A U.S. Senate bill that included $478,000 for the Haines harbor was defeated last month, but borough manager Mark Earnest said he is “optimistic” about other sources for federal money.
“There was an omnibus bill that was making its way through the Senate, but it was not adopted and did not pass the Senate,” Earnest said. “It failed, and so that vehicle is not viable. The Haines project and all the other projects nationwide have suffered the same fate, so there will be other efforts to come up with another bill, so we’re hoping to be part of that.”
Many legislators have called for a decrease in overall government spending and the elimination of earmarks for pet projects, and those discussions helped fuel the bill’s defeat.
The Haines Borough Assembly on Dec. 14 had approved resolutions that listed 2011 federal and state legislative priorities. Boat harbor improvements ranked as the top federal capital budget priority and the second legislative priority.
“It’s one of those things that we don’t have any control over, but the good news is that the project is supported by all of the (Alaska Congressional) delegation, the three members, and it’s a very high priority for the delegation,” Earnest said. “We’ll just keep working the process.”
He said harbor improvements would include expansion to the north and south to provide additional moorage capacity, and more parking spaces eventually would be added.
A previous estimate of a north harbor expansion put the total project cost at more than $30 million.
Earnest said Haines will be a strong contender for federal funding in the next session of Congress.
“I think we’ve got a good opportunity for getting the project through the appropriation process,” he said. “This is the type of thing where you’ve got one bill that doesn’t make it, especially since it was a lame-duck session of Congress, and there’s all of that politics of it, and then we have a new Congress starting up.”
Harbor committee members Norm Hughes and Jim Studley also expressed optimism regarding federal funds.
“Nothing is ever really final until it’s over, and right now, with the session coming back into play, it’s possible we would see that whole financing scenario change again,” Studley said. “Even though they’re going to target cutting earmarks and things like that, there are a few sacred cows that are difficult to cut, and one of them is the (U.S. Army) Corps of Engineers, specifically when it comes to ports and harbors.”
Earnest said the “rigorous process” for a federal harbor project through the Corps of Engineers required assessing “the economic viability, and it has to demonstrate that there’s a benefit to the nation, not just to Haines or to the state of Alaska.”
Hughes called the omnibus bill setback “just another bump in the road.”
“It’s nothing new to us,” he said. “We just keep marching along, because the biggest economic development project in the Haines Borough will be the expansion of the boat harbor.”