While spending public funds to benefit private corporations is nothing new, wasting $28 million on the design and initial construction of a Cascade Point ferry terminal against the opposition of his own Alaska Marine Highway Operations Board will secure Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s place in Alaska political lore as one of the great purveyors of pork.
Haines and Skagway are on record opposing the project for many reasons, not least of which is that most walk-on passengers going to catch a jet, see a doctor, visit with elected officials, etc., will have to pay the landowner, Goldbelt Inc., for a 43-mile bus ride to Juneau. The governor has put forward no supporting economic or social arguments, let alone answered numerous questions about a 90-plus minute bus ride that would be impacted by weather, road maintenance, loading and unloading delays, stops along the route, capacity, and vehicle breakdowns.
The project does have a few beneficiaries: the Kensington gold mine across Berners Bay from Cascade Point, a new Canadian-backed gold mine that needs a new dock complex for ore shipment, and of course Goldbelt Inc.
The Cascade Point boondoggle was shelved by Gov. Knowles, restarted by Gov. Murkowski, paused by Gov. Palin, reestablished by Gov. Parnell, and abandoned by Gov. Walker, only to be resurrected once again by Dunleavy.
The governor has righted one longstanding inequity: Southcentral residents could always be thrown under a public bus; now Southeast Alaskans can be thrown under a public ferry.
Gershon Cohen