Senator Murkowski Supports Training for an Alaskan Natural Gasline Workforce

Press Release

SENATOR MURKOWSKI SUPPORTS TRAINING FOR AN ALASKA NATURAL GASLINE WORKFORCE

Senator Murkowski today reiterated her support for construction of the Pipeline Training Facility in Fairbanks at a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on workforce labor shortages.

"We must ensure we have the workers to build and operate a gas pipeline in Alaska," said Senator Murkowski. "We need to jumpstart efforts to recruit and train workers, before we find ourselves with a shortage of workers throughout the entire energy industry at a time when we are anticipating massive investment."

Senator Murkowski is fighting to get $3 million appropriated for construction of the Pipeline Training Facility in Fairbanks. The facility was authorized in 2004. Nationally, the energy industry employs over 1 million workers - from pipe welders to linemen, engineers and construction workers. 500,000 of these workers are expected to retire within 5 - 10 years, creating a serious national shortage of qualified workers in the energy industry. In Alaska, constructing the gas pipeline could require as many as 8,000 workers. In order to minimize a shortage of qualified workers, Senator Murkowski has been an advocate for increased vocational education and high school technology classes in order to increase the pool of skilled technicians and engineers.

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