by The Associated Press AP

3:34 p.m. AKST, February 11, 2011
FAIRBANKS, Alaska—
A former U.S. Bureau of Land Management employee will lead the office that oversees the trans-Alaska pipeline system for the federal and state governments.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports Ron Dunton will become the federal "authorized officer" in the state-federal Joint Pipeline Office on Monday.

Dunton's predecessor Jerry Brossia retired in 2009.

Dunton took over as the land management bureau's Alaska gas pipelines project manager in 2009. Before that, he spent time in wildfire management in Idaho, New Mexico and Alaska.