Military

Northeast Cape is a Formerly Used Defense Site situated on the eastern tip of St. Lawrence Island. A former subsistence camp for island residents, the base established there was active during the Cold War and closed down in the early 70s. Recently in Savoonga, residents of St. Lawrence Island met with the Army Corps. of Engineers to discuss the cleanup of environmental contaminants left by the site. KNOM’s Kristin Leffler and Jenn Ruckel attended and filed this report:

It was a clear and bright day on St. Lawrence Island when representatives of the Army Corps. of Engineers landed in Savoonga. Two meetings slated that day would address the process for cleaning up Northeast Cape, inactive since 1972, but harboring a slew of environmental contaminants, including the toxin PCB.

According to Kevin Maher with Jacobs Engineering, the meetings aimed to introduce how the CERCLA process was used at Northeast Cape.

“The CERCLA is really a federal act that helped to deal with legacy contamination at abandoned contaminated sites,” said Maher. “And really, it was the first comprehensive way a process was implemented to handle these large contaminated sites.”

CERCLA stands for Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. It’s basically a multi-step process by which contaminants are assessed and actions are planned to remediate them. According to the Army Corps., the remedial actions at Northeast Cape (including excavating contaminated soil, removing debris, and installing landfill caps) are nearing completion.

But St. Lawrence Island residents aren’t completely satisfied, and they have qualms with the process itself: citing lack of transparency, poor communication, and exclusion of tribal governments.

Delbert Pungowiyi says there hasn’t been good government-to-government cooperation between the tribal governments and the federal government with the cleanup process. When the base was first established, Pungowiyi says island residents didn’t have much of a choice…

“At least our government, the United States government, had the courtesy to ask for permission to use our island. And our grandparents back then agreed that we really had no choice,” he said. “We’re in between these two big giants—America and Russia. It was the Cold War era. If World War III had taken place, we would’ve been wiped off the face of this earth.”

But now, cleaning up the site proves an aggravating process for Savoonga and Gambell residents who recount striking cancer rates among their people, which they attribute to military sites. According to a study funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in 2002, the average level of the toxin PCB measured in St. Lawrence Island residents was 7.5 parts per billion, compared to the national average of 0.9-1.5 parts per billion for the rest of the nation. The highest levels of PCBs were found in those who spent most of their time at the former military site at Northeast Cape.

Many residents who attended the meeting expressed dissatisfaction with the cleanup process. Muffy Iya is worried that the federal government didn’t invest enough money in remediation, and used a metaphor to express her concern:

“Just to put it in perspective, you know, women have a certain way of washing dishes. So does everybody. Sometimes we don’t even have to use hot water because it’s a cost-saving thing. You use cold water, and that works, too,” she said. “And the same thing with Army Corps. of Engineers—you know, sometimes they take the least amount of money to correct the problem.”

However, the meeting was simply held to explain the CERCLA process. As Kevin Maher conceded, there were many more issues than the Corps. representatives could address, and there were questions they didn’t have the answers to.

“There’s bigger issues here today than we’re going to be able to solve at this time,” said Maher. “But there still is opportunity for public comment throughout the process, and we’ll touch on that again later, but thank you for your comments.”

But what follows “the process” for a federal agency translates to a frustrating amount of red tape for island residents who don’t feel they’re being heard.

“My concern is, you know, we’re making all of these public comments about the Northeast Cape site, and I don’t know if our public comments change the record of decision with the Army Corps,” said Iya.

The Record of Decision is the document that initially established what type of remediation would be implemented at the site. Though the document was finalized in 2009, Aaron Shewman with the Army Corps. says it can be modified as new information about the site becomes available. To this end, Restoration Advisory Boards (or RABs) were established to keep the public involved.

“The RAB functions as a way for the public to give us input. And if you find things out at Northeast Cape over the years that we’ve been doing remedial actions out there, we’ve addressed them,” said Shewman. “You know, Bryan came up with the fuel pipeline break down near Site 6, for example. That’s definitely one function of the RAB. The other one is to keep everybody up-to-date on where we are in the process.”

The next RAB meeting will be later this month in Savoonga, and federally mandated 5-year reviews will occur until the site is considered clean.

Recently, on the top floor of Norton Sound Regional Hospital, two-dozen women gathered around a large table. They traveled to Nome for a conference to discuss a dire concern: high rates of cancer, developmental disabilities and other diseases linked to contaminants and former military sites in the Bering Strait.

“We hear over and over: by the time we found out we have cancer, it’s too late. We have a cancer crisis. So, my goal was to bring women from each of the 16 communities NSHC serves to document health concerns,” said Vi Waghiyi of Savoonga. She’s the environmental health and justice program director for ACAT: Alaska Community Action on Toxics.

At this gathering in Nome, the woman began documenting their communities’ health concerns. With support from ACAT, they want to present a report to healthcare providers and policymakers to ask for change.

“We wanted to empower the women—how to testify, write letters to the editor—because as women, we’re the backbones of our communities,” said Waghiyi.

The women raised concerns about lack of information on toxic sites, lack of effective communication with health care providers, and not having environmental health threats taken seriously. According to ACAT Executive Director Pam Miller, “There’s concern that a lot of this illness might be related to chemical exposures from military contamination, and also this region, because it’s in the Arctic, is on the receiving end for global contaminants that move into this area on wind and ocean currents from all over the world.”

Military contamination has been of much concern on St. Lawrence Island, where two U.S. bases were established during the Cold War. Savoonga health aide Annie Alowa started noticing an unusual number of cancers among the people—before she passed away of cancer herself in 1999. Waghiyi says these contaminants are still in the marine mammals that constitute most of island residents’ traditional diets.

While some of these larger battles over eliminating toxins may take years to wage, there are short-term goals in sight. The gathering concluded with a call to Senator Donny Olson in Juneau thanking him for support of the Toxic Free Children’s Act, which would eliminate toxic flame-retardants from children’s products. The group asked him to push for an even stronger bill during this legislative session. While Olson is in the minority this year, he says he’ll continue leveraging his support and call on the women for testimony.

“That’s exactly what we need,” said Olson, over the teleconference. “We need people out there who are passionate about the subject, who are knowledgeable and who go and make their voices known.”

Waghiyi says it can be overwhelming trying to change the business practices of large companies that are producing products with toxins, but now a grandmother herself, she says there’s no other choice but to keep fighting for a safer, cleaner world for her children.

“We’re up against multinational corporations that have no idea what’s going on with our people. We have to be the conscience,” she said. “So that’s why we go miles and miles away, travel to Washington, DC. We have a right to be at the table for making decisions.”

ACAT was founded in 1997, and is composed mostly of women who work for environmental health and justice in Alaska Native communities.

The Senate today unanimously passed a bill aimed at preventing suicide among veterans. U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan said it’s an important bill for Alaska, which has the highest number of vets per capita and also the highest rate of suicide.

“As an officer in the Marine Corps both on active duty and in the Reserves, I’ve personally witnessed the struggles, at times tragic, that some of our servicemen and women undergo,” he said in a speech on the Senate floor.

The bill is named for Clay Hunt, a Marine veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan who killed himself 2011. The legislation calls for a review of military and VA suicide prevention programs, financial incentives to help recruit psychiatrists to the VA and a better website to show the mental health resources available.

According to the VA, some 22 veterans commit suicide each day. Sen. Sullivan said it’s a personal issue for him.

“The suicide of a young Alaskan marine under my command still haunts me. You always wonder: could I have done more?” he said in his Senate speech. He paused for 10 seconds, looking down at the podium, working to maintain composure. “With the proper awareness and resources, this marine might be alive today.”

Clay Hunt’s mom said almost the same thing about her son: “If he had had better care, he, maybe, would not be dead today,” Susan Selke said in an interview with NBC.

The bill passed the House last month, also unanimously, and now heads to the president for signature. The bill had widespread support last year, too, but was blocked by then-Sen. Tom Coburn, who objected to the cost: $22 million over five years. The Oklahoma Republican has since retired from office.

At a press conference in downtown Anchorage, Governor Bill Walker introduced the new Adjutant General for the Alaska National Guard. Retired Colonel Laurie Hummel served in Army intelligence for 30 years after graduating from West Point, and is the first woman to lead the Guard.

In her time with the Armed Forces, Hummel said, she has seen “walls come down” as equality and opportunity extend further into the military’s diverse ranks. She plans to ensure the Guard follows the same course.

“We need to make sure that we have a moral and ethical climate that is worthy of our membership,” Hummel told the room. “we need to make sure that we build a mutual culture of trust. There will be no old boys network, there will be no old girls network.”

Hummel’s hire comes after accusations of misconduct within the Alaska Army National Guard led to dismissals and investigations under Governor Sean Parnell’s administration. Hummel and her staff will begin reviewing Guard policies and procedures to prevent sexual assault, harassment, favoritism, and other improprieties documented in a report by the Office of Complex Investigations.

A group of bills filed this session by Democratic legislators aim to modify protocols for reporting offenses within the guard and update the uniform code of military justice. Governor Walker’s office will help that effort as a special investigator continues looking into years of allegations.

“Those wrong-doers will be brought to justice,” Walker said, “I’ll just leave it at that.”

Hummel also assumes the role as Commissioner of the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. Her deputy will be retired Air Force Colonel Bob Doehl, who left the Air National Guard in 2012, and earlier worked as an attorney within the Department of Law.

In November Hummel ran an unsuccessful campaign for the Northeast Anchorage seat in the state house.

The Eyak is back in Sitka.

Ten days after the 80-foot tender and mail boat ran aground and sank just north of the Goddard hot springs, it’s back afloat — after a virtual alphabet soup of state and federal agencies and local companies worked together to salvage it.

At about 3 p.m. on Friday afternoon,  the tugboat Marauder chugged into Sitka Channel with the Eyak in tow. Those watching as the vessel was tied up at Sitka Sound Seafoods said the plan for now is to take the Eyak to Wrangell for repairs.

Michael Wortman, the head of the Coast Guard marine safety detachment in Sitka, said that in total, the Eyak spilled about twenty gallons of fuel — a fraction of the 800 to 1,000 gallons the boat was believed to have on board.

“We, honestly, got really lucky,” Wortman said. “Since the vessel inverted, all the oil was trapped inside,  and SEAPRO and SEAL did a great job preventing a lot more from being discharged into the water.”

The vessel was upside down in forty feet of water, Wortman said, which counter-intuitively limited leaking.

And Wortman said most of what was spilled was soaked up with absorbent material by the Southeast Alaska Petroleum Response Organization, or SEAPRO, the agency tasked with responding to local spills.

The Eyak is a crucial lifeline for the small communities of southern Baranof Island.

Mayor Debra Gifford, of Port Alexander, said the Eyak’s owner and captain, David Castle, has been supplying the town for more than two decades. Finding someone to fill the gap will be hard, Gifford said.

“It’s going to be kind of difficult because the Eyak was a multi-service operation,” she said. “Because they did all those things — the mail, the freight, buying fish — he was able to make a living doing those. But to do any single one of those is not super cost-effective, so we probably are going to have to think about the future here, to consolidate things and only get stuff in once a month or every few months. I’m just not really sure how that is going to play out yet.”

But for now, the town’s 45 year-round residents are in good shape, Gifford said. Castle owns a second, smaller boat, the Silver Arrow, which is taking mail and groceries down to Port Alexander while the Eyak is out of commission. Fuel comes in on a separate barge.

So while there’s no way to get, say, a couch or a new washing machine, or lumber for a building project, nobody is in dire straits.

“Everyone’s got food to eat and that kind of thing,” Gifford said. “I think mostly people, off the bat, are pretty heartbroken for Dave Castle.  The loss of the Eyak is more than just him bringing us stuff, it’s his home, and it’s a lifestyle for him to come out here and, you know, be a part of the infrastructure of our community. He’s a good friend to all of us out here.”

The Coast Guard’s Wortman said Castle had insurance, which is paying for the salvage operation. Friends also set up a fundraising campaign for Castle. So far, it has raised over $25,000.

Under the current Alaska National Guard rules, misconduct is only met with administrative penalties. Now, legislators are preparing to strengthen the code.

For an hour and a half, acting Adjutant General Mike Bridges walked the House State Affairs committee through the problems with the Alaska National Guard’s disciplinary system.

“Alaska’s military code was written in 1955 when we weren’t a state,” said Bridges. “It has never been updated or truly affected or enacted since. It’s incredibly antiquated. It has no teeth, and for various reasons over the decades, it has never been enforced in Alaska.”

The deficiencies with the Guard’s disciplinary process were laid out last year, when an investigation by the federal National Guard Bureau documented problems with sexual assault reporting, fraud, favoritism, and mistrust of leadership. The way the military code is currently written, a member of the Guard can be passed over for promotions or discharged from the service, but they can’t be court-martialed in the way Army troops or Air Force members can.

Bridges noted the Alaska force has been working with Guard leadership at the federal level, along with the governor’s office, to come up with a variation on the Uniform Code of Military Justice that would work for the state.

“I call it a preventative measure,” said Bridges. “If folks know there’s a big hammer waiting with a criminal charge to it for while they’re serving in the militia of this state, the National Guard, they’re probably going to think twice about it, unless they’re truly going to offend anyway.”

Many of the questions Bridges fielded dealt with whether the federal code could simply be adopted wholesale. Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, an Anchorage Republican, also wanted to know if adopting the code could interfere with criminal charges being filed in the state courts system.

The answer was no.

“We’re going to call the cops anyway,” said Bridges. “What this gives is the state government, besides just the law enforcement side, it gives us a military tool, because we’re a militia to prosecute as a state UCMJ — military code.”

A bill to update the code has not yet been introduced, but the Legislature’s Democratic minority has announced plans to file such legislation.

Meanwhile, Gov. Bill Walker is planning to announce his pick to lead the National Guard on Friday.