Lawmakers Fund Study on Nonresident Oil Workers

Current Tracking Classifications Leaves True Number Unclear

April 18, 2011|By Jackie Bartz | Channel 2 News

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — During the final hours of this year's regular legislative session, the Senate Finance Committee approved up to $200,000 to study employment opportunities in the oil and gas industry on Alaska's North Slope. In committee hearings, legislators heard complaints that Alaskans are being skipped over for jobs that are being given to nonresidents.

Oil companies testified they'd love to hire Alaskans, but there aren't many jobs. They say lost development opportunities because of strict rules and regulations in Alaska are sending companies to states like Texas and North Dakota.

"We can study this to death, while the contractors are leaving, the people who support the oil industry are leaving, the oil industry is leaving and that's unfortunate," said Jason Brune, Executive Director of the Resource Development Council.

After a series of lawsuits and permit issues, Shell Oil delayed plans to drill in the Arctic until the summer of 2012.

"A portion of those jobs would clearly come from in-state," said Shell Alaska Vice President Pete Slaiby.

The Alaska Department of Labor publishes a report of nonresidents working in Alaska twice a year, but there's a lot of debate about the numbers. The most recent study released shows that in 2009, 28.1 percent of oil industry employees were nonresidents. But Marilyn Crockett, Executive Director of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, said the numbers don't accurately reflect the number of people in the oil industry.

"The industry actually has a really good local hire rate, it's higher than many industries here but it doesn't get reflected that way because of the different job classifications," said Crockett.

Under the Department of Labor's statistics, many jobs that are traditionally considered to be in the oil and gas industry are lumped into other categories like transportation or manufacturing.

"Alyeska, for example, is a transportation company," said Neal Fried, Economist for the Alaska Department of Labor.

The study approved by the Senate Finance Committee would try to break down those numbers and come up with a more accurate number of nonresidents who are working in the oil industry in Alaska.

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