Pressure is building on the Haines Borough Assembly to look into a $20 million project to rebuild Lutak Dock as a cargo facility for the borough after dozens of residents wrote into the assembly to request the project be slowed down or put on hold.
The project has divided the community for months, with opponents saying the borough doesn’t need such a large project to serve its cargo needs. Supporters of the dock point out the borough has been seeking a way to rebuild the aging dock for a decade and that the availability of $20 million in federal funding gives Haines the chance to complete the project it wants.
The assembly heard from a handful of opponents and supporters of the project during Tuesday’s meeting.
Opponents, led by the local conservation group Lynn Canal Conservation, have for months been raising concerns about the project.
In June, LCC put out a white paper, questioning whether the borough had misrepresented the need for the dock in its RAISE grant application to the Maritime Administration (MARAD) of the U.S. Department of Transportation. The group also questioned how cargo fees would be able to cover maintenance costs for the dock without a large industrial user, which the group speculated would be a mining company depositing ore at the terminal.
More recently, the group sent a letter to the Department of Transportation raising concerns about a contract the borough signed with Turnagain Marine, an Anchorage-based engineering firm, to build the dock. LCC claimed the borough signed the contract without proper environmental permits and approval from MARAD, and in doing so risks leaving the borough on the hook for the project without getting reimbursed.
Borough manager Annette Kreitzer hasn’t responded to the specific allegations in the June white paper, but shared an emailed response to LCC’s more recent allegations she sent to MARAD on Tuesday.
Among other things, Kreitzer said she instructed Turnagain to hold at 95% design until the NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) requirements have been met. Kreitzer shared emails with CVN from borough public works director Ed Coffland to Turnagain and others from May affirming that Turnagain should wait until NEPA permitting is complete before completing the full design work as required by MARAD.
Kreitzer also said some of LCC’s concerns about getting work done before getting proper environmental permits were unfounded. She said Turnagain’s contract required the company to get the permits before money is allocated to them.
Mayor Tom Morphet told the assembly he reached out to a representative from MARAD to discuss any concerns the office might have about the project. The federal agency is interested in meeting with the assembly, but a date has not yet been set.