00HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 63                                                                                         
01 Relating to support for Mitchell Field Adak airport.                                                                    
02 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                              
03  WHEREAS the Mitchell Field Adak airport (Mitchell Field) is essential for providing                                  
04 Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) air operation facilities to the communities of Atka and Shemya;                           
05 and                                                                                                                     
06  WHEREAS Adak's, Atka's, and Shemya's commercial and emergency services would                                         
07 suffer without the continued availability of Mitchell Field; and                                                        
08  WHEREAS Mitchell Field is critical to operations of the United States Air Force at                                   
09 Eareckson Air Station Base; and                                                                                         
10  WHEREAS saving lives and property depends on Mitchell Field being operated as a                                      
11 search and rescue center in the North Pacific, the Bering Sea, and the Western Aleutians; and                           
12  WHEREAS Mitchell Field is essential for the reuse of over 1,000 structures on Adak                                   
13 Island; and                                                                                                             
14  WHEREAS Mitchell Field allows crew transfer services that would otherwise occur                                      

01 in Vancouver, British Columbia, or Seattle, Washington to take place in Alaska; and                                     
02  WHEREAS operation of Mitchell Field allows increased Alaska fish sales to the                                        
03 Orient and additional mining and oil and gas support to Eastern Russian; and                                            
04  WHEREAS Mitchell Field provides an essential emergency jet airport for international                                 
05 air carriers operating on over-the-pole flights; and                                                                    
06  WHEREAS operation of Mitchell Field assists the federal government in fisheries                                      
07 enforcement activities; and                                                                                             
08  WHEREAS there is currently a 22,000,000 gallon storage tank capacity at Adak,                                        
09 making Adak a promising staging area for the fishing industry and the Pacific Fleet; and                                
10  WHEREAS Adak has existing housing facilities, roads, schools, a hospital, and other                                  
11 utilities to support a community of at least 5,000 residents; and                                                       
12  WHEREAS the Adak Reuse Corporation needs the financial support of the United                                         
13 States government and of the State of Alaska;                                                                           
14  BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature requests that the Congress of                                       
15 the United States appropriate to the Federal Aviation Administration the funds necessary to                             
16 keep the Mitchell Field Adak airport operational and maintained by the State of Alaska and                              
17 that the funds be provided to the Adak Reuse Corporation for these purposes.                                            
18  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Jane F. Garvey,                                             
19 Administrator, Federal Aviation Administration, and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the                                
20 Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S.                                             
21 Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.