Legislature(2025 - 2026)BUTROVICH 205
01/28/2026 03:30 PM Senate RESOURCES
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Presentation(s): Impacts from a Gas Pipeline Project, Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (dotpf) | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | SB 180 | TELECONFERENCED | |
SENATE RESOURCES
JANUARY 28, 2026
3:30 P.M.
INITIAL VERSION DRAFT
FOR
BILLS AND PRESENTATIONS GERMANE TO 2ND SPECIAL
SESSION
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Cathy Giessel, Chair
Senator Bill Wielechowski, Vice Chair
Senator Matt Claman
Senator Forrest Dunbar
Senator Scott Kawasaki
Senator Robert Myers
Senator George Rauscher
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
PRESENTATION(S): IMPACTS FROM A GAS PIPELINE PROJECT~ DEPARTMENT
OF TRANSPORTATION AND PUBLIC FACILITIES (DOTPF)
- HEARD
SENATE BILL NO. 180
"An Act relating to the regulation of liquefied natural gas
import facilities by the Regulatory Commission of Alaska."
- SCHEDULED BUT NOT HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to report.
WITNESS REGISTER
RYAN ANDERSON, Commissioner
Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOTPF)
Fairbanks, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Co-presented: Impacts from a Gas Pipeline
Project, Department of Transportation and Public Facilities
(DOTPF)
KATHERINE KEITH, Deputy Commissioner
Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOTPF)
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Co-presented: Impacts from a Gas Pipeline
Project, Department of Transportation and Public Facilities
(DOTPF)
ACTION NARRATIVE
3:30:10 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL called the Senate Resources Standing Committee
meeting to order at 3:30 p.m. Present at the call to order were
Senators Dunbar, Rauscher, Kawasaki, Myers, Wielechowski and
Chair Giessel. Senator Claman arrived shortly thereafter.
^PRESENTATION(S): IMPACTS FROM A GAS PIPELINE PROJECT,
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND PUBLIC FACILITIES (DOTPF)
PRESENTATION(S): IMPACTS FROM A GAS PIPELINE PROJECT, DEPARTMENT
OF TRANSPORTATION AND PUBLIC FACILITIES (DOTPF)
3:30:48 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL announced the presentation: Impacts from a Gas
Pipeline Project, Department of Transportation and Public
Facilities (DOTPF).
3:31:12 PM
RYAN ANDERSON, Commissioner, Department of Transportation and
Public Facilities (DOTPF), Fairbanks, Alaska, said (DOTPF) is
involved in a lot of resource and development issues across the
state. He explained that the presentation was like one delivered
to the LNG caucus over the summer but updated, to give the
committee the latest and greatest on how they are approaching
the potential of an Alaska gas line.
3:32:06 PM
SENATOR CLAMAN joined the meeting.
3:32:16 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON introduced Department of Transportation
and Public Facilities (DOTPF) personnel available in person and
on-line to answer questions.
3:32:51 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON moved to slide 2. He reflected that Alaska
had historically been built through significant transportation-
driven events, citing the gold rush, World War II and the ALCAN
Highway, and the development of TAPS and the Dalton Highway as
major milestones. Drawing on his experience managing the
northern region, he emphasized the importance of maintaining
infrastructure that supports key economic assets for the state.
He described the proposed Alaska LNG pipeline route, noting it
would start at Prudhoe Bay, follow the Dalton Highway to
Livengood, then diverge cross-country rather than following the
Elliott Highway through Fairbanks, reconnecting near Nenana.
From there, it would track along the Parks Highway before again
going overland south of the Chulitna River Bridge and ultimately
passing under Cook Inlet.:
[Original punctuation provided.]
LNG Transportation Corridor
What's at Stake for Alaska
World-Class Transportation Infrastructure: Supporting
Alaska's LNG Gasline
[Map of the proposed AKLNG pipeline and existing
infrastructure:
International Airports
Rural Airport Hubs
Tunnels
Ports
National Highway System
Railroad
Trans Alaska Pipeline
Proposed Alaska LNG Line
Marine Routes
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON highlighted that the AKLNG project would
involve significant transportation considerations, including
hauling, trucking, and commercial vehicle activity, as well as
construction where the pipeline intersects or passes beneath
highways. He noted that DOTPF was focused on these impacts,
including material sites and access to the highway system, and
had been coordinating with Glenfarne to understand project
planning and logistics.
3:35:38 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL noted the marine route indicated on the map. She
asked whether that reflected an expectation of off-shore export
of gas or why the marine route was included on the map.
3:35:50 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON said the intent was to show alternate
routes for transporting materials. He noted that there may be
limited barge opportunities to Prudhoe Bay. He added that DOTPF
were proud to have secured a Maritime Administration (MARAD)
marine route designation, which made ports, including some
river-connected communities, eligible for federal infrastructure
funding.
3:36:59 PM
SENATOR RAUSCHER asked whether it was possible that materials
for the pipeline could travel by barge.
3:37:16 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON said he had not seen detailed logistical
plans. He said shipping some materials through Prudhoe Bay is a
possibility.
3:37:45 PM
KATHERINE KEITH, Deputy Commissioner, Department of
Transportation and Public Facilities (DOTPF), Anchorage, Alaska,
moved to slide 3:
[Original punctuation provided.]
Highway Safety and Alaska DOT&PF
Organization
Alaska Department of Transportation & Public
Facilities
Structure
Commissioner
Deputy Commissioner
STRATEGIC ASSETS
• Alaska International Airport System
• Alaska Marine Highway System
• Statewide Equipment Fleet
• Division of Facilities
• Measurement Standards & Commercial Vehicle
Compliance
MS. KEITH:
Despite the fact that we're in a very different regulatory
environment than we were in the [19]70s when the trans-Alaska
pipeline (TAPS) was constructed, there are certainly things that
we can learn from that and how we have to operate as an
organization in order to best support construction of the
pipeline. You see on the slide here, it's a high level, a bit
more of a graphical representation of our department, but it
does capture how we operate as a teamed resource pool across all
of the different aspects of what DOT does. This has developed
over the years that we've been in these roles with DOT, but in
this more agile framework, it will help to be able to adapt to
the changing needs. As we understand the constructability plans
of 8 Star [Alaska, LLC], as this develops, we'll be able to,
through a flexible structure, adapt to the needs. Some of the
requirements of the [AK] LNG line, it certainly may be
compounded by other concurrent development in the state, for
example, construction of the [Broadband Equity, Access, and
Deployment] BEAD, the broadband energy infrastructure and
several other larger scale construction which is going to task
our workforce and our staff, whether it's through permitting or
engineering reviews. So, these are things that we're being
mindful of and trying to establish Tasks Force and systems right
now so that as we go forward over the next couple of years, that
we're prepared.
We look at our department from a couple different lenses. One is
through strategic assets. These are things that we consider
highly used infrastructure that provides this critical value
back to the state, including our Alaska International Airport
system in Fairbanks and Anchorage, our Alaska Marine Highway
System, our division of facilities, public facilities, our
statewide equipment fleet and MSCVC - measurement standards and
commercial vehicle compliance. And that particular division is
important, because that's what's going to help ensure that the
heavy traffic on our roads, heavy duty vehicles, are compliant,
because as we do move forward with the increased use of our
highways and other modes of transportation, the public safety,
highway safety is going to remain paramount, and that is a role
that the Department of Transportation does play, both in
constructing solutions to increase public safety, pull outs, for
example, but then also the non-infrastructure related
improvements, which we'll talk about a little bit about using
digital tools such as Alaska 511, to help increase awareness of
where activity is occurring.
With our cross functional support, this is how our department is
structured, with a data modernization and innovation office,
program management and administration, our new Alaska trails and
local access systems to help provide support with rural project
development and logistics. These are examples of how we have
different parts of the department which support our regions
where you see project delivery and construction occur. With the
development of the pipeline, and as it gets underway, we are
expecting thousands of heavy-duty trucks carrying 80-foot long
pipe segments. These are going to be convoys, potentially
overweight, oversized vehicles, and so, this early planning will
help us be able to accommodate the needs for construction but
keeping safety at the forefront.
3:41:51 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
Just one thing about this structure: over time, DOT has
responded to a lot of events over the past few years, the latest
being Typhoon Halong on the west coast of Alaska. One thing
we've learned is when there's an event, it really takes
resources from across the state to respond the way Alaskans
expect us to respond. And so, as you see our structures, when we
get into the AK LNG pipeline, it's an event, and so we want to
treat it like that.
3:42:24 PM
MS. KEITH
It's not just resources within our own agency, it's other
statewide departments and agencies and corporations as well, the
Alaska Railroad Corporation, [Alaska Industrial Development and
Export Authority] AIDEA, these groups we are coordinating with
on a quite regular basis to help put the pieces together to best
support the project as we move forward.
3:42:53 PM
SENATOR CLAMAN
The slide describes the Northern, Central and Southcoast
Regions. I know there's been a lot of press and a lot of
discussion about consolidating DOT and not having the three
separate regions, and specific to the pipeline, does that shift
from having three regions and management in three regions?
Should we be concerned about not maintaining the three regions
in terms of maintaining DOT facilities with a potentially large
project like this?
3:43:28 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
That's a great question. One of the things we've been doing over
the past year is really looking at where we've had success and
we've been listening a lot, for example, with several of the
contracting organizations. Consistency in the way we operate is
a theme for DOT, where we've heard a lot about, in one region,
things are done a certain way; in another region, they're done
another way. And we really need to get things consistent across
the state, and technology accelerates that because you have more
ways to do that. The communication tools are, people are
communicating across the world now and in different ways. But
with what we're looking at with our budget proposal, it's a
leadership shift. The regions still stay intact. We're not
bringing people, breaking things up there. What we're trying to
do is shift from regional directors in each region that would do
all capital maintenance and operations, this full gamut, to
having a maintenance and operations director that would look
across the state at maintenance and just be dedicated to
maintenance and operations, and then a capital program director
that would be dedicated to capital across the state. The
construct of the regions - we have engineers that are in the
regions that aren't really affected by this change. It's the
leadership [structure change] that we're proposing.
3:45:08 PM
MS. KEITH moved to slide 4, Highway Assets & Conditions,
Readiness for Increased Freight and Construction Traffic.
As part of our lead-up in understanding the cost, what it may
take to shore up our infrastructure to withstand construction
and all of the heavy truck usage, we've been evaluating our
assets across the state. We do this already through our
Transportation Asset Management Program. This allows us to
collect all sorts of data on our national highway system bridges
and our pavement condition, and through these measures, allows
us to understand if we are meeting our requirements. We are
required to maintain our national highway system in a certain
operating condition. And right now, we do. Of course, some
sections of road and some bridges, as we know, are better than
others. We're focused on, through this work, identifying what
areas are most in need of improvements, and looking at our next
four-year project delivery plan, which you'll see coming up in
our Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). Our
STIP will be released for the public in the next couple weeks,
and that'll show the four year construction plan. Being able to
look at the data with where our infrastructure is and then being
able to incorporate those needs into our capital program will
help the developers and the public and decision-makers look at
where these investments are happening, and through this public
comment period that you'll see with our STIP, it'll help. We'll
have a lot of opportunities for feedback and comment on that
construction plan.
Through that, I can talk briefly about the Dalton [Highway]
because, as most of you will know, with 414 miles, about 250 of
them are gravel, and we have had significant amount of
construction activity. Between 2015 and 2025 we've had about
$460 million invested in major construction projects. Over the
next five or six years, we're planning an additional $450
[million] more. And it's certainly been seen in recent years
that there are high amounts of washouts and emergency erosion
mitigation work that we have to do. So, we're identifying
potential ways that we could be more responsive when that does
happen, so we don't have the Dalton shut down for two days or
more. One example of that is working with Federal Highways
Administration to get approval to stockpile material and have it
at the known corridor sections that we know are at high risk. We
can now be able to stockpile material, which would allow us to
move quickly when a wash out does occur, which typically has not
been very easy because there's a long distance between material
locations.
3:48:31 PM
SENATOR MYERS
You're talking about large scale construction projects on the
Dalton, and I will never question you when you tell me that you
need to replace a bridge. That sounds dangerous, but my question
is, what are we talking about in terms of maintenance on the
Dalton? Because it's my understanding, with some information
I've gotten from your department over the last few months, that
we're spending only about $20 million a year to maintain that
road, which is a very busy road. Well, busy, it's a very
important road. We'll put it that way - not only for energy from
within the state, but also, how we make our money here in the
legislature, too. What kind of changes are we looking at in
terms of daily maintenance on the haul road?
3:49:25 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
$20 million is about right for our standard operating budget;
our folks also use those preventative maintenance funds. We
leverage those as much as we can, which adds to that. But there
are only certain things you can do with federal funds in terms
of maintenance. A lot of it is, you put down the calcium with
some aggregate; we're hopeful that this idea of stockpiling
materials, they've been working with us on that, which would
allow us to have that option for maintenance activities.
Preventative maintenance is what we would call it. So, there's
one there.
Last year, the legislature reduced our operating budgets by
about $5.5 million, and so we're constantly looking around,
doing the best we can, with the reductions that have been
occurring. We're doing our best there. I think in the governor's
fiscal plan, we had the pipeline corridor maintenance fund.
That's a real opportunity, I believe, for the Dalton Highway.
That would add these funds. Years ago, I think it was before
2010, there would be a fairly sizable appropriation of state
funds for heavy maintenance on the Dalton. And our teams at that
time made the most of those and you saw some [of] the projects
that the trucking industry is looking for, those "rebuilding the
road and getting a good surface on it" type projects. When we
get into the federal projects, the way we look at those is a
little different. They're bigger projects and we don't get them
done as fast as people are hoping.
3:51:10 PM
SENATOR MYERS
If you wouldn't mind a little attitude, I guess my big question,
and I've expressed this to you and some other folks up in
Northern Region, is just about getting, especially in
summertime, I think in the wintertime, you guys generally do a
pretty good job, but especially in summertime, getting operators
and graders. I understand. We've got to respond to washouts and
things like that. Those are important too. But just getting
operators and graders out there is a basic function, and I don't
think we're doing a very good job of it. How do you feel?
3:51:43 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
If you talk to our teams, what they're going to tell you,
because our budget up there is limited [to] approximately $20
million, they're having to use those preventative maintenance
funds to make the year, to get a full year. And so, that
requires us to move to those types of eligible activities that
we can do with those preventative maintenance funds, which
aren't the daily grading - those types of activities that the
trucking industry is looking for. That's where we've been having
a lot of discussions. If we had this much additional funds,
these are the types of things that we could do. But right now
the current budget only goes so far.
3:52:29 PM
SENATOR MYERS
If I could just have a smidge of latitude here, I want to paint
a picture of the issue that we're dealing with here. Trucks are
going up that road. Things are getting beat up because of all
the potholes and the washboard and everything that we're dealing
with. Freight gets damaged. That means that you're either having
to fix it on site or order replacements that increase costs. It
delays projects. It could delay the gas line. As one example,
[indisc] have been dealing with it with Pikka and Willow [Oil
Projects] lately, but other stuff too. When you're talking about
things that are occurring on the oil field, those become lease
expenditures, which then get deducted off of our taxes. Can you
trace any $1 of lease expenditure to what's happened on the
Dalton? No, but we know where the mechanism is. And so, if we
don't provide DOT the money that we need to maintain it, not
just these construction projects, but daily maintenance, we're
going to be missing out on tax dollars.
On the other side of it, vehicles are getting damaged. Insurance
rates go up, maintenance goes up. Those costs get passed along.
Those then become cost overruns for the projects - more
potential delays. And, just as an example, with the company I've
been working with since 2020, our freight rates to haul a load
up the Dalton have doubled in six years. Some of that is wages,
some of that's fuel, but a large portion of that can be traced
back to insurance and maintenance costs because of the condition
of the road up there. So, those are the things that we're
dealing with. And I know that we like to focus on the high
dollar - how do we leverage our federal highway money and things
like that. But if that's what we focus on, and we miss the daily
maintenance, we're causing ourselves bigger problems down the
line. So, I'll get off my soapbox for the moment.
3:54:24 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL
I've often said the private sector can't work as efficiently if
the public sector is not doing its job, and that's really what
you're saying. If we're not maintaining that road, it's costing
the private sector, which ripples back to us. Thank you for your
comments.
3:54:41 PM
SENATOR KAWASAKI
I'm actually looking at an old gas pipeline corridor study that
was talked about under the old gas line inducement act in 2008
and I just noticed who had written it. It's actually from Frank
Richards. We were talking about this under [Alaska Gasline
Inducement Act] AGIA, and we talked about gas pipelines being
different than TAPS because of buried construction. It would be
more earth work, heavier pipe, greater use of modules, things
like that. My question deals with the one Senator Myers just
mentioned about the bad roads equaling slower gas line
construction and then increased cost, because that's actually on
the slide. But the question has to do with who pays for the
maintenance on the road, and how is it paid for now, and then,
I've got a question to follow up.
3:55:31 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
So, who pays now? It's a combination of general funds and
federal funds, to maintain that road right now. And that's
pretty much it. As the pipeline moves forward, we intend to have
discussions with Glenfarne. We can only afford so much on
maintenance. If you were to go up the Dalton Highway, as Senator
Myers knows, our camps, they're not 24-hour camps. We have
limited crews up there. We have a certain amount of equipment.
And so, if there's expectation to ramp up by the state, then
that's something we would need additional resource for,
absolutely.
3:56:15 PM
SENATOR KAWASAKI
In the 1980's, [Federal Energy Regulatory Commission] FERC ruled
that the pipeline traffic of ordinary highway use is not
allowable as a financial responsibility, so the trucks that go
up there for ordinary highway use of pipeline traffic, you can't
penalize them. With that said, how is the state going to find a
way to recoup the costs in order to help pay for the maintenance
of the road and infrastructure now, and this is just the Dalton
corridor section, the 415 miles?
3:56:53 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
That's a great question. When we were working through the Manh
Choh ore haul a few years ago, that was similar. If industry
comes forward with a legal truck, it's not oversize, overweight,
we have federal requirements. We put federal dollars into these
highways. They absolutely have the right to use that highway. We
don't have that ability to, per se, charge them. So, there's
always that restriction. Now, once you get into oversized,
overweight vehicles, those are permitted, and so we do charge
for the use of the highway for those vehicles.
3:57:29 PM
SENATOR KAWASAKI
I'm trying to figure out how much money you anticipate you're
going to need for this added pipeline construction. This
legislative briefing was published in 2008 with the anticipation
of six construction seasons needed before gasline construction
began. I don't think we're there quite yet, but if Glenfarne
wants to put pipe, start building pipe or putting pipe in the
ground in December of next year, it sounds like we're six years
behind schedule. And I'm just trying to figure out, not just the
maintenance cost, but how are you upgrading to the point where
Glenfarne feels comfortable moving trucks up and down the Dalton
corridor.
3:58:18 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
The Dalton Highway right now accommodates an enormous amount of
industrial traffic. It has its challenges. There's no doubt. And
then we do our best to address those challenges as they occur.
So, can the Dalton Highway accommodate pipeline construction?
There'll be a lot of stress on the Dalton Highway, but it was
built for pipeline construction originally. So, we recognize
that as we go forward, we're going to have to get a better
understanding from Glenfarne what their activities are. We'll be
looking at it. When we went through the Manh Choh, we had our
engineers looking, once we received the design vehicle and
understood the loadings and the weights, we reviewed all our
bridges. We had studies on the pavement. We really went through
that whole gamut to understand where the risks were and whatnot.
And that activity is going well. I have confidence in our teams
as we go through there, that we're going to do a good job on
that.
3:59:15 PM
SENATOR KAWASAKI
Just to follow up that this is the 2008 study that went out,
there were 36 projects, including 24 highway projects, three
airports, two bridges, seven facilities, scheduling between
fiscal year 2009 and December 2014 when pipe was supposed to
start to happen under the gas line inducement act (AGIA); the
cost was going to be about a billion dollars in construction,
averaging $167 million a year for six years. We did fund the
first $100 million, and that's where some of those fixes were
done in the 2010 timeframe that I remember on the slope. But
you've spent $460 million, is what Miss Little said. And then
adding another $450 [million] more. Do you have the money now to
be able to do that? And do you have the wherewithal to even get
it done before there's pipe in the ground by December of next
year, according to Glenfarne.
4:00:14 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
What you'll see in our Statewide Transportation Improvement
Program (STIP), those are the funds. That's the resources we
have to do these projects. And they're all in various stages of
project delivery. There's one project, and I do have a slide on
projects as we go through the presentation. But, for example,
there's a project on the Dalton Highway that's called "zero to
nine mile". It's a full realignment of the highway. It's finally
getting close to where we've got all the permits and
authorizations, the right-of-way secured. And when that's ready,
we'll begin. All these projects won't be done before this
aggressive schedule of the pipeline, but we will continue to
work through them, as we work through this project. Yeah, the
timeline.
4:01:01 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL
I'm looking at the map, and the first part of the Dalton up
there is listed as green, as in: "good". Interesting. That's
all.
4:01:16 PM
SENATOR CLAMAN
On the same theme, when you say we're getting by, we're
maintaining with $20 million a year. My immediate question, when
I listen to all these discussions and the increased cost
described by Senator Myers, and the reality that if we have
another construction project, we may be doubling or tripling the
volume of vehicles going over, and all carrying heavy loads,
which translates to more potholes and more damage, and then I
hear you say, well, you know, if we pass this fiscal plan,
there's going to be this $15 fee that we can then use for
corridor maintenance. My reaction is that it sounds like you're
saying we are already behind the curve on corridor maintenance.
We need the money today if we're going to meaningfully have this
road in condition to have a major construction project. And
waiting to do that until we pass a revenue measure that may or
may not make it through the legislature. What I'm hearing from
the description and from particularly what Senator Myers
describes about the damage to goods that are going down that
very road that is designed for pipelines and oil construction,
it still sounds like it's not in shape today, and it sounds like
we've been underfunding the maintenance for some time. Am I
missing something?
4:02:37 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
The 500 miles from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay: it's a challenging
stretch to maintain. We're still upgrading stretches. There were
still old pipeline alignments, and we're trying to get them up
to standards. So, the material sources are a big challenge
there. We're really excited about the public land order (PLO)
5150 revocation, because that opens up material sources for us.
It's been difficult to work with Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
on that front. The $20 million, we do our best. The reduction
last year, the $5.5 million hurt, there's no doubt. We're
looking everywhere we can so we can keep the money on the Dalton
and then, when the discussion about the [leadership] restructure
earlier, some of what we're doing is looking through our other
positions and deleting PCNs so that we can have money to put
towards those frontline services. Within our agency we're doing
our best to accommodate the state's fiscal situation. If there
were additional funds towards the Dalton, I think we all
recognize those could be well utilized right now, for sure.
4:03:47 PM
SENATOR CLAMAN
It feels like we're underfunding it.
4:03:54 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL
Looking at the map again, most of the roads here are yellow. And
I'm not just focusing on the Dalton. I believe it's the American
Society of Civil Engineers that grades roads and states, and I
believe we commonly get a D.
4:04:16 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
You're stretching my memory. I thought we got a C last year on
pavement. We get B's on bridges. We get very well complimented
on our bridges and our systematic way that we address bridges. I
didn't think we got a D on pavement, but I would have to go back
and look.
4:04:34 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL
Basically, what you're saying is, underfunding is the issue.
4:04:39 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
We meet all our federal performance metrics, and so when you
look across the system, we're there or above what the federal
government says, according to a performance metric. But when you
get into the Dalton Highway, what they don't include in that is,
no one has a national highway system route that's gravel. And
so, that's not included. So, there's some nuances of Alaska that
work into this.
4:05:08 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL
Thank you. I appreciate that. It's something that this
legislature has to take into account as we consider this mega
project. We're going to have to maintain some roads to do this.
Is there anything else on this slide that you wanted to
highlight?
4:05:28 PM
MS. KEITH
The one item to look at as a takeaway is this QR code that's on
the slide. This gives you the opportunity to pull up this map in
greater detail. You could navigate it. It is GIS based that
would allow you to narrow in on some of these sections, for
example, the green section of the Dalton being paved, and being
able to look exactly where those sections are, and you can
correlate that to, we can even overlay it with our proposed
project construction plan, so we can see where we're addressing
some of the poor areas where projects are coming up. Please look
at that. That's helping to guide our decision making on our
capital program. Certainly the 2008 study had a lot of great
information in it, but now, 18 years later, so we can now put
that into the dashboard, and along with any other developments
since then for decision making right now.
4:06:40 PM
MS. KEITH moved to slide 5, Capital Programming, Positioning
DOT&PF's Capital Program to Support LNG Construction Logistics.
The takeaway here is to be able to communicate a little bit
about our resources, what federal funds we have available for
capital projects. For the Department of Transportation (DOT), we
have Federal Highways Administration funds as well as Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) funds. And together, while we do
have other funding, those form the backbone of our highways and
airport improvements that we can make. Last year, we did have a
record-breaking year on a couple fronts. We were able to
obligate $922 million of Federal Highways funds, and part of
that includes what we received for additional obligation
limitation through federal highways of $183 million. What that
means is we're able to spend revenue that we have already
attributed to Alaska, but because we had increased authority, we
were able to spend those dollars and translate that into
construction. $183 million was certainly a record year for us.
That also enabled us to put out over $1 billion dollars of
contract awards across our highways and airport projects. Having
those issued last year carries forward into construction this
year as well; to have those contractor payments out and to get
these projects going as early as possible in this construction
season.
We have several tools at our disposal to help us with, to give
us some flexibility with, programming our funds. One of these
tools is called "advanced construction", and this is with
Federal Highways funds only, but this allows us to front fund
projects on future years' revenue and apportionments coming into
the state. If we only receive $800 million, for example, from
federal highways, we can obligate higher amounts than that. We
could obligate one double that, one and a half million, we must
pay that back, though in future years, which means in those
future years, there's less new construction funding.
Going back to flexibility, as conversations are held over the
Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) and the
projects in there, that's a tool that allows us to move things
in earlier as needed to accommodate the priorities across our
transportation system. One thing with advanced construction, we
must have that state match to go with it. Any increase in using
that advanced construction then goes back to requiring match at
that time. With ongoing conversations you've likely heard about
our reduced state match available going into the construction
season in fiscal year '26. We're balancing immediate project
needs, project delivery schedules, what's available to go this
summer with also utilizing the tools that we have, which means
we can pay back this advanced construction this year without
requiring state match. These are things that we'll be talking
about in upcoming weeks as the STIP is out for review.
Our aviation program received, in Federal Aviation
Administration grants, approximately $340 million and those go
into airfield projects, like terminals at airports, safety
improvements, lighting upgrades and those things. And we have
our Airport Improvement Program, which is available online as
well, which highlights the projects that we're looking at in the
upcoming years.
4:10:42 PM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI
Are there any bridges along the route that are considered
structurally deficient that would need to be upgraded before the
construction season began for the project.
4:10:59 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
We're constantly looking at our bridges to make sure we're
keeping them in a state of good repair. For example, this
summer, we recognize that a bridge along the Parks Highway was
coming due and so we accelerated a project, and you're going to
see a bridge replacement project this summer along there. And we
do have a list of bridge projects in subsequent slides, so you
can see the different ones that we're working on.
4:11:30 PM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI
Do you anticipate that all those bridges will be completed
before this December, which is when Glenfarne is saying
construction will begin?
4:11:44 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
We went through this on the Manh Choh again, where we had the
haul trucks that met all state regulations for hauling. When we
do have oversized, overweight vehicles, for specific work that's
done, for each bridge, if we recognize that a bridge is starting
to see some stress, we start monitoring programs. We can track
things there. If we did get to a situation where we thought a
bridge had a structural problem, the first step is to do what's
called load posting, and start limiting the weight that can go
across. We have measures on how we do that. It's procedural as
we go through so we feel comfortable with the gas line and what
our infrastructure can handle. And if something changes, we have
provisions to handle that.
4:12:36 PM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI
Do you know if FERC has issued a notice to proceed for
construction activities, or is the project currently authorized
only for pre-construction work?
4:12:48 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
I'd have to defer to the staff at Alaska Gasline Development
Corporation (AGDC) for that.
4:12:57 PM
SENATOR DUNBAR
I don't want to derail the conversation or jump too far ahead,
but I guess I'm sort of curious, Commissioner and Deputy
Commissioner. Some of what you're describing is more general
success and challenges faced by the department. And I think the
presentation today is pretty focused, because we're not the
Transportation Committee, on the gas pipeline. On one of your
later slides, you have a description of the Knik Arm Crossing.
Are you asserting the Knik Arm Crossing is part of what we need
to construct for the gas pipeline, or did that just happen to be
in here, because this is a broader presentation?
4:13:44 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
Senator Dunbar, what slide are you on?
SENATOR DUNBAR
Slide 10, but again, I don't want to jump ahead.
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
There's a slide later where we talk a little bit more about
opportunities that surround the gas line. There is a broader
discussion on that slide as well.
4:14:03 PM
SENATOR DUNBAR
I think some of my constituents would not describe that bridge
as an opportunity at this point. I'm sorry, Madam Chair, as
we're going through these slides, in the interest of time, I'm
hoping we can sort of focus on LNG, the LNG pipeline
specifically.
4:14:26 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL
Thank you, Senator Dunbar, part of the focus on the gas pipeline
is the cost to the state: what are we going have to pony up?
Moving back to slide five, I'm looking at advanced construction
balance, $576 million. And that's great, but that means there
has to be a match of, are we talking $57.6 million there from
the State of Alaska? And at this point we have a $70 million
match we're trying to make. There are costs here we need to be
aware of, that we need to make sure DOT is budgeted for, so that
these kinds of things can be done, leveraging that federal
money.
4:15:13 PM
SENATOR KAWASAKI
Since I'm not on the transportation committee and wasn't on
Senate Finance Committee when they talked about this, I just
need to hear that the $70 million or whatever the match is, is
not a necessity? In an earlier iteration this year, coming into
this, we kind of assumed that we might have to vote on the first
fast track supplemental that we've done in a dozen years. But
we're told now; I'm just reading the article from the [Anchorage
Daily News] ADN, that that's not necessary. But I know that my
contractors in Fairbanks are saying we absolutely want the
guarantee that it's going to be done. And every pause and every
wait until May is damaging to them. So, I'm trying to get it
straight what needs to get done in order for those things to
happen, for pipeline construction, for all of these bridges to
be done - now.
4:16:09 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
We absolutely need the match. There's no question about that.
The question has been about the timing of the need. When we were
asked when does DOT need the match? We have match. There was $30
million that was still appropriated for this year. There was
also carry-over match. We have carry-over match every year. We
have enough match to get through July 1, when you look at it
from a cash flow perspective. That was the question we were
asked. And that was why you saw the supplemental issued, not a
fast track, but a regular supplemental issued for that match.
There's no doubt that the certainty, and we've heard a lot from
the contractors, and 100%, I can understand their perspective.
They want certainty and we like certainty in our program, too,
and so, that matters. From that perspective, I can understand
their desire for expediency from the numbers perspective. And
what we were asked, we have enough match to get us through July
1 for an undisrupted project flow.
4:17:27 PM
MS. KEITH moved to slide 6, Intermodal Connectors: Rail & Port.
We have focused a lot on highways and airports, but of course,
where freight is going to be coming into the state is going to
be at its ports, and with heavy utilization of our railroad,
with Department of Transportation, we do have, by statute, that
authority and a requirement to coordinate across these modes of
transportation: highways, rails, ports, marine systems, and so
through that, we are in pretty close coordination on several
fronts. The Port MacKenzie Rail Extension is one example where,
working with the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the Alaska Railroad
Corporation and others, we can try to identify some other
opportunities to get cargo into the state where otherwise there
may be some constraints or restrictions. For example, utilizing
only the railroad coming up from Seward where there may be some
bottlenecks, and identifying other port opportunities where that
pipe could come in opens the door to safer transportation as it
goes forward into construction. DOT will be engaged in these
conversations and trying to find, through our resources of
funding that we've mentioned in our existing plans, the State
long range transportation plan. We have a freight plan, which is
updated regularly through stakeholder input. And we're
developing a rail plan as well, updating our rail plan for the
State of Alaska. So, through these measures, what we are looking
to do is not necessarily just construct improvements for the gas
line but ensure that the improvements that we're making also
coordinate well and help set us up for investment in the state
longer term. So being able to not only benefit just this one
project but looking at other state investments in the future as
well.
4:19:43 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL
Perhaps you can answer this question. I'm hearing that the
Alaska railroad would need to have rail upgrades to transport
these large segments of pipe; that what they have right now is
not strong enough, durable enough to handle those heavy loads.
Do you have any insight into that?
4:20:02 PM
MS. KEITH
The railroad, of course, is best to answer that, and we happen
to have a member of the board here. I'll just say that our focus
is on expediency and efficiency. It's not necessarily that those
things would prohibit construction, but to be able to move
forward at the pace that would be desirable, there certainly
could be some infrastructure improvements and alternative
transportation corridors and pathways to get material up north.
CHAIR GIESSEL
Thank you for that. We will be inviting the Alaska railroad to
come to the table as well. You talked about coordination; I
thought you might be able to speak to it.
4:20:50 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON moved to slide 7, Fairbanks Gateway to the
North.
This slide is dedicated to Fairbanks. There are some people from
Fairbanks here. With the railroad terminus in Fairbanks, that is
going to be a major logistical point for offloading pipe and
moving it the 500 miles to Prudhoe Bay, unless somebody comes in
from up north, but we're really thinking about that with the
current, where we have projects right now, what that activity
might look like. Of course, the Alaska railroad yard is a key
place in that area where activities happen. We have active
projects with the Johansen Expressway, the Steese Expressway
right there that we fully expect could be a bottleneck.
And then, as you go north, just to get out of Fairbanks there
are some things, going back to the bridge question. There is a
bridge that goes over the Chena Hot Springs Road when you exit
there, that has been deficient. We've had to weight-restrict it
for quite some time. Depending on what you're hauling up north,
you may have to go around through the roundabouts and not use
the bridge. We do have a project to upgrade that bridge. We
would like to get that out as quickly as we could. It got hung
up in some of the [Municipal Planning Organization] MPO
discussions when we had with the Manh Cho. And then also, with
the air quality concerns up there, there were some things we had
to get through, but we're moving on that. That is the center of
our Northern Region Maintenance and Operations Group, and so,
there will be a big focus there for how we maintain things and
move things.
CHAIR GIESSEL
I'm having trouble envisioning those long pieces of pipe
navigating the roundabout to bypass the ridge. I'm not a truck
driver, Senator Myers, but it seems like that'd be a big deal.
Did you have a comment?
4:22:49 PM
SENATOR MYERS
When they put those roundabouts in, they were smart enough to
include a bypass so you can take those 80 footers off and go up
without having to go all the way around it.
4:23:07 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON moved to slide 8, Dalton Highway
Strategic Backbone.
We did do a slide on the Dalton Highway to give you that sense
of the 414 total miles of Dalton Highway and the 250 of gravel.
We do have pavement where we can make pavement work up there;
some places we have pavement; it doesn't work so good up there.
I'll be honest about that. The demand for heavy maintenance -
this [PLO] 5150 revocation is a big deal. And the quicker that
can happen, the sooner we can have access to those gravel
resources, the better we can do our jobs. Otherwise, we can be
hauling gravel for 50 or 60 miles, and you can only do so much
when that's the case. So, this is just that summary of the
Dalton [Highway] and you can see all the reds and greens and the
leaders on here are our past and future projects, all the Dalton
Highway capital projects.
4:23:59 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL
Commissioner, there's a section here where the, well, I call it
the blob. The earth is moving toward the road. You had to re-
align the road. Where is that section and how threatening is the
blob's advancement to the new section.
4:24:22 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
I'm trying to remember the mile post.
SENATOR MYERS
218.
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
Thank you. That was something. It was several; we watched it
come towards the road. And we had the university and everybody
that had instrumentation, and we even have, you can go today,
you can go online, and you can see what it looks like. The
university has cameras and everything out there. It has gone
over the old road now. We're monitoring the speeds and we'll
see; it's a way away. We moved the road quite a bit. We
basically moved the road right down to where the pipeline is.
So, the next time the blob comes, it's not just going to be DOT,
I think Alyeska is going to be pretty concerned too. But we
watch those things. There's a lot of folks and there's been a
lot of research on that, because it is kind of a unique
phenomenon for the Arctic. It's kind of this big, moving rock
and ice mass with trees on it and everything else that comes
down.
4:25:20 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON moved to slide 9, Parks Highway Primary
Route.
Because the Parks Highway is [and] will be a primary corridor
area from Nenana down south of the Chulitna, we did put a
listing of the bridges here; the Chulitna River Bridge is one
that we wanted to replace for some time. I think there's an
opportunity here to work with industry, because there may be
potential to use that for the pipeline. The Nenana River Bridge
at Moody is another one where industry has indicated interest in
using that for the pipeline. And for those of you that aren't
aware the translatable pipeline (TAPS) is mounted on the Yukon
River Bridge. The Nenana River Bridge at Rex is one that we'll
be replacing this summer. And then we have the Chena Hot Springs
Road Undercrossing on there as well. And then you can see that
the grouping of projects that are currently in our STIP along
the Parks Highway, they're there to address current needs. As we
go forward, we always have the option to accelerate these
projects, because they are in a design phase. We do have
engineers working on them, and they're all scheduled logically.
But if, for some reason, one section, we wanted to move quicker
with another, we just add resources, and we work that. This is
something we're working on.
Other things to think about on the Parks Highway: shared
material sources. Everyone's going to need gravel. This will
have access to railroad logistical hubs. And that is something
on the question on the railroad - there are discussions about
sidings and where you can offload pipe and that whole piece. So,
we're a part of that. There will be construction within the
right-of-way. For those of you that have been through Denali
Park and that narrow section, the pipeline will be installed
adjacent to the road, it will be buried in that narrow section.
So, there'll be a lot of shared work there. And then the
oversized, overweight permitting on the Parks [Highway] will be
essential. The seasonal road restrictions will be an issue. And
so we'll be working with industry on how we're going to address
that. When you get to those times when the roads are soft
because we're coming off winter. All those things, we're trying
to really put thought into.
4:27:37 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL
Commissioner, this, all the rehabilitation and reconstruction.
Is that in your budget request now?
4:27:46 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
These are all in our Statewide Transportation Improvement
Program (STIP). That's a four-year plan, and so it wouldn't be
in this year's budget, but they are programmed in our federal
program. What will happen is the design, potentially the right-
of-way and the utilities phases may be in the budget, because
we're doing the preliminary work, and that is in the budget. But
the actual construction would be whatever year it is in the
Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP).
4:28:23 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON moved to slide 10, Mat Su Logistics
Corridor, Building Alaska's Intermodal Future.
On this slide, we've been doing a lot of work because we
recognize that Port MacKenzie could have real value to a
pipeline construction scenario. When you look at where the
pipeline must go, having all that pipe go through Anchorage has
its disadvantages. We've been looking hard at what it would take
to get the Port MacKenzie rail extension going. We have engaged
with a company called Macquarie [Capital] and [Global Rail
Developer] Martinus: Macquarie is on the financial side and
Martinus is on the rail building side, to get some preliminary
work done to look at financial models, as well as reach out to
industry. Because it's more than the gas line that could benefit
from an industrial port concept of Point MacKenzie. They're
doing that work now, we'll see what comes of that. The railroad
extension is the embankment that was built quite some time ago
with state funds. The state has invested several hundred million
dollars already. The idea is: what's the best way to complete
that?
Also, you see the West Susitna access road. That's the road that
goes out to the west from the Port MacKenzie rail extension. And
the key piece there is you'll see where the AK LNG route is.
It's that red line on the left coming down, and it is on the
west side of the West Susitna River. Having road access there
does have some very big benefits to pipeline construction. The
state is actively working on that project, DOT is [working on
it] for the first 20 miles that gets us across the West Susitna
River. And then the next section is where the AIDEA project is
picking up and going on, but this section would be a public
road.
We did have the discussion on the Knik Arm Crossing. That is
something the Mat-Su [Borough] has been very vocal about, that
continued push to understand that project. One thing we
recognized over the past few years was that tunneling technology
has changed significantly, and so we've been working on doing
some technical engineering work on the feasibility of a tunnel
under Knik Arm and that work will become public very soon.
That's been something. We understand with Knik Arm Crossing
there was a lot of controversy surrounding Government Hill, the
belugas. Some of these things we feel could be mitigated by a
tunnel, if you didn't have to go through Government Hill and you
went under Knik Arm, so we've got that work. We've been reaching
out to companies like the boring company, and they've shown some
interest, but it's real preliminary discussions. But those types
of things, as we look across what's possible over there, get
interesting.
The other piece is this idea of sustainable aviation fuel
development. If you look at the Anchorage International Airport,
we're using over 900 million gallons of Jet A [fuel] in those
747s and 777s every year. Industry came forward and said,
sustainable aviation fuel for the benefits of reduced carbon is
of very much interest to us. And we got letters of interest for
about 300 million gallons annually. Deputy Commissioner Keith
has been doing a lot of feasibility work about this. This fuel
is created from different feed stocks. It can be woody biomass.
It can be fish waste, different things. We've been in the
background, doing a lot of technical work on that front as well.
4:32:23 PM
SENATOR DUNBAR
Your earlier slide stressed the importance of the Dalton
[Highway], and I had a realization. Here you have construction
happening by West [Susitna], but a lot of the construction will
start at the North Slope and move down, right? I imagine there
will be construction from the other direction as well, but
materials must go all the way to the top or near, and they'll
sort of start to come down. And so, it enters the state. My
question is about the port of entry. If it's going on the
railroad, does it start in - here you have us extending the
railroad to Point MacKenzie. But let's assume that doesn't
happen or Point McKenzie is unable to take these things on time.
Does it come in through the port of Alaska at Anchorage, or does
it come in through Seward? I have a follow up to that, Madam
Chair.
4:33:17 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
I couldn't speak definitively on that, of where Glenfarne, where
the logistical plans would bring the pipe in. Of course, Seward
has a freight dock that could be a port of entry. We don't
believe Whittier [is feasible]. Whittier is deep water, but we
don't believe they have the space there. And then the Port of
Alaska, of course, is a primary point of entry for Alaska.
4:33:43 PM
SENATOR DUNBAR
I appreciate that the Port of Alaska is here, but it's not
listed as one of your bullet points. Port of Alaska has critical
repair and maintenance needs. Could the repair of the Port of
Alaska be necessary if we want the Alaska, the AK LNG project to
go forward, or could it be part of, could we see the [Port of
Alaska Modernization Program] PAMP as some call it, as part also
of our infrastructure investment to accelerate the Alaska
Natural Gas Pipeline?
4:34:17 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
That's a good point. Port of Alaska should be here as a key
strategic asset. There's no doubt. That's where 60% of our jet
fuel for Anchorage International Airport comes in through the
Port of Alaska. There are critical needs there to be
accommodated. We have been talking to the Port of Alaska as
well. I should add that to this slide, absolutely.
4:34:40 PM
SENATOR DUNBAR
I appreciate that, Commissioner, and I would be interested in a
future presentation about what, if any, changes might be needed
at the Port of Alaska to accommodate a project of this scale. Or
is it simply they can continue with their current modernization
project, but we at the state, need to continue to inject capital
into that project, as we have in the past, because it is such a
crucial piece of our infrastructure.
4:35:12 PM
SENATOR RAUSCHER
You mentioned earlier the 20 miles out the West [Susitna] to the
bridge. So, my understanding is it's underway, and is there a
completion date?
4:35:27 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
We've been working very hard on the environmental assessment,
the permitting. We have a partnership with the Knik tribe, who
support the project to move this thing through all the steps as
we go. We're in that full project development stage on that
right now. We would love to be in construction for the first
phase, just to get a pioneer road in this fall. We're still
working towards that. As we work out towards the bigger bridge,
right now we're projecting six bridges along this route. Several
of them are more like single span bridges. But the West Susitna
is about 2000 feet in length, and that would be more in 2027,
2028 construction agreement.
4:36:23 PM
SENATOR MYERS
I'll take a little heat off the Point [MacKenzie] versus [Port
of Alaska] Anchorage debate. On your larger slide, you pointed
out Valdez and, probably not as critical this time around as
compared to TAPS, but still a major port, still bringing a lot
of freight that's either too large or too dangerous to bring
through Anchorage. I'm curious how that fits into your thinking.
4:37:00 PM fix
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
Valdez absolutely is important. We've done a lot of work on the
Richardson [Highway] south of Glennallen, that stretch through
from Glennallen north to Delta Junction. We have some pretty big
projects scheduled, some this summer. And then we've upgraded
the Richardson [Highway] between Delta Junction and Fairbanks
with the passing lanes and whatnot. We're feeling good about
that piece of it. There are still some bridges there, too, that
we've got to address that are in our STIP. We've got to make
sure that's covered. We do recognize there are times when some
of these big loads that are coming up can't get across the
Chulitna Bridge, and so we must go on the Glenn [Highway] and up
the Richardson [Highway] and over to Fairbanks, because of the
restrictions for certain large loads on that bridge as well. We
must care for that, absolutely.
4:37:52 PM
MS. KEITH moved to slide 11, Kenai Spur Reroute Readiness
Pathway
One key project that will be critical for the natural gas
liquefaction facility is in Nikiski with the Kenai Spur Highway
reroute. This has been in discussion for several years. This is
a project that's being led by AGDC. The design of this reroute,
the slide shows briefly where this reroute would go. It would be
approximately 3.9 miles. It would be designed up to modern
standards for the two-lane highway, allowing for traveling of
both the public and any heavy trucks. This allows the contiguous
footprint of the liquefaction facility, so that the public
during construction or other times do not have to go through or
near that construction. This is an important safety improvement
that we're working on. The estimated cost is $30 to $40 million.
4:39:04 PM
MS. KEITH moved to slide 12, Aviation Infrastructure
I touched briefly on aviation earlier, but what I didn't comment
on was where those airports are and how critical they will be
for construction of the gas line. There are several airports
along the haul road that are owned and maintained by DOT, not
all of them. What we've been doing is looking at these airports
for any upgrades they may need to the runway surfacing and
anything with their lighting that could be done so that as we
have increased amount of construction staff and drivers along
the way that we have the airports in good shape, whether it's
for medevacs or for bringing in supplies, for man camps and
other things. The airports that we would expect to have
significantly increased use would be up in Deadhorse with a
6500-foot runway. It allows for the larger aircraft needed to
bring in major supplies. And further south, there at the
Anchorage International Airport and Fairbanks International
Airports, both, with the increased amount of activity in Alaska,
would naturally see increased use. Further south, we have Kenai
Airport, which will also have additional activity. In our
airport improvement program, we're taking these into
consideration so that we can plan for that increased use and
shore up, make the resiliency of the airports as solid as we
can. In our rural airports off the road system, we are
challenged with weather reporting. That is a challenge that all
our airports face and we're paying attention to these things.
Our weather reporting stations are not within the department's
oversight, but we do collaborate with National Weather Service
and FAA on these reporting stations to try to support the
improved operation, to help them be as reliable as possible.
4:41:14 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL
A question on the haul road airports: these are all short runway
gravel surface. Is that true?
MS. KEITH
Correct.
4:41:21 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL
But they could accommodate a Lear[jet], for example, a
medevacking aircraft.
4:41:30 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
Typically, you must have special equipment to land a jet on
gravel. Typically, you'll see the [Beechcraft] King Airs that
are doing the medevacs up there. A lot of these airports were
built for the Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), and have been
upgraded over time, so they're definitely capable of the large,
heavy haul aircraft,[Lockheed Martin] Hercules, C-130s.
4:42:09 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL
When we have a mega project, injuries happen. I was an RN during
TAPS. We had a lot of clients, a lot of patients in the
hospital.
4:42:20 PM
MS. KEITH moved to slide 13, Readiness Actions Underway.
There are other things besides infrastructure improvements we
need to do. Emergency response management is a very important
one. A tool that we have is our Programmatic Agreement that
we've been in discussion over with Glenfarne to pre-negotiate
terms - how we're going to work together to ensure the safety of
those corridors. Emergency response is a good example of that.
Who's responsible for what? How often are we going to have
medevac sites available? And how are we going to work through
permitting? We can have some of the agreements predetermined
through one common operating agreement. We can modify that as we
move forward and we learn more specifics about the
constructability plan for the gas line. We have mentioned Alaska
511 where we have a freight mode which helps drivers be able to
see any things of concern along the route, and can help with
reroutes, areas where there are pull outs or bypasses. We have
bridge heights included there as well to help reduce the risk of
bridge strikes, which has been a known issue in the state as
well.
4:43:45 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON moved to slide 14, Highway Permitting and
Compliance.
Another piece of this, the highway permitting compliance, is a
big piece of this. We have a strong team that works on this
right now. And technology is our friend for this. We're really
hoping that with more mobile monitoring stations we can allow
trucks to move through without having to do quite so many
checks. Some of the things we look at, if you're a truck driver
and you have a good record, there are advantages to that in
terms of how you're inspected, at what frequency and whatnot.
There are some good strategies to make sure that, on the
trucking side, recognizing additional activity, limited
resources, but we're still caring for the laws and regulations
that we abide by.
4:44:35 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON moved to slide 15, Workforce Readiness
Challenges.
Workforce is high on our list. There are a lot of good concerns
about when these pipeline jobs come in, what happens to all of
our folks that are maintaining our highways, airports, across
the board. We're doing a lot with workforce right now in terms
of training opportunities - we have scholarship programs to get
young people in to get [Commercial Driver's Licenses] CDLs and
then work for the state. We're doing more with contracting.
You'll see even with our snow removal now, when we get events,
you'll see contractors out doing snow removal. We're trying to
really make sure that we can scale up as we need to. And then if
we do get into a situation where we're going to be struggling to
maintain our workforce that we have that knowledge and that
ability to quickly do some things like contracting or whatnot.
There's been other discussions too, about incentives and those
types of things, but that's early for us. We'll be continuing to
work through that to make sure that we can maintain our roads
and highways and airports.
4:45:52 PM
SENATOR RAUSCHER
When you talk about bridges being rebuilt along the way on the
Parks Highway, I was just wondering - if it went by rail, you
wouldn't have to worry about any kind of traffic all the way to
Fairbanks.
4:46:12 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
That's a good point. We're big advocates for the rail. It takes
a lot of pressure off our highway system. Those stretches of the
Parks Highway, there is still going to be active construction,
and so there will be pipe unloaded and then moved on the highway
to its construction location. So, there will still be a fair
amount of activity.
4:46:33 PM
SENATOR RAUSCHER
But it would limit it greatly and take the strain off, wouldn't
it.
4:46:39 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
Absolutely.
4:46:43 PM
SENATOR DUNBAR
The chair pointed this out earlier: her experience while TAPS
was being built. We've gone through this before, something like
this. Granted, we're a very different state, but what did the
state do while TAPS was being built with [regard to] those kinds
of jobs. It must have had a similar pressure on our state
employees that were maintaining our roads and highways and
maintainers. What did the state do? Do we know? What did they do
back then, tackle this challenge?
4:47:17 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
That's a good question, and maybe that's something we could do a
little more work on. I have a lot of anecdotal stories from
people that stuck around and people that didn't. In some
respects, it was different times. I think the expectation right
now for road maintenance, when there are snow storms and things,
is a lot higher than it used to be. There's so much information
available. It's a good question. It's something we could do a
little more work on, for sure.
4:47:54 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL
I share that concern, Senator Dunbar. I think the wages that
will be offered on the pipeline work will be far higher than
what the state is offering. That will be a challenge: keeping
our workforce in place.
4:48:11 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON moved to slide 16, Next Steps &
Legislative Support Needed.
This is just a quick slide: the importance of our capital
budget; the importance of our operating budget. We're working
through the [Alaska Administrative Order 360] AO 360 regulatory
reform. That's going to be important. As a pipeline comes to
fruition, our ability to be responsive and to have our
infrastructure in good shape as we start is important. We're
proud of our infrastructure in Alaska. There are a lot of
talented engineers across the state, working for the state and
for contractors. They've, we've built a pretty robust system
here. Recognizing there will be some stress there, but we're up
for the challenge. So, thank you.
4:48:56 PM
SENATOR MYERS
I think one thing that should be on here that isn't is the
[Statewide Transportation and Infrastructure Plan] STIP itself.
One of the things that we've highlighted in this presentation
here is the role that the STIP plays in our infrastructure, and
sometimes the role the STIP doesn't play, but should. I hammered
on this a little bit when we were talking about the Dalton
Highway. We have all these projects set up for the Dalton
[Highway], but not necessarily the maintenance money to maintain
what we've already got or to maintain after those projects have
gone through. And it's been, call this my own opinion here, I
think that in some ways, we're better off on the Dalton Highway
taking some of the money out of some of those projects and
putting it into the maintenance. Senator Kawasaki brought up the
2008 study on some of the things that need [to be] done, that
need [to be] built to support a gas line or something similar,
and that have not gotten done already. And this isn't a money
issue. We're talking 2008 to 2014 back when, well, we were
holding in the dough in a lot of ways. So, this tells me it's a
programmatic problem. And so, I get concerned, nothing against
Commissioner Anderson or anything you've done since in your time
there, but I get concerned that we have fallen into a pattern in
this state of, when we use our STIP or other programmatic things
like [the STIP], we have taken away the focus on - what does our
construction do to benefit our economy in the long run, and
focused much more on - how do we maintain jobs in the
construction industry for a year or two. And now we're seeing
the end results of that. We knew, now I understand the pipeline
route has changed somewhat, because until 2013, 2014, when we
made the decision that it was going to go to Nikiski. That may
have changed some things, but we knew in 2008 that we needed to
get some of this stuff done, and we did not do it, and our STIP
did not reflect that. So, it's a large-scale concern that I've
had for a while. And I think it's time for us, within the
legislature and within the executive branch, both to recognize
that it's not just about - let's maintain our construction jobs
for a summer too. It's about what's going to benefit us 10 or 20
years down the line. And I'm worried that we're not doing that.
4:51:29 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL
So, Commissioner, we've understood that Glenfarne is counting
on, in a way, or it's an option that the Department of Energy is
going to fund a major portion of this work. Has DOT put together
a budget for the next five years during which this construction
will take place, as far as your needs will be financially.
4:52:02 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
I think what you'll see in our upcoming STIP, which is a four-
year plan, will be how we're planning with the capital resources
that we have available for that next four years. And that will
include a focus on AK LNG, and what you're going to see is very
similar to what you saw today in terms of the projects and
what's not. When it comes to maintenance, I think about what the
governor had with the pipeline corridor maintenance fund. That's
a nice addition that helps us in a lot of areas for the
maintenance piece of it, and so that gets at our operating
costs. We are a frontline, can-do operation. And we're focused
on the here and now and recognizing some of our experiences with
some of the other industrial activities that have gone on. Have
we put together a five-year plan for the entirety? I think
you're going to see DOT come out with more once we get
information from Glenfarne about the types of trucks, the
weights, those activities along our highway, then we can assess
more whether there are any weaknesses in our infrastructure that
we need to address, or those types of things.
4:53:20 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL
Basically, you're on hold until the plan is rolled out to see
what you'll be needing to do in terms of, because it seems to
me, you're going to be asking for a pretty large budget. There's
a lot of work here that you've described.
4:53:36 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
The things that you're seeing right now, we will be addressing
in our STIP. So, that will be there. As we get more information
on the logistical plans of Glenfarne, we'll be taking hard looks
at those, absolutely.
4:53:53 PM
SENATOR KAWASAKI
I was looking at page eight, maybe to answer some of the
questions. It talks about the investment corridor, resilience,
the planned amount between 2026 and 2031, at about half billion,
$450 - $500 million? I'm trying to figure out what corridor
resilience means. Is that just to get to a standard that would
be anticipated for pipeline construction or to maintain.
4:54:27 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
The numbers you see there, the plan is, that's what's in our
STIP. It's based on where we know the road needs work. It needs
upgrades. It could be because maybe the curves don't meet
standards. It could be because we have a bridge that we
recognize is coming due, it's lots of different reasons there.
What you would see in the next, from 2026 to 2031, right now, is
planned. And estimated is $454 million invested into
reconstruction projects.
4:55:04 PM
SENATOR KAWASAKI
Taking back this 2008 briefing entitled "Infrastructure
Improvements Needed to Support Gas Pipeline Construction," and
then seeing where we're at today, I'm just trying to figure out
how the timelines will sync. I think we're all super excited
about hearing Glenfarne ready to put pipe into the ground in
December of next year. And I'm just, I'm not convinced, hearing
the report today that the roads will even be in a condition for
that to happen. And so, I'm trying to get you to make a pitch
for: Yeah, we'll be done. We'll be ready to go, if necessary, on
day one in December of 2026.
4:55:53 PM
COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
One thing that might be helpful is we could go through that 2008
list, and we could identify the projects that were completed,
and then any that may not have been. Because I'm familiar with
the list. I don't have it in the top of my head, but I thought
the last time I looked at it, we had done a significant amount
of work off that list. One thing with DOT that I love about
working and being in this role, and why I took this role, you
just have a group of phenomenal people. I'm going to use Typhoon
Halong and the West Coast storm as an example: the devastation
out there and what happened and what occurred, and the way we
were able to resource that - we had folks from Nome, Fairbanks,
Juneau, southeast Alaska, Anchorage, you know, all of those.
Deputy Commissioner Keith is leading that effort. We're out
there actively rebuilding boardwalks and the roads, and we're
delving into, we delved into housing and school repairs. We are
a contracting agency. We get out on a response. We have
contractors. Contractors are our partners, and we're working
through these things. I think you're going to get that same
response on the gas line. Everybody's in this together and with
our infrastructure, when we start seeing weakness, we have ways
we work through that. I'm confident we're ready for the gas
line. I think you're going to see us really putting our heads to
it, once we get more details here and we're going to be upfront
and transparent about what's happening out there with everybody.
So, I'm feeling good about it. I think we're going to, as we
learn more, and recognizing the type of event this is, kind of
going back to the beginning, where we had the gold rush, World
War II, TAPS. I believe this is going to be an event like that.
And we did those. And so, I'm excited about what's coming up in
the future for transportation.
4:57:49 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL
Commissioner Anderson, Deputy Commissioner Keith, thank you very
much. Very helpful presentation. I think the committee learned a
lot and enjoyed the presentation. So, thank you for being here.
4:58:04 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL announced that she was setting aside the hearing
scheduled for SB 275 for a future meeting.
4:58:36 PM
There being no further business to come before the committee,
Chair Giessel adjourned the Senate Resources Standing Committee
meeting at 4:58 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| Fiscal Note - SB 180 - DCCED.pdf |
SRES 1/28/2026 3:30:00 PM SRES 2/9/2026 3:30:00 PM |
SB 180 |
| SB 180 - RCA Notice if Utility Tariff Filing.pdf |
SRES 1/28/2026 3:30:00 PM SRES 2/9/2026 3:30:00 PM |
SB 180 |
| SB 180 ACEP Colt Testimony.pdf |
SRES 1/28/2026 3:30:00 PM |
SB 180 |
| RCA Meeting 1.28.25.pdf |
SRES 1/28/2026 3:30:00 PM SRES 2/9/2026 3:30:00 PM |
SB 180 |
| SB 180 RCA Supporting Document.pdf |
SRES 1/28/2026 3:30:00 PM SRES 2/9/2026 3:30:00 PM |
SB 180 |
| SB 180 Sectional Analysis .pdf |
SRES 1/28/2026 3:30:00 PM |
SB 180 |
| SB 180 Sponsor Statement.pdf |
SRES 1/28/2026 3:30:00 PM |
SB 180 |
| DOT - Alaska's Transportation Infrastructure for the Alaska LNG Pipeline SRES 1.28.26.pdf |
SRES 1/28/2026 3:30:00 PM |
DOT Presentation |