Two years after government officials and mining industry representatives from Alaska and Canada convened in Haines, a local group is organizing a follow-up summit to see how the economic and political landscapes have changed.
Led by residents Bill Kurz, Dave Berry and Dave Nanney, the private Haines Port Development Council is holding the “Minerals, Natural Gas, Transportation and Tourism Summit” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25, at the American Bald Eagle Foundation.
The group held a similar summit in September 2012.
This year’s conference is also hosted by Haines and Yukon Railway, a group dedicated to building a railroad from Carmacks, Y.T., to Haines. It consists of Kurz, Nanney, Berry and Whitehorse city councilman Kirk Cameron.
Kurz said the invitation list includes guests from the mining, natural gas, oil, transportation and tourism industries. Representatives from Yukon and Alaska government and agencies have also been invited, as have engineering and financial consultants.
The groups decided to include tourism as part of the summit this year because of its tie-ins to a potential railway in Haines, Kurz said.
Sean Gaffney, owner of Alaska Mountain Guides and Chilkat Guides, has been invited to represent the local tourism industry.
Kurz said he doesn’t expect this summit to be as large as the one in 2012, but said it could be more important.
“People have had time to think things over, think about what they want to do. They are closer to making commitments,” Kurz said.
The port development council will also provide a bus tour of local port facilities for summit attendees.
The public is encouraged to attend. “It’s good to have the people who are actually involved in what is going on face-to-face, so the public can hear it from the horse’s mouth,” Kurz said.
One new development since the 2012 summit was the Haines Rail Study released in spring. The study, conducted by Canadian consulting firm PROLOG Canada, cost $100,000 and was paid for by the state Department of Transportation.
The study outlined four options ranging in cost from $3.6 billion to upwards of $9 billion to run a railroad from Haines to various cities in Alaska and the Yukon Territory.