Economy

(JUNEAU, ALASKA) The fast ferry Fairweather will be out of service until early September.

The ship has been tied up in Juneau since a small oil leak was discovered Thursday evening in one of its four water jets, which power the ship.

Officials hoped to weld a temporary patch and return to service by Thursday. Further repairs would have taken place during a scheduled October overhaul.

But Captain Mike Neussl, who runs the ferry system, says that won’t work.

“Now the plan is to do the ultimate plan, which is to take the vessel to Ketchikan, drydock it, remove the water jet and repair it outside the vessel with a factory-approved permanent repair. That does involve welding and grinding back to original specifications, not just welding a plate over the pinhole that is in there,” he says.

Neussl says the Juneau-based Fairweather will be out until September 3rd. Ferry staff are

looking at alternatives for Sitka, which gets five sailings a week. One option would add staff to the ferry LeConte, so it could run a longer schedule.

They’re also considering options for its two weekly Petersburg sailings, which have attracted less traffic.

The Fairweather will sail to Ketchikan’s Alaska Ship and Drydock under its own power. Neussl says it can operate on three engines.

“Obviously, we can’t be leaking oil all the way down there. If there’s oil in the system and it’s pressurized it’s going to leak. So basically we’ve got to vacate all the oil out of the system and not operate that No. 4 engine on the way down to Ketchikan to get it to the drydock,” he says.

He says about five quarts of oil leaked last week before the hole was discovered. It was cleaned up.

Neussl says the leak is not connected to ongoing engine problems that threaten to sideline the Fairweather and its sister ship, the Chenega.

Those problems are the subject of a lawsuit against the engine manufacturer and ship builder.

The fast ferries each carry up to 250 passengers and 36 vehicles.

For the first time in 14 years, the board of directors for Juneau’s Bartlett Regional Hospital is using a competitive bid process to select a management company.

The board tonight (Monday) will hear presentations from three firms that responded to a June request for proposals. Tennessee-based Quorum Health Resources has managed the city-owned hospital since 1997, and is seeking a new contract. It’s joined by Kentucky-based Alliant Management Services and PeaceHealth, headquartered in the Seattle area.

Last year, Quorum came under fire from some Bartlett employees, who said the local management team fostered “a culture of fear” at the hospital. But Bartlett Board Chair Kristen Bomengen says the criticism wasn’t the driving force behind the decision to use a competitive bid process.

“Once you’ve worked with one company for so many years, it’s only appropriate to go out and re-bid. And so, in any case we would have been going out to receive more statements of interest,” Bomengen says.

All the bidders have decades of health care experience. Quorum is the largest hospital management company in the country, and operates the Sitka Community Hospital in addition to Bartlett. Alliant’s hospitals are clustered in Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky. And PeaceHealth has six hospitals in the Pacific Northwest, including Ketchikan Medical Center.

Under its current contract, Quorum is paid between 350-thousand and 400-thousand dollars a year. The amount is tied to the Consumer Price Index. But Bomengen says the board won’t just look at cost when deciding on a management company.

“We want to make certain that we have management advice from people who are tracking what changes we’re going to be looking at in the health care industry. We would like to see an understanding of Juneau’s circumstances,” says Bomengen. “We’re interested in the kind of expertise that they’ll be able to deliver. One of the things we do through our management services contract is a lot of our purchasing and we try to get the best value for medical equipment and ongoing medical supplies.”

All three companies have representatives in Juneau for today’s meeting, which starts at 3:30 p.m. in the hospital boardroom. Bomengen says an hour and 15 minutes has been set aside for each presentation, which will be open to the public. The board may go into executive session to discuss financial aspects of the bids. An offer is tentatively scheduled to be made to one of the companies at the end of the meeting.

The road out of Juneau is getting a little longer this summer. Crews are extending Glacier Highway, the capital city’s northernmost land route. It’s a step in what officials hope will be an approximately 50-mile highway, to the north and west along Lynn Canal.

Transportation Commissioner Marc Luiken told the Juneau Chamber of Commerce on Thursday that construction is ongoing.

“We are well on our way to being able to complete that about 3-mile extension this fall. It’ll be a gravel road out there initially; we’ll eventually get out there to probably put a chip seal on it. And then eventually we’ll improve it beyond that,” he said.

The work involves widening and upgrading an existing gravel road from Glacier Highway’s current end to Cascade Point, on Berners Bay. Miller Construction won the contract for the $2.5-million-dollar project.

Plans for the longer road, to the Katzehin River, are less clear. A new ferry terminal would be built, connecting drivers to Skagway and Haines.

Environmental groups sued to block the road. Two federal courts have ruled that planners should have considered improved ferry service as an alternative to laying down pavement. That’s blocked plans to begin construction.

Luiken says his staff, the governor’s office and the Federal Highway Administration are still considering what to do next.

“Really, it boils down to two options. We can either appeal to the Supreme Court. Or we can conduct a supplemental environmental impact statement that addresses the issues that the Ninth Circuit (Court) brought up in their ruling,” Luiken says.

He says either option would take up to two years. Both could take place at the same time.

Stories include the latest candidate to run for school board during the municipal election on October 4th and another buyer steps forward to pick up the last two weeklies being shut down by Calista Corporation.

One of the Department of Agriculture’s top officials travels through Southeast Alaska and the nation’s largest national forest over the next week.

U.S. Agriculture Department Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment Harris Sherman arrives in Juneau on Saturday and then heads to Sitka and Ketchikan over the next several days. The culmination of the trip will be celebration of a stream restoration project in Craig next Thursday.

During a recent wide-ranging interview with Undersecretary Sherman, we asked him to comment on the Department’s legal plans since the Roadless Rule exemption was lifted for Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. The State of Alaska is appealing a District Court ruling essentially setting aside the exemption. A group of Southeast businesses and organizations are intervening on the side of the state – saying application of the roadless rule could prevent development of hydroelectric projects and restrict the timber and mining industries. Sherman says the thrust of their Alaska legal case will be up to the Solicitor general.

Among many of the department’s issues ar the latest bills that would devote land from the land from the Tongass National Forest to the Sealaska corporation to make up for shortcomings in selections under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

We’ve aired many stories previously documenting views of Sealaska corporation, the congressional delegation, environmentalists, and Southeast residents. But little from the current landlord. The Agriculture Department also says they have some issues they’d like to iron out before a transfer. During that recent interview with Undersecretary Sherman, we also asked him to comment on the latest versions of the land selection bills.

The Forest Service today (Tuesday) OK’d exploratory drilling at two Southeast Alaska mine sites.

The work will be done in roadless areas of the Tongass National Forest. That means they needed approval from agency Chief Tom Tidwell.

The Greens Creek mine is allowed up to three drilling sites totaling less than an acre. The operating multi-metal mine is on Admiralty Island, about 20 miles southwest of Juneau.

The Niblack project is OK’d for eight drilling sites, also totaling less than an acre. It is a multi-metal project is on Prince of Wales Island, around 30 miles southwest of Ketchikan.

Alaska Regional Forester Beth Pendleton says helicopters will move equipment to and from the sites. She says no roads will be built and reclamation will follow drilling operations.

“They would be permitted then to go in and actually construct the drilling pad sites and proceed with geotechnical and exploration drilling at those sites,” she says.

Greens Creek and Niblack were part of a recent court agreement listing mine, hydropower and other projects that would be allowed in roadless areas of the Tongass. An earlier court ruling imposed the nationwide roadless rule in Alaska after years of exemptions.

Drilling will help determine the extent and makeup of mineral deposits. Pendleton says other exploration has taken place outside areas designated as roadless.

“We’re able to expedite this process, but just to insure that any kind of incidental cutting of trees is acknowledged. And we’ve moved forward now with the approvals so the operators will be able to continue their exploration and drilling,” she says.

The Forest Service earlier this month approved tree-clearing for two other Southeast exploration projects. One is on Woewodski Island, south of Petersburg. The other is at Bokan Mountain, on southern Prince of Wales Island.

Greens Creek is owned by Idaho-based Hecla Mining Company.

Niblack is a mineral prospect being developed by Vancouver, British Columbia, based Heatherdale Resources. Its size and employment potential has been compared to Greens Creek.

The mines’ operators could not be reached for immediate comment.