Harbor cut from
federal spending bill

By Jessica Edwards

The Haines Borough was passed over for $1 million in harbor expansion money in the federal spending bill recently approved by Congress.

Congress appropriated more than $25 million for 11 Alaska ports in the bill that funds the federal government, including $950,000 for dock and float construction in Gustavus.

“We’ve been set back a year,” said borough manager Tom Bolen. “We’ve added the request to the (federal) FY10 budget.”

The legislation included two other local projects: $350,000 for borough water and sewer upgrades and $475,000 for a Klukwan culture center.

The harbor loss was two-fold, Bolen said, as the $1 million appropriation represented “start-up” funds required to make the project active and eligible for Congressional appropriations through the Water Resources Development Act.

The harbor expansion in fall 2007 was authorized for up to $14 million in WRDA funding, but no funds have been appropriated. Getting startup money also would have made the project more likely to receive funds under the federal economic stimulus package, Bolen said.

Bolen didn’t have a solid explanation for Congress’ decision to eliminate Haines harbor start-up funds from the bill. The House version that went to the House-Senate conference committee didn’t include the money, he said.

“There was some suggestion this was the Democrats taking it out on (former Sen.) Ted Stevens, since he was the one who got the original language in the Senate version.” Bolen said he suspected if Congress had passed its budget on time last fall – before Stevens’ indictment – the start-up money would have made the final bill.

Bolen said he was inquiring with the office of U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, for an explanation and would put the question to Young directly during an April visit to Washington, D.C.

The borough received a $350,000 federal earmark for general water and sewer infrastructure upgrades, including deteriorating pipe.

Bolen said former manager Robert Venables had submitted the grant request and said federal paperwork listed replacement of old asbestos concrete piping and water and sewer upgrades to Fourth Avenue, Lynnview Drive, and View Street.

Venables said the original grant request was $750,000 to cover projects including the replacement of the wooden stave water tank on Young Road and a sewer pump on Beach Road.

When state appropriations and grants for the tank and sewer pump came through, Venables said he revised federal requests so money could be applied more generally to address water and sewer infrastructure needs.

The federal appropriation requires matching funds from the borough, and Venables said the borough had some water and sewer enterprise funds for that.

Bolen said the appropriation wouldn’t cover the cost of proposed pipe replacements, and hoped the money could be used for water and sewer work on First Avenue during future repaving.

The $475,000 heading to the Chilkat Indian Village is the first major funding appropriated for the $9 million Jilkaat Kwaan Cultural Heritage Center.

Project director Jim Strong said there’s a chance some of the money may go toward landscaping and other finishing touches on a “hospitality house,” a dining hall and bathing facility that’s part of the center complex and is set for construction this summer.

If they can’t be used on the hospitality house, they may help pay for bank stabilization work that will anchor the culture center building. The heritage center board will determine use of the money.

Villagers are also working on securing private funds for the main building, Strong said. “There are funds that have been put away for the cultural center already, but not a whole lot of funds.”

Alaska got 100 earmarks worth $144 million in the bill, more than any other state, according to  Taxpayers for Common Sense.