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Emphasis at JPO moving from permitting to oversight JPO monitoring pipeline construction work at Northstar this winter, will have continuous presence on slope Kristen Nelson PNA News Editor
The Joint Pipeline Office will have staff and third-party contractors on the North Slope to oversee winter construction activity of the Northstar pipelines and completion of work at the Alpine Colville River pipeline crossing.
Bill Britt, Department of Natural Resources state pipeline coordinator at the JPO, told PNA Feb. 10 that JPO required as a condition of the right-of-way lease for the Northstar pipelines that BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. provide a detailed schedule for the construction phase, updated weekly, and from that schedule, Britt said, JPO then attempts “to be the air traffic controller and make sure that the government presence is continuous.”
The agency did this with Alpine, he said, and it worked very well. Instead of having people from agencies all there at one time, someone will be on site full time during consequential work requiring oversight.
And that oversight is structured Britt said.
“We do not simply send folks up to look around and tell us what they see.
“We send folks up with lengthy checklists of lease and other authorization requirements and specific items that they do surveillances on.”
JPO also tries to have the right people on the slope to monitor specific activities such as welding, river crossings, shoreline access.
Rhea DoBosh, JPO’s public information officer, said JPO coordinates efforts among the agencies to avoid duplicating efforts and shares information.
Britt said that the Department of Fish and Game, for instance, was very interested when river crossings are occurring and when shoreline approaches are scheduled to be constructed.
“We’ve gotten pretty good at serving as the eyes and ears of other agencies,” Britt said and “… our field folks tend to cover multiple agency missions and to be trusted by multiple agencies.”
Northstar under way Ice road construction for Northstar has been under way for some time, Britt said, and the JPO’s physical presence was scheduled to begin Feb. 14.
The agency doesn’t need to watch ice road construction, he said, “we’re interested in when they start … actually trenching, stringing pipe…”
Britt said JPO will monitor Northstar pipeline trenching, pipeline laying, shoreline approach, placement of vertical support members, river crossings, “whole pipeline construction … from stem to stern.”
JPO also coordinates with the North Slope Borough, checking on specific activities or supplying information as requested, DoBosh said.
At Alpine, JPO had a continuous presence last winter, and Britt said the agency has an intermittent presence this winter. Tony Braden, natural resource manager with JPO, said some work remains to be done at the Colville River crossing in advance of hot oil flowing through the line.
Hydrotesting of the Alpine oil pipeline is expected in April, Braden said, with first oil in the third quarter. He said that generators will be tested in May and the gas will start flowing through the utility line in May and oil will start to move in early August.
More oversight Britt said that the news at JPO “is that we’ve gone from having a giant pile of applications to having a fair number of new pipelines that we’re actually overseeing” so the agency is making a transition from adjudicating applications to a watchdog operation.
In connection with that, he said, some positions descriptions are changing, there are some administrative changes and a bit of new organization.
The agency is waiting on a letter from the owners on renewal of the rights-of-way for the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, although Britt said that JPO is talking with Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. and the owner companies about studies under way for the renewal.
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