The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority has made proposed West Susitna Access project presentations to the State House Transportation Committee on Feb. 28, the Senate Finance Committee on March 15, the House Finance Committee on March 16 and the AlaskaOutdoor Council this month. Between the four presentations, AIDEA has testified to confusing purposes for their road.
In all the presentations except for Senate Finance, they changed their purpose. They said they will no longer build to specifications to meet a heavy industrial haul road for mining ore trucks. Now it will be a public road built to state and federal transportation standards.
Supposedly this way the cost will be cheaper.
But then in Senate Finance, they said the opposite. There, they said it will need to be a “more significant haul road to sustain mining trucks.’
So which is it, a heavy industrial mining road or a recreational public road? This happened last year in their testimony to these same committees. They tailored their presentation to what they thought the committee might want to hear.
We are on the verge of an Environmental Impact Statement scoping for the federal wetlands 404 permit. Will the real AIDEA proposal please stand up and be transparent?
— Becky Long
Talkeetna
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