Shell is planning to return to Unalaska this summer, pending final approval from regulatory agencies, and does not plan to leave anchoring systems in the water when rigs are not present, according to Unalaska Ports Director Peggy McLaughlin.
Despite her fears of Shell snagging a barge full of frozen fish towed by a tugboat in Natkeekin Bay and local residents' concerns over the loss of fishing grounds near the oil rigs, the state Department of Natural Resources last week granted the oil company permits for three offshore anchorages in Unalaska.
"As barges adjust the towing wire between the tug and barge, the wire will often slack and drag. This event could potentially result in fouling with a wet stored anchoring system," according to McLaughlin, who said a fleet of 28 Shell vessels, including the two big oil rigs, is expected in local waters in June.
The proposed Nateekin Bay anchorage, at the entrance to Captains Bay, is a "natural choke point," McLaughlin said, where tug and barge tows are the "primary concern."
"Captains Bay is heavily transited by the marine industry," McLaughlin said, and is the site of the large Westward Seafood plant, two marine fuel tank farms and the container cargo tugboat and barge company Alaska Marine Lines, formerly Northland.
"Tug and barge traffic is regular, and is often done with a tandem tow, one tug, two barges. The Nateekin Bay site would further reduce the navigational space available for approaches in and out of Captains Bay, particularly for barges," according to McLaughlin.
The mooring permits expire in four years, in 2019, and are only for the emergency temporary use of two vessels, the drill ship Noble Discoverer and the square-shaped towed rig Polar Pioneer, according to Shell.
"The drilling units would preferably sail directly to, or from, the Chukchi Sea if possible, depending on the transit schedule and the weather; however, temporary anchorings in Dutch Harbor may be necessary," according to the oil company's project description.
But McLaughlin said if the Shell fleet heads north from Seattle in a few months, the vessels will have to wait in Unalaska for good weather and ice conditions in the Arctic Ocean, so locals can expect another large presence similar to 2012.
The Wide Bay site is seen as the best location by both the city ports department and Shell, with Summer Bay and Nateekin serving as backup sites, according to McLaughlin.
"Wide Bay is acceptable to the city as a primary mooring location for the Polar Pioneer," based on talks with the Alaska Marine Pilots and the pilots' talks with Shell, she said, adding that the city requests accurate anchor coordinates to avoid conflicts with other vessels or anchorages. But Shell has voluntarily committed not to leave any anchor systems on the ocean floor and will instead use anchoring systems carried on board the vessels, even in Wide Bay.
While Wide Bay is off to the side of most vessel traffic, the other sites are in busier locations.
"The city believes there should be no wet storage of the anchoring system in Nateekin Bay or Summer Bay," McLaughlin wrote in her public comment. Shell proposes an eight-point anchoring system with an underwater network of heavy cables connected to eight anchors weighing between 9 and 18 metric tons each.
The Summer Bay site is where cargo ships anchor while waiting to load cargo in the port, she said.
"The wet storing of anchors reduces anchorage area available for these vessels. This mooring location is also in close proximity to the marine pilot boarding station, and the long-term uncoordinated use of this location could impact the approach of container ships, fuel tankers, trampers, and cruise ships."
The potential impacts on local small-boat fishing were repeatedly mentioned in the public comments.
Local resident and politician David Gregory questioned the proposed 1,600-foot safety zones around the drill units, although those potential restrictions are outside the state's authority and will be decided by the Coast Guard.
"Accommodations need to be made for local vessels that have historically transited and fished in these areas," Gregory wrote in his Feb. 11 comment to DNR's Division of Mining, Land and Water.
Unalaska resident and marine biologist Melissa Good expressed similar concerns.
"The documented mooring sites are currently used for the commercial, recreational, and subsistence harvest of halibut, cod, rockfish, salmon, king and Tanner crab, and marine mammals. These mooring areas are traditional travel and fishing grounds, and associated safety zones could limit the use of an area that has been used thousands of years," said Good.
But according to Candice Snow of DNR, "The proposed safety zones will have minimal impact on standard vessel operations within the Port of Dutch Harbor due to the limited area affected and the limited duration anticipated for the drilling units to occupy the anchorages."
And McLaughlin said the security zones would only be in effect if the oil rigs were there.
Despite the moorage concerns, the city council supports offshore oil exploration and is launching a community branding campaign to promote Unalaska to oil field workers, hoping they'll move to the Aleutian town after viewing city-funded advertisements in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma.
The state's dependence on oil revenues was highlighted during often emotional public testimony on the state budget last week, seen statewide and locally at the Unalaska Legislative Information Office, as the Alaska Legislature considers cuts in popular services to offset a massive deficit.
Unalaska residents Roberta "Bobbie" and William "Buzz" Lekanoff expressed "strong opposition" to the mooring permits in their written remarks while suggesting oil rig parking sites in "less populated areas. Adak comes to mind as one. There are also bays further out away from our community."
Christina Chamberlain of Unalaska wrote that ideally she'd prefer to see no offshore drilling in the Arctic Ocean, as oil consumption is "hastening the extinction of the human race." And she also cited the Shell oil rig Kulluk running aground near Kodiak while being towed from Unalaska to Seattle two years ago.
This story first appeared in The Bristol Bay Times/Dutch Harbor Fisherman and is republished here with permission.