Oil Patch Insider

Wadeen Hepworth

KAREN COWART HEADS TO HOUSTON....

Karen Cowart has been selected to run BP’s new national Citizen Action Program in Houston, Texas. The program is similar to ARCO Alaska’s CAP, she said.

Karen is the former executive director of the Alaska Visitors Association, general manager of The Alaska Support Industry Alliance and currently serves as BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc.’s associate director of government affairs.

She will be responsible for establishing and managing the program in 43 states, including Alaska.

CAP is a voluntary, grassroots political education and communications program whose purpose is to inform and involve BP employees, retirees and other constituents of BP in the political process and to encourage their active participation in shaping public policy.

Karen will develop the program, setting up manuals, training classes and probably field trips to see legislative groups in action.

The non-partition group will teach employees how to influence policy, how to run a meeting, how to initiate forums and to observe candidate forums. Karen said BP wants its people to become more involved in the political process so that they can become better-informed citizens and help shape public policy.

She will be make a house-hunting trip to Houston this month and expects to take over her new position in September. She said her husband’s work will allow him to also work in Houston.

Karen’s excited about the move but hopes to get back to Alaska for an occasional visit.

NOT THE WAY THEY PLANNED IT…. In 1972 CN Aquatrain was hauling a 25-railcar barge to Whittier from Prince Rupert, Canada, when they ran into a fierce storm in the Gulf of Alaska. On board was a new tank car carrying 20,000 gallons of propane.

When the barge came out of a particularly deep swell the propane tank broke from its “trucks” (wheels) that were lashed to the deck and went overboard. That began a 72-hour odyssey that no one expected.

The crew tried to lash onto the floating tank car and each time the force of the storm caused the cables to break loose. The U.S. Coast Guard went on standby to assist. After the tank car had floated in the gulf for 72 hours it was decided that other action had to be taken.

The Coast Guard decided it would sink the tank car by shooting it out of the water to keep it from endangering other ships. That’s when they almost had a tragedy. No one expected the end result to be so dramatic, but it turned out the ship was a little too close to the tank car.

The photo to the right shows the force with which the tank car exploded — probably causing some “oh (you know what’s)” to be said on board. The now-destroyed tank car then acted like a missile coming toward the Coast Guard ship and darn near sunk it.

It would be very nice to find some Coast Guard personnel who were on that ship and hear their comments.

APPOINTED TO THE BOARD…. Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp. has appointed Ken Thompson to the company’s board of directors. Coeur d’Alene Mines is the country’s largest silver producer, as well as a significant, low-cost producer of gold. They have mines in Nevada, Idaho, Alaska, Argentina, Chile and Bolivia.

Ken, the well- known former president of ARCO Alaska, owns Pacific Rim Leadership Development, based in Anchorage.

ALYESKA IS NOT LEAVING ANCHORAGE… Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. spokesman Mike Heatwole said Alyeska is not leaving Anchorage when PNA’s editor called to ask about rumors that the company was leaving the city.

In fact, he said, part of the company’s recent realignment has centralized more financial, accounting and engineering staff in Anchorage.

What the company is doing, he said, is evaluating office options, including the lease on its existing Anchorage facilities.

KKPL PIPELINE UPDATE…. John Lau, Kenai Kachemak Pipeline LLC project manager, said they expect to place an order for the gas line pipe in about a week. The company went directly to the mills for quotes instead of using pipe supply companies. The Unocal and Marathon Oil Co. owned 33-mile gas pipeline will run between Kenai and Ninilchik.

ROLL OUT THE BARREL…. The ENSR gang is rolling out barrels these days, out of the North Slope that is. The field crews launched the Empty Barrel Cleanup Program on July 26 — part of the BP/ARCO Alaska charter agreement to gather and dispose of abandoned barrels. ENSR was awarded the contract for the cleanup by Phillips Alaska Inc. in May.

Seismic crews working southeast of Prudhoe Bay, south and southwest of Kuparuk and north of Nuiqsut had spotted and recorded the location of the 200-plus abandoned drums, at approximately 100 locations, during their winter work.

Chris Humphrey, ENSR’s Alaska general manager, said they will assess the drums to determine if they contain liquids and use a remote field chemistry set to identify the type of liquid. At the time of our conversation Chris said they weren’t sure what they were going to find and that some drums may be buried in the tundra and have to be dug out.

Empty drums will be put in slings and flown by helicopter to Kuparuk for cleaning and crushing. The drums containing fluids may be emptied in the field and the fluids placed in protective containers before flying to Kuparuk.

ENSR will prepare a status report for Phillips Alaska who will decide if the liquids can be recycled or need to be disposed of.

Do you think it is safe to say the crews are not having “a barrel of fun” and that the “blues” ain’t runnin’ in that mosquito-infested land?

CARLILE SPREADS ITS WINGS…. Carlile Transportation has opened a new freight terminal in Texas-land. The terminal, located at 8907 Sheldon Road in the balmy city by the shipping channel (Houston), can be reached by calling (281) 446-9085 or (888) 648-6742.

Terminal manger, Leona Imhoff, has been with Carlile for eight years. She was transferred from Anchorage June 1 just in time to experience the joys of a Houston summer.

Leona said they are offering seven-day over the highway service from Houston to Fairbanks. They accept less than full truckloads (LTL) as well as full truckloads. Leona has not had time to learn “the speak” but we will check out her “you alls” in a few months.

MOVIN’ EM OUT…. Sourdough Express, in the fair city of Fairbanks, has had one busy summer relocating 90 Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. folks from Valdez and Fairbanks to Anchorage. Then again some moved their household goods in the opposite direction as part of the major reorganization going on at Alyeska.

If you have had a hard time reaching Karen Conover, vice president of marketing and sales, it is because she has been lucky enough to work individually with all 90 customers organizing their move. We talked to Karen on the run, She was going fishing with her sons.

A REASON TO CELEBRATE…. The folks at Petrotechnical Resources of Alaska (PRA) celebrated their fifth anniversary at O’Malleys on the Green July 18. Tom Walsh, principal, said the company started with five partners five years ago and now has 50 employees. Petrotechnical Resources offers a full spectrum of geoscience and engineering consulting services.

As a side note we discovered Tom is also a member of Seward’s William H. Seward Yacht Club and owns a sailboat and a vacation home there.

PUTTING ARCO ALASKA RETIREES ON NOTICE…. The ARCO Alaska Northern Lights Retiree group is having a fish fry in Anchorage Aug. 21. The fry will be held in a private home, so Jack White, president, is asking people to call him at (907) 333-2269 for reservations.

In the June 16 issue we wrote about the retiree group and hoped the information would encourage former ARCO Alaska employees (there are 350 of you in Anchorage and only 120 are members) to sign up.

Come on ARCO Alaska retirees, get out there and enjoy the comradery of your old buddies and exchange some memories so I can write about them.

WHO IS THAT WOMAN? …. You see her traipsing through yards, around corners and in and out of cars carrying a large piece of iron and a sledgehammer. Dangerous? No, it’s just Becky Gay, candidate for state House district 26, installing yard signs. She sent this little note when announcing another fund-raiser held by the former presidents of the Resource Development Council of Alaska on Aug. 5 at the Petroleum Club in Anchorage: “Unlike (gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov.) Fran (Ulmer), I don’t carry a gun when I go campaigning. But I can look menacing in a dress, armed with my special yard sign installation tools. The Honorable Cynthia Toohey, former state representative from this area, lent the three-foot iron bar to me. Cynthia describes it as a historic mining tool weighing about 10 to 12 pounds. My other ‘weapon’ is a short handled sledgehammer with an ‘I’m a Young Woman’ sticker on it. What a team.”

WHAT’S IN A NAME…. Don’t become confused if you call Air Cargo Express and find that they answer Everts Air Cargo because Air Cargo Express recently changed the names of its companies.

Tatonduk is now Everts Air Alaska that uses smaller planes to carry passengers, mail and freight. Everts Air Fuel’s name stayed the same.

Everts Air Cargo has six DC-6 planes and 2 C-46 that have scheduled service to 14 villages in western Alaska as well as charter service and “flag stops.”

Curious to know what was a flag stop I found it is the same as less than a truck-load (LTL) in the trucking industry. Anyone know why it is called flag stops instead of less than a plane-load (LPL)?

Robert (Rob) W. Everts purchased the companies from his father Cliff Everts who started the businesses.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Roland Coldwell

Coldwell, former ARCO Alaska senior materials coordinator for Prudhoe Bay and materials supervisor for the Kuparuk pipeline project

Having spent his entire working life in the oil patch Roland put down roots in Tyler, Texas, last year after living in Houston for eight years. He found his little piece of heaven on a 1 and a half-acre lake front l

Oil Patch Insider is written by Petroleum News • Alaska columnist Wadeen Hepworth. The Insider appears three times per month. If you have news or a news tip for the Insider, Wadeen can be reached at (907) 770-3506 or via email at [email protected].