Just outside of Unalaska, there’s a shipping superhighway. Dozens of vessels, many foreign-flagged, pass by on their way to and from Asia every day, mostly unseen. That is, until they’re in trouble.
Captain Ed Page is the Executive Director of the Marine Exchange of Alaska, an non-profit organization that tracks vessels moving through the region. The Marine Exchange often the first to know when something goes wrong, and as a result it plays an important role in the region’s shipping safety net.
Earlier this month, Adak requested ferry service. Now, Atka says it wants the same.
Atka city manager Julie Dirks says the city council passed a resolution recently asking for two ferry stops in community every summer. She says the service would be valuable for bringing freight into the community, and she’s also optimistic about the opportunities for tourism.
The Alaska Volcano Observatory is joining the list of agencies that have announced cutbacks in response to the massive federal spending cuts known as sequestration. AVO will stop maintaining its seismic networks on some remote volcanoes.
Late last year, scientists at the Alaska Volcano Observatory picked up a swarm of small earthquakes at Little Sitkin volcano, in the far western Aleutians. They would have been undetectable to humans, but were picked up by AVO’s seismic network on the volcano, and alerted scientists to the possibility of an eruption. While the closest community is 200 miles to the east and wouldn’t have been affected, an eruption could have caused problems for international flight traffic.
The Environmental Protection Agency has fined Aleutian Leader Fisheries $59,000 for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act.
The company owns the 94-foot F/V Judi B, which processes groundfish and dumps the waste into federal waters off the coast of Alaska. The EPA requires vessels to self-report their seafood waste discharge, but the Judi B wasn’t doing that, according to compliance officer Chris Gebhardt.
McDonald’s bet on their new Fish McBites to help lift the company out of financial doldrums this winter. The gamble didn’t pay off: The new product didn’t sell very well, and it’s going to be pulled from the menu at the end of March.
But as KUCB’s Lauren Rosenthal reports, the McBites experiment wasn’t a total flop -- at least, not for Alaskan fishermen.
Adak wants ferry service. In a resolution passed last month, the city council asked the state marine highway system to consider sending a ferry out to the community at least once a year. City manager Layton Lockett drafted the resolution.
“Just as a way to connect Alaska a little bit more," Lockett says. "And to give Adak the ability to utilize the ferry service like other communities can. For freight, or cars, or just for passenger travel.”
A contract to stabilize the rock face behind the wastewater treatment plant will go out to bid. City council held a special meeting Thursday afternoon to consider a $2.1 million change order to Advanced Blasting’s existing contract, but the resolution failed, 5-0. Councilor Roger Rowland was absent.
City manager Chris Hladick said staff will try to collect and evaluate the bids within three weeks.
Council filled a vacant seat at Tuesday night’s meeting, although not with either of the two original candidates.
Earl “Skip” Southworth was not present at the meeting, and Doanh Tran withdrew her name from consideration for the seat after Southworth raised concerns over her residency.
According to a memo from city attorney Brooks Chandler, Tran did not qualify as a candidate because she wouldn’t have been registered to vote in Unalaska for one year by the time of her appointment or election.
At Tuesday night’s meeting, city council discussed a plan that would triple the project budget for preparatory work at the site of the new wastewater treatment plant.
Advanced Blasting had a contract to remove the cliff behind the existing plant to make room for the new one. They finished most of that work by February, but now significant rock slides are threatening construction of the new building. Crews can’t move in until the slope is stable.
Advanced Blasting has offered to stabilize the cliff using mesh and customized anchors, to pin the loose rock in place. But their quote is $2.1 million.
