The Haines Borough Assembly unanimously approved a contract of up to $310,000 with Turnagain Marine Construction—the contractor who will begin a progressive design-build process for the Lutak Dock reconstruction.
The vote allows Turnagain to begin conducting geotechnical studies as it begins to design the Lutak Dock reconstruction project. A town hall is scheduled for Oct. 6 at 6:30 p.m. in the assembly chambers for the public to hear from Turnagain about what the next steps of the project will look like.
The vote to approve the contract was opposed by Lynn Canal Conservation (LCC) and members of the public who are concerned that the dock’s reconstruction could facilitate the transfer of ore from Yukon mines. Some urged the assembly to take no action on the contract and to schedule additional town hall meetings to discuss whether the borough ought to ship ore across the dock. LCC has made a number of claims in emails to its members and in public comment about borough staff and officials, including that borough staff are attempting to commit Haines “to a project whose primary purpose would be an ore dock for Yukon mines, and the Palmer Project should it be built.”
At Haines Borough Mayor Douglas Olerud’s request, the assembly suspended the rules during the special meeting to allow back and forth discussion between officials, staff and the public.
LCC board member Stacie Evans said Thursday that it was unusual for borough staff to insist that the borough should restore the Lutak Dock as a deep-water port, which could accommodate ore shipments, before the community decides what the dock could be used for.
“Considering that Yukon mining interests have expressed a desire for Haines to build this type of dock (the Yukon Chamber of Commerce even submitted a letter of support for the borough’s grant application saying as much), and considering that we don’t have much else to ship that would justify such a structure, it seems pretty likely that the dock will one day be used to ship ore,” she said.
In March, Yukon mining representatives told the Port and Harbor Advisory Committee that Yukon mines could ship ore over the Lutak Dock without the construction of a specialized ore facility.
Evans’ comment was echoed by other members of the public. But Olerud said it’s impractical and impossible for any assembly to promise that ore would never be shipped across the Lutak Dock, no matter what the reconstruction of the dock looks like.
“If we go forward with a town hall, what would the borough be able to say that would alleviate the fear of the people that think this is going to be used for ore?” Olerud said. “There’s nothing the borough could say honestly that, at some point in the future, ore would not go over this dock.”
Assembly candidate and LCC vice president Eric Holle said scaling back the project by just utilizing Alaska Marine Line’s current roll-on/roll-off dock would put some residents’ suspicions to rest.
Turnagain president Jason Davis said his company’s goal was “intended to as closely mirror the original dock construction as possible.” He said if he were building a dock for a mining company, the proposed dock concept would not be the ideal design.
“If we were being commissioned by a mining company to build an ore facility it would not be a bulkhead dock.”
Resident Dennis Geasan spoke during public comment and said that rebuilding Lutak Dock is a separate issue from the potential use of the dock to ship ore.
“Irregardless of what kind of dock gets built, the ore shipping thing is still going to be an issue down the road. Even if the dock right now was in beautiful working shape, the issue of shipping ore would still be there,” he said. “I see this as an infrastructure issue and I don’t see how we can do anything else.”
Olerud opened Thursday’s meeting responding to LCC’s claims and borough manager Annette Kreitzer wrote a letter that did the same. The CVN has attempted to provide more context to issues surrounding the dock in a separate story in this week’s issue.