Southcentral Alaska has several ports all serving local and important needs. These communities and ports individually petition the state and federal governments for very significant grants to maintain and expand their facilities for the benefit of the local political and geographical concerns.
Currently, there is no in-depth analysis of which port is the most effective at serving the interests of Alaskans at large, and no process of evaluating the best place for public moneys to be invested. The decisions are politically made based on the local political power to influence the public process.
Realizing this deficit in our public process, then state Rep. Larry Baker shepherded a bill through the Legislature in 1992 to create the legal foundation for municipal port authorities in Alaska. This far-seeing effort was modeled after the very successful models of regional port authorities in Puget Sound (Seattle/Tacoma), the San Francisco Bay and several East coast port communities.
Regional port authorities have been quite successful at minimizing local political influence and building interlocking infrastructure that serves the region and the general public good.
Anchorage's magnificent port handles the vast bulk of Alaska's container cargo but has the problems of significant amounts of dredging at federal expense, challenging winter sea ice conditions, limited "lay down space" for cargo handling and significant tidal-induced currents at the dock face. All of these problems are less than ideal for the state's major freight port.
The Mat-Su's Port MacKenzie presently does not have the roads and rail infrastructure that is needed, has the same sea ice challenges and may have dredging issues as cargo ships keep getting bigger with deeper drafts. Seward is a marvelous port that is deep water without the sea ice problems, but it is a longer rail link and has issues with coal dust and perceived conflicts with the cruise ship/tourism industry.
Whittier is also deep water and ice free but presently has limited cargo ship handling capacity. Nikiski largely handles oil offloading for crude from Cook Inlet as well as LNG export, but has problems with extreme tidal velocities at the dock face. Valdez is an excellent port and the processes are in place to avoid the navigational and sea ice problems of the past, but it is far from the main concentrations of Alaska people. It can be a major port servicing the Alaska gas line when it gets built.
In addition there are the recreational boating issues of access to saltwater fishing and sightseeing for the vast majority of Southcentral boating enthusiasts.
The question before us is simple. Is it time for Alaska to move beyond local interests and have a rational planning mechanism for building and improving our major ports? If the answer is in the affirmative, it is time to get after it.
Sen. Fred Dyson is an Eagle River Republican first elected to the Legislature in 1996.
By SEN. FRED DYSON