Longbranch home to oil guru

By Kristen Pierce, KP News

Through the results embodied in his career, former Longbranch Improvement Club president Rich Hildahl touches the lives and wallets of every individual who drives a car, powers a speedboat, heats a home with oil, and more. He is an energy transportation specialist, an independent consultant for oil companies worldwide.

Rich Hildahl at his Filucy Bay home with a map of Russia, where he has served as an ambassador for World Bank.   Photo by Karina Whitmarsh

A Washington native, Hildahl was born and raised in Spokane. He attended Pacific Lutheran University and University of Oregon, where he met his future wife, Connie. He started his career in Steilacoom in the early 1970s. While living in Steilacoom, the Hildahls became avid boaters. During a sail, they discovered Filucy Bay and fell in love with its beautiful views, shores, and rural ambiance. Off in the distance that day, Connie spotted a sale sign on the shore of a cove. The sign was advertising a new contemporary home. They admired the bold structure so much, they took a couple of snapshots. 

 Hildahl was hired by one of the nation’s largest international accounting firms, Ernst and Ernst, known as Ernst and Young today. He excelled in the company’s consulting services division, and was eventually moved to the firm’s San Francisco headquarters. When oil was discovered in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, Hildahl became an exclusive consultant with British Petroleum, facilitating the oil company’s accounts with the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS). He participated in the development of energy transportation solutions for the Prudhoe Bay operation, and began work on the commercial and regulatory side of TAPS as an independent consultant for Alaska pipeline oil companies nationwide.

Energy transportation networks are vital to cost-efficient and environmentally safe delivery of oil to and from markets worldwide. When the World Bank in Washington, D.C., became aware of abundant oil resources in Russia, Hildahl acted as ambassador for that financial institution. His job was to assist with ideas and recommendations for laws and regulations as the country then known as Soviet Union began developing its energy transportation networks.

This assignment (ultimately a 15-year association with the World Bank) was the beginning of a 30-year career in the supply and secure transport of oil. Hildahl went on to serve energy transport efforts in the Middle East and China. He has acquired significant understanding of the political mechanisms, foreign policies, economic and controversial environmental issues pressing the Caspian Sea and Middle East regions. 

Currently Hildahl is working on a project to develop expand crude supplies in Canada for delivery to U.S. markets, including Washington state. Although the oil is developed from tar sands and heavy oil (which is harder to refine and separate for multiple uses), it is in high demand. According to Hildahl, Canada has an abundance of oil with a supply capacity of over 260 years’ duration at current production levels.

“I have spent my whole career studying this subject. It is heartbreaking to watch our policy-makers choose to not take advantage of our own natural resources,” Hildahl says. “We are pursuing policies that will destroy commercial fishing and farming, have serious impact on recreational boating, commuting to and from work, and negatively impacting our small communities due to the significantly higher prices in our region.”

He offers, for example, restrictions in Alaska’s Arctic Natural Wildlife Refuge, and the lack of public knowledge of benefits to the environment and wildlife from the pipelines. According to Hildahl, wind power in Washington is a seasonal energy source, and he thinks solar power is an “oxymoron.”

“It is a self-inflicted wound by our policy-makers,” he says. “The energy prices are too high and will only continue to rise.” 

Thirty years later, the Hildahls returned to Longbranch. Amazingly, by chance, a family friend told them about a unique home for sale in Longbranch on the waterfront designed by well-known local architect Jim Olson. To their absolute astonishment, they drove up to the same home they had admired and photographed three decades earlier from their sailboat.

When home in Longbranch, Hildahl stays busy. Two of his three children were married this past September, only weeks apart. “That was a very busy month for us,” he says. He and his wife continue to volunteer at the Longbranch Improvement Club, helping raise funds for scholarships. 

“We all know each other here,” he says. “This is a special place with beautiful natural attributes. It is an interesting and diverse community. I’ve received so much more than I’ve given.”

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