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PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: LCMF maps its way around rural, remote Alaska through diverse projects
Meeting the needs of communities, government and industry results in smooth sailing for engineering and architectural projects Dawnell Smith PNA Contributing Writer
Remote Alaska can pose unexpected challenges. So LCMF Inc. relies on more than its engineering, architectural, planning, surveying and project management expertise to get the job done.
The company also depends on communications and relationships with rural communities.
LCMF’s long legacy as a business that operates in some of the state’s harshest, most isolated places proves its tenacity, know-how and staying power. But the company also values and understands the nuances of culture and community.
The multi-disciplined Alaska firm boasts a workforce that can speak Native languages, listen and respond to the needs and concerns of rural Alaskans, and knows the ins and outs of unique permitting issues.
A wholly owned subsidiary of Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corp. of Barrow since 1996, LCMF prides itself on operating on its home turf. The principal founders of the company began providing engineering and surveying services in 1973, anchoring LCMF’s reputation in the far reaches of the state.
From the start the company offered an array of capabilities, said general manager Steve Chronic. LCMF surveys ocean floors, Alaska Native allotments and coastal shoreline, and designs and manages construction of roadways, airstrips, waste handling facilities, community centers, schools, maintenance facilities and more. Although the company takes on projects throughout the state, including hub communities and urban centers like Fairbanks and Anchorage, it shines brightest in the bush.
“LCMF specializes in rural, remote projects throughout Alaska,” Chronic said. “We understand the logistics and constraints of working safely and effectively in that environment. Our people deliver a high quality technical service that accomplishes the goals of our clients.”
Surveying and engineering the Far North Most people in the oil industry think of LCMF as a surveying company, said Chronic, but the company has always done engineering and project management work.
One of the company’s energy related projects involved completing the North Slope Borough’s $60 million Walakpa gas field in Barrow. Working with the borough’s Industrial Development Department and Allen and Crouch, a petroleum and engineering firm, LCMF provided planning, permitting, design and construction administration services. The job consisted of eight successful gas wells, 11 miles of gathering pipelines, 21 miles of transmission lines and a gas processing facility.
In another venture, Kuukpik/LCMF handled permitting, design, construction observation and project administration for the Nuiqsut Natural Gas Pipeline from Alpine to Nuiqsut.
Other engineering projects run the gamut from the oil and gas sector to transportation, according to Wiley Wilhelm, LCMF’s engineering manager.
Wilhelm described the bulk tank farm at Crowley Marine Services in Bethel as a prime example of LCMF’s capabilities. The company designed the tank farm and it will provide construction administration, quality control, project management and permitting.
In 1998, LCMF’s surveying division took on the arduous task of measuring the tide in two deep water bays in Kenai Fjords. The original datum from 1928 had become increasingly inaccurate over the years due to earthquakes, glacier melt and subsidence.
Hired as a subcontractor for a hydrographic survey for the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration, LCMF did tidal data collection, tidal zoning, computation and analysis. These surveys will continue under the agency’s annual funding of about $10 million toward the project.
Decades of experience and commitment make a difference With decades of experience in remote Alaska, LCMF’s employees treat their work and community relationships with respect.
“We’re more than a surveying company,” Chronic said. “We have the experience and expertise to work up there (the North Slope) in all our disciplines and we can benefit industry professionally, politically and culturally.”
Working in sync with engineering staff, the architectural arm of LCMF provides services to a variety of business sectors through the design of facilities like power plants, storage and maintenance buildings, wastewater and water plants, armories, educational buildings, residential housing and community infrastructure like the Inupiat Heritage Center in Barrow.
A particularly delicate project, the Barrow Heritage Center required great sensitivity in design since the North Slope Borough wanted the facility to satisfy a variety of functions, said Richard Rearick, architecture manager for LCMF. Not only did the center have to meet rigid environmental and security standards, it also had to incorporate an educational component along with a traditional room for crafts like whale bone and ivory carving, skin sewing and boat making, he said.
For a more industrial example of LCMF’s work, architect and estimator Harley Hightower points to the Wainwright Power Plant.
“It worked good and looked good, which is rare for an industrial building,” he said.
LCMF designed the facility under an accelerated schedule, important since the previous facility had burned down.
Other current architectural projects include a 10,000-square-foot aircraft hanger in Deadhorse for Carlile Enterprises Inc. and wastewater plants in Palmer and at Alpine for Phillips Alaska Inc.
Community education forges the ties that bind LCMF’s business development manager Dale Stotts was born and raised in Barrow, one of the many LCMF employees from Alaska who have worked in remote parts of the state.
From its inception, LCMF considered local hire and community support vital to its core values. LCMF encourages education that will enrich the economic vitality of rural communities while giving private enterprises trained employees.
Because of this commitment to education, LCMF provides internship opportunities, and offers scholarships and on the job training through its parent company, UIC.
Recently, Hightower helped update the architectural and engineering technology program for the community and technical college of the University of Alaska Anchorage.
Walking the talk Training new employees goes hand in hand with retaining experienced employees. In its offices in Barrow and Anchorage, plus its Kuukpik/LCMF office at Alpine, the firm employs about 42 core people. Many are long-term workers who started with the company long before its purchase by UIC. When combined, the management team has more than a century of rural Alaska know-how.
One of LCMF constants through the years, Chronic manages the company’s day-to-day activities using 28-plus years of experience as a civil engineer and surveyor in Alaska.
Another civil engineer, Wilhelm, got his start with the company in 1988 and now manages the engineering department. Similarly, Rearick brings 16 years of experience to his job as architectural manager of LCMF while Hightower complements that expertise with nearly 40 years in the business, 27 of them as a principle architect.
Stotts oversees special projects and has 20 years of land management experience as well as an education in architectural engineering technology.
With another 20 years of professional experience to add to the corporate resume, Anthony Hoffman serves as manager of the surveying division. Hoffman has 15 years of Alaska experience, including three years overseeing the functions of the survey office for Phillips Alaska Inc.’s Alpine development project.
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