On Thursday, September 11, at 9:30 AM Eastern time, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will pave the way for another golden gravel road in Alaska. You would think that savvy politicians would avoid any contact with Alaskan transportation boondoggles, given Gov. Palin’s infamous dealings with the Bridge to Nowhere. But like a moth to the flame, politicians are drawn again and again.
Senator Murkowski (R-AK) is demanding that her bill, Izembek and Alaska Peninsula Refuge and Wilderness Enhancement Act of 2007 (S. 1680), be considered for passage out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and made ready for the floor. Apparently, because of committee rules, Senator Bingaman (D-NM) can’t stop it so it has to come up on Thursday. The vote is going to be a nail-biter.
This bill seeks to build a road through a federally designated Wilderness, in the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. The special thing about a Wilderness is that no mechanized travel allowed. No bikes, no cars, no off highway vehicles, and no motorcycles. Only Congress can designate a Wilderness, and that’s exactly what they did when they created the refuge back in 1980 under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.
This bill seeks to build a road through a federally designated Wilderness, in the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. The special thing about a Wilderness is that no mechanized travel allowed. No bikes, no cars, no off highway vehicles, and no motorcycles. Only Congress can designate a Wilderness, and that’s exactly what they did when they created the refuge back in 1980 under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.
Izembek is really special. The National Fish and Wildlife Service says it is one of the most ecologically unique refuges in Alaska. Located in the Aleutian islands, it contains North America’s largest eelgrass beds. These beds are very important feeding and resting area to a wide variety of migratory waterfowl including the threatened Steller's eiders and nearly the entire population (98%) of Pacific Black Brant. It is also very important to the Southern Alaska Peninsula caribou herd, grizzly bears, wolverines, marine mammals like Steller’s sea lions, walrus, whales, sea otters, and is one of the richest fisheries for salmon. The rich wildlife here is very important to Native Alaskans dependent on the Black Brant for their subsistence.
Back in 1998, the folks of King Cove (pop. 759) decided they wanted a road to link their city with Cold Bay (pop. 88). These cities are divided by the refuge. But creating a road here isn’t like building a road anywhere else. Here the terrain is either volcanic rock or a wetland dotted with small lakes and ponds. A two mile wide isthmus wetland is the only "land" bridge between King Cove and Cold Bay and it is right in the middle of the refuge and Wilderness (where no roads are allowed).
Folks, this is an island! Boats are the main source of transportation, sometimes supplemented by small planes. But the folks of King Cove want their road to get to the town of Cold Bay. Sure, I bet it gets dull hanging around in the same town all the time. It has to be tempting to get in a car and drive to the other side.
Back in WWII, an all weather airport was constructed in Cold Bay for military operations. Turns out that this all-weather airport also serves as a link to major medical health care in Anchorage. So the folks of King Cove want access to emergency health care even in the worst weather via the all-weather airport in Cold Bay. Fair enough.
Back in 1998, the city asked Congress to let them build a road to drive to the airport. Congress said no, telling the city that they were not willing to violate the whole purpose of the refuge and this wilderness area for the sake of a road for safety. But Congress didn’t want to the city to be left stranded, so, they passed the King Cove Health and Safety Act. This act provided $37.5 million to do all of the following:
• Upgrade King Cove’s medical facilities, purchase a hovercraft to provide regular ferry and emergency medical service between King Cove and Cold Bay
• Construct marine terminals
• Build an unpaved road between the town of King Cove and the connecting marine terminal.
This law specifically prohibited a road through Izembek’s federally protected Wilderness.
The residents of King Cove now have access to fast, reliable emergency transportation to Anchorage on a Suna-X Hovercraft.
The hovercraft has been operational since February 2007 and has completed at least 27 medevacs to the Cold Bay airport. In fact, an ambulance can drive right up a ramp onto the hovercraft. Transportation time to Cold Bay by hovercraft is only 20 minutes. But if the road were built, in good weather it would take almost two hours to drive from King Cove to Cold Bay. I don't know about you, but if I have a medical emergency, I'd rather be on that hovercraft!
The hovercraft has a perfect record. It has been called on 27 times for medevacs and has successfully saved 27 people. Additionally, as of July 19, 2007, it had transported more than 1,090 passengers, 110 vehicles, and 110,000 lbs of freight. This is no one-man land speeder, this is a major marine vessel that can ride up on land, inflate, then take off into the water. Watch the video here:
But these folk in King Cove are not quitters. No sir, they are back again. They just want that road, dammit! So, they hired the same lobbyist that Gov. Palin used in Wasilla. Steven W. Silver is a partner in the same firm involved in Wasilla’s earmarks and is now the main man for this snow job. Mr. Silver is also a former chief of staff to Senator Ted Stevens.
The proposal to build a road through the wilderness of the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge is just another golden road and bridge to nowhere from Rep. Don Young, Sen. Stevens and Sen. Murkowski. As of November 2007, the Aleutians East Borough had reportedly spent nearly $225,000 dollars on a K-Street Congressional lobbying and media campaign to convince Congress this road is not a boondoggle. (Anchorage Daily News, November 1, 2007)
Silver is good. He knows how to set the stage. In fact, he is so good, he convinced the House Natural Resources Committee to pass this bill out of Committee earlier this year. Silver shipped in a whole bunch of kids and working folk from King Cove to appear at the Committee hearing to mark up the bill. Who could refuse those sweet puppy dog eyes? There were so many people in the hearing room, they must have chartered a plane to come to DC.
But, like all things Alaska, there is more to the story. Sorry, I wish it wasn’t so long and complicated. And, I don’t think there is a medical crisis in King Cove. What good left-leaner can say no to health care for all after all? But, Congress solved the problem without building a road, so I am not sympathetic.
Suppose they built this road and violated their intent to protect this place forever? Screw the wildlife and the natives that depend on it for food. Who would pay for this road? You and me, Mom and Pop taxpayer. Don’t forget Alaska gets about 14K per resident in tax goodies from the U.S. Treasury. They are #1 per capita in the U.S.
Building this road would be a burden on us. The Aleutians East Borough has already spent $26 million on the 17.6-mile road from King Cove airport to the hovercraft terminal adjacent to the Izembek Wilderness, yet they have only fully completed 10.4 miles. Based on this track record, it will cost far in excess of an additional $30 million to complete the initial road and construct nine new miles of road through the Izembek Isthmus Wilderness. This does not include costs for continuing work on the currently impassible 7 miles of road from Cold Bay, and installation of double cable barriers on the proposed section through the wilderness. Thus, the total cost of this unnecessary and dangerous road will likely exceed $56 million in American taxpayer dollars. (Calculations based on cost of current completed road segment, AEB)
It gets worse. Guess what? In the winter they can hardly keep the Cold Bay airport runway plowed. See my friend’s photo below from the airport in winter.
Note, it isn’t snowing. It is a clear day and it is still hard to keep the runway clear. The Alaska Department of Transportation operating in Cold Bay is challenged to keep even the flat 2-mile airport runway plowed. (Former Cold Bay resident and EMT, Terri Mach) If they cannot keep a runway plowed, how will they keep a new 30-mile road open during bad weather for emergency use? It just doesn’t make sense. See economy and transportation here.
There is also a huge fish cannery in Cold Bay. Peter Pan Cannery is the biggest salmon cannery in North America. You may have noticed that there are only 88 people living in Cold Bay and nearly 800 living in King Cove. Is the location of this cannery just a coincidence?
Are you outraged yet? Then call the Senators on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee before Thursday morning and tell them to stop yet another Alaska Golden Gravel Road and transportation boondoggle.
Thanks to the traditional last states alliance between Alaska and Hawaii, Sen. Akaka has pledged his support for this bill. This bill literally teeters in the balance. Give these Senators a call!
Committee Members
Democrats
Chairman Jeff Bingaman (NM) (202) 224-5521
Daniel Akaka (HI) (202) 224-6361
Byron Dorgan (ND) (202) 224-2551
Ron Wyden (OR) (202) 224-5244
Tim Johnson (SD) (202) 224-5842
Maria Cantwell (WA) (202) 224-3441
Mary Landrieu (LA) (202) 224-5824
Ken Salazar (CO) (202) 224-5852
Robert Menendez (NJ) (202) 224-4744
Blanche Lincoln (AR) (202) 224-4843
Bernard Sanders (VT) (202) 224-5141
John Tester (MT) (202) 224-2644
Republicans
Ranking Member Pete Domenici (NM) (202) 224-6621
Larry Craig (ID) (202) 224-2752
Lisa Murkowski (AK) (202) 224-6665
Richard Burr (NC) (202) 224-3154
Jim DeMint (SC) (202) 224-6121
Bob Corker (TN) (202) 224-3344
John Barrasso (WY) (202) 224-6441
Jeff Sessions (AL) (202) 224-4124
Gordon Smith (OR) (202) 224-3753
Jim Bunning (KY) (202) 224-4343
Mel Martinez (FL) (202) 224-3041