North Pole Crane Training for Refinery and Air Base Crews

A refinery town in transition

The first refinery here began running in August 1977, turning crude from the trans-Alaska pipeline into fuels, with jet fuel once making up about 60 percent of output. Its later owner, Flint Hills Resources, stopped refining in 2014, citing market conditions and the cost of cleaning up sulfolane groundwater contamination left from an earlier owner. Flint Hills kept part of the site for fuel storage and distribution, and when no buyer appeared it announced at the end of 2016 that the refinery would be demolished.

Tearing down a refinery is crane-heavy work: cutting and lowering towers and vessels, picking pipe racks, and loading out scrap. Petro Star, meanwhile, still runs a North Pole refinery that makes heating fuel, jet fuel and asphalt, so turnaround and maintenance lifts continue. The environmental cleanup is expected to last many years.

Eielson and the F-35 build-out

Eielson Air Force Base, southeast of town along the same highway, received its first F-35s in 2020 and reached a full complement of 54 jets in two squadrons. The Army Corps of Engineers' Alaska District describes the supporting construction as an eight-year program from 2016 to 2024, with roughly two dozen new facilities including hangars, a missile maintenance building and equipment shops. Planning documents described the growth as about 3,500 airmen, contractors and family members.

Projects like hangars and maintenance shops mean steel erection, roof trusses, precast and large mechanical lifts. Many North Pole residents commute to the base, and local subcontractors pick up base and off-base work alike. Base contracts generally spell out credentials in the bid documents, and accredited certification is the usual expectation.

Plant work calls for rigging depth

Refinery and tank-farm lifts are rarely simple. Loads are often irregular, centers of gravity hide inside vessels, and picks happen between live piping. Riggers who can calculate sling angles, choose hardware and plan a tandem lift are valuable. Rigger Level II prep is aimed at that work, while Rigger Level I covers the basics for hands who hook and unhook.

Highway freight and winter setups

The Richardson Highway carries fuel, freight and oversize loads between Fairbanks, Delta Junction and Valdez, and businesses along it keep boom trucks and service cranes busy loading and unloading equipment. Tank work, pipe yards and warehouse construction around town add more picks of that kind.

Winter setup takes extra time in the Tanana Valley. Operators clear snow from outrigger locations, check that frozen pads have not hidden voids, let hydraulics come up to operating temperature and inspect wire rope for ice. Those steps are covered in principle on the written exams and in detail in each crane's manual.