Highway, erosion, pipeline dominate Butte meeting

DAWN De BUSK/Frontiersman reporter

BUTTE - Butte-area residents braved brisk morning temperatures Saturday to voice concerns to two state legislators about erosion along the Matanuska River banks, vandalism and ATV use in the Jim Creek and Knik River areas, road-improvement projects on the Old Glenn Highway and plans for a natural-gas pipeline.

Sen. Charlie Huggins, R-District H, who replaced former state Sen. Scott Ogan after Ogan's resignation last summer, and Rep. Bill Stoltze, R-District 16, spent a busy weekend in the Valley - including holding the town meeting at Butte Elementary - before returning to Juneau.

People at the Butte meeting expressed frustration over two projects they believed were proceeding too slowly: improving the Old Glenn Highway and preventing future erosion along the banks of the Matanuska River, especially where homes exist.

"The Old Glenn is the same road as it was when I was a kid - 40 years ago," said Palmer resident Scott Glenn.

Glenn said he frequently sees wrecks along the highway. He said the improvements didn't seem logical; the roadwork didn't address the real problem areas along the highway.

"We ended up with a guardrail along a straightaway that prevents us from moving out of the way to avoid a head-on," Glenn said. "I'd rather them remove the guardrail and just widen the road there."

The guardrail, installed about three years ago and located about four miles from Palmer, runs for almost a mile along the east side of the highway, protecting a swampy fishing area.

Last summer, the Alaska Department of Transportation project included improvements on the Old Glenn Highway southwest and north - toward Palmer - of Knik River Bridge. Roads that intersected the highway where upgrades were made were also widened and repaved.

Residents also indicated that a public hearing on the highway last fall was promised to them, but canceled and rescheduled three times, and DOT hadn't responded to their requests.

"This road is a mess," Glenn said. "There were maybe 1,000 people living out here when I was growing up. Now there's a population close to 5,000. Our whole infrastructure stinks. The community needs to get more involved. Can't we plan ahead a little?"

Growth in the Butte brings wear and tear on the infrastructure, and yet federal funding is dwindling, said Huggins, who chairs the state Senate's Transportation Committee.

"When the time comes, we'll bring road construction planners before a public meeting," Huggins said.

According to the www.oldglennhighway.com Web site, DOT and CRW Engineering Group are drafting plans to improve the highway from the south end of Lower Fire Lake to Ski Road in Peter's Creek.

Some of the specifics DOT hopes to include are widening the highway from 24 to 32 feet to create four-foot paved shoulders, broadening the Old Glenn Highway at the intersection of South Birchwood Road to set up left- and right-turn lanes and widening the Old Glenn Highway at North Birchwood Road to accommodate a left-turn lane.

Also, lighting would be installed at major side-street intersections. That construction is slated to begin in 2006.

"Waiting two to three years to get that done is not acceptable," Glenn said.

That comment was met with applause from audience members.

Linda Smith, who lives 600 yards from the Matanuska River, asked the politicians what could be done to prevent loss of homes and property from bank erosion along that river.

"When there's multiple people being affected, when the community is being affected (by bank erosion), it's time for the government to step in," Huggins said. "Ted Stevens' office is very committed to funding such a project on the federal level. Stevens is familiar with the need to prevent erosion on the river and knows the history going back 40 years."

"It's a multifaceted approach: a proposed channel or levy. We should find a way to market the gravel pulled out of the river," Huggins said.

"Any action that is taken to control erosion of the Matanuska River will have ramification. It's very complex," said Jeff Arndt, who owns land along its banks.

"We've been working with the borough on ways to prevent erosion," Huggins said. "I talked to [Mat-Su Borough Manager] John Duffy while he was in Juneau."

While the destruction of the Matanuska River's banks occurs naturally from the course of the river itself, the Knik River and Jim Creek areas are being destroyed by vandalism and off-road vehicles, locals said.

Agnes Quaas - whose home off Knik River Road affords her a view of the area where people tend to recreate - described stolen cars being thrashed and abandoned, fireworks being set off by Swan Lake, riverside vegetation being threatened, dust being stirred up.

"Bodenburg Creek's banks are being destroyed. The water runs right up to the Old Glenn and it wasn't like that when I moved out here," she said. "I've seen a dead swan with her babies gathered around because a four-wheeler ran over (the bird). Bodenburg Creek's banks are being destroyed."

"Motorized vehicles don't belong in every habitat," Palmerite Mary Barrett said.

Huggins said a good idea was to work with the state Department of Natural Resources to set up rules and restrictions and the ability to reinforce them.

"I don't have a silver-bullet solution," said Stoltze, suggesting trooper patrol and neighborhood watch, with residents documenting the destruction they see.

Problems exist in defining which agencies are best suited - and funded - to enforce any laws that might be passed to protect the Jim Creek and Knik River areas.

"Troopers are few and far between. They can't run out here every time we have a problem," Palmer resident R.K. Butts said.

Cecily Fritz of the Knik River Watershed Group asked Stoltze and Huggins to support funding DNR to protect the Jim Creek watershed "so animals and fish stay plentiful." Butte-area residents, although passionately concerned about local issues, also discussed two of Gov. Frank Murkowski's pet projects - building a natural-gas pipeline and opening ANWR to oil drilling.

"We can't have the drunken-sailor spending attitude of the pipeline construction days," Huggins said. " We need to realign our spending and find new ways to create revenue."

He added that pursuing funding and building a natural-gas pipeline would be an excellent way to bring more money into the state.

It was suggested during the town meeting that local hire be a requirement in any legislation dealing with building and maintaining a natural-gas pipeline.

Although the companies that will be involved in the gas pipeline can't legally be forced to hire a certain percentage of Alaska residents, the power of persuasion can be applied, Stoltze said."It's the senators' and representatives' responsibility to make sure Alaska will benefit financially from the natural gas pipeline," Palmer resident Jim Sykes said.

Both Stoltze and Huggins support the construction of a gas pipeline - preferably an all-Alaskan line instead of one crossing Canada.

"It'll create more jobs, more money spent here and access to the product by Alaskans," said Stoltze, adding, "I'd love Mat-Su to have something to tax besides your homes."

Mary Barrett asked the representative if he supported funding Arctic Power to lobby U.S. Congress to begin drilling operations in ANWR's coastal plain.

"Arctic Power has not been held accountable for how they use the funds. Why can't that [$1.1 million] be used elsewhere?" Barrett asked.

"If Ted Stevens says he wants to fund Arctic Power's effort, I'll defer to him and support it," Stoltze said.