‘What we’re up against’: Internal auditor presents new information to Port Commission

PALMER — James Wilson, internal auditor for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, presented his findings of incorrect facts in Alaska Gasline Development Corporation’s filings to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Wilson detailed each use of incorrect information and described it as ‘what we’re up against’ in a presentation to the Port Commission on Jan. 21.

“On any big complicated project, it’s easy for administrative errors or typos to occur, but my point is these errors, regardless of the source, are continual with every filing that is brought to my attention,” Wilson said.

Wilson noted that in filings from AGDC to FERC, the distance from shore to reach 40 feet of water from the port for Nikiski was 1,195. Wilson provided measurements correcting that to 2,350.

“Truthfully, it’s not fair to the people of Mat-Su Borough, Alaska, to have that type of gross inaccuracies in the record. So that’s why we’re continuing to have these filings,” Wilson said.

Among the depth at Nikiski, Wilson noted other miscalculations in the AGDC filings. Land available for a potential liquefaction facility is shown to the south of the Port on AGDC documents, but Wilson says that the ideal plot of land is on the north of the port.

“FERC says look north. AGDC, a state agency who we want to support, they come back and said well we’re looking north one-tenth of a mile. But the page that they attached shows the analysis with south,” Wilson said.

Wilson said that even after five years, MSB has not been able to convince AGDC to choose to report to FERC that out of 9,000 available acres, MSB is willing to lease or sell the 1,000 needed for the liquefaction facility. Wilson also noted that with the additional 58 miles of marine travel, this would cause an increase in emissions from ships traveling to Port Mackenzie. Wilson argued that if a liquefaction facility were built near the Port for a potential LNG pipeline, the AGDC could actually save money by running the Alaska Marine Highway on natural gas instead of diesel. Wilson said that a complete switch would reduce air emissions by 60 percent and save money in the long run. Wilson also noted that the grade requirements for a heavy haul road to the Port list a 3 percent grade.

“You can in fact use your existing heavy haul road,” Wilson said. “We just said we have some technical corrections and here’s the technical reports that we think will clarify the issue.”

Members of the Port Commission voiced their beliefs that the result of the lack of accurate information reported an unfair chance at the LNG project. Port Operations Manager Therese Dolan presented to the commission that there had been a decrease of $65,648 from 2017 to 2018. Dolan also informed the commission that a $6 million dollar project for pile sleeves needs to be completed in the near future. Port Commission Chair Tim Anderson questioned why the port had budgeted more than it actually spent. The listed budget for 2018 was $981,602, but the actual operating expenses totaled $413,882. Anderson suggested cutting the budget to ad a part time administrative assistant so that Dolan can spend time marketing the Port. The idea was moved by Commissioner Michael Janacek to add a part-time administrative assistant and passed. Tim Anderson was re-elected as chair of the Port Commission 4-3 over Randall Kowalke. Helga Larson was named the vice chair. Wilson informed the commission that the Draft Environmental Impact Statement is due in February. Then the Port Commission will know if the information they presented to AGDC has been presented to FERC with reasonable accuracy. Kowalke concluded his first Port Commission meeting by describing the port as the crown jewel of the Mat-Su Borough.

“It’s never broken even. It is an enterprise fund which means the revenue should offset the expense but we’ve never had a client in long enough and making enough money to do that, so that’s the goal,” Anderson said. “The goal is always just to make it work and support itself.”

Contact Frontiersman reporter Tim Rockey at tim.rockey@frontiersman.com.