Unalaska, AK – The city is trying a new tactic to get the geothermal project moving forward. City Manager Chris Hladick is going to try negotiating with land owner Jack Wood again for access to the proven geothermal fluids in Makushin Valley. Drilling in the 1980s showed the presence of a geothermal resource on Wood's land that could potentially be used to generate electricity. The city's negotiations with Wood stalled late last year when they could not come to agreement on how much the city would pay for the rights to access the fluids. Now, Hladick says they are negotiating to buy the fluids outright and perhaps even the 7,000 acres of land.

"It's all risky. Even if you sign an agreement, it's all risky," Hladick said. "The idea would be that the price would be cheaper now without knowing if the resource is viable. I mean, we know that there's a resource there, but how viable is it? And so we'll see what that might cost."

The city is also still negotiating with the Aleut Corporation for access to fluids on Ounalashka Corporation lands. Hladick said they're trying to get a deal in place with either of the geothermal fluid owners by February so they can put a bid out for companies that would conduct the exploratory drilling.

Hladick said the city is trying to plan for the future in other ways as well. Last week he and assistant city manager John Fulton attended the International Fisheries Symposium in Anchorage, where they learned about what changes might result from the melting of the Arctic sea ice.

"Well, the Coast Guard is going to increase their presence in the Arctic as drilling takes place and other activities, such as increased tourism and cruise ships go up there. So we're looking at what are the ways we need to improve our infrastructure to support their efforts in the Arctic."

He said the city also needs to prepare for the potent of more shipping traffic passing through the region and how that might affect the fisheries and the fishing grounds as well as the community. The opening of the Arctic might open potential new fisheries as well or changing water temperatures could affect fisheries near Unalaska. He said it's hard to plan for so many unpredictable situations and there are still many unanswered questions about governance in the new region, shipping regulations, building standards for ships, fishing regulations, and other topics. Scientists are predicting that the Arctic will have ice-free summers by 2020 or 2025.