Tourism

Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center officials warn people winter after winter about the perils of walking across the lake ice.

On Sunday, that warning hit home when one Juneau man fell into the frigid water looking out for an adventurous grandmother standing on thin ice.

Like many others over the weekend, Yana White was hiking across the apparently frozen Mendenhall Lake toward the face of the glacier. She was with her daughter and her mother.

“It was sunny and beautiful and my mom just came over for six months to stay with us,” White said. “She came from Russia. And she just wanted to see and touch and feel the glacier.”

It’d been cold for days, but she said as they got close to the face, she noticed the ice getting thinner. Some puddles were visible, too.

“And my mom felt a little adventurous,” White said with a laugh. “She refused to turn back, and she kept walking and walking toward the glacier. So I stopped because I had my daughter with me.”

White and her daughter turned back. Another hiker’s photo shows White’s mom, 61, standing awkwardly, perhaps 20 yards from a section of deep blue, freshly calved glacier.

White said her mom was scared.

Houston Laws of Juneau is in the foreground of that photo, another 25 yards or so back from White’s mom. Laws said he knows to stay away from the face of the glacier where the ice is thinnest, because water is flowing below. He was keeping his dogs in check. He didn’t see any indication the ice was thin, and there were more tracks in the snow in front of him.

Moments after the photo was snapped, he was in the drink.

“I probably took two steps and then I fell in,” Laws said. “No, fast kaploosh or anything, it was just like a slow elevator speed, up to my chest. … It was like standing on a coffee table.”

For most of us, that coffee table elevator ride would trigger panic.

But Laws, who’s well-known as an ultrarunner, isn’t most people. He has actually trained for this kind of thing.

“It was kind of like, ‘This sucks. Uh, but like, what’s the next step? I want to get out of here. And I can’t feel — I can’t toe off, I can’t lift off, I can’t toe off, there’s no bottom underneath me,’” he said. “So I paddled to the side. Just thinking about the next step was helpful from my past training.”

White said that calmness? Yeah, it’s legit.

“He got out of the water really quickly,” she said. “He was just — you know, he looked so calm and so cool. It kind of made me think he had been through that before.”

Laws said he hadn’t, besides in a training scenario.

He rolled himself onto more solid ice, then saw White’s mom walking toward the hole he’d just made. She doesn’t speak English, so White translated for Laws, who steered her back to safety.

“When I finally reunited with my mother, she just said, ‘Oh my gosh, Yana, thank you so much,’” she said.

White told her mom to thank the young man who’d helped her, and she did in broken English.

“But later at home, she just said, ‘Yana, I have never felt so much adrenaline in my life. And that was the first time,'” White continued. “And she said, ‘I realize that I have done something that I was not supposed to. And I will never do that again and put people in danger.’”

Laws said he was very cold, wet and embarrassed.

Initially, he didn’t want to talk about it, but his hiking partner cajoled him into warning others on their hike back and sharing the story.

Laws had seen other photos people had shared under what appear to be identical conditions taken the day before his misadventure.

“And, it’s like, identical. The location, the exact location of people’s selfies? Are just right where I fell in. And it was just a day apart.”

It’s a lesson Laws, White and glacier visitor center officials want everyone to learn — but not firsthand.

Laws said he’s fine, and all his digits are intact.

Princess Cruise Lines will pay a $40 million fine for “deliberate pollution of the seas and intentional acts to cover it up,” according to the Department of Justice, which calls it “the largest-ever criminal penalty involving deliberate vessel pollution.”

The California-based cruise operator also agreed to plead guilty to seven felony charges over illegal practices on five ships dating back, in at least one case, to 2005.

The Justice Department said in a statement that Princess illegally dumped contaminated waste and oil from its Caribbean Princess ship for eight years — a practice that was exposed by a whistleblowing engineer in 2013.

The engineer quit his job over the dumping when the ship docked in the U.K. and alerted British authorities, who notified the U.S. Coast Guard. He said other engineers were using a device called a “magic pipe” to bypass the ship’s water treatment system and unload oily waste into the ocean.

Then, other engineers attempted to hide the evidence of illegal dumping before British investigators could board the ship, according to the Justice Department. The statement read: “The chief engineer and senior first engineer ordered a cover-up, including removal of the magic pipe and directing subordinates to lie.” This continued during a subsequent investigation led by the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Justice Department said the deliberate pollution was likely an attempt to cut costs: “The chief engineer that ordered the dumping off the coast of England told subordinate engineers that it cost too much to properly offload the waste in ports and that the shore-side superintendent who he reported to would not want to pay the expense.”

In addition to the illegal waste dumping from the Caribbean Princess, the Department of Justice says it uncovered illegal practices on four other Princess ships:

• “One practice was to open a salt water valve when bilge waste was being processed by the oily water separator and oil content monitor. The purpose was to prevent the oil content monitor from otherwise alarming and stopping the overboard discharge.”
• “The second practice involved discharges of oily bilge water originating from the overflow of graywater tanks into the machinery space bilges. This waste was pumped back into the graywater system rather than being processed as oily bilge waste.”

Some discharges likely took place within U.S. waters, the Justice Department says.

“The pollution in this case was the result of more than just bad actors on one ship,” Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden says. “It reflects very poorly on Princess’s culture and management.”

In a statement to NPR, Princess Cruises says it is “extremely disappointed about the inexcusable actions of our employees.” It says it launched an internal investigation in 2013. And “although we had policies and procedures in place, it became apparent they were not fully effective,” the statement reads. “We are very sorry that this happened and have taken additional steps to ensure we meet or exceed all environmental requirements.

Princess Cruises is a subsidiary of Miami-based Carnival Corp., and the plea agreement requires ships from eight of Carnival’s companies to submit to court-supervised monitoring of environmental compliance for the next five years.

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

Three major rivers that flow out of Canada into Southeast Alaska could provide a combined $1 billion in value for tourism and fisheries on this side of the border over the next three decades.

That’s one findings in a new study commissioned by a group seeking to highlight potential impacts to those rivers from the mining industry in British Columbia.

The study puts some numbers to the arguments that Southeast Alaska fishermen, tour operators, tribal leaders and communities have been making about the importance of the Taku River near Juneau, Stikine near Wrangell and the Unuk north of Ketchikan.

Salmon Beyond Borders commissioned the report, written by the McDowell Group.

Commercial and sport fishing activity along with tourism dollars from the waterways are worth a combined $48 million a year in economic activity including the paychecks for 400 people in Southeast, the study said.

“It’s well known to any of us who live in Southeast Alaska know that salmon and commercial fishing have a substantial impact on our region’s economy and that the visitor industry as well,” said Kirsten Shelton-Walker, project manager with the research and consulting business McDowell Group in Juneau. “And so, we were not surprised but it was interesting to find that the impact of these rivers could be as high as almost $1 billion over a 30-year horizon.”

The $48 million a year is discounted over time, but it’s estimated to add up to nearly $1 billion over the next three decades.

The annual dollar amount includes almost $20 million a year in income from jobs in the seafood, visitor and sport fishing industries.

Other dollars counted in that figure are from U.S. Forest Service recreational cabins along with hunting and trapping on the rivers.

The consultants also included the tax dollars the state collects from commercial salmon catches and tax collected by the Wrangell, Juneau and Ketchikan boroughs from property on the rivers.

McDowell also included information on Alaska’s commercial fishing catch from two rivers south of the Alaska border, the Nass and Skeena. Salmon from those rivers are caught in Alaska waters.

Salmon Beyond Borders is trying to highlight what’s at stake if mines operating and being developed across the border in British Columbia suffer an environmental disaster like the failure of the Mount Polley tailings dam in central B.C. in August of 2014.

Heather Hardcastle, campaign director with the organization, said the ultimate goal is not to stop development of the mines. She said her organization wants a greater say for Alaskans in how the mines are developed and environmental safeguards are set for mine tailings storage.

“Ultimately we want an agreement or set of agreements between Canada and the United States that does provide enforceable protection for those of us who are sustained by these rivers,” Hardcastle said. “And so by trying to tell the story of what these rivers mean, that’s a big part of our work. So this is a first step in doing that.”

Another part of the story to tell in the future would be the environmental importance the river systems, Hardcastle said.

Large open pit precious metal mines are already operating or planned near tributaries of the Stikine and Unuk.

The state and British Columbia this fall signed a statement of cooperation on transboundary mining, promising a larger role for Alaskans in planning and permitting.

Hardcastle says Salmon Beyond Borders will use this report to continue pushing for oversight from both nations’ federal governments.

The group’s report only focused on economic activity on this side of the border.

The Alaska Miners Association also commissions the McDowell Group for an annual look at the economic value of mine projects within the state.

However, Executive Director Deantha Crockett said her organization has not looked at the economic value of B.C. mines to Alaskans. She said the AMA supports the statement of cooperation between the state and provincial governments and expects that agreement, signed this fall by Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott, will better define impacts, positive or negative in the future.

“What is important to keep focused on is the technical working group that the lieutenant governor has provided for to fully understand how those mines across the border work, will in the long-term, give us the information we need to evaluate whether those great economic benefits that this study puts on display are at jeopardy or not,” Crockett said.

An annual Pricewaterhouse Coopers report estimates that mining in British Columbia brought in more than $ 5.7 billion in revenue and employed more than 8,000 people last year across the border.

Companies have also built hydro-electric energy projects on tributaries of the Stikine and are planning more.

Ketchikan’s Vigor Industrial rolled out the forward half of the Alaska-class ferry Tazlina on Sunday.

With that 800-ton portion out of the assembly hall, shipyard employees now can get started on the back half.

It takes coordination and planning to move 800 tons of half-built ferry, even when it’s moving just a couple hundred feet.

On a frosty, windy, blue-sky Southeast Alaska morning, a handful of Ketchikan Shipyard employees kept a close eye on the huge chunk of welded steel as it inched out of its tight quarters in the assembly hall, and into the light of day.

The ferry isn’t done. Not by a long shot.

But this is an important moment for the shipyard, which received the $100 million state contract to build two Alaska Class ferries in fall of 2014.

“Today, the marine division rolled out the forward half of the state ferry Tazlina into its berth 1 position,” Doug Ward, director of shipyard development, said. “The very next thing that will happen inside the building is the engine-room modules that we’ve been working on for the last several months, those will go into the assembly hall and we’ll start building units and stacking modules for the aft half of the Tazlina.”

The forward half was made water-tight with fitted plywood to keep out Ketchikan’s typical wet weather, and finishing work will continue inside that section while the aft half is assembled.

Dockmaster Greg Howe said once the back end is complete, they’ll roll it out and weld the two together.

“The second half of the ship will actually go quite a bit quicker because a considerable part of the aft of the ship is already constructed,” he said. “It’s sitting in modules in other parts of the yard. And will be assembled in the assembly hall here over the next eight months. We should be rolling the aft half out early-summer, mid-summer.”

The Tazlina is the first Alaska Class Ferry, and because of that is taking the longest. With this first ship, Vigor employees had to work on detailed designs, fabricate tools and templates, and work out any kinks in the plans.

The second ferry – the Hubbard – should go faster.

Other than the name, Ward said the ships will be pretty much identical.

“So, when we start on 2, on the Hubbard, we will have that learning curve,” Ward said.

Howe added that the shipyard’s young workforce has been in training, and by the time they start on the Hubbard, those workers will have more experience to work faster.

Project manager Alan Coffin was all smiles as the forward half of the ferry rolled out of the hall. He said it will be even better when they roll out the other end.

“But this is a huge accomplishment. You see how big that thing is coming out of the shop? 150-ton cranes, 100-feet in the air and we’re just clearing those with that ship,” he said. “So, it’s a huge accomplishment. I mean, sit back and look: We’re doing that here in little-old Ketchikan, here. It’s crazy. It’s really crazy.”

The Alaska-class ferries contract calls for final delivery by late 2018.

The Tazlina should be in the water for sea trials by fall of next year.

The Ketchikan Shipyard is owned by the state, but is managed by Vigor Industrial.

The Alaska Marine Highway System plans its next round of fare increases to start May 1. That’s when the new summer schedule begins.

Spokesman Jeremy Woodrow said it’s the second year of a five-year effort to equalize ticket prices.

“What we’re trying to do is bring similar distance fares into a similar price across the entire system. So you’re getting what you pay for no matter where you are in the system,” he said.

Most fares are being raised only a few dollars, as shown on the AMHS reservations website. A few are dropping. Some examples, based on rates for one adult passenger:

• Juneau-to-Ketchikan will be $4 more (from $122 to $126).
• Kodiak-Homer is up $2 (from $83 to $85).
• Bellingham, Washington-to-Skagway, one of the longer routes, will increase $13 (from $451 to $464).
• Cordova-Whittier will cost $3 less (from $84 to $81).

The new May-to-September schedule was released Wednesday.

Sailings are actually up for the busier months, June through August. But Woodrow said they’re down for the next full budget year, which begins in July.

“Where we’ve been able to reduce the frequency of sailings has been more in the shoulder season. Late April, early May and then late September [is] where we’ve kind of reduced just a week here or there for each ship,” he said.

He said the summer schedule was developed around the governor’s proposed budget. It calls for a 5 percent cut in unrestricted general fund spending.

The Legislature could further reduce the marine highway budget. Woodrow said any such cuts would come out of next fall, winter and spring’s schedules.

For the second time in the past month, an area goat hunter was rescued after sustaining injuries while hiking.

Alaska State Troopers were notified about 4:30 p.m. Thursday that a hunter had been injured and was in need of assistance.

Haines-based hunting guide Larry Benda was hiking with his client, Glen Eckett of Texas, when Eckett fell, according to troopers. He sustained a non-life-threatening injury but was unable to hike back down. The two were on a ridge to the Northeast of Chilkoot Lake.

Troopers requested assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard, but poor weather prevented them from responding that day.

According to troopers, the two were equipped to spend the night and the Coast Guard was able to locate the hunters just before noon Friday.

According to the Coast Guard, Eckett was and airlifted back to town, receiving local medical attention.

Benda declined transportation.

At the end of October, a hunting guide was rescued from Porcupine Peak, after he fell and broke his leg on a successful goat hunt with two clients.