Quoddy Bay LNG offers workforce survey -- The Quoddy Tides, Eastport, Maine

Quoddy Bay LNG has announced its plan to find hundreds of skilled construction laborers that would be needed to build the proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) import facility at Split Rock.

"It will take three years to construct our facility, and we will require a wide array of trades to complete the facility," said Project Manager Brian Smith of the proposal that is presently being reviewed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. "We want Maine to benefit from start to finish and the better trained the workforce becomes, the better everyone benefits from the project both in the short term and the long term due to better skills and experience."

On the heels of filing for a host of state of Maine Department of Environmental Protection permit applications, Quoddy Bay and the Maine Building and Construction Trades Council are distributing surveys designed to gauge the skill level and interest of potential workers in eastern, central and northern Maine. Surveys are available at CareerCenter locations in Bangor, Ellsworth, Rockland, Calais, Machias, Houlton, Augusta and Dover-Foxcroft. Surveys will also be available online at <www.quoddylng.com>.

"We have teamed up with the Maine Building and Construction Trades Council to put together this survey to see if people are interested in training programs related to construction," said Deputy Project Manager Adam Wilson in a prepared release. "We want to both point people in the right direction and set up training programs as well, so this survey will help us gain a wider perspective on the labor force in Maine so that we can employ these programs and our efforts effectively."

Wilson clarified that this is an effort to determine where its workforce would originate and where to set up potential training programs and host future job fairs. It is not an application, but individuals who do provide their contact information will remain in a database that both the Building and Construction Trades Council and Quoddy Bay LNG will use at a later date when seeking workers.

"We encourage everyone involved in construction to fill out a survey regardless of your experience level, as it will greatly help us in the coming months as we move through the development stage and towards preparation for construction," continued Wilson. "The more people that are interested in training, the more likely a program will be set up locally to provide that training in the future."