By Diana HaeckerIt has been talked about for 30-

some years, but now the Alaska StateDepartment of Transportation andPublic Facilities has marching ordersto study the viability of a transporta-tion corridor between the Alaskahighway system and the 300 miles ofroads around Nome.

Since August, the DOT has beenactively pursuing the so-calledWestern Alaska Access Planningstudy, which encompasses the areawest of the Dalton Highway, northof the Yukon and lower TananaRiver basins and south of theBrooks Range. Part of the studywill be to determine if it will be ahighway, rail or just telecommuni-cations corridor over a length ofapproximately 600 miles. “Ourprimary focus is geared toward thedevelopment of a highway, but ourstudy may dive into how a rail mayplay into it,” said the DOT’sNorthern Region area plannerPatrick Cotter.

The study looks at economic ben-efits and costs, identifies possibleroutes and recommends future ac-tion, he said.

The DOT awarded a contract toDOWL HKM, an engineering firmowned 51 percent by NANA Re-gional Corp., to conduct the study.The study’s release is slated for De-cember 2009.

Community and resource devel-opment are the drivers of the study,and, according to DOT officials, theproject originated within the North-ern Region’s office of the DOT, iden-tifying it as a possible Roads toResources candidate. “The DOTNorthern Region put together a pro-posal in February 2007, and the DOTcommissioner thought it was aworthwhile project and gave the go-ahead,” said DOT spokeswomanMeadow Bailey.

A press release said the routeswould be identified based on poten-tial economic benefits, topographicand environmental constraints, andland management considerations.Planning-level estimates will beprepared for design, constructionand maintenance. The study will in-clude review and updates of rele-vant information from previouspublications and studies.

Cotter said that the study followsa twofold approach to identify dif-ferent possible routes: The roadshould facilitate access to the state’sresources, as in oil, gas, minerals,gold, timber, fisheries and tourism.The second consideration was thatinfrastructure could be key in trans-porting fuel to bush villages as wellas resource development and the jobcreation going hand in hand with it.

By Tyler RhodesIn this first week of December,

Nomeites were still likely digestingtheir Thanksgiving turkey and tryingto swallow the prospect a major em-ployer shedding 100 jobs at the startof the holiday season.

On the last Monday in November,

NovaGold announced it was sus-pending operations at its Rock CreekMine just outside of Nome and elim-inating 100 positions at the project.

Nome’s utility service provider,Nome Joint Utility System, is oneentity that will feel the ripple effectof the mine not going into production

as was planned. The mine was ex-pected to purchase a significant

UNPLUGGED—The Rock CreekMine won’t draw as much poweras was earlier anticipated.

VOLUME CVII NO. 49 DECEMBER 4, 2008

Visit the Nugget on line at www.nomenugget.net e-mail nugget@nomenugget.com

C

Photo by Tyler Rhodes

Photo by Tyler Rhodes

HOLIDAY LIGHTS—The lights overhanging Nome’s Front Street show a bit of holiday cheer Tuesday morning.

By Tyler RhodesHarry Karmun blasted through the XYZ

Center’s kitchen doors, a steaming bowl ofturkey leading his charge.

On the other side of the room a line of

servers, ranging in age from their early teens tonot-so-early adulthood, awaited the replace-ments armed with long spoons and tongs.

It was a scene to be repeated several timesthroughout the day during Nome’s annual Com-

munity Thanksgiving Dinner last Thursday.The numbers tell the tale of another suc-

cessful year in the approximate decade ofcommunity dinners—a dozen turkeys, fourhams, pounds and pounds of potatoes, thou-

sands of scoops of side dishes, 100 volunteersand 200 people fed.

Those 200 diners battled chilly tempera-

Nomeites gather for turkey and trimmings at annual community Thanksgiving

Utility loses one big customer

How long before youcan drive to Nome?State Department of Transportation studiesconnecting to Nome state’s highway system

Rock Creek Mine at full production would have spread costs thinner for ratepayers

HAPPY THANKSGIVING—Harry Karmun is all smiles as he delivers another round of turkey to the serv-ing line while he volunteers at the Community Thanksgiving Dinner held at the XYZ Center last Thursday.

Phot

o by

Tyl

er R

hode

s

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“There was talk of connecting ruralcommunities to the Alaska highwayssystem and how it would preventthem from drying up,” Cotter said.

Starting in August, the DOWLHKM team reviewed existing re-source and transportation studiesof the western Alaska study area.They are also documenting the lo-cation and type of minerals, oiland gas, tourism, fisheries andagriculture resource developmentpotential in the area. Starting inFebruary, the team will begin toevaluate transportation corridorsto access the resources and com-munities in western Alaska.

According to Cotter, the consult-ants have been in touch with Nativecorporations in the area, the City of

Nome, the Joint Pipeline Office, var-ious state agencies, including the De-partment of Natural Resources, aswell as those involved in industry,such as NovaGold.

NovaGold had been on the re-ceiving end in the past, as the Stateof Alaska built the new GlacierCreek Road leading to the RockCreek gold mine under its Road toResources program. The $8 millionroad to the mine was completed in2006. With the mine complete andclose to moving into full produc-tion, the company indefinitely sus-pended the mine’s operation lastweek due to financial concerns andother issues.

Asked how the study prepares toavoid scenarios such as this, Cottersaid that part of the study is an eco-nomic analysis which would look at

world and state economics, the avail-ability of the resources and whetherAlaska is in a good position to mar-ket the resource.

DOWL is currently compilingprevious studies and looks at thequantity and quality of oil, gas,mineral, timber and tourism re-sources. After that, the study getsinto a socio-economic analysis, fol-lowed by a phase of engineeringstudies to outline corridor alterna-tives and compiling data in a geo-

graphic information system data-base, and a cost analysis of howmuch money will be spent on build-ing and maintaining the road. “Thenwe look at development scenariosto get an idea what could be ex-pected from development and howfast a road or a resource could bedeveloped,” Cotter said.

During the study phase, the gen-eral public is not involved as theengineering firm consults with Na-tive corporations, state departments

and industry representatives. Aftera release of the study, the outcomewill be public and depending onrecommendations, the DOT willinitiate the public process. “At thispoint it is just gathering of data,then it goes out to communitymeetings,” Bailey said. “At thispoint the scope is so broad and thestudy is just a baseline to get a feelfor what is possible.”

Progress of the study can be seenat www.westernakaccess.com.

4 THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2008 THE NOME NUGGETLOCAL

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2008 raffle prizes include:1. 2009 Polaris 550 Trail Touring HD Snowmachine2. Two Alaska Airline tickets — donated by3. Widescreen Flat-Panel TV & Nintendo Wii 4. 2009 Polaris 120 Dragon Snowmachine5. Yamaha EF2600 watt LGenerator—Donated by Morgans Sales and Service6. Siglin Cross Fox Freight Sled 7. Set of 4 BFGoodrich Tires (up to $1,000.00)–Donated by Nome Machine Works8. Kitchen Aid Professional Mixer9. 100 gallons of Heating Fuel–Donated by Alaska Cab Garage

Drawing held at midnight at the Carnival, Dec. 6, 2007 (Permit #08-0015) Need not be present to win.

Games &Prizes for the entirefamily!

The Firemen’sCarnival is thisSaturday, Dec. 6Doors open at 7 p.m. atthe Nome Rec CenterThe Rec Center will be closed starting at 6 p.m.,Friday, Dec. 5 and all day on Saturday, Dec. 6.

amount of power from NJUS once ithit full production. With new gener-ators in place, the utility was readyto sell that power to the mine.

With the mine not developing intothe giant customer that it was be-lieved to become, the costs of pro-viding power to the city will beborne by a smaller pool. “There willbe a loss of revenue and a reductionin variable costs, and having had alarger sales base over which tospread fixed costs has definitelyhelped customers overall,” NomeJoint Utility System Manager JohnHandeland wrote in an e-mail to TheNome Nugget.

The result of the mine not draw-ing nearly as much power as ear-lier anticipated could have anegative effect on other NJUSratepayers, though Handeland saidother options would be consideredbefore rate increases. “We willdefinitely look at any ways to re-duce [costs] before consideringrate changes. We’ve been workingto develop our 2009 budget based

on including the mine; now we getto redo some of the work to take itout,” Handeland wrote.

Part of the rates paid to NJUScover debt service for the newpower generation unit recently in-stalled. Handeland said approxi-mately $8.5 million is owed for thenew plant. While the timing of thenew plant coincided with themine’s anticipated start-up, Han-deland said it was constructed dueto the old plant being 45 years old,and its location in flood and airportprotection zones.

As far as any mechanical impli-cations of the mine not going intoproduction, Handeland said theywould be minor. ”We will have tomake some adjustments to dispatch-ing (what engines we run) whichwill affect efficiency, but not to agreat degree,” Handeland wrote inan e-mail. “I don’t see a major ef-fect on us from an operationalstandpoint, but I’m afraid there willbe folks who have been unexpect-edly laid off that will have a hardertime paying their bills until they canfind other employment.”

• Power

• Road

continued from page 1

continued from page 1

“Our primary focus isgeared toward thedevelopment of a

highway, but our studymay dive into how a rail

may play into it.”– Patrick Cotter, DOT

SUSPENDED—Nome Joint Utility System will have to retool its 2009 budget since the Rock Creek Mine, whichhas suspended production, will not be purchasing the significant amount of power NJUS had expected it to.

Archive photo by Diana Haecker