Military could use Port MacKenzie, borough assembly told March 5

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly ticked through a lengthy agenda of mostly routine business at its meeting Tuesday, March 5.

Among the acceptances of grants and contract changes, borough manager Mike Brown had some encouraging news about Port MacKenzie, the borough’s deep-water port on Knik Arm, in Upper Cook Inlet.

For the first time a high-level team of senior military officials visited the port to begin an assessment of its capabilities. The visit was hosted by Brown and other local officials.

“We’re now going to see a higher-level review,” of potential uses of the port, Brown told the assembly. The first step will be conceptual studies and possibly tests, such as using the port for barge landings.

“We expect to hear more in the next few weeks. It could lead to some good business for Port MacKenzie,” he said.

In another development, the state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities has resubmitted a Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan to federal highways officials that contains several projects important to the Mat-Su region.

The Federal Highways Administration had sent the state’s STIP back for further review and changes. That work was done and the FHA has until March 31 to approve the plan, which will guide federal funds for surface transportation projects over the next four year. Having an approved plan is a requirement for use of the federal funds, which finance about 80 percent of the highways and bridges construction in the state.

Four road projects in the populated core of the borough are included in the plan, Brown said, that are valued at $30 million to $40 million. Brown didn’t mention it but an 18-mile road extension and new bridge across the Susitna River are also included.

This project, funded and managed by the state, will make an extension of the road possible into western parts of the borough. This is a separate project, known as the West Susitna Access Project, that will be led by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, the state’s development finance agency, once there is an economic development project that will pay for the road.

In other actions, the assembly passed a resolution supporting the concept of a clean coal power project located in the borough. The University of Alaska Fairbanks and others are studying the feasibility of using new technologies to capture carbon dioxide and other pollution from a coal-fired power plant, if one were built. However, the university study is not connected to a particular project.

The studies so far show that coal-fired power when combined with carbon capture, could result in a cost of power well below that of imported liquefied natural gas, which is being considered by Southcentral Alaska utilities to offset pending shortages of natural gas.

This is an important issue because gas fuels space heating and most power generation in Southcentral Alaska including in the Mat-Su region.

In other business, the assembly approved accepting a $52,000 grant from the American Society For The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to fund two coordinator positions in the borough’s animal rescue group.

A $400,000 grant from the state Division of Forestry was accepted to fund positions in the borough’s Critical Facilities Saw Crew Project, which will do clearing of fire-prone timber near public facilities.

Matanuska Telecom Association was awarded separate grants of $1.72 million; $187,529 and $183,564 to improve internet and wireless access at selected locations. Stephi Engineering will receive a contract to $203,000 for cleaning and inspection of the Talkeetna Sewer Collection System.

Matanuska Electric Association will receive $119,700 to pay for utility relocation costs along Settlers Bay Drive and at the Crocker Creek Fish Passage.