Deadline for Lutak Dock project pushed back three years

This story has been updated. 

A looming deadline to sign a grant agreement for the controversial Lutak Dock project has been pushed back by three years. The news could upend debates about the need to make a quick decision to approve the $25 million project to shore up the aging dock that is the entry point for most of Haines’ cargo.

“It’s huge,” said assembly member Natalie Dawson. “I have been told over and over again that we don’t have any time to change the current design. We just got a whole other clock.”

The Maritime Administration (MARAD) of the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded the borough $20 million for the project. The borough had been pushing to sign an executed grant agreement by Sept. 30 of this year, but a recent appropriation by Congress pushed that deadline back until 2027.

The borough has been seeking a way to replace the ailing dock for years, something officials have said is needed in order to ensure that groceries and other cargo can make it to consumers. Erosion at the dock has opened up sinkholes, which users say puts people at risk.

But the newly elected assembly has raised questions about the need for the current design of the project, which they say unnecessarily expands the dock’s capacity and uses an untested design that would require putting tons of steel into the water.

Borough manager Annette Kreitzer has warned the assembly for months that considering new alternatives could put the project timeline at risk. But even under the current design, the borough faced a tight timeline to complete an environmental assessment needed for the National

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Kreitzer said that while the extension came as a surprise for her, it was a “neutral” decision for the borough. She said just because the borough now has the option to wait doesn’t mean it should. She pointed to the risk of a dock failure for workers and residents of Haines, who could have their cargo deliveries disrupted. 

Kreitzer also said further prolonging the public process puts the funding sources at risk, including a $3.2 million appropriation from the state from 2022.  

Assembly members say the extension gives the borough the option to downsize the project to suit residents’ current cargo needs, instead of expanding it to serve potential industrial users.

Dawson has suggested a design to shore up the dock using riprap — large rocks to hold the shoreline in place from erosion — instead of the current design, which encloses the current dock in a steel wall. Dawson and others have suggested the design is more reliable, presents fewer financial risks for the borough for future maintenance.

“It relieves an enormous amount of pressure,” said mayor Tom Morphet about the deadline extension. “Time gives us options.”

While the project has gone through years of public input, some assembly members say the process was flawed and ignored serious concerns from the public. Morphet said the deadline extension gives the borough time to put different project designs up for a public vote in the next election. 

Kreitzer said that while there is still time to consider another design, there’s no guarantee that MARAD will fund that project. 

“Could there be another design? Yes. Will there be a design that MARAD funds? That’s the question,” said Kreitzer. 

Morphet also suggested a public vote on another idea that was proposed earlier this year by assembly member Gabe Thomas: an outright ban on ore shipments from the new dock.

Environmentalists have raised concern that the current design’s expanded capacity would serve the Palmer Project, a mineral deposit currently being explored about 35 miles from Haines, something an ore shipment ban could put to rest.

Meanwhile, questions about the price tag of the current design continue to swirl. The current estimate of $25 million was based on steel prices from the summer of 2023. The borough’s contractor for the project, Turnagain Marine Construction, hasn’t said how much — if at all – the project prices could increase if it has to buy steel in the current market.

Earlier this year, MARAD told Turnagain it couldn’t use $10 million worth of steel it had purchased in 2023 before the design plans were finalized. Turnagain said it would sell the steel.

The current grant from MARAD is set at $20 million, so the borough would have to find other funding sources if prices increase. Kreitzer said she hadn’t heard any updated cost estimate from Turnagain.