A Magone Marine boat sank in Unalaska Thursday morning, spilling a small amount of diesel fuel. Coast Guard Lt. Jim Fothergill says it’s not clear why the landing craft Joshua sank while tied up at the dock. The vessel leaked 10 gallons of diesel into the water before Magone personnel were able to stop the spill. There are still 750 gallons of fuel inside the landing craft.
Magone personnel will try to refloat the Joshua Friday afternoon. Fothergill says the Coast Guard will be on hand to supervise that operation. The agency is investigating the cause of the sinking.
The Alaska Volcano Observatory has decided to lower the alert level for Cleveland volcano.
The volcano has erupted 21 times in the last year, with the latest hiccup on August 19 sending up a small ash cloud that dissipated quickly. In a statement, the Observatory said that there have been no signs of fresh lava in the summit crater since May and that based on that, it’s possible the volcano is quieting down. Cleveland lies on a major international flight path and any eruptions could disrupt air traffic. The aviation alert level is now at yellow.
With PenAir slated to end service to Akutan sometime this fall, the community is searching for a new airline to take its place.
After serving Akutan for more than a decade, last month PenAir asked the federal Department of Transportation to release the company from its contract to provide Essential Air Service to the community. PenAir said at the time that the WWII-era Grumman Goose needs to be retired and that none of the company’s other aircraft are suitable for landing at the new airport on Akun Island.
In a multi-page letter to the DOT, Akutan mayor Joseph Bereskin criticized the airline for leaving Akutan in the lurch just before the opening of the $77 million dollar airport.
Unalaska is now halfway through a month-long repaving project that’s caused plenty of traffic delays. Here, in their own words, residents describe how they’re making the most of their time stuck in gridlock.
Grant Aviation’s new flight service to Atka and Nikolski got off to a smooth start on Monday. The airline is taking over the routes from PenAir, which served the communities for more than a decade.
Residents hope that the new airline will bring more reliable service. In 2011, PenAir completed only half of its scheduled flights to Nikolski and two-thirds to Atka. Grant Aviation’s chief operations officer, Austin Engebretson says his company will do better.
The Raider cross-country team is off to a bang, shattering a school record at their first meet.
At the Seward Invitational on Saturday, freshman Ross Enlow ran a 5,000-meter course in 18 minutes and 43 seconds. The previous Unalaska City School record for that distance was set by Kyle Haskins in 2008, with a time of 19 minutes and 1 seconds.
Enlow placed 19 out of 80 runners. Coach David Gibson explains that the meet was unusual in that Unalaska was mostly competing with larger 3A schools like Homer and Wasilla. He says that a good showing at this meet means that the Raiders should be competitive when facing teams from their own division.
Unalaskans aren’t used to spending their Labor Day weekend stuck in gridlock. But that’s exactly what happened on Monday, when traffic backed up across the bridge connecting Unalaska and Amaknak islands.
Granite Construction has been repaving Unalaska’s roads for about two weeks. According the contract they signed with the city, Granite is supposed to keep traffic delays to a minimum. To be exact, a flagger can’t keep you stopped for more than 20 minutes.
Nancy Peterson, the director of public works, says that rule has been broken -- many times.
"You know, it’s not going as well as we’d hoped," Peterson says. "Fortunately, we’re coming to a point where the traffic control, in and of itself, will improve."
That’s because Granite is about to finish repaving near the bridge.
With an eye toward Arctic development, a group of investors, government officials, and journalists toured Unalaska this weekend.
The group spun off from the three-day Arctic Imperative summit in Girdwood. After the conference ended, they spent more than a week touring communities with strategic importance for Arctic business, like Wainwright and Barrow. Unalaska was the last stop on the tour.
Two flights to Unalaska were cancelled on Sunday after a Russian volcano sent a 40,000-foot ash plume into the sky.
Bezymianny Volcano erupted on Saturday morning. The ash cloud it emitted traveled from the Russian Far East to the Bering Sea. It passed over Shemya and then crossed into the Bering Sea around Adak. It finally dissipated in the Gulf of Alaska.
PenAir representatives confirmed that two of their flights were canceled as a result of the plume. According to the Alaska Volcano Observatory, pilots reported sightings of the plume and some even smelled sulfur. No ground observations were reported.
