Legislature(2019 - 2020)BARNES 124
03/13/2019 01:20 PM House RESOURCES
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Presentation(s): Oil and Mining Solutions at the University of Alaska | |
| Confirmation Hearing(s)|| Fishermen's Fund Advisory and Appeals Council | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE RESOURCES STANDING COMMITTEE
March 13, 2019
1:23 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative John Lincoln, Co-Chair
Representative Geran Tarr, Co-Chair
Representative Grier Hopkins, Vice Chair
Representative Sara Hannan
Representative Ivy Spohnholz
Representative Chris Tuck
Representative Dave Talerico
Representative George Rauscher
Representative Sara Rasmussen
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
PRESENTATION(S): OIL AND MINING SOLUTIONS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF
ALASKA
- HEARD
CONFIRMATION HEARING(S)
Fishermen's Fund Advisory and Appeals Council
Marilyn Charles - Emmonak
Moses Toyukak Sr. - Manokotak
CONFIRMATION(S) ADVANCED
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
WILLIAM SCHABEL, PE, PhD, Dean
College of Engineering and Mines
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Fairbanks, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided a PowerPoint presentation
entitled, "Oil and Mining Solutions at the University of
Alaska," dated 3/13/19, and answered questions.
MARILYN CHARLES, Appointee
Fishermen's Fund Advisory and Appeals Council
Central Office
Division of Workers' Compensation
Department of Labor & Workforce Development
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as appointee to the Fishermen's
Fund Advisory and Appeals Council.
MOSES TOYUKAK SR., Appointee
Fishermen's Fund Advisory and Appeals Council
Central Office
Division of Workers' Compensation
Department of Labor & Workforce Development
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as appointee to the Fishermen's
Fund Advisory and Appeals Council.
ACTION NARRATIVE
1:23:11 PM
CO-CHAIR GERAN TARR called the House Resources Standing
Committee meeting to order at 1:23 p.m. Representatives Tuck,
Hannan, Talerico, Rauscher, Rasmussen, Hopkins, Lincoln, and
Tarr were present at the call to order. Representative
Spohnholz arrived as the meeting was in progress.
^PRESENTATION(S): Oil and Mining Solutions at the University of
Alaska
PRESENTATION(S): Oil and Mining Solutions at the University of
Alaska
1:23:53 PM
CO-CHAIR TARR announced the first order of business would be a
presentation by the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
1:24:41 PM
WILLIAM SCHABEL, PE, PhD, Dean, College of Engineering and
Mines, University of Alaska (UA), University of Alaska Fairbanks
(UAF), provided a PowerPoint presentation entitled, "Oil and
Mining Solutions at the University of Alaska." Dr. Schnabel
informed the committee UA - on a statewide basis - and UAF
support resource development. Resource development, especially
when related to engineering and engineering-related activities,
is critical to economic development in Alaska; in fact, UA has
incorporated engineering programs for over 100 years and will
continue to develop an engineering and engineering-related
workforce at bachelor, graduate, associate, and endorsement
[degree] levels (slide 2). In the past 10 years, the combined
programs at the College of Engineering, UA Anchorage (UAA), and
the College of Engineering and Mines, UAF, have graduated over
2,700 students in engineering and computer sciences; however,
the Department of Labor & Workforce Development (DLWD) reported
from 2016-2026 Alaska will need approximately 500-600 engineers,
computer scientists, or computer-related technicians per year,
which is twice the number of UA graduates per year [document not
provided] (slide 3). Although not all graduates stay to work in
Alaska, UA graduates are best trained to work in the state
because they receive an experience in the Alaska environment and
develop an understanding of specific conditions, such as
permafrost and remote logistics (slides 4 and 5).
1:28:57 PM
REPRESENTATIVE RAUSCHER asked for the reason industry in Alaska
hires workers from Outside.
DR. SCHNABEL was unsure how many engineers from Outside are
hired and pointed out international companies may bring their
own employees; however, [UA] may not produce enough gradates to
fill vacancies.
CO-CHAIR TARR recalled UAF and UAA have expanded their
facilities and questioned whether both campuses are operating at
enrollment capacity.
DR. SCHNABEL said UA has facilities capacity for additional
students, although additional students would probably require
additional professors.
CO-CHAIR TARR asked for information related to Alaska's
workforce and how to advance educational opportunities for
Alaskans.
DR. SCHNABEL offered to provide additional information to the
committee in this regard.
REPRESENTATIVE HANNAN gave an example of a highly trained and
specialist engineer who graduated from UAF but is now employed
in other parts of the world.
DR. SCHNABEL returned attention to UA's focus on Alaska-specific
challenges such as the Sagavanirktok River flood on North Slope
in 2015, which closed the Dalton Highway for three weeks. He
said since the flood, UA students have been working with the
Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOTPF) and
the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company studying the conditions of
the flood and how to mitigate its affects (slide 5).
REPRESENTATIVE HOPKINS asked about other engineering department
partnerships with DOTPF.
1:35:17 PM
DR. SCHNABEL recalled there were plans to build roads on North
Slope east and west that required information on the water flow
of rivers flowing north and south for bridge design; as many of
the rivers in Alaska are remote and are not gauged, UA measured
and modeled the rivers north and south of the Brooks Range to
determine water flow. For another example, he said UAF produced
the design for the best culvert that allows for the passage of
salmon. Dr. Schnabel continued the presentation and restated UA
provides workforce development throughout the university system
at the community and technical colleges at UAA, UAF, and UA
Southeast (UAS) (slide 6). He turned to the Mining and
Geological Engineering program that provides workforce
development, trains students on Alaska issues, and has been a
mining school for over 100 years; in fact, UAF conduct projects
at the UAF mine and at commercial mines. Commercial mines bring
problems to be researched by students at the UAF laboratory; for
example, a project with the Red Dog Mine will study bacteria
from the mine that would transform sulfate to sulfide, raise the
pH of the water, and produce an ion to treat the water prior to
its discharge from the water treatment plant. Dr. Schnabel
concluded the study will perform the preliminary steps to
develop a biological treatment process to help clean [mine]
tailings (slide 8).
1:40:36 PM
CO-CHAIR TARR questioned whether a skimming process would remove
metals [from water].
DR. SCHNABEL advised a sediment collection basin is normally
used.
REPRESENTATIVE HOPKINS asked if UAF and UAA have Careers in
Mining classes.
DR. SCHNABEL stated UAF and UAA have programs through their
community and technical colleges. Another study with Red Dog
Mine is working to increase flotation yield after ore is mixed
with water, which is dependent on the chemistry of the ore.
Experiments are best conducted in the UAF lab by students who
are working to optimize flotation yield (slide 9).
CO-CHAIR LINCOLN asked whether Red Dog Mine funds any of the
aforementioned research.
DR. SCHNABEL advised Red Dog Mine funds all of the research done
at its request. He directed attention to slide 10 and related
about five years ago, occupations were identified as priorities
by the Alaska Miners Association, so UAF submitted a proposal to
the U.S. Department of Labor for a grant to fund a workforce
development project - in addition to research. The grant
facilitated a mill process operators endorsement program with
thirty students - who were subsequently hired by five mines in
the state; some funds went to underground and surface miner
training programs, and some funds were used to develop MIRLSim,
a mining mill process simulator available at no cost through the
UAF Mineral Industry Research Laboratory (MIRL) website (slide
11).
1:46:28 PM
DR. SCHNABEL turned attention to the Petroleum Engineering
program that has about 65 students; students go on to work for
the industry in Alaska and elsewhere, and some alumni have
worked advising legislators (slide 12). All undergraduate
students of engineering programs at UAF finish with an
[independent research] Capstone Project, many of which are
state-specific and are designed to solve problems in rural
Alaska or for industry; for example, one petroleum engineering
Capstone Project - in partnership with the Alaska Gasline
Development Corporation - developed a virtual data room which
has collected all the information related to North Slope gas
resources for potential investors' perusal (slide 13). The
university also began a study with Hilcorp on core flooding to
determine the best way to extract oil. After initial positive
results, UAF and Hilcorp submitted a proposal to the National
Energy Technology Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE),
related to the use of polymer flooding to extract heavy or
viscous oil; the response to the proposal was a $9.6 million
project that is in the first year of a four-year study of a
process that is very important to Alaska (slides 14 and 15).
Dr. Schnabel further explained UAF and Hilcorp are developing a
current proposal: the process of advanced oil recovery by
polymer-alternating-solvent injection (slide 16). He pointed
out UAF uses state funds to write proposals, which take a lot of
work.
1:52:46 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ questioned whether the solvent
injection technology is used elsewhere.
DR. SCHNABEL said solvent injection is used, as is solvent
injection alternating with water flooding; however, adding
polymer to solvent is a new technology.
CO-CHAIR TARR inquired as to which entity - Hilcorp, DOE, or UAF
- would hold the patent on the new technology.
DR. SCHNABEL stressed UAF seeks to patent the technologies it
develops, but he was unsure of the specific patent situation for
the aforementioned project.
REPRESENTATIVE RASMUSSEN asked what specific portion of the
university budget is used to write proposals.
DR. SCHNABEL offered to provide the requested information.
REPRESENTATIVE HANNAN asked whether Dr. Schnabel knows how the
university's budgets [proposed within HB 39] would impact UAF.
DR. SCHNABEL characterized the proposed budgets for the
university as devasting; however, he was unsure of how budget
"cuts" to the university system would be distributed, and thus
declined to speculate on the impacts to specific programs.
1:56:13 PM
REPRESENTATIVE HANNAN questioned the cost analysis of certain
state monies. She observed state money is used to write
proposals for a company, in partnership with UAF, that may be
interested in a specific project; however, UAF seeks long-term
projects and development for industry-wide benefits. She
remarked:
... much of the work I hear you talking about is ...
we gave you ten dollars and we were able to make a
thousand now, but it might make us a million over its
lifespan. ... What could you do and where do you see
the programs growing?
DR. SCHNABEL advised in 2018, the research unit received $1.5
million in state funds, $1.5 million in indirect cost recovery
(ICR) overhead costs based on external grants, and approximately
$11 million in external grants. He surmised university funding
is beneficial to the state; however, he was unsure what
proportion of those funds supported proposals because of their
grant management costs. Turning attention to slide 17, Dr.
Schnabel said the university has formed the Energy Research
Consortium of Alaska (ERCA), to provide answers to common
problems faced by the energy industry. During ERCA's first
three meetings, participants identified the following scopes of
work: coastal and offshore issues, changing permafrost and oil
production, and subsurface imaging; currently, ERCA, on behalf
of industry, is studying permafrost science and engineering
related to gravel pads and gravel roads on permafrost (slide
18). Dr. Schnabel described another study underway that relates
to synthetic gas (syngas), made from coal, to power a
reciprocating generator when energy from wind turbines is
unavailable. He noted the study is in the front end engineering
design (FEED) phase and is an example of how UAF is looking to
the future (slide 19).
2:03:31 PM
CO-CHAIR LINCOLN asked for the generator's fuel source.
DR. SCHNABEL further explained the generator is an existing
diesel generator on campus that would be converted to a gas
generator; the study will determine the efficiency of the
generator after scaling down to "a megawatt scale."
DR. SCHNABEL informed the committee UA statewide administration
manages the Mining and Petroleum Training Service which provides
workforce development statewide; he described an industry-funded
program called herder burner that would spray a herder agent
around an oil spill to contain the oil, and then the oil would
be ignited, both by aerial application. The program was
developed only at UAF, because of its value to the offshore oil
industry in the Arctic, and demonstrates the importance of the
university to Alaska (slides 20 and 21).
2:07:57 PM
REPRESENTATIVE HOPKINS recalled a recent news report credited
advances in technology for the increased oil production and
development on North Slope and elsewhere.
REPRESENTATIVE RASMUSSEN expressed her support for the Resource
Industry Training Programs and inquired as to amount budgeted
for the programs.
DR. SCHNABEL offered to provide the [budget] figures for the
workforce development programs.
REPRESENTATIVE TALERICO noted the development of energy from
coal resources could be beneficial throughout the state,
including rural areas.
DR. SCHNABEL agreed.
^CONFIRMATION HEARING(S)
^Fishermen's Fund Advisory and Appeals Council
CONFIRMATION HEARING(S)
FISHERMEN'S FUND ADVISORY AND APPEALS COUNCIL
2:13:47 PM
CO-CHAIR TARR announced the final order of business would be
confirmation hearings for appointees to the Fishermen's Fund
Advisory and Appeals Council and read the following statement
[original punctuation provided]:
The board consists of six members, five appointed by
the governor from five specific districts listed in
statute and the commissioner of the Department of
Labor or the commissioner's designee, who serves as
chair. The council consults with the commissioner (or
designee) regarding negative decisions on appeals
filed in relation to care of sick and disabled
fisherman; Advises the department on administration of
the fund. They meet 2 times per year for 10 days
maximum.
2:15:10 PM
MARILYN CHARLES, Appointee, Fishermen's Fund Advisory and
Appeals Council, Central Office, Division of Workers'
Compensation, Department of Labor and Workforce Development
(DLWD), informed the committee she is a lifelong resident of
Emmonak and gave a short description of her educational
background and experience working in the fishery industry. She
said her service as a compliance officer for Kwikpak Fisheries
provided experience related to workers' compensation and
protection and indemnity (P&I) insurance, and with the local
insurance carriers. Her interest in the council stems from her
desire to help her community and all of the fishermen living in
Emmonak. Ms. Charles pointed out at her current employer she
processes workers' compensation and P&I claims, and thus she can
assist and teach fisherman about the [Workers' Compensation
Fishermen's Fund] program.
2:18:27 PM
MOSES TOYUKAK SR., Appointee, Fishermen's Fund Advisory and
Appeals Council, Central Office, Division of Workers'
Compensation, DLWD, informed the committee he is a lifelong
resident of Manokotak and speaks his Native language fluently.
He provided a history of his education through college and his
work experience beginning in Valdez on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline
System. In 1971, he began fishing in Manokotak, and has also
worked at the power plant as an electrician for 42 years. Mr.
Toyukak is also a commercial pilot and serves on the city
council, the village council, the Bristol Bay Economic
Development Corporation, and other fisheries-related committees,
and attends meetings of the Board of Game and the fisherman's
association. He is interested because he is a fisherman, is
willing to learn, and wants to help his community and fellow
fishermen as his relatives have done.
2:23:15 PM
CO-CHAIR TARR opened public testimony on the confirmation
hearings of Marilyn Charles and Moses Toyukak Sr. to the
Fishermen's Fund Advisory and Appeals Council. After
ascertaining no one wished to testify, Co-Chair Tarr closed
public testimony.
REPRESENTATIVE HOPKINS paraphrased from the following statement:
The House Resources Standing Committee has reviewed
the qualifications for the governor's appointees to
the Fishermen's Fund Advisory and Appeals Council,
Marilyn Charles and Moses Toyukak Sr., and recommends
that the names be forwarded to a joint session for
consideration. This does not reflect the intent by
any member to vote for or against these individuals
during any further sessions for the purpose of
confirmation.
2:24:51 PM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Resources Standing Committee meeting was adjourned at 2:24 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| Marilyn Charles Resume Fisheries Fund.pdf |
HRES 3/13/2019 1:20:00 PM |
Marilyn Charles Resume Fisheries Fund |
| Moses Toyukak Sr Resume Fisheries Fund.pdf |
HRES 3/13/2019 1:20:00 PM |
Moses Toyukak Resume Fisheries Fund |
| Fishermen's Fund Advisory and Appeals Council Fact Sheet and Roster.pdf |
HRES 3/13/2019 1:20:00 PM |
Fishermen's Fund Advisory and Appeals Council |
| House Resources Committee UA Oil Mining Presentation 3.13.19.pdf |
HRES 3/13/2019 1:20:00 PM |
University |