CQ Summit brings Alaska energy to the round table

TAMAR BEN-YOSEF

February 29, 2008 at 8:56AM AKST

Offshore oil development in Alaska is going to happen, and the only question is when and how.

Or so it would appear from the dialogue had by 32 representatives from big oil, labor, conservationists and Native leaders at a Congressional Quarterly Summit held Tuesday, Feb. 20, at the Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage.

Martina Hone, event organizer, likened the summit to writing an article, with the folks sitting around the table acting as the resources.

The topic was Alaska’s Energy Challenge, but the conversation turned to a question-and-answer session directed with John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil, who took the focus on himself in stride as he sat at the head of the table.

With good reason – his company has a bright past and possibly an even brighter future.

Americans represent 5 percent of the world’s population and use 25 percent of its oil. About 10,000 gallons of oil are used every second, according to Hofmeister.

What more, he said, today’s technology guarantees the oil supply will never end.

Even though the world’s face is turned in the direction of hydrogen and alternative energy sources, Hofmeister said it would take years for a real change to come and produce mature technology that will satisfy consumer’s needs.

In the meantime, Shell is doing all that it can to ensure there is a "sacred trust" in its operations in the communities that are home to the oil giant’s exploration and development sites.

Flaunting the fact that there have been no Shell spills over the last 30 years, the president said the company would not venture into an area where it cannot successfully manage the risk.

With a strategy focused on preparation rather than damage control, Shell believes it has mastered the technology necessary to drill in Alaska’s outer continental shelf and will continue to learn, according to Hofmeister.

"It is proper and right of Alaskans to say show me – don’t tell me," Hofmeister said.

The issue of technology did come up in several questions expressed mainly by representatives from the North Slope, including Eugene Brower, president of the North Slope Assembly.

Brower reminded Hofmeister of an event that happened more than a decade ago when three whales were stuck off Point Barrow. Brower said all the machinery brought from Prudhoe Bay was not effective in rescuing the whales.

Notably missing from the forum were representatives from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Both Brower and North Slope Borough Mayor Edward Itta noted the federal agencies’ absence.

"They are supposed to be the watchdogs," Brower said.

In an interview during the break, Brower told The Sounder he did not feel that all his questions were answered, and some were even avoided.

Early on in the discussions, the focus shifted to the issue of revenue sharing and employing a local workforce.

Northwest Arctic Borough Mayor Siikauraq Martha Whiting was the first to speak in the round of introductions. She expressed a concern that Northwest Arctic residents may be left out of the picture in future development of the Chukchi Sea.

"Northwest Arctic Residents need to be involved in policy and not stepped on," she said.

Itta expressed similar sentiments.

"The I’f1upiat people feel that we are being asked to take a bunch of risk with no reward," he said and continued to request that Shell push revenue sharing with the local communities.

Hofmeister responded that the corporation would push sharing at the state level.

Whiting asked Hofmeister what role local youth will have in the workforce needed for such large-scale projects as offshore drilling.

Fred Esposito, interim director of the Alaska Vocational Technical Centers, highlighted that point and blamed the oil and gas companies for a poor track record in local hiring.

Vince Beltrami, president of the Alaska chapter of the AFL-CIO, said there are no better standards in training skilled labor force than those in Alaska. He stressed the labor union’s policy of 100 percent resident hire in apprenticeships.

Richard Glenn, vice president of lands for the Arctic Slope Regional Corp., blamed the lack of an Alaska Native workforce on stereotypes. He said Shell need only look in the villages to find skilled, reliable people who already work in various infrastructure jobs.

The summit was only one of the president’s many meetings that week. Minutes before the meeting ended, Hofmeister left the room with the North Slope and Northwest Arctic people for a private lunch meeting.

He spent the rest of the week paying goodwill visits to North Slope villages.

Itta told The Sounder he is glad for the communication that was started by the summit but noted that, as often happens is such meetings, the time was over before any real solutions were discussed.

Soon after the meeting, Itta and about half a dozen other North Slope people left on their own trip to Louisiana – a trip Shell has been trying to get them to go on for quite some time.

During its visit, the delegation will take a tour of Shell’s offshore drill sites and the surrounding communities.

"The mayor wants to know what they consider state-of-the-art technology," said David Harding, spokesperson for the borough.

"He wants to see first hand what it is they believe is the answer to offshore," he said.

Harding said the mayor is in the process of gathering information to make educated decisions.

Tamar Ben-Yosef can be reached at (907) 348-2419 or toll free at (800) 770-9830, ext. 419.