to-day responsibility for the state
highway program, policy and planning,
administration, budget and legislative
relations. He served as acting
commissioner of the Department of
Transportation for several months
prior to Commissioner Leo von Scheben’s
appointment.
“I have a lot of respect for people
who serve in public office,” MacKinnon
said. “Regardless of their opinion and
philosophy, I respect them for serving.”
A big job with a
lot of dimensions
When MacKinnon came on board
with AGC about a year ago, he was expecting
to be second in command and
transition into the top slot. But Cattanach
had other plans.
“I wanted him to feel at ease. To
feel that it was his organization,” Cattanach
said.
When MacKinnon came to work
that first day, the business cards AGC
printed for him read John MacKinnon,
Executive Director.
“I’m here as a resource for as much
as he wants,” Cattanach said. “I share
with him what we’ve done and why
we’ve done what we’ve done.”
Roger Hickel, 2008 President of
AGC of Alaska and President of Roger
Hickel Contracting Inc., said the transition
from Dick Cattanach to John
MacKinnon appeared seamless.
“I was so fortunate to start my
presidency a year ago with two executive
directors. Dick helped John get
up to speed quickly, then he gradually
turned over the workload,” Hickel
said. “It was a pleasure working with
John and getting to know him this
last year.”
Some parts of the job occur annually
like organizing AGC’s legislative
priorities, getting ready for the Legislative
Fly-In event and preparing for
the annual conference.
“It’s amazing when we show up
down there how well respected our
members are,” MacKinnon said of the
Juneau Fly-In.
AGC of Alaska has a wonderful
staff see to the daily activities, Catta-
nach said, which leaves MacKinnon
more time to address specific challenges
as they occur.
“Specific challenges” such as last
year when Alcan General and Watterson
Construction had a couple of
Corps projects that weren’t moving
through the process. MacKinnon said
he made a call on their behalf to then-
U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens’ office and he
helped get things moving again.
One of his most pleasurable and
important responsibilities has been
getting to know the people who own
and operate the more than 650 business
that are members of AGC of Alaska.
Cattanach said part of MacKinnon’s
challenge is that he also needs
to be involved in a broad array of other
organizations. “It’s critically essential.”
MacKinnon serves in a formal capacity
representing AGC of Alaska
on the Alaska Workforce Investment
Board, the Denali Commission and
the Resource Development Council.
“I have a lot of respect for John,”
Cattanach said. “This is a big job with a
lot of dimensions. I think he is getting
very comfortable in the job now.”
Looking out for the industry
During the last four years while
then-Rep. Kevin Meyer was co-chair
for the state House capital budget
committee, he grew to rely on the expertise
and advice of first Cattanach
and then MacKinnon at AGC of Alaska.
Meyer was elected to the Senate
effective Jan. 20.
When high oil prices filled state
coffers, Rep. Meyer said the state had
the opportunity to catch up on some
capital projects.
“A lot of people like myself and
other members of the Legislature feel
comfortable asking them questions,”
Meyer said. “AGC is very well thought
of by legislators.”
He said MacKinnon also led the
push by AGC of Alaska to educate the
public about a $315 million bond proposition
on the November 2008 ballot.
“We put quite a bit of money away
in savings and bonded for road bonds.
We got it through the House and Senate
and then we just kind of all forgot
about it,” Meyer said. “Fortunately,
AGC got involved and educated people
on it.”
MacKinnon knows the industry
from several points of view. He’s seen
it up close as a contractor running his
own business for 24 years, as a citizen
serving on the Juneau Planning
Board, as a member of the Juneau
Assembly, as a deputy commissioner
for the Alaska Department of Transportation
and now from the helm of
AGC of Alaska.
Cattanach cited the retroactive asphalt
adjustment as a good example of
how the breadth of MacKinnon’s experience
has served the industry, so far.
When the price of oil skyrocketed
in 2008, asphalt prices rose at a parallel
rate and MacKinnon led AGC’s effort
to work with DOT to add an asphalt
adjustment clause to state contracts
retroactively.
“DOT looked at it and said ‘You
know this isn’t fair. What can we do?’
It takes some of the sting out of what
otherwise would be a big loss,” MacKinnon
said.
“I was looking out for the industry.”
MacKinnon is 11th
to lead AGC of Alaska
John MacKinnon became the
executive director of Associated
General Contractors of Alaska
Jan. 7, 2008. He is the 11th executive
director in the organization’s
60-year history.
He follows Dick Cattanach,
who was executive director from
1999 to 2008. He now leads
AGC’s new sister non-profit foundation,
the Alaska Construction
Education Foundation.
Other former AGC of Alaska
executive directors are:
• Henry Springer, 1990 to 1999
• William Schneider, 1985 to 1990
• Richard Pittenger, 1982 to 1985
• H. “Glen” Glenzer Jr., 1979 to 1982
• George Smith, 1969 to 1979
• Norman Schwalb, 1963 to 1969
• W.S. Hibbert, 1958 to 1963
• Larry Moore, 1950 to 1958
• Clarence Moriarty 1948 to 1950
Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 41

42 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

phoTo: © ken graham phoTography.com
Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 43
phoTo: © ken graham phoTography.com

44 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 45

46 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 47

48 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 49

The The University University of Alaska Alaska
plays plays big big role role in in workforce workforce training
training
By maRk hamiltoN
We’ve heard the argument in newspaper blogs, at cocktail
parties and even around the water cooler that “college
isn’t for everyone.” I agree that a four-year degree isn’t for
everyone; the percentage of jobs that require a four-year degree
today is about the same as it was several decades ago.
But career and technical training after high school is the
expected trend for nearly all jobs in the future; whether that
training comes on-the-job, through an apprenticeship, or
from short-course training at the University of Alaska. Most
meaningful career occupations require additional training
beyond high school.
Preparing a qualified workforce is one of the most important
missions of the University of Alaska. During the
past 10 years, the Board of Regents has approved 100 new
programs, 85 of which are workforce development programs
that take two years or less to complete. It is the responsibility
of the state’s university to prepare its citizenry for economic
and workforce development as well as perform scientific research
and provide an overall solid liberal arts education.
phoTo: courTesy of uas
Mining operations in the Greens Creek Mine, part of the Mining and Petroleum Training Services Program.
But the workforce-training mission cannot be underestimated.
In 2008 alone, the UA system graduated about
3,500 students. Of those, more than 1,300 graduates were
in a workforce development program that took two years or
less to complete.
The concern for a qualified workforce for large-scale
projects has raised awareness of this issue in recent years.
The Alaska Gasline Inducement Act Training Plan is a well
thought-out guide for career and technical education system
improvements, regardless of actual projects advancing.
One strategy in the plan initiates efforts to improve career
awareness and exploration for youth. This strategy is
closely aligned with the UA Board of Regents’ Fiscal Year
2010 operating budget priority of K-12 Outreach, which includes
career pathways and tech prep.
UA has three major roles in workforce development –
Career Pathways, Preparing the Qualified Workforce, and
providing Lifelong Education and Training. Let me explain
each in some detail.
50 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

Career Pathways
Career Pathways is a broad spectrum
of activities and information that provides
career counselors, parents, teachers and
students a way to explore future career
possibilities. The University of Alaska,
through the Cooperative Extension Service,
hosts district programs across the
state in 4-H and Clover Buds, where
youth learn critical employability skills in
leadership, government, communication,
health and nutrition, teamwork, cooperation
and community service.
Career academies are hosted by campuses
throughout Alaska in partnership
with AGC, local school districts and the
regional training providers Alaska Works
and the Alaska Department of Labor and
Workforce Development. These academies
introduce and train students in a variety of
aspects of the construction industry including
welding, painting and drywall installation,
heavy equipment, instrumentation
and drafting, and other building trades.
Tech Prep is funded through a Carl
Perkins grant administered by the Alaska
Department of Education and Early Development.
The Tech Prep Consortium is
led by Diane Maples and regional coordinators
in Anchorage, Sitka, Mat-Su and
Fairbanks, with rural outreach in more
than 30 school districts across the state.
More than 1,200 high school and postsecondary
students receive dual credit for
taking related instruction in career and
technical education. Using a pathway approach,
each program of study includes
both secondary and postsecondary courses
to complete a program.
TIE is a teacher externship program
that provides teachers with a “real world”
experience at industrial sites in the oil,
gas and mining industries to help teachers
understand work settings in Alaska
and share that information back in the
classroom. Not only can teachers receive
professional development credit to maintain
their teacher certification, they get a
first-hand look at actual camp life, work
schedules and the high level of safety and
environmental stewardship upheld by industry
doing business in Alaska.
Career Pathways is a way to look at
the programs available at the University
of Alaska through the lens of a lifelong
path of career and technical education
for professional development. Fourteen
career clusters have been identified to
demonstrate industry sectors where the
UA system has programs that lead to
Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 51

phoTo: nora gruner
Matt Zanazzo, a TVC Process technology graduate, was hired by BP a
few weeks after he received his associates degree.
satisfying careers and opportunities to advance in the future
through additional training. Once on a pathway, students
are well on their way to lifelong learning.
Preparing a Qualified Workforce
Preparing a qualified workforce is another major role.
The university works closely with industry to provide career
and technical education training programs that meet industry
standards and produce the right number of graduates
to satisfy their needs. Recently, Kelly Smith and Peter Risse
from the UAA Community and Technical College were able
to revise the delivery of the non-destructive testing program,
with the help of the Kakivik Corp.
This spring UAA will begin offering a 15-week intensive
program that will prepare students for the Type I NDT certification
examination and an associate degree. Working with
Gerry Andrews from the Office of Apprenticeship in the Department
of Labor and Workforce Development, we hope the
NDT program will eventually become an apprenticeship.
In another example, UA has more than 35 programs
listed in our educational pathways for the architecture and
construction industry alone. These programs range from occupational
endorsements and certificates to associate and
bachelor’s degrees, as well as post-graduate studies. Programs
in this career cluster include: apprenticeship technology,
architectural drafting, construction management,
construction technology, HVAC, NDT, project management,
planning and management, refrigeration, residential building
science, structural drafting and welding. This is an impressive
list. However, when you consider the AGIA Training
Plan list of 113 identified occupations for building the
gas line, the UA system is well prepared. We offer more than
485 separate opportunities to obtain training and education
for these occupations across the UA system campuses.
The associate’s degree in construction management now
offered through UAA and UAF’s Tanana Valley Campus has
been so popular that a bachelor’s degree is now being offered
to help prepare higher-level management personnel
for the construction industry. Currently, there are 130 students
enrolled in the construction management programs.
It is not an uncommon opinion that a majority of students
exiting from the high school experience, whether as drop-outs
52 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

or as graduates, are under-prepared for
success in college or full-time career employment.
This is condition was reiterated
recently at the Education Summit hosted
by DEED Commissioner Larry LeDoux.
Lifelong Education and Training
Lifelong education and training is
another important part of UA’s mission
in workforce development. In additional
to the post-graduate programs, UA has
a variety of programs and opportunities
for business and technical professionals
to build on their past career and technical
education. The 13 community campuses
are poised to address local training and
education needs for regional economic
opportunities as they arise. Everything
from adult basic education and GEDs,
to occupational endorsements and associate
degrees in health, business, and
construction, can act as a springboard
for career advancement. Leveraging the
breadth of programs available through
the UA system, the community campuses
are exceptional partners for businesses
and industries operating in the
state’s more remote regions.
University of Alaska Corporate Programs
(UACP) is a strategic single pointof-contact
for businesses and industries to
locate training, education, and other services
available in the UA system. UACP is
currently providing education and training
services to Alyeska Pipeline Services Co.,
the Municipality of Anchorage, the Alaska
Department of Transportation, Alaska
Airlines, Weidner Properties, and many
other companies and organizations.
Mining and Petroleum Training Services,
known as MAPTS, has a reputation
for providing the highest quality mine
training available in Alaska, delivered on
site and on time. In addition to mine training,
MAPTS also offers programs related
to construction in occupational safety,
health and environmental programs.
The university understands a fouryear
college degree isn’t for everyone.
That’s why we’ve worked so hard with
our state, business and industry partners
to deliver quality workforce training –
one of our most important missions at
the University of Alaska.
For more information, contact Fred
Villa, associate vice president for workforce
programs, at (907) 450-8008.
Mark Hamilton is president of the 16campus
University of Alaska system.
Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 53

Alaska water permit program approved
The state of Alaska’s application
to take over permitting authority for
wastewater discharges under the
Clean Water Act was approved by
the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency.
Wastewater discharge permits
are issued to municipal sewage treatment
plants, seafood processors, and
to industrial facilities such as mines
and certain oil and gas facilities. Previously,
the federal agency issued
permits in Alaska. With this approval,
Alaska joins 45 other states that run
their own state permitting programs.
The Alaska Department of Environmental
Conservation (ADEC) will
issue and enforce the permits. EPA
will assume an oversight role.
“When Alaska became a state
almost 50 years ago, it was with
the promise that we would be selfsufficient,
particularly when it comes
to managing our natural resources,”
said Gov. Sarah Palin. “Taking responsibility
for the quality of our
water resources is yet another step
toward fulfilling that promise. Alaskans
are the best stewards of Alaska’s
resources. I have full confidence
in the Department of Environmental
Conservation and our other agencies
and know that our water resources
are in the best possible hands.”
Larry Hartig, Alaska Department
of Environmental Conservation Commissioner,
said “Our permits and
efforts to protect water quality will
be worthy of our tremendous water
resources and their unique value to
Alaskans. We are particularly looking
forward to making the permit program
work for our rural residents who
often have great interest and much to
contribute when it comes to protecting
water quality. Their voices must be
heard. We also appreciate EPA’s efforts
in helping us reach this important goal,
along with the support of the state
Legislature, the public work group
that helped us, and the many, many
Alaskans who have contributed.”
The EPA will continue its government-to-governmentrelationship
with Alaska Tribes as it oversees
the state’s permitting program.
The EPA approval triggers a
three-year transition from federal to
state control of the program. During
the transition period, responsibility
for developing and enforcing different
types of permits is handed off
from EPA to DEC. The transition will
be complete by November 2011.
For more information, contact
Lynn J. Tomich Kent, Director, Division
of Water, DEC (907) 269-7599,
or, go to http://www.dec.state.ak.us/
water/npdes/index.htm.
54 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

Alaska mining
industry forecast
By SteVe BoRell
Some parts of the mining industry, like most other segments of
the economy, are reeling from the current financial meltdown. Just
weeks after the first gold bar was poured at Rock Creek Mine on Oct.
1, 2008, marking the start of Alaska’s sixth large mine, NovaGold announced
in late November 2008 that due primarily to pressures from
the world financial situation, the mine would be idled.
Rock Creek is located near Nome and is operated by Alaska
Gold, a subsidiary of NovaGold, on lands owned by Alaska Gold,
Bering Straits Native Corp. and Sitnasuak Inc. This is the first mine
in recent times to develop the lode sources from which the placer
gold deposits at Nome were eroded.
Earlier in the fall Coeur Alaska announced plans to layoff much of
its workforce at the Kensington Mine while it awaits a decision from
the U.S. Supreme Court. Coeur has spent more than $200 million to
build the mine but the Southeast Alaska Environmental Conservation
Council has filed a lawsuit to block the project over the plan for
tailings storage at the mine. A hearing in the case is scheduled for
January 2009.
Two Bull Ridge Mine, the current mine site for UCM
operations, is visible in the distance. Usibelli has mined
coal in this area since 2004.
phoTo: chris arend, courTesy of usibelli coal mine
Employees enjoy working at Usibelli Coal Mine and living
in Healy. Longtime Alaskan, Bruce Carter has worked in the
Maintenance Department at UCM for more than 18 years. Like
many of the employees, his father and uncle worked at the mine.
56 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009
phoTo: chris arend, courTesy usibelli coal mine

Approximately 95 employees work year-round at Usibelli Coal
Mine in Healy, Alaska. More than one third of the employees
are second, third, or fourth generation family members and
average approximately 14 years of service at the mine. “Ace-
In-The-Hole,” the Bucyrus Erie 1300W walking dragline is
the centerpiece of earthmoving equipment at the mine. The 33
cubic yard bucket removes overburden above the coal seams.
phoTo: chris arend, courTesy usibelli coal mine
Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 57

With the current financial meltdown
the other large mines in the
state are tightening their belts and
focusing on reducing operating
costs. It is too early to know what
impacts the meltdown will have on
the small family gold mines. Mines
that require large amounts of working
capital for fuel and equipment
each spring will face a serious challenge.
The segment of the industry
that is being impacted the hardest is
the junior exploration sector. These
companies depend on investment
funding through their stock listings
and at this point, buyers for highrisk,
junior exploration company
stocks are almost non-existent.
The outlook for international
prices of base metals (copper, zinc,
lead, iron) is that these prices will
continue depressed and only slowly
improve. This is bad news for Red
Dog and Greens Creek, which depend
on base metal prices. The prices
for precious metals (gold, silver) are
also depressed, but many analysts
believe these will improve rapidly.
Their argument is that precious
metals have already protected their
owners by not losing value like stocks
have and that there is no other place
for investors to go with any confidence
they will see their money again.
If the price of gold begins to improve
by early 2009, this should provide a
boost for the three large primary gold
mines (Fort Knox, Pogo and Rock
Creek), the small family gold mines
and the junior exploration companies
that have good gold properties.
Coal prices will likely hold and then
improve as buyers, which are primarily
electrical utilities, recognize that their
only alternative for the foreseeable future
is continued use of coal. Furthermore,
with Usibelli Coal Mine able to
increase its production and the Chuitna
project Supplemental EIS nearly
complete, Alaska is well positioned
to benefit from its environmentally
friendly very low sulfur coals.
Steve Borell is Executive Director of the
Alaska Miners Association, an industry
support organization with more than
1,200 members, represents all aspects of the
mineral industry before state and federal
agencies, the Legislature and U.S. Congress.
58 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

Smart buildings on the rise in Alaska,
more intelligent towers to come
By By RoB StapletoN
photoS By JuStiN RitteR
The outline of Anchorage’s skyline today looks nothing
like the building shapes of 60 years ago.
Back then, Captain Austin E. “Cap” Lathrop had just
completed the state-of-the-art 4th Avenue Theater to house
KENI AM, Alaska’s second radio station.
Lathrop couldn’t have imagined the high-tech buildings
of today with their centralized computer systems that control
heating, lighting, telephone and security systems.
In fact, these days most heating ventilation and air conditioning
systems can be monitored via a Web-based connection,
or automated by computer-based scheduling.
One system can even control dozens of buildings, according
to Chad Lewis, senior account executive for Alaska
with Honeywell Building Solutions.
“We have done hundreds of buildings using our systems
in Alaska, but perhaps the most extensive was the whole Fort
Wainwright base, with 200 buildings,” he said. “In this case
our system can not only monitor energy use but can manage
the whole campus virtually from anyplace in the world.”
The new look of
Clark Middle School.
Some times energy management is the system’s sole
purpose, Lewis said. “These systems pay for themselves.”
John Fortner, general manager of Meridian Systems Inc.
in Anchorage, said systems today are even smart enough to
e-mail an alert to maintenance personnel at the first indication
of a problem.
“While now most buildings only use temperature air
systems here in Alaska,” he said. “It is possible to create a
system that integrates security, heating, air cooling, electrical
and water monitoring that can be controlled by use of a
BlackBerry.”
Through a secure monitoring system that uses 128-bit
encryption, multi-level passwords and a monitoring system,
control of building function can be monitored from anywhere
with Web access, Fortner said.
Examples of existing Anchorage buildings that use
computerized or automated building systems are the new
JL Tower, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium
building at 1901 Bragaw, the new Clark Middle School, the
60 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

One of the Alaska Native Tribal Health
Consortium’s buildings.
Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center
and buildings on Elmendorf Air
Force Base.
Smart systems save money
Meridian Systems Inc., a representative
for Automated Logic Corp., uses
the WebCTRL building automation
system. This system is encased in a
black box the size of briefcase that uses
the language of the Internet to communicate
over the Internet or Intranet.
According to Fortner, the WebC-
TRL system can control any building
function that has electric plug-ins and
uses a common HVAC language called
BACnet.
BACnet is a data communication
protocol for building automation and
control networks.
This language deriving from a microprocessor
monitor on a furnace, air
or water device can be compatible across
many different computer platforms.
He said new building monitoring
systems such as WebCTRL not only
help control systems but can schedule
and analyze usage to provide cost savings
to users.
According to Fortner, the Alaska
Native Tribal Health Consortium
building (formally the Alyeska Pipeline
building) in Anchorage was one of
the first to retrofit a control system.
Perhaps the longest player in the
HVAC field in Alaska is Johnson Controls,
which boasts of 91 years doing
Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 61

The new JL Tower in Anchorage.
business in Alaska. Johnson installed climate control systems
in the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center.
Johnson’s Alaska Branch Manager Jeff Wood said there is
no question that the new systems save money.
“Once a digital system is in it can save from 5 percent to
50 percent in energy savings,” said Wood. “For example, the
Johnson digital system called Metasys has saved the hospital
at Fort Richardson as much as $30,000 a month, and in one
case, an installation in the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta saved a
school 42,000 gallons of heating oil in a year.”
He called the use of digital technology a quantum leap
from the older pneumatic systems used in the last 60 years.
“Its amazing when you think that we had to use tubing
both ways to wire up boilers and air conditioning units from
a pneumatic control,” Woods said. “Now, you can do it with
wireless technology.”
Another leap ahead was when Johnson began using
BACnet for its digital control systems, which allows control
units to talk to various brands of mechanical hardware.
“Almost every new building that we construct has some
sort of intelligence in it,” said Jim McDonnough, account
executive for Siemens Building Technology Systems, Inc.-
Alaska. “We consider any building that has a microprocessor
with a computer and control system an intelligent
building.”
Siemens has been installing systems in Alaska since
1985; recently installing several technology features in the
Dena’ina Convention Center. The company was selected by
the municipality of Anchorage to provide the Energy Management
and Control System for the new center.
Talking to
each other
Mark Frischkorn, vice
president of RSA Engineering,
said there is a downside
to the computer era. He’s installed
hundreds of different
systems all across Alaska.
“This movement to computerized
systems is going to
be pretty hard on Bush Alaska,”
he said. “You can’t just graduate
from high school and start
replacing parts on a boiler.
Now you have to be pretty
skilled as a computer jock to
work on furnace systems installed
to save energy.”
Frischkorn says that his
company has recently installed
air ventilation systems
that use motion sensors to
control laboratory fans.
For example, the lab system
at the Anchorage Waste
Water Treatment Facility near
the Ted Stevens Anchorage
International Airport uses
motion sensors to quit moving fresh sterile air in the labs
when no one is present.
“This creates a cost savings to the facility when the fans
are shut down,” said Firschkorn.
In the past, fans were operated by each individual who
would leave the fans running while performing other duties.
According to Fortner, who started with Honeywell in
Alaska, Honeywell and Johnson Controls were the HVAC
industry leaders in Alaska by using pneumatic or air-based
temperature controls. These systems used air pressure to
The new expansion to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center
gives an additional 80,000 square feet.
62 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

provide temperature control for rooms,
air handlers, heating systems, etc.
“I would have to say that they were
definitely the dominant players during
the 1960s and 1970s,” Fortner said.
In the 1970s, Honeywell was the
first company to provide a commercially
available computer-based
building control system with its Delta
2000 (and later Delta 1000) systems.
These systems allowed users to turn
on and off equipment from a centralized
station as well as monitor temperatures
– although all of the actual
temperature control was still done by
the pneumatic control systems, Fortner
remembers.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s
these systems in Alaska became more
sophisticated and were gradually able
to replace the pneumatic controls.
Several large control systems manufacturers
developed systems for this
market and this was the advent of Direct
Digital Control.
In the past, each vendor had a
unique protocol and methods so none
of the systems could talk to each other.
The use of computers and microprocessors
and the LEED [Leadership
in Energy and Environmental Design]
program have driven the agenda of creating
smart building for schools, too, according
to John Weir with McCool Carlson
Green Architects in Anchorage.
“I have worked with mechanical
engineers to create smart schools like
Clark Middle School and schools in
the Mat-Su,” he said. “Using the LEED
program has richened the context for
control operated buildings.”
Meridian’s Fortner agrees that programs
like U.S. Green Building Council’s
LEED program and the Cascadia
Green Building Council are creating
a top-down agenda to computerize,
control and monitor energy usage.
The city of Anchorage’s Sustainable
Building Ordinance goes into effect
July 1, 2009.
And in the Mat-Su Borough, all new
borough buildings must meet LEED
standards and receive certification.
Rob Stapleton is a longtime Alaskan
reporter and photographer who works
full-time for the Journal of Commerce
and occasionally writes stories and takes
photos for other publications.
Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 63

phoTos: courTesy of Qap
QAP wins $95
million bid for
next PhAse of
work At the Port
of AnchorAge
By RoB StapletoN
A QAP crane located
at tidewater on the
Knik Arm drives sheet
pile into the ground to
reinforce the new dock
area just north of the
existing dock area at
the Port of Anchorage
this past summer.
Construction at the Port of Anchorage is
on schedule according to officials that de
scribed this year’s work by Quality Asphalt
Paving – the largest single construction proj
ect in Anchorage at Alaska’s largest dock.
Called the Port of Anchorage Marine Ter-
minal Redevelopment construction project,
this $700 million – multi-year Intermodal Ex
pansion Project, started in 2003, made seri
ous headway with the help of QAP in 2008.
“QAP will work until the ground gets too
hard – and there are berms of gravel under the
snow in place and ready to be moved in be
hind the new sheet pile next spring – so we’re
in really good shape time-wise with this proj
ect,” said Leo Carroll, director of special proj
ects for the Municipality’s Port of Anchorage.
QAP, a subsidiary of Coalaska, was low
bidder at nearly $95 million on the 2008-
2009 Marine terminal phase of the expansive
construction project. The gravel moved from
Elmendorf Air Force Base has added 52 acres
to the Port’s footprint.
Needed for military and infrastructure
improvements to facilitate material and construction
of a gas pipeline for intermodal
transportation – the Port began improvements
in 2003 to upgrade from its 1950s origins.
Designated as a National Strategic Port
by the military, the multi-million-dollar
expansion of the Port is adding industrial
ground needed to move pipe and equipment
to the North Slope for a gas line
from Alaska through Canada, and to interface
with railroad and trucking shippers.
“Using the open cell sheet pile dock face we
will move the entire dock area by 400 feet out
into deeper water and extend the dock by 400
feet,” said Steve Ribuffo, deputy Port Director.
At the end of the multi-phase project slated
for a ribbon cutting in 2015 – the dock will be
almost over a mile long.
“This may sound extravagant – but by
moving the dock into deeper water it will save
A gravel pit was mined north of the North/South Runway
at Elmendorf Air Force Base to provide the necessary
fill for 62 new acres tidelands that will become the
dock face and storage area for the Port of Anchorage.
The Port made a deal with Elmendorf to put a new road
on the base in exchange for the gravel.
64 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

$3 million to 4 million yearly in dredging
costs,” said Carroll.
To accommodate the movement of
gravel trucks traversing from a gravel
pit just northwest of the north-south
runway at Elmendorf Air Force Base
gravel was moved from dawn to dusk
– all summer – seven days a week into
the fall to fill in tidelands.
To date, QAP has nearly completed
the north extension road fill, barge berth
area in the northern most area of the
Port, and completed the pre-staging for
the gravel mining, completed road realignments,
and finished the Tidewater
Road projects in addition to adding
gravel to increase the Port’s acreage.
To help pay for the work completed
in phases on the Port’s Marine Terminal
Redevelopment project, voters passed
a $315 million general obligation bond
on the Nov. 4 ballot that included an
additional $10 million for the expansion
of the Port of Anchorage, via $43.4
million in bonds approved for the Department
of Commerce, Community
and Economic Development.
Management of the funds for the
Port’s expansion are mostly done
through a lead federal agency because
federal monies are also involved, all
financial awards are funneled through
the U.S. Department of Transportation
Maritime Administration, which
awards contracts for the project.
Integrated Concepts and Research
Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of
VSE Corp., received the contract to
continue program management services
on the Port of Anchorage’s Intermodal
Expansion Project through
scheduled completion in 2015.
Rob Stapleton is a longtime Alaskan
reporter and photographer who works
full-time for the Journal of Commerce
and occasionally writes stories and takes
photos for other publications.
phoTo: courTesy of Qap
Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 65

Progress continues at Port MacKenzie
In the past 18 months, Port MacKenzie has made substantial
progress toward achieving its main development
goals.
A design to extend a 10-inch natural gas line 15 miles to
Port MacKenzie was completed by Hattenburg, Dilley, Linnell
Inc. (HDL) in December 2007. Three-phase electrical
lines, telephone, FAX, and high speed Internet have already
been extended to the Port. Natural gas is the final utility required
at the Port. When funds are obtained to construct
this gas line, the Port will be able to provide 90-150 million
cubic feet of gas per day to companies in the Port District.
A $3.5 million two-story, 7,000 square foot ferry terminal
building was completed by Collins Construction, and utilities
were installed by Central Environmental Inc. in 2007.
This building will serve as a waiting area for ferry passengers
on the lower level and provide office space, a kitchen,
conference room and security office on the second floor.
NPI LLC completed construction of a 24,000 square foot
warehouse in the summer of 2007. This warehouse will be
used to store super sacks of cement, which will be imported
from China beginning in 2009.
Alaska Interstate Construction completed the upgrade and
paving of 12.5 miles of the Point MacKenzie Road in the summer
of 2008. The Port Access Road, which leads to the docks, is
scheduled for a grade and side slope reduction in the summer
of 2009. Upon completion of this project, one other hill will be
phoTos: courTesy of marc vandongen/maT-su borough
By maRc VaNdoNgeN
QAP loaded and shipped gravel from Point MacKenzie this summer.
reduced and the final two miles will be paved in 2009. A $15.3
million grant from the state of Alaska is being used for the
road paving and a $3.9 million Federal Highway Administration
grant will be used for the Access Road project.
Port MacKenzie is celebrating its first profitable year in
2008. Port income this year is higher than projected operating
expenses. This is largely due to beginning to export sand
and gravel in 2008. This past summer, Quality Asphalt (QAP)
exported more than 451,000 tons of sand and gravel, which
was used in the Port of Anchorage expansion project. More
sand and gravel will be exported in future years to support the
Anchorage International Airport, Alaska Native communities
and remote Alaska Department of Transportation and Public
Facilities paving projects. More than 185 barges and landing
craft were loaded at Port MacKenzie in the summer of 2008.
One of the major goals in the development of Port MacKenzie
is to construct a rail line from the Parks Highway to
the Port. A $10 million state grant was approved in 2007 to
pay the cost of conducting the Environmental Impact Study.
That study should be complete by summer 2009.
An additional $17.5 million state grant was approved in
2008, which will be used to design and construct a threemile
rail loop in the Port District in 2009-10. This loop will
enable a rail loading facility to be constructed in the Port
District, which will later connect to the main line from the
Parks Highway. The University of Alaska Fairbanks completed
a commodities study
in 2008, which conservatively
projects that 1.75 million to 5
million tons of commodities per
year will be exported from Port
MacKenzie once the rail line
is completed. This will provide
hundreds of new jobs at the Port
and Interior mining sites.
Progress continues on constructing
a year-round, icebreaker,
passenger, and vehicle
66 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

ferry at Ketchikan’s Ship Yard. This ferry
will be used between Ship Creek Point
and Port MacKenzie and will transport
up to 115 passengers and 20 vehicles
per trip. Estimated crossing time will
be 25 minutes, including loading and
unloading time. A permit has been
approved for the landing at Port
MacKenzie and a permit application
is currently being processed for the
landing at Ship Creek. Construction
of the ferry landings is programmed
from May-October 2010. We hope to
have the ferry running beginning November
2010.
Another major project is scheduled
to start construction in the summer of
2009 near the Port District. The state’s
largest medium security prison, 1,536
beds, will be constructed just five miles
down the Point MacKenzie Road from
the Port District. This $220 million project
will be designed and constructed
by Neeser Construction Inc., and will
provide hundreds of construction jobs
for several years followed by approximately
350 prison jobs upon completion.
The improvements being made at
Port MacKenzie, such as road paving,
utilities, and ferry service, will benefit
the prison as well.
Future goals at Port MacKenzie include
completing a rail loading facility,
constructing a fuel tank farm, and promoting
the creation of a petrochemical
facility or LNG plant at the Port when a
gas spur from the North Slope is completed.
We also have permits to expand
the barge dock by 7.86 acres and to increase
the size of the deep-draft dock
and add a second trestle to allow us to
efficiently import as well as export.
Port MacKenzie is still in its early
stages of development. However, substantial
progress is being made and
soon Port MacKenzie will provide yearround
access for low-cost commercial
and industrial development, residential
expansion and recreational opportunities.
Within a few more years, there
will be a transformation of this area located
just a short distance across Upper
Cook Inlet from Anchorage. In fact, the
transformation has already begun. Port
MacKenzie is “Open for Business.”
Marc VanDongen is Port Director
for Matanuska Susitna Borough’s Port
MacKenzie.
Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 67

TransCanada moves on gas line
pre-construction work
By RoB StapletoN
Development of a multi billion-dollar Alaska-Canada
gas pipeline proposal continues as TransCanada has its
license allowing the company to continue fieldwork to
conclude an open season by 2010.
“We feel confident that our proposal will offer the best
prices to the producers,” said Tony Palmer, vice president of
the Alaska portion of the TransCanada Corp. at the 2008
Resource Development Council’s convention in Anchorage
Nov. 20.
He said the company representatives conducted talks
with North Slope gas shippers BP Exploration Alaska and
ConocoPhillips prior to the August signing of the Alaska
Gasline Inducement Act.
The license issued under AGIA was signed in August
by Gov. Sarah Palin and issued in late November – after a
mandatory 90-day wait – became law Dec. 5.
The AGIA permission allows the Canadian company
to conduct commercial and field work that will allow it to
proceed without a specific gas line proposal, and it provides
up to $500 million in matching funds for work leading
to a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission certificate
of convenience and necessity.
TransCanada’s proposal is to use a 48-inch line to move
gas from Alaska’s North Slope through the Yukon, British
Colombia, and onto Alberta where it will connect to the Alberta
Section at Boundary Lake. The proposal includes the
Alberta section from Boundary Lake to Caroline, just north
of Calgary, where it will connect with existing gas pipelines.
Alaska gas will then enter Idaho at the U.S. border with
Canada at Kingsgate where another pipeline fork will traverse
to Monchy, Saskatchewan, where North Slope gas
will enter Montana.
68 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

The massive gas pipeline will stretch 1,715 miles – 750
miles in Alaska, 517 miles in the Yukon Territory, and, 448
miles in British Colombia – and will require 28 compressor
stations in Alaska and 44 in Canada.
Cost estimate for the work completed by TransCanada
before the 2010 open season, approaches $84 million, according
to company sources.
“We are targeting all of our efforts to conclude an initial
binding Open Season by July 10,” said Cecily Dobson
a spokesperson for TransCanada. “Over the next several
months, TransCanada will engage a number of contractors
to assist with the technical, regulatory and commercial
work.”
Dobson said TransCanada has already contracted for
ongoing work with Aerometrics for aerial photography,
ENSR for environmental assessments, and Colt Engineering
for planning and engineering.
TransCanada and Palmer have extensive experience
with pipeline construction projects. While the company
was negotiating with producers on the Alaska project –
and making a bid on AGIA – it increased its ownership
to 79.9 percent in the Canadian Keystone crude pipeline
co-owned by Conoco.
The 2,148-mile Keystone Pipeline will transport Canadian
crude oil from Hardisty, Alberta to U.S. Midwest markets
at Wood River and Patoka, Illinois and to Cushing, Okla.
TransCanada also has a standing FERC certificate for
a gas line to carry North Slope gas planned earlier in the
1970s – until deregulation of the industry and the market
price of gas plummeted, which collapsed earlier efforts.
What’s next?
The next two years will see work on selecting and confirming
TransCanada’s route for the pipeline in Alaska, according
to Dobson.
Under the requirements of AGIA, TransCanada will
also study an approach on how to finalize and implement
in-state gas.
“We will need to understand just how much gas will be
used along the gas line right-of-way in Alaska,” said Dobson.
In the meantime the Canadian group will continue
discussions with key stakeholders, both in Alaska, and
Canada that includes First Nations and others, according
to Dobson.
How much will all this cost? According to Dobson, cost
estimates are changing daily.
“We will continue to update capital cost estimates, as market
values change, and we develop a solid plan,” she said.
Rob Stapleton is a longtime Alaskan reporter and photographer
who works full-time for the Journal of Commerce and occasionally
writes stories and takes photos for other publications.
Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 69

Denali posts progress on its
version of a gas pipeline project
By RoB StapletoN
Hoping for a level playing field from the state of
Alaska to build a gas pipeline from the North Slope to
Canada – Denali, the collaboration of BP and ConocoPhillips
– is moving ahead with its version of a gas
line project.
After a summer of fieldwork by more than 70 employees
Denali-The Alaska Gas Pipeline LLC, turned
in a federal right of way application in October for a
2,000-mile proposed gas line project.
Denali also announced its new headquarters in the
new 188 W. Northern Lights Building in midtown Anchorage,
and plans its move in early 2009.
“We expect to spend $60 million by year’s end
working toward the success of this project,” said David
MacDowell, spokesman for the company.
BP and ConocoPhillips plan to spend a total of
$600 million readying for the 2010 open season.
Following a successful open season, a process during
which the pipeline company seeks customers to make
long-term agreements and transportation commitments
to the project, the companies then intend to obtain
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and National
Energy Board (NEB) certification to start construction.
The FERC and NEB certificates are the critical permits that
provide government authorization to construct a pipeline.
The Denali project consists of a gas treatment plant on
Alaska’s North Slope and a large-diameter pipeline that travels
more than 700 miles through Alaska, and then into Canada
through the Yukon Territory and British Columbia to Alberta.
If the Denali group fails to reach an agreement with Canadian
groups to transport gas from Alberta, the project will
also include a large diameter pipeline from Alberta to the
Lower 48.
Since the April 2008 announcement that the two giants –
BP and ConocoPhillips – intend to prepare for the 2010 open
season, the group has covered a lot of ground – literally.
“We completed a very successful summer field season,”
said MacDowell. “Our team surveyed over 200 miles of wetlands,
investigated 70 archeological sites, completed 1,700
miles of othophotography, and shot 730 miles of immersive
video, and investigated 538 river/stream crossings.”
Denali operations were managed out of a company office
set up in Tok for the company’s focus on lands from Delta
Junction to the Canadian border.
MacDowell said that the route reconnaissance and optimization
were also completed this past summer, which will allow
it to make progress on cost estimates, and project planning.
These developments are hallmarks that lead up to the
FERC pre-filing and a Bureau of Land Management Right of
Way application, as more than one-third of the lands along
Jim Bowles, of ConocoPhillips and Doug Suttles of BP in Anchorage on April 8,
when they announced that they joined forces to create a joint venture company,
called Denali - The Alaska Gas Pipeline LLC to build a gas pipeline from the
North Slope to Alberta Canada to tie in to existing pipelines in North America.
the pipeline route fall under BLM jurisdiction.
Denali also hired more than 30 contractors and suppliers
who hired Alaskans to complete work, which continues
this winter.
“We are about to embark on our winter work program,”
said MacDowell.
The work scheduled for this winter includes drilling 100
boreholes along stream and river beds between Prudhoe
Bay and the Canadian border to gather data on the soil condition
necessary to design waterway crossings, this will also
encompass hydrological studies, according to MacDowell.
The companies also foresee next year being even busier
as they focus on the entire pipeline route from Prudhoe to
the Alberta border.
“In the next three to six months we will be bidding out
and awarding the major engineering contracts for the project,”
said MacDowell. “We will also be performing an instate
gas study, investing in workforce development and assessing
the need for infrastructure upgrades.”
Denali also wants to hear from stakeholders along its
route, according to MacDowell.
“Continued engagement in Alaska and Canada with Native
groups, and local stakeholders will continue,” he said.
Denali hopes to have a “quality” cost estimate available for
open season in 2010, according to company officials.
Rob Stapleton is a longtime Alaskan reporter and photographer
who works full-time for the Journal of Commerce and occasionally
writes stories and takes photos for other publications.
70 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009
phoTo: rob sTapleTon

AGC
members’
projects
2008 Winners of AGc's
Excellence in construction Awards
There are five components of Providence Southwest
Campus Expansion Phase II: Medical Office Building 2,
Hickel House, Sky Bridge, Parking Garage Expansion,
and Cancer Center. The Cancer Center and Hickel House
are highlighted.
It was essential to Providence to make the scary
process of cancer treatment as comfortable as possible,
and Davis and the designers delivered. Although
safeguarded against infection, the interior isn’t sterile.
Spaces are calming and lighting is soothing. Radiation
treatment rooms feature scenic lights in the ceiling.
The Hickel House is a state of the art long-term stay
hotel for patients and family, rivaling the well-known
“Ronald McDonald” facilities in the Lower 48.
Providence Providence Alaska Alaska Medical
Medical
Center Center Creekside Creekside campus campus expansion
expansion
Award: Award: Buildings Buildings more more than than $15 $15 million
million
Contractor: Contractor: Davis Davis Constructors Constructors and and Engineers Engineers Inc. Inc. of of Anchorage
Anchorage
phoTo: © ken graham phoTography.com
72 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

Contractors that won 2008 AGC Excellence in Construction Awards
are Davis Constructors and Engineers Inc. of Anchorage, Unit
Company of Anchorage, Roger Hickel Contracting Inc. of Anchorage,
Brice Inc. of Fairbanks, American Marine Corp., Anchorage and The
Superior Group Inc. of Anchorage.
Davis Constructors and Engineers Inc. and Roger Hickel Contracting
Inc. each won two 2008 AGC Excellence in Construction Awards.
Four winning projects are featured in this issue of the Contractor
Magazine and the remaining four projects will be featured in the
Spring 2009 issue of the magazine.
phoTo: © ken graham phoTography.com
phoTo: courTesy of davis consTrucTors engineers inc.
Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 73

2008 Winners of AGc's Excellence in construction Awards
Knik Knik Goose Goose Bay Bay Elementary Elementary School
School
Award: Award: Buildings Buildings $5 $5 million million to to $15 $15 million
million
Contractor: Contractor: Unit Unit Company Company of of Anchorage
Anchorage
phoTo: © ken graham phoTography.com
74 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009
phoTo: courTesy of uniT company

Knik Goose Bay Elementary was a designbuild,
fast-track project, completed in 12
months. Construction began the fall of 2006
with an operating school on the same site. Unit
Company was able to complete this project,
including winter season structural work, while
still providing the owner with $3.5 million
in cost savings compared to their previous
prototypical design. This cost savings allowed
the Mat-Su Borough extra funds for Unit
Company to provide a solution to the parking
and traffic flow of both the new and existing
school by redesigning the site and upgrading
the state of Alaska road servicing both schools.
phoTo: © ken graham phoTography.com
Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 75

2008 Winners of AGc's Excellence in construction Awards
Safeway Safeway Jewel Jewel Lake Lake remodel
remodel
Award: Award: Buildings Buildings under under $5 $5 million
million
Contractor: Contractor: Roger Roger Hickel Hickel Contracting Contracting Inc. Inc. of of Anchorage
Anchorage
In June 2007, Roger Hickel Contracting Inc. was awarded the Safeway Store No. 1812 Lifestyle Remodel
contract. The remodel contract included major interior and exterior upgrades in a store open 24 hours per
day to the public. The major challenge of this project was maintaining coordination between Roger Hickel
Contracting, Safeway, and Subcontractor personnel to complete work without disrupting the store activity.
Drawing revisions, additional upgrades, and Owner furnished delivery delays created challenges for Roger
Hickel Contracting. With all additions, Roger Hickel Contracting was able to complete all work in the 120
day timeframe required by Safeway.
phoTos: courTesy of roger hickel conTracTing inc.
76 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 77

2008 Winners of AGc's Excellence in construction Awards
Cook Inlet Icebreaker Project
Award: Specialty Contractor/Transportation,
Marine, Heavy, Earthmoving
Contractor: American Marine Corp., Anchorage
American Marine Corp. continues to prove
itself as a company committed to Excellence
in Operations by providing exceptional
customer service combined with innovative
solutions to complex construction needs.
In spring 2008, AMC fabricated and
installed a 40-foot long icebreaker on the
leg of the Tyonek Platform in Cook Inlet.
The substantial assembly was comprised
of an external support structure that was
designed to protect an interior 10-inch
pipe that was being installed to protect
necessary components for the operation of
the platform.
The project required positioning and
installing the Icebreaker through critical lifts
by the crane on the platform coordinated
through support from AMC’s dive support
vessel. Welders worked from suspended
swinging scaffolds 30-60 feet above the
churning waters of Cook Inlet.
78 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

Do you or your company have information to share on recent projects, and
construction updates in Alaska? Send us your AGC member news. All submissions of
copy and photos may be mailed or dropped off to the publisher at:
AQP Publishing, Inc., 8537 Corbin Dr., Anchorage, AK 99507
If you prefer e-mail:
Contractor@AQPpublishing.com
Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 79
phoTos: courTesy of american marine corp.

Website and training information
• Alaska Department of Labor – www.jobs.state.ak.us
• Alaska’s Labor Exchange System – http://alexsys.labor.
state.ak.us/
• Labor Market Information – www.jobs.state.ak.us and click
on Labor Market Information
• Alaska Career Information System – www.akcis.org
e-mail hotjobs@labor.state.ak.us to receive a password
• America’s Career InfoNet – www.acinet.org/acinet
• Career Voyages – www.careervoyages.gov/
• Occupational Information Network – http://online.
onetcenter.org/
Alaska Computer Essentials
907 East Dowling, Suite 13, Anchorage, AK 99518
(907) 563-8650 • aceak@alaska.com
Alaska Job Corps Center – Palmer Admissions Office
4300 B Street, Suite 100, Anchorage, AK 99503
(907) 562-6200 • (800) 478-0531
admissions@alaskajobcorps.com • www.alaskajobcorps.com
Alaska Joint Electrical Apprenticeship & Training Trust
5800 B Street, Anchorage, AK 99518
www.ajeatt.org • (907) 337-9508 • (800) 533-9508
Alaska Operating Engineers Apprenticeship Training
900 West Northern Lights Blvd., Suite 200
Anchorage, AK 99503
(907) 561-5044
Alaska Pacific University
4101 University Drive, Anchorage, AK 99508
(907) 564-8248 • (800) 252-7528
admissions@alaskapacific.edu • www.alaskapacific.edu
Alaska Teamster Employer Service Training Trust
1049 Whitney Road, Anchorage, AK 99501
(907) 278-3674
Alaska Technical Center
Box 51, Kotzebue, AK 99752
(907) 442-3733 • (800) 478-3733
mlee1@nwarctic.org • www.nwarctic.org/atc
Alaska Vocational Institute
210 Ferry Way, Suite 200, Juneau, AK 99801
(907) 586-5718 • (800) 478-6660
info@serrc.org • www.serrc.org
Alaska Vocational Technical Center
PO Box 889, Seward, AK 99664
(907) 224-4141 • (800) 478-5389 • avtec@labor.state.ak.us
Alaska Works Partnership Inc.
1413 Hyder Street, Anchorage, AK 99501
(907) 569-4711 • www.alaskaworks.org
Alaska Works Partnership Inc.
Apprenticeship Outreach and Women in the Construction Trades
PO Box 74313, Fairbanks, AK 99707
(907) 457-2597 • (866) 457-2597 • www.alaskaworks.org
Asbestos Removal Specialists of Alaska
3049 Davis Road, Fairbanks, AK 99709
(907) 451-8550 • arsa@acsalaska.net
Associated Builders and Contractors Inc.
360 West Benson Blvd., Suite 200, Anchorage, AK 99503
(907) 565-5600
80 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

Associated General Contractors
8005 Schoon Street, Suite 100, Anchorage, AK 99518
(907) 561-5354
Associated General Contractors
3750 Bonita Street, Fairbanks, AK
(907) 452-1809
Anchorage Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 367
Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee
610 West 54th Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99518-1197
(907) 562-2810
Career Academy
1415 E. Tudor Road, Anchorage, AK 99507-1033
(907) 563-7575 • (800) 770-7575
admissions@careeracademy.net • www.careeracademy.net
Carpenters Local 2247
Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee
1751 Anka Street, Juneau, AK 99801
(907) 586-3675
Cascadia Region Green Building Council
721 NW 9th Ave. #280, Portland, OR 97209-3476
(503) 228-5533 • gina@cascadiagbc.org
Center for Employment Education
1049 Whitney Road, Anchorage, AK 99501
(907) 279-8451 (main) • (907) 279-8457 (admissions)
(800) 478-4233 • cee@acsalaska.net • www.cee-ak.com
Charter College
2221 E. Northern Lights Boulevard, Suite 120
Anchorage, AK 99508
(907) 277-1000 • contact@chartercollege.edu
www.chartercollege.edu
Division of Business Partnerships
1111 W. Eighth Street, PO Box 115509, Juneau, AK 99811-5509
907-465-4890 • www.labor.state.ak.us
Environmental Management Inc.
206 E. Fireweed Lane, Suite 201, Anchorage, AK 99503
(907) 272-8852 • (800) 458-2580
training@emi-alaska.com • www.emi-alaska.com
Fairbanks Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 375
Apprenticeship Training Committee
1978 Burgess Avenue, Fairbanks, AK 99709
(907) 456-5989
Fairbanks Sheet Metal Workers
International Association, Local 23
1260 Aurora Drive, Fairbanks, AK 99709
(907) 452-3864
GPS Alaska Inc.
11940 Business Blvd., Ste. 205, Eagle River, AK 99577-7742
(907) 694-4499 • www.gpsalaska.com • (800) 478-4499
H&R Block Tax Services
7731 E. Northern Lights, Anchorage, AK 99504
(907) 338-4848 • (800) 472-5625
www.hrblock.com/taxes/planning/tax_courses/index.html
Heat & Frost Insulators & Asbestos Workers Local 97
Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee
407 Denali Street, Anchorage, AK 99501
(907) 272-8224
Ilisagvik College
PO Box 749, Barrow, AK 99723
(907) 852-3333 • (800) 478-7337 • www.ilisagvik.cc
Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 81

Independent Lift Truck of Alaska Inc.
1200 E. 70th Ave., Anchorage, AK 99518-2354
(907) 344-3383 • wdick.ilt@gci.net
Interior-Aleutians Campus/UAF
PO Box 756720, Fairbanks, AK 99775-6720
(907) 474-2472 • (888) 474-5207
iacinfo@uaf.ed • www.iac.uaf.edu
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1547
Apprenticeship Training Committee
813 West 12th Street, Juneau, AK 99801
ibewjno@ptialaska.net • (907) 586-3050
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
Local 1547 - Ketchikan
317 Stedman Avenue, Ketchikan, AK 99901
(907) 225-4020
Ironworkers Local 751
8141 Schoon Street, Anchorage, AK 99518-3047
(907) 563-4767
Juneau Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 262
Apprenticeship Training Committee
1751 Anka Street, Juneau, AK 99801
(907) 586-2874
Kachemak Bay Campus, Kenai Peninsula College/UAA
533 E. Pioneer Avenue, Homer, AK 99603
(907) 235-7743 • iykbc1@uaa.alaska.edu
www.homer.alaska.edu
Kenai Peninsula College/UAA
34820 College Drive, Soldotna, AK 99669
(907) 262-0330 • inklt@uaa.alaska.edu • www.kpc.alaska.edu
Ketchikan Campus/UAS
2600 7th Avenue, Ketchikan, AK 99901-5798
(907) 228-4508 • (888) 550-6177
gail.klein@uas.alaska.edu • www.ketch.alaska.edu/
Kodiak College/UAA
117 Benny Benson St., Kodiak, AK 99615
(907) 486-4161 • bbrown@kodiak.alaska.edu
www.koc.alaska.edu
Kornfeind Training Center
4782 Dale Road, Fairbanks, AK 99709
(907) 479-4449 • (800) 479-4495
Kuskokwim Campus/UAF
201 Akiak Drive, Bethel, AK 99559
(907) 543-4500 • (800) 478-5822
www.kuskokwim.bethel.alaska.edu
Laborers’ International Union Local 341
Apprentice Training Program
13500 Old Seward Highway, Anchorage, AK 99515
(907) 345-3853
Laborers’ Local 942 - Apprenticeship Training Annex
2740 Davis Road, Fairbanks, AK 99709
Apprenticeship Information – (907) 456-4584
Alaska Laborers’ Training School – (907) 452-3146
Laborers’ Local 942
942 West 9th Street, Juneau, AK 99801
(907) 586-2860
Matanuska-Susitna College/UAA
PO Box 2889, Palmer, AK 99645
(907) 745-9774 • sgravley@matsu.alaska.edu
www.matsu.alaska.edu
82 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009

New Frontier Vocational Technical Center
43335 K-Beach Road, Suite 12, Soldotna, AK 99669
(907) 262-9055
Northern Alaska Carpenters Local 1243
Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee
P.O. Box 71087, Fairbanks, AK 99707
(907) 452-4626
Northern Industrial Training LLC
6177 E. Mountain Heather Dr. #4, Palmer, AK 99645
(907) 357-6400 • www.nitalaska.com
Northwest Campus/UAF
Pouch 400, Nome, AK 99762
(907) 443-2201 • (800) 478-2202
nynwinfo@uaf.edu • www.nwc.uaf.edu
Northwest Technical Services
4401 Business Park Blvd., Bldg N, Suite 26
Anchorage, AK 99503
(907) 562-1633 • nwtstraining@ak.net • www.nwts-ak.com
Operating Engineers Union Local 302
900 West Northern Lights Blvd.
Anchorage, AK 99503
www.aoeett.org • (800) 478-5338
Operating Engineers Union Local 302
909 Glacier Highway, Juneau, AK 99802
(800) 478-9551
Painters & Allied Trades Local 1140
Painters, Glassworkers, Floor Coverers, Drywall Finishers
Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee
650 West International Airport Road, S. 100 Anchorage, AK 99518
rspaint@alaska.net • www.ibpat.net/alaska/lu1140.htm
(907) 562-8843
Painters & Allied Trades Local 1555
Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee
P.O. Box 71428, Fairbanks, AK 99707
lu1555rc@mosquitonet.com • www.lu1555.union-yes.cc
(907) 457-4444
Piledrivers and Divers Union Local 2520
Apprenticeship Training Program
825 East 8th Avenue, Suite #6, Anchorage, AK 99501
(907) 272-7577
Plasterers’ and Cement Masons Local 867
Apprenticeship Training Committee
825 East 8th Avenue, Suite #10, Anchorage, AK 99501
(907) 272-5113 • opcm867@alaska.com • www.local867.com
Plasterers’ and Cement Masons Fairbanks Office
(907) 456-4619
Prince William Sound Community College
PO Box 97, Valdez, AK 99686
(907) 834-1600 • (800) 478-8800
StudentServices@pwscc.edu • www.pwscc.edu
Roofers & Waterproofers Local 190
Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee
825 East 8th Avenue, Suite 8, Anchorage, AK 99501
(907) 272-4311
SDC & Associates Inc.
9619 Chesapeake Dr., Ste. 202, San Diego, CA 92123-1329
(858) 560-6060 • (800) 732-3996
ah@sdcassociates.com • www.sdcassociates.com
Winter 2009 The Alaska conTrAcTor 83

Seafarers International Union
721 Sesame Street, Suite 1C, Anchorage, AK 99503
(907) 561-4988
Sheet Metal Workers
International Association, Local 23
Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee
237 North Orca Street, Anchorage, AK 99501-1849
(907) 277-5367
Sitka Campus/UAS
1332 Seward Avenue, Sitka, AK 99835
(907) 747-6653 • (800) 478-6653 • student.info@uas.
alaska.edu • www.uas.alaska.edu/sitka
Southern Alaska Carpenters –
Locals 1281, 2247, & 1501
Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee
8751 King Street, Anchorage, AK 99502
(907) 344-1541 • (888) 825-1541 • sactc@acsalaska.net
Tanana Valley Campus/UAF
604 Barnette Street, Room 110, Fairbanks, AK 99701
(907) 455-2800 (main) • 907.474.7500 (admissions) •
(800) 478-1823 • fytvc@uaf.edu • www.uaf.edu/tvc
Teamsters Union Local 959
1049 Whitney Road, Anchorage, Alaska 99501
(907) 278-3674 • (907) 565-8101
Testing Institute of Alaska Inc.
2114 Railroad Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501
(907) 276-3440 • tia@tialaska.com • www.tialaska.com
U.S. Department of Labor
Bureau of Apprenticeship Training
605 West 4th Avenue, Room G-30, Anchorage, AK 99501
(907) 271-5035
University of Alaska Anchorage
P.O. Box 141629, Anchorage, AK 99514-1629
(907) 786-1480 • enroll@uaa.alaska.edu
www.uaa.alaska.edu
University of Alaska Fairbanks
PO Box 757520, Fairbanks, AK 99775-7480
(907) 474-7500 • (800) 478-1823
admissions@uaf.edu • www.uaf.edu
University of Alaska Southeast – Juneau
11120 Glacier Highway, Juneau, AK 99801
(907) 796-6000 • (877) 465-4827
uas.info@uas.alaska.edu • www.jun.alaska.edu
Wayland Baptist University – Anchorage Campus
5530 E. Northern Lights Boulevard, Suite 24
Anchorage, AK 99504
(907) 333-2277 • alaska@wbu.edu • www.wbu.edu/AK
West Coast Training Inc.
P. O. Box 970, Woodland, WA 98674-1000
(360) 225-6787 • (800) 755-5477
administrator@heavyequipmenttraining.com
Wisdom & Associates Inc.
P O Box 3413, Kenai, AK 99611-3413
(907) 283-0629 • wisdom@alaska.com
84 The Alaska conTrAcTor Winter 2009