ASCG expands operations by 30 percent, boosts Lower 48 projects to broaden scope

Allen Baker

Petroleum News contributing writer

ASCG Inc., the big Native corporation subsidiary, has expanded its operations by more than 30 percent over the past year, adding to the business in the Lower 48 as well as Alaska.

Big contracts include work at Fort Greely in Alaska to prepare for the anti-missile system being deployed there, as well as 15 airport renovation projects in Oregon and Washington. ASCG is also working on land development for a big tribal casino along the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon, and repairing bridges for the Oregon Department of Transportation. The company has several active projects for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, including boardwalks in Kongiganak and Kasigluk in Alaska, and several operations in New Mexico and Colorado.

The investments in the Lower 48 represent a change from the typical Alaska business model, says Bob Poe, a senior vice president of ASCG.

“Historically, Outside companies have come to Alaska to do business and then take their profits back to Outside owners. ASCG is an Alaska-owned and operated company that is doing business both inside Alaska and Outside, returning our profits to Alaska,” he said in a statement Feb. 3.

“We have grown into a geographically diverse company that is less vulnerable to local business swings and able to generate a reliable profit for our ASRC shareholders,” agrees John McClellan, president of ASCG.

The 23-year-old firm, owned by the Arctic Slope Regional Corp., was set up initially to work on North Slope public infrastructure. Now it has nearly 600 employees in its engineering and architectural operations, with more than three quarters of them working in the Lower 48. The company has regional offices in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, New Mexico, and Colorado.