How will the Alaska LNG Project impact day to day business on the Kenai? We’ll likely get a closer look as the project starts publishing the resource reports which will outline the social and cultural impacts of bringing a $45-$65 billion project to Nikiski. In the meantime, local business owners are starting to prepare for the possible influx of people and demand for services.
Dennis Smith with Alaska Waste…
Smith: “The infrastructure that comes along with oil and gas development, from the small mom and pop operations to the large full-scale drilling rigs, every one of them generate trash or refuse.”
Alaska Waste, like other support businesses, is considering how they’ll stay ahead of the curve on industry needs and the commercial and residential growth that will follow.
Smith: “We always need to plan ahead accordingly, there’s a timeline for dumpsters, a timeline for trucks, and a timeline for hiring personnel, so whenever we anticipate a boom, we need to have those proposals down six months prior to that, at least, to be able to accommodate.”
With the predicted boom will likely come a drop in demand after the initial construction of the plant. The resource reports will explore how the ramp up in services and housing could be scaled back after the build is finished without depressing the local economy.