Legislature(2019 - 2020)CORDOVA
07/27/2019 01:30 PM House TRANSPORTATION
Note: the audio ![]()
and video ![]()
recordings are distinct records and are obtained from different sources. As such there may be key differences between the two. The audio recordings are captured by our records offices as the official record of the meeting and will have more accurate timestamps. Use the icons to switch between them.
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Alaska Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE TRANSPORTATION STANDING COMMITTEE
Cordova, Alaska
July 27, 2019
1:32 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Louise Stutes, Co-Chair
Representative Adam Wool, Co-Chair
Representative Matt Claman (via teleconference)
Representative Harriet Drummond
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Andi Story
Representative Dave Talerico
Representative Sara Rasmussen
OTHER LEGISLATORS PRESENT
Representative Sara Hannan (via teleconference)
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
ALASKA MARINE HIGHWAY SYSTEM'S DRAFT WINTER SCHEDULE
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
CLAY KOPLIN, Mayor
City of Cordova
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided invited testimony regarding the
Alaska Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
DARREL OLSEN, Chairman/President
Native Village of Eyak
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided invited testimony regarding the
Alaska Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
GARY GRAHAM
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
TARA CRAIG
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
KATRINA HOFFMAN, CEO, Prince William Sound Science Center
Executive Director, Oil Spill Recovery Institute
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
DAVID ALLISON
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
TOM CARPENTER
Copper River Seafoods
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
CATHY RENFELDT, Executive Director
Cordova Chamber of Commerce
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
GREG MEYER, Co-Owner
Reluctant Fisherman Inn
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
SYLVIA LANGE
Alaska Marine Highway System Reform Initiative (AMHSRI)
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
CHELSEA HAISMAN, Executive Director
Cordova District Fishermen United (CDFU)
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
REBECCA GARLAND ANDERSEN
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
TOM ANDERSEN
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
SHARON MCCALVY
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
CHARLOTTE CARROLL
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
BARB JEWELL, Chair/President
School Board
Cordova City School District
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
ANNE SCHAEFER
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
AMY O'NEIL HOUCK
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
REBECCA DODGE
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
LILA KOPLIN
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
MARK FROHNAPFEL
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
HANNAH SANDERS, MD, Medical Director
Cordova Community Medical Center
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
PENELOPE OSWALT
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
ROBIN IRVING
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
TAMARA MARTIN
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
KRISTY ANDREW, Director, Budget and Finance
Cordova City School District
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
KARL BECKER
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
CHELSEA CORRAO, Music Teacher
Cordova City School District
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
DICK SHELLHORN
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
TONI BOCCI
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
MICHELLE KOCAN, LAc, Owner
Acupuncture & Wellness of Cordova
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
CARL BURTON, Sr.
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
NICOLE SONGER, Director
Cordova Family Resource Center
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
TAMMY ALTERMOTT, Board Member
School Board
Cordova City School District
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
WILLIAM DEATON, Student
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
ROB CAMPBELL
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
CAITLIN MCKINSTRY
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
WENDY RANNEY, Co-Owner
Orca Adventure Lodge
Owner, Whale's Tail Caf?
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
LAUREN BIEN, Education Director
Prince William Sound Science Center
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
JACQI KINSMAN, Student
Copper River Stewardship Program
Prince William Sound Science Center
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
GRACE COLLINS, Student
Copper River Stewardship Program
Prince William Sound Science Center
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
BRADEN BECKETT, Student
Copper River Stewardship Program
Prince William Sound Science Center
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
ANGELO NORFLEET
Cordova Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
CINDY APPLETON
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
KATE WILLIAMS, Principal
Cordova Jr./Sr. High School
Cordova City School District
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
GAYLE RANNEY
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
SHAWNA WILLIAMS-BUCHANAN
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
PETER HEPTERER
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
MAYA RUSSIN, Student
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
PETE MICKELSON
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
MELINA MEYER
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
JOAN JACKSON
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
MICHELLE HAHN
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
JOSIAH KELLY
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
KELLEY WEAVERLING
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
KATHRYN KELLY
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
BECKY CHAPEK
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
KORY BLAKE
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
CHARITY SCHANDEL
Cordova, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided testimony regarding the Alaska
Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule.
ACTION NARRATIVE
1:32:33 PM
CO-CHAIR LOUISE STUTES called the House Transportation Standing
Committee meeting to order at 1:32 p.m. Representatives
Drummond, Claman, Wool, and Stutes were present at the call to
order. Representative Hannan was also present.
^Alaska Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule
Alaska Marine Highway System's Draft Winter Schedule
1:33:56 PM
CO-CHAIR STUTES began the hearing regarding the Alaska Marine
Highways System's (AMHS) draft winter schedule. She stated
there are many similarities between Alaska's small coastal
communities, and one thing they all share is the dependency on
ferry service for health, safety, and economic prosperity. The
Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (DOT&PF)
released its [draft] winter ferry schedule about two weeks ago.
Unless this [draft] schedule is changed, many smaller
communities will be left without any ferry service from fall
until spring. Cordova is slated to be without a ferry from
October 1, [2019], through April 30, [2020]. Yakutat is
scheduled for no ferry service for seven months and Kodiak and
Seldovia will be without a ferry from January 12 through April
30, [2020]. This is totally and completely unacceptable, she
maintained.
CO-CHAIR STUTES announced that a few days ago, with unanimous
support from [the legislature's] majority, she was able to pass
an amendment that added back $5 million to the Alaska Marine
Highway's vessel operations. She said the [draft] schedule does
not reflect the additional funds and she is hopeful that more
funding will be restored in the future.
1:35:20 PM
CO-CHAIR STUTES said that aside from trying to secure additional
funding, there is room in the schedule to make smarter decisions
with routes, layups, and overhauls, as well as to adjust the
schedule based on need and gaps in service rather than
profitability. She explained that the purpose of today's
meeting is to hear directly from a smaller coastal community
with no road access that has a very long gap in its service.
Something with this large of an impact on transportation and
access in coastal Alaska necessitates coverage from the House
Transportation Standing Committee. A teleconference will be
held by DOT&PF on 7/29/19 to take public comment and consider
adjustment of the winter schedule.
CO-CHAIR STUTES noted the committee was only able to travel to
one location given the special session's limited time, and
Cordova is an apt choice as one of the hardest hit communities.
She offered her hope that Cordova's testimony will serve to
inform DOT&PF of exactly how a three- to seven-month gap will
affect the smaller communities. She recognized there will be
gaps in service throughout the state. Southeast Alaska will be
down a mainliner and face service gaps from October 1, [2019],
through April 30, [2020]. Southwest Alaska, which includes the
ports of Kodiak, Tatitlek, Old Harbor, King Cove, Cold Bay,
Akutan, False Pass, Unalaska, Valdez, Whittier, and many more,
will be without service from January 12 through April 30,
[2020]. The northern panhandle will face a brief service gap in
November [2019] and then again from January 15 through March 1,
[2020]. She advised that copies of the [draft] ferry schedule
and DOT&PF's press release are available to the audience.
1:37:27 PM
CO-CHAIR STUTES addressed the ferry strike currently underway.
She said it isn't the place of legislators to insert themselves
into contract or strike situations. However, for the record she
urged for the administration and the Inlandboatmen's Union (IBU)
to return to the negotiating table immediately to resume good
faith negotiation on behalf of the many individuals, businesses,
and communities that are deeply impacted by the strike. While
not taking a side, she pointed out the staggering effect that
this is having on the Alaska Marine Highway's budget and its
riders and shippers. As of last evening, the AMHS has canceled
bookings on 4,006 passengers and 1,268 vehicles and has refunded
$2,119,738 in fares. Plus, hundreds of passengers and vehicles
are stranded throughout the state. This strike is eating
quickly through any benefit that the $5 million restored to the
budget will have. As a ferry user, concerned Alaskan, and state
representative of coastal districts, she is asking for a return
to the negotiating table to work this out.
CO-CHAIR STUTES invited committee members to provide comments.
1:39:06 PM
CO-CHAIR WOOL noted that testimony was heard from other coastal
communities during one of the committee's meetings a few months
ago. The many hours of inspiring and passionate testimony had a
big effect on him, and he presumes today will be no different.
It is important for the public to be heard, he said, and the
committee is in Cordova to listen and take messages back. The
hearing of a few months ago was prior to this new [draft]
schedule with massive alterations in scheduling.
REPRESENTATIVE DRUMMOND related that legislators have heard from
thousands of Alaskans since the governor made budget vetoes in
late June. She surmised that legislators will be hearing from
thousands more Alaskans until this is wrapped up.
REPRESENTATIVE CLAMAN, via teleconference, apologized for being
unable to be in Cordova. He said he echoes the comments made by
the co-chairs and Representative Drummond.
1:41:48 PM
CO-CHAIR STUTES noted that listening online is Mike Lesmann,
Special Assistant, Department of Transportation & Public
Facilities (DOT&PF). She said Mr. Lesmann is listening to
everything that witnesses have to say and will be passing the
public's message to his superiors. She recognized that the
Cordova community is passionate about its marine highway but
urged witnesses to be constructive in their comments. She
advised that the public could submit written testimony. She
opened invited testimony.
1:43:26 PM
CLAY KOPLIN, Mayor, City of Cordova, provided invited testimony.
He said Cordova is a resilient community. After the copper mine
and the railroad were closed in 1938, Cordova bounced back as
the razor clam capital of the world. After the clam beds were
uplifted eight feet and destroyed in the 1964 earthquake,
Cordova pioneered and innovated the quality market for salmon.
After the fisheries of the Copper River salmon juggernaut were
wiped out by the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, Cordova bounced
back by using the Copper River runs, the Prince William Sound
hatchery system, and the small fisheries that the community had
been working on with Representative Stutes. Cordova has had a
growing economy and its $100 million economy for 2,300 people is
of national significance. Seafood is now in the top five trade
and balances in the U.S. The U.S. imports over 90 percent of
its seafood, $15 billion worth, and there is no reason the U.S.
shouldn't be more sustainable in that regard. Alaska, with two-
thirds of the U.S. coastline, is a national player. This is not
about health, education, and welfare. Socioeconomics is very
important, it is critical. He said [no ferry service] is a very
poor business decision.
1:45:30 PM
MAYOR KOPLIN explained it is no accident that Cordova relies on
the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS). He said Cordova went
through a detailed internal planning process as a community,
asking whether the community wanted a road, railroad, or ferry
system as its primary transportation link. It turned out that
what Cordova wanted, and what worked and was most economically
feasible, is the ferry system. The ferry system is an economic
driver for this community, even right down to this building and
this facility which has hosted international conferences and
U.S. Senate hearings. The number of seats in this building's
theater matches the number of seats on the M/V Chenega, a ferry
that can get two-thirds of the state's population in and out of
Cordova. Cordova built its business models, its community
model, its residents' lives and social models, around the AMHS.
Cordova understands budget cuts and reducing service, but to
take a punch in the face and have the service eliminated gives
the community no time to adjust or modify.
MAYOR KOPLIN related that during his seven years on the Marine
Transportation Advisory Board, the most important thing was
continuity of service. He said it is much better to have very
limited but very consistent service than it is to have fantastic
routes and service one year and then no service. It has killed
the businesses time and time again and it has developed so much
mistrust for the system that now businesses are afraid to guide
passengers and business to the system. It is one of the reasons
that the revenue has dropped. Mayor Koplin added that he isn't
worried about Cordova, Cordova will adapt and bounce back. But
he is worried about what making these kinds of decisions will
mean for Anchorage and other communities in the state.
1:47:30 PM
MAYOR KOPLIN said he will keep his comments high level as he
presumes the committee has received statistics about where
fishermen live and the traffic in and out of Cordova. He
recounted that Cordova passed a community bond to renovate its
50-year-old elementary school and relies on the state to match
that. That bond matching is Cordova's biggest single cut in
this budget. Cordova will make that up, but what bothers him is
that Cordova had a business partnership - the community paid for
part of that and the state paid for part of it. If Cordova's
bond rating is taken down with the state's, and if the state
shows bad faith on business relationships with its own
communities, how can businesses outside the state trust to do
business with the state? Good business models and good working
relationships are needed internally if Alaska is to be open for
business. While that cut hurts, Mayor Koplin continued, it is
different than the ferry. The ferry is Cordova's road, its
economic driver. Cordova has been growing its economy and its
population, and the state has been sharing in that revenue
growth. Cuts to the Alaska Marine Highway System will turn that
around and put Cordova back into decline.
MAYOR KOPLIN then spoke as a local business manager [CEO of
Cordova Electric Cooperative] and described the impacts that
eliminated ferry service has on the cooperative. He related
that the cooperative had one of its hydroelectric turbines
rebuilt in a shop in north Kenai. The marine highway system was
used to cost-effectively ship the turbine there and have Alaska
machinists rebuild it. The cooperative sends its large
generators to Anchorage to be rewound and has done business with
the Matanuska-Susitna Valley and Fairbanks. The cooperative has
spent tens of millions of dollars to have Alaskan contractors
build its hydroelectric projects. Also, the cooperative has had
Seattle and Oregon based contractors get tens of millions of
dollars to build its hydroelectric projects. Cordova's ferry is
really the tale of two cities. If Cordova has a ferry the
cooperative's business happens in Alaska, if Cordova doesn't
have a ferry that business happens in Seattle. Businesses are
tired of switching, he advised. He is afraid for the state and
other communities because if this service is taken away and
business is lost to Seattle, it may not come back.
1:50:00 PM
MAYOR KOPLIN suggested that there be continuity of service
through the winter with a base of at least twice a month service
roundtrip. He explained this would keep Cordova's supply lines
open and allow the community and businesses with box vans to
travel back and forth. He noted he has years of experience
working on ferry issues through his service on the city council,
as president of the Cordova Chamber of Commerce, and as a member
of the Marine Transportation Advisory Board. He advised that
every time the decision making gets pushed closer to the
communities and closer to the service, the revenues improve.
[The marine highway's] very expensive infrastructure is driven
by labor cost, fuel cost, and expensive equipment, so the fixed
expenses are high no matter what. However, AMHS does have a lot
of influence over the revenues. When good routes are put in
place that the communities want, people are going to use those
routes and it is going to drive a lot of revenue. When Cordova
got those very stable three years, and businesses and people
started trusting those, revenues went up about 30 percent a year
for each of those three years with the fast ferry. Through
cooperative marketing, Cordova has spent tens of thousands of
dollars out of its festivals' budgets, partnering with Anchorage
media stations, and putting up prizes. Cordova tripled and
quadrupled every dollar that the state put into marketing the
marine highway system; no overhead to the state and the state
doesn't have to staff it or anything. Mayor Koplin further
advised that if they had a voice, marine highway system staff in
the terminals and on the decks and behind the wheels of the
vessels could tell about driving revenues and building models
that will improve the system.
MAYOR KOPLIN reiterated that it is punch in the face to just
eliminate service. He said AMHS could come to communities and
work with them on how to make this better, and AMHS could check
with the people who use the system and who run the system as
they can help AMHS make revenue. Several years ago, Cordova was
told that to keep service it had to increase revenues 30 percent
and Cordova did it. Cordova found ways to get more ridership on
the ferry, but Cordova had a say in the schedule.
MAYOR KOPLIN stated that for the long term the governor's budget
must be fixed. The Alaska Marine Highway System cannot be a
budget balancing tool. It is a service. Imagine charging for
education in this state? Having the system as a revenue
generating service is ridiculous. It is a base economy just
like energy. The ferry matters to Cordova. If asked, nine out
of ten Cordovans on the street would tell you that their single
biggest concern this session is the marine highway system.
1:53:17 PM
CO-CHAIR WOOL recalled Mayor Koplin mentioning the connection of
the marine highway system to other parts of Alaska. He said
coming to coastal communities and being in Juneau exposes
legislators to coastal communities. Legislators realize the
connection and more people should realize the connection between
the ferries and Anchorage, the Matanuska-Valley, Fairbanks, and
other places. It is important to communities as well as to the
whole state, as alluded to by Mayor Koplin's economic comments.
MR. KOPLIN responded that the 2016 McDowell Group report
captured that. He anecdotally estimated that the AMHS probably
generates about $10 million of business in Cordova's businesses,
and probably $20 million in Anchorage. Anchorage benefits more
than Cordova, it is just that it is a smaller part of
Anchorage's economy.
1:54:39 PM
DARREL OLSEN, Chairman/President, Native Village of Eyak,
provided invited testimony. He stated that the Native Village
of Eyak supports the Alaska Marine Highway System, which
provides essential service to more than 35 coastal communities
in Alaska, including Cordova. These essential services include
transportation for medical service, grocery shopping, job
opportunities, school education and extracurricular activities,
tourism, vacation, cultural activities, and the fishing
industry. The Anchorage economy also benefits from coastal
residents spending money on purchases, meals, entertainment, and
lodging while away from home.
MR. OLSEN said that in addition to the drastic reduction in air
and cargo service experienced by Cordova, large gaps without
ferry service are detrimental to the many families already
struggling with the high cost of living in rural Alaska. It
also makes it hard for Cordova's local U.S. Coast Guard marine
and air station to justify bringing in and keeping families in
Cordova. Their presence in the Cordova community is critical to
the area's commercial fishing grounds as well as to many sports
and leisure activities on or around Cordova's waterways. He
advised that a shutdown of the marine highway system would have
devastating and unavoidable impacts on the community it serves.
1:56:41 PM
MR. OLSEN said the Native Village of Eyak suggests an option,
which is to operate the M/V Aurora four days a week with three
days off. The M/V Aurora would need to get two regulatory
extensions to continue operations, during which time the
Hubbard's side doors are installed and the minor modifications
are made to the Whittier terminal. (Indisc. audio difficulty)
the Hubbard with the same crew and schedule for the rest of the
winter service primarily in Cordova and Whittier as a day boat.
He urged that DOT&PF reconsider the proposed funding and
schedule cuts to Cordova's ferry service and consider alternate
solutions for Prince William Sound.
MR. OLSEN, on a personal note, pointed out that this is really
going to affect Cordova and its young people. He related that
he has three young people who live with him, all between the
ages of 18 and 21. One of them opened a business last year and
this will really affect her business. He further pointed out
that it also affects school-age kids, but that the people of
Cordova are affected across the board.
1:58:26 PM
CO-CHAIR STUTES opened public testimony. She asked that
witnesses explain how they and their community will be impacted
and how this draft schedule affects real people in the
communities when DOT&PF officials are sitting in their offices
determining the ferry schedules.
1:59:33 PM
GARY GRAHAM testified he is a 41-year resident of Cordova and
during these years Cordova has had ferry service. He spoke as
follows:
My wife Libby and I are local restaurant owners.
We've been open daily for 37 years and frequent
travelers on the Alaska Marine Highway System. We
depend on the ferry to resupply our business. Several
years ago, we invested in a 14-foot box truck to
travel to Anchorage for supplies. When the Whittier
tunnel opened to vehicle traffic it was a great
improvement in our access and supports Anchorage
businesses rather than us shipping from Seattle and
the Lower 48 direct to Cordova. This unconscionable,
arbitrary, no notice-or-public-input seven-month
removal of ferry service will be devastating to our
community and our business. When we travel to
Anchorage on supply runs, we spend money on hotels,
restaurants, fuel, and many other Anchorage
businesses. The money we spend stays in the state of
Alaska.
We are now in the process of scrambling to find
another source for resupplying our restaurant.
Placing orders over the phone and shipping via barge
always leaves us short of supplies that were out of
stock and we are not notified were out of stock until
the shipment arrives. Meats and frozen supplies are
okay to phone order and ship, but [not] dry goods at
Costco and other vendors to be picked up and lowered
by hand. To just advise us at the last minute, "oh by
st
the way you will not have a ferry from October 1
th
through April 30 this winter," is as I mentioned
before unconscionable. There are many other sensible
cuts to the state government that can be made that
will provide additional funding for necessary state
infrastructure. There are many elders and others in
this community who rely on the ferry for health care
appointments. Alaska Airlines provides air service,
but their prices are very high for a 140-mile trip
that is already federally subsidized. In other words,
we love them, but we just can't afford them.
2:01:55 PM
I have said for the last 15 or 20 years that Cordova
does not need daily or near daily ferry service.
Before the arrival of the fast ferries we were served
by the Bartlett between Cordova and Valdez a couple of
times per week. The Tustumena included Prince William
Sound on an approximate 10-day turnaround that
included Seward, Homer, Kodiak, and Dutch Harbor.
Access to Seward was convenient at the time for those
who did not want to make the hazardous six-hour drive
between Valdez and Anchorage. Several Cordovans were
killed on this road ... in the winter.
I also have a suggestion of a remedy for this problem.
Either the Tustumena or the Kennicott could make runs
that include Cordova, Whittier, Homer, and Kodiak.
Back-to-back trips between Cordova and Whittier would
be needed to allow people to do business and return to
and from Anchorage without being stuck there for a
week or more.
We are totally in favor of cutting state spending, but
not at the cost of our livelihoods and lives. Please
be reasonable about this situation. The trickle-down
effect of this action will be devastating for the
State of Alaska ... and for the City of Cordova.
There are many other reasons to resist this decision,
but time constraints don't allow me to mention them
all.
2:04:03 PM
TARA CRAIG stated she has been a Cordova resident for six years.
Regarding how seven months of no ferry service will affect her,
she explained that she and her family use the ferry system to go
to Anchorage for appointments, to stock up, and to visit family,
which is what many Cordova folks do. Many Cordova businesses
depend on the ferry system to bring in supplies for the
businesses, so no service will affect them and the community.
MS. CRAIG said she cannot help but wonder if the current ferry
system strike will help DOT&PF, legislators, and Governor
Dunleavy see how vital the ferry system is to Cordova and other
communities. She would rather give up her dividend to ensure
that the people will have services like the ferry system and so
people won't lose their jobs. So many vital services are going
to be cut by Governor Dunleavy's vetoes - the cost of
electricity in Cordova will go up and education will suffer,
along with so much else.
2:06:57 PM
KATRINA HOFFMAN, CEO, Prince William Sound Science Center;
executive director, Oil Spill Recovery Institute, testified that
since their inception her organizations have generated over $110
million in revenue for the State of Alaska. She said this was
done because of access to a marine highway that allows large
pieces of equipment to be brought to and from Cordova and other
communities to support the organizations' research and education
operations. She currently has a crew, a 12-passenger van, a
vessel, and a trailer doing sockeye salmon research in the upper
Copper River basin that she doesn't know how she is going to get
home [due to the current ferry worker strike]. If the equipment
is marooned outside of Cordova over the winter, she will have to
pay exorbitant storage fees, a waste of a nonprofit's precious
resources. Today she had to charter a private vessel to bring
[the science centers] stranded campers and staff back to
Cordova from Valdez, at a cost of 300-400 percent more than what
would have been paid for ferry tickets.
MS. HOFFMAN stressed that the marine highway is critical to the
operation of all the businesses in the Cordova community and to
the families. Daily service is not needed to make the system
work, she continued, but regular roundtrip access is needed.
That access is best served through Whittier, not Valdez, due to
the treacherous road conditions in winter between Valdez and
Anchorage. For example, her organization's minivan that is used
for many business purposes broke down earlier this year. The
local mechanic couldn't repair it due to proprietary computer
coding, so the van had to be taken to an Anchorage dealership.
Without the marine highway, Cordova's road, she would have had
to pay $3,000 to barge the van to a dealer in Seattle and then
another $3,000 to barge it back to Cordova. Because the van is
only worth $6,000, she would have had to junk it. So, without
the marine highway there will be a lot of vehicle dereliction
because they cannot be serviced. She requested DOT&PF to think
about these sorts of things when considering regular roundtrip
access on the marine highway between the communities of Prince
William Sound and the rest of the state.
2:10:05 PM
DAVID ALLISON testified he is a 37-year resident of Cordova. He
noted that while he currently sits on the city council, his
comments today are his own. He said two of his five children
have graduated from the Cordova school system. The three who
are currently in the school system will be affected, as will
everyone in Cordova and every aspect of Cordova.
MR. ALLISON shared that his kidneys do not work, so he does home
hemodialysis in Cordova. He must see his nephrologist and other
doctors on a regular basis. If he was in Anchorage his doctors
would see him every month, but since he lives in Cordova, his
monthly visits alternate between going to Anchorage and
teleconference visits. He is on a fixed income and it is
everything he can do to save enough money every two months to
afford taking his truck on the ferry and going to all his
appointments. It would cost him twice as much to fly and he
doesn't know where that money would come from, but he would be
forced to fly to stay alive. In addition to every other month
in Anchorage, other occasional medical issues happen that
require him to go to Anchorage for care, such as lung issues or
problems with his dialysis equipment. Medically, transportation
is important for him to stay alive.
MR. ALLISON added that transportation is important to Cordova
residents economically and socially. He offered his hope that
DOT&PF can work on the schedule and provide Cordova with ferry
service this winter and that legislators are successful in
getting more funding. He offered his further hope that the rest
of the legislature and the administration will hear about the
needs of Cordova's residents.
2:13:17 PM
TOM CARPENTER, Copper River Seafoods, stated that the current
ferry shutdown is having a big impact on his business and the
long-term schedule in and out of Cordova is the lifeblood for
operating his company's seafood business in Cordova. He related
that in the early 1990s when fish prices were very depressed,
Copper River Seafoods was created to try to bring more value to
its product, for itself as well as the fishermen. Beginning
with the company's planning stages, ferry service has been an
integral part of how the company transports fresh seafood to
Anchorage and throughout the U.S. He offered his belief that
Copper River Seafoods is the biggest commercial user of the
ferry service in Prince William Sound. The company's service is
year-round, so it has trucks on every ferry from about March
until about October. During the winter Copper River Seafoods
has trucks coming down regularly, depending on various
maintenance projects and other things that are going on.
MR. CARPENTER noted that during his company's business planning
stages there were meetings with the legislator, DOT&PF, City of
Cordova, and City of Whittier, to try to push the idea forward.
Created from three or four people, Copper River Seafoods now
annually produces 10-20 million pounds of seafood just in
Cordova. The company has 170 employees in Cordova and hundreds
of year-round employees in Anchorage. All of them will be
affected dramatically by this seafood not being able to get to
Anchorage on the ferry system in a timely manner to support the
infrastructure that the company has in place there.
MR. CARPENTER urged that consideration be given to the promises
that were made years ago for businesses like his that were
created to try to provide more value to its fishermen and its
customers. If the ferry continues not to run, it will affect
the price that his company can pay the fishermen for their fish,
which ultimately affects the City of Cordova's economy in a big
way. He urged that a solution be figured out to reinstate the
ferry service because it is having a dramatic impact on his
business as well as the businesses of many other people.
2:16:50 PM
CATHY RENFELDT, Executive Director, Cordova Chamber of Commerce,
stated the chamber is comprised of a variety of industries,
including lodging, transportation, outfitting, retail, shipping,
seafood harvesting, seafood processing, and others. As the
voice of the Cordova business community the chamber urges that a
more fair and reasonable winter schedule be considered for
Prince William Sound.
MS. RENFELDT related that the chamber specifically requests
twice per month roundtrip service from Cordova to Whittier with
potential for stops in Chenega, Tatitlek, and Valdez, should
demand and special events warrant. To this end, she has
provided the committee co-chair with a schedule of Cordova and
Prince William Sound events and trainings. She suggested that
perhaps the ferry trips could be structured to coincide with
these various events.
MS. RENFELDT stated that reliable ferry service undoubtedly adds
to the quality of life for residents of communities. However,
from the standpoint of the Cordova Chamber of Commerce, it is a
vitally needed economic engine. The Alaska Marine Highway
System is one of the vital, essential ways in and out of Cordova
and a necessary shipping avenue for Cordova's businesses and the
Copper River salmon fishery. "This ferry ... transports our
livelihoods, it is our connection to the rest of the world, it
is our road," she said. Like all roads, the AMHS has costs,
just like surface highways require money for plowing, paving,
chip sealing, safety patrol, and salting. The Alaska Marine
Highway is not a cruise ship, it is comparable to a public bus
or subway. It is a vessel for commerce, bringing people to
workplaces and store fronts, moving supplies and merchandise.
2:18:57 PM
MS. RENFELDT said that perhaps reform is needed in the Alaska
Marine Highway System. She noted that the Alaska Marine Highway
System Reform Initiative has been working on this for years and
has submitted proposals that Co-Chair Stutes has pushed forward
and supported. She explained that the speed and abruptness of
this change in service gives Cordova's businesses no time to
respond and adjust business plans tailored to work within the
AMHS transportation systems. Several businesses in Cordova
stock their shelves almost entirely by box truck to Anchorage.
Will Cordova residents be looking at empty shelves from this
point forward? Or shelves full of unaffordable stores? How can
it be expected for the system to get closer to paying for itself
out of the fare box without a regular reliable schedule? Local
businesses must work a little harder to get people to their
establishments in Cordova, so they often include information
about how to get to Cordova on their websites and in their
marketing and outreach. Even before the strike, Cordova's
businesses had begun removing ferry travel information from
these sources because they have lost trust in the system.
MS. RENFELDT stressed that the ferry system needs to work for
the people who use it. She urged that the whole system begin
considering the testimony of the ridership. The state faces
many financial challenges and there is no Alaskan who has not
been impacted in some way, but the cuts to Prince William Sound
in the current draft schedule seem disproportionately large
compared to other regions. She said she understands that DOT&PF
has been instructed to focus more on revenue generation instead
of service when making the ferry schedule. However, she pointed
out, if DOT&PF were to look at each Prince William Sound route
separately, it would see that the Cordova-Whittier route is
routinely one of the most profitable routes in the system.
MS. RENFELDT noted that when the governor released his draft
budget with a $68 million cut, none of the scenarios put forth
by DOT&PF showed this level of service disruption for Prince
William Sound. Although a $44 million cut in funding to the
AMHS is still significant, there are clearly options to provide
some modicum of service for Prince William Sound communities.
2:21:48 PM
GREG MEYER, Co-Owner, Reluctant Fisherman Inn, noted he is a 40-
year resident of Cordova. He said he wears many hats like most
Cordovans and trying to figure out which hat to wear today was
difficult. He and his wife are co-owners of the Reluctant
Fisherman Inn, a 50-room hotel with restaurant that they
purchased in 2004. He recounted that when Commissioner Robbins
of DOT&PF came to Cordova in 2005 it was well known that the
commissioner wasn't a big fan of the ferry service. The M/V
Chenega was being built and the town of Cordova was very
optimistic. When Commissioner Robbins was asked if the M/V
Chenega would be kept the commissioner replied that [Cordova]
could keep its ferry if the ridership was increased by 30
percent from what it had been. That first year, Mr. Meyer
continued, the ridership for Cordova was increased by 35 percent
and he is sure it has been increased more.
MR. MEYER stated it is hard to create businesses in small towns
and extremely difficult to keep them operating for year after
year. When businesses enter relationships with the state, which
is thought of as a partner because the state is providing
transportation services, there are expectations - the state
agrees to do this and the businesses agree to do that, and then
the state breaks the promises. It is extremely difficult for
businesses to operate under those conditions.
2:24:05 PM
MR. MEYER noted it is 52 miles from the ferry terminal to the
end of the road and DOT&PF spent a lot of money maintaining that
road. Then the bridge washed out at 36-mile, so now DOT&PF
maintains only 36 miles of road for seven months of the year and
17 miles of road during the winter. The road is paved only as
far as the airport, after which it is gravel and not much
maintenance. So, he asked, since DOT&PF is already saving
money, why not kick it towards the ferry?
MR. MEYER pointed out that Cordova is a fishing community and
doesn't have a lot of tourists, but about 20-30 percent of the
guests at his inn are tourists. While the season is long, from
March to October, the Reluctant Fisherman Inn doesn't break even
and turn a profit until August, and every business must turn a
profit. The inn's breakeven season is August 20 to October 20,
when tourists drive in using the ferry to go hunting or fishing
while staying at the inn. During March and April, the
commercial fisheries are gearing up for the traditional May 15
Copper River Flats opening. These fisherman drive vehicles,
trailers, and boats [filled with] gear, much of which is
purchased in Anchorage. Thus, Mr. Meyer stressed, Cordova needs
consistent ferry service from March through October, not having
that service would be crippling.
MR. MEYER said his restaurant business spends hundreds of
thousands of dollars in Anchorage annually. Now, he is starting
to reconsider moving his business purchasing to Seattle where it
is cheaper to buy and the freight costs between Seattle and
Cordova are about the same as from Anchorage to Cordova. His
business has a box truck and saves about four times what it
would cost to freight on the AML [barge]. He regularly takes
his truck to Anchorage, stays in hotels, goes out to dinner, and
purchases hundreds of thousands of dollars of goods, and then
returns to Cordova. This ferry service is vital to the Cordova
community. Electricity and transportation are vital to the
businesses in small communities. Cordova has some of the
highest electric costs in the state even with the state's help
with hydropower. Transportation is essential. Without that
ferry, Cordova will have to use AML at four times the cost. The
inn is open year-round but will now have to stop doing some
services between November 1 and May 1.
2:28:19 PM
SYLVIA LANGE, Alaska Marine Highway System Reform Initiative
(AMHSRI), stated she is Alaska Native. She explained she gets
very emotional about this issue because it is so very vital.
She is Tlingit and Aleut on her maternal grandmother's side and
German and Dane immigrants on her paternal grandfather's side.
She was born and raised in Cordova and she and her husband own
hospitality and fisheries businesses. They have been self-
employed their entire lives and their three grown children were
born and raised in Cordova.
MS. LANGE related that Cordova has had year-round ferry service
since 1966. The community sits on the site of the Native
village that has been there for millennia, and that was
incorporated in 1909. The community is a microcosm of what
Alaska looks like. It is an important resource extraction
community. Originally incorporated to be the terminus of the
railroad that hauled copper from the Kennicott Mine, Cordova has
maintained a significant place as a seafood processing port in
the nation. It is a home rule city and it has maintained its
schools, roads, airport, sewer, and basic utilities for all
those hundred years.
MS. LANGE said the $3,000 permanent fund dividend (PFD) that
"seems to be holding government by the short hairs" was lost by
her two weeks ago when this new ferry schedule was announced.
To continue to support their community, Cordova residents'
property and sales taxes will likely increase and will continue
to increase because these cuts also mean that the burden will be
spread over fewer residents.
2:30:16 PM
MS. LANGE pointed out that the ferry service is a major public
service to Cordova. However, she said, the ferry system has not
operated very systematically for a very long time now. The
Alaska Marine Highway System was once a real source of pride for
the state. One would be hard pressed to find vision and plans
that reached ahead without going back perhaps as far as
governors Egan and Hickel. The system has been managed
piecemeal from administration to administration. The only thing
that resembles a system has been its systematic dismantling.
Stakeholders, customers, and employees of AMHS have nowhere to
go to with concerns, plans, ideas, and input. It is completely
operated as a top-down system with the top spot the governor.
She doesn't recall any of Alaska's governors running on the
platform of being an expert on running a complex transportation
system, but that is what [Alaskans] expect of their governors
and legislators.
MS. LANGE stated that the public, the end users and investors in
the system, often are the last to know of current plans. The
Alaska Marine Highway System Reform Initiative (AMHSRI), she
explained, was two years of in-depth work with stakeholders from
across the state, not just the communities directly served. The
initiative came up with a governance plan that was felt could
better serve the complexities of the modern transportation
system; a place where experts in the field could make decisions
based on a good business model and somewhat insulated from the
political process. Ms. Lange implored the committee to take a
long, hard look at AMHSRI's plan and work with the committee
looking into the future. It would save the committee a lot of
time listening about service lives of the boats, shipyard
schedules, employee strikes and demands, and community protests.
A new governance model for the AMHS would allow forward thinking
instead of crisis reaction. She thanked the committee for
reacting to the "very real present crisis."
2:32:58 PM
CHELSEA HAISMAN, Executive Director, Cordova District Fishermen
United (CDFU), noted that CDFU represents the voice of Prince
William Sound, Copper River, and the Gulf of Alaska's commercial
fishermen. She said the proposed schedule leaves the community
with an unacceptable seven-month service gap, which for Cordova
is tantamount to a road closure, and is longer than any other
region impacted by Governor Dunleavy's budget cuts. Impacts to
fishermen and fishing families are numerous. One impact is loss
of fishing time as families need to cut their season short to
catch the last ferry out. Losing two weeks could mean thousands
of dollars out of the pocket of individual Alaskan families who
rely on this end-of-season boost to cover winter living expenses
and, when multiplied, considerably more out of the state
economy. Another impact is the additional expenses, ranging in
the thousands, to small businesses that may now need to purchase
an extra vehicle or trailer to be able to move their boat and
gear between communities of residence and the fishing grounds.
MS. HAISMAN continued outlining the impacts to fishermen. She
explained that access to regulatory meetings is critical for the
fishing industry and participation in these important public
processes would be much lower if commercial fishermen are
essentially cut off from where the conversations are happening.
Fishermen need to continue to attend Board of Fisheries and
North Pacific Fishery Management Council meetings, often held in
Anchorage or Homer, to ensure their voices are heard as Alaska's
sustainable fisheries management continues to evolve. These
meetings are in October, December, January, and March this year.
Ms. Haisman noted that many fishing families are unable to
travel in the summer as they work around the clock April through
October and shoulder season fishermen work February and March.
These winter months are the time when the ferry is needed the
most. There would also be the impact of access to medical care
and carefully timed maternity care, stocking up on groceries,
building supplies for home and boat maintenance projects, and
provisions for the winter.
MS. HAISMAN pointed out that Alaskan fishermen returning in the
spring may miss important maintenance time if the ferry does not
run in March and April. This time is essential to ensuring a
safe fishing operation for the season ahead and to ensuring that
vessels are in the most seaworthy condition. She invited the
committee to ask questions of CDFU about commercial fishermen in
the region and their importance to the statewide economy.
2:35:34 PM
REBECCA GARLAND ANDERSEN testified that for years Cordova
residents have been trying to keep their ferry system intact
while the people running Alaska's government continue to pay big
oil to extract the state's oil, even when the state is in
crisis. She said [residents] must make their representatives
represent them and vote for the best interest of the people, not
a [political] party.
2:36:35 PM
TOM ANDERSEN stated he is a retired commercial fisherman and has
been living [in Cordova] 76 years. He said he is trying to
retire in Cordova, but the cost of living is probably going to
go through the roof and make it difficult. He serves on the
council of the Native Village of Eyak and his family has lived
here forever. This is going to make it very tough, he said.
2:37:26 PM
SHARON McCALVY testified she has lived in Cordova for 48 years.
The ferry is important to her as she relies on it to get back
and forth to Anchorage for medical appointments and her kids
relied on it when they were going to school. Keeping the ferry
a couple days a month would be great, more would be fantastic.
She has a son coming to Cordova next week on the ferry and
chances are he will have to cancel when he gets to Anchorage.
She urged that Cordova be given its ferry.
2:38:21 PM
CHARLOTTE CARROLL stated she was born in Cordova and has been a
resident for 72 years. She explained that as senior citizens
she and her husband use the ferry numerous times a year for
medical appointments, to go to Anchorage for car service and
groceries, and to visit her sister. She lived in Cordova when
the town didn't have ferry service and people were unable to
travel easily because there were very few planes coming in and
out. She said the ferries make a big difference in Cordova and
urged that at least some ferry service be provided during the
winter for those who really depend on it. She added that she
and her husband don't need a $3,000 permanent fund dividend and
would be happy to have that used for the services of this state.
2:39:54 PM
BARB JEWELL, Chair/President, School Board, Cordova City School
District, testified she would be speaking as both the chair of
the School Board as well as an individual citizen living in
Cordova. Regarding the school, she said the lack of ferry
service for most of the school year as currently proposed, will
significantly decrease educational opportunities for students as
well as significantly increase cost of delivery of educational
services in Cordova. This will have an impact on every level.
The lack of ferry service will mean lack of travel opportunities
for students to go to sports competitions, student government
conferences, and the National Ocean Sciences Bowl because the
[school district] cannot afford to fly them. Most high school
students and a good percentage of elementary students
participate in activities that require travel. [The school
district] cannot use mileage because Alaska Airlines
understandably only allows two tickets per flight for
organizations. Alaska Airlines is adored, but unaffordable for
student travel. In addition, the music regional competition
that Cordova was supposed to host this next year is now up in
the air because of this.
MS. JEWELL further pointed out that the cost of doing anything
for school will now increase - the cost of getting school
lunches and breakfast, the cost for getting repair people to fix
school furnaces, ovens, refrigerators, and heating system, the
cost of any kind of equipment needed to run the school district,
such as fax machines, copiers, computers, and parts for
[equipment]. It is unknown how the superintendent will get the
bus repaired. At a time when ways to decrease the cost of
education are being looked at, this seems like a very poor
decision. She urged DOT&PF to revise its schedule to include
weekly service to Cordova roundtrip in order to maintain the
level of education that is being provided in Cordova. She urged
legislators to increase what is being invested in the state's
infrastructure and the marine highway system is a part of
infrastructure.
2:42:45 PM
MS. JEWELL said this will hurt the school districts and the
students. Families have already spoken to her and she has heard
of others who are contemplating whether they can keep their kids
in school in Cordova. Changing the proposed schedule will make
a difference for this year as well as many years to come.
MS. JEWELL spoke as an individual. She recalled that Cordova
had almost daily service when she arrived nine and half years
ago. She allowed it was luxurious and probably not quite
required. But, she advised, going to no service means that her
family of four will be spending between $20,000 and $30,000 less
in the state of Alaska than it does when the ferry service is
running. She takes her vehicle to Anchorage to purchase large
amounts of goods and services, to have things fixed, or go to a
movie. She is now doing some of those things in Seattle and
Portland because she can't get to Anchorage often enough. As
well, Amazon is getting way more of her money than she would
like it to. She said she prefers to spend her money in Cordova
and Anchorage and the ferry system makes that possible.
2:44:19 PM
ANNE SCHAEFER stated that she has lived and worked in Cordova
for five years. She noted she is a member of the city council
but is speaking today on her own behalf to voice her strong
opposition to the $44 million in cuts to the Alaska Marine
Highway System (AMHS) and the total loss of ferry service to
Cordova for eight months this winter.
MS. SCHAEFER pointed out that the Alaska Marine Highway System
truly is the road that connects the remote coastal community of
Cordova with the rest of the state and the rest of the country.
[Cordovans] depend on the ferry to buy and sell their goods in
Anchorage, to travel for medical appointments, to deliver babies
since that cannot be done in Cordova, to take pets that cannot
fly to the veterinarian, and to transport students to academic,
athletic, and music opportunities across the state. Funding the
AMHS is an investment in Alaska. Besides the 133 percent return
on investment to the state, the economic impact study done by
the McDowell Group in 2016 found that the residents of
Anchorage, Palmer, and Wasilla were among the top five ferry
user groups. So, this is a service for all Alaskans, and it
makes economic sense to fund the AMHS.
MS. SCHAEFER stated that any service is better than no service
and Cordova particularly needs roundtrip service to Whittier.
She urged consideration of reducing the permanent fund dividend,
explaining that a check for $3,000 will not make up for the loss
in services and increased costs resulting from loss of ferry
service to the Cordova community.
2:46:07 PM
AMY O'NEIL HOUCK said she heard a comment today that resonated
with her, which was that those who have the means when crisis
like this happens can leave and those who are left behind, those
on the margins, are those who are going to suffer the most. She
therefore thinks consideration should be given to those who
aren't present to speak today, perhaps they aren't present
because they must work today. She urged for AMHS managers and
the state to negotiate in good faith with the ferry workers.
2:47:10 PM
REBECCA DODGE offered her hope that there can be some consensus
to get ferry service to Cordova this winter. She said a $3,000
permanent fund dividend doesn't make any sense to her and isn't
something she has ever felt was important; it should be invested
back into Alaska.
2:47:58 PM
LILA KOPLIN testified she is a 21-year resident of Cordova. She
recounted that a few years ago she bought a car and made the
purchase in Anchorage because she wanted to do business close to
home and in the state of Alaska. She is required to take the
vehicle to Anchorage at least once a year for warranty work, but
if she cannot do that, she will look at selling the car and
taking her business to the Lower 48 to buy a car.
MS. KOPLIN noted she works for a company in Anchorage and she
travels across the state for her work, Valdez being one of those
communities. She explained that it is much more cost effective
for the company and for her when working in Valdez to take the
ferry rather than flying to Anchorage and then either flying or
driving to Valdez from Anchorage. She is often required to go
to Anchorage for a week at a time to work and it is much more
cost effective to take her own car rather than to rent one.
MS. KOPLIN suggested that the state look again at increasing its
revenues, such as a sales tax or state income tax. There have
been substantial cuts over the years, she noted, and it is her
understanding that more large cuts are slated for next year.
Now the state is to the point that it is cutting vital services,
so perhaps increasing the revenues needs to be looked at.
2:50:21 PM
MARK FROHNAPFEL stated he is the terminal manager for Shoreside
Petroleum in Cordova. A retired member of the U.S. Coast Guard
who has been stationed in Sitka, [Kodiak], and Cordova, he is
familiar with the marine highway and the ability to transport
service members to and from their duty stations. As the manager
of Shoreside Petroleum he can assure the committee that he uses
the marine highway to transport retail products back and forth
from the company's Anchorage terminal to Cordova. It is
imperative to keep costs low and to keep the cost of living at a
reasonable rate in a small coastal community like Cordova.
MR. FROHNAPFEL emphasized that the reduced ferry schedule as
proposed for 2019 and 2020 will have a negative impact as far as
bringing goods to the Cordova community. The goods will have to
be brought from Seattle and will have additional transportation
costs from shippers in and out of Alaska. He urged legislators
to do a better job in getting the AMHS to be a reliable
transportation service in and out of coastal communities.
2:52:16 PM
HANNAH SANDERS, MD, Medical Director, Cordova Community Medical
Center, testified she is here today on behalf of patients who
have medical conditions and disabilities and cannot be here to
have a voice. She said she echoes what the others said about
the difficulty for patients to access health care and specialty
services, such as cardiology services, that Cordova doesn't have
due to its isolation. People on the road system take for
granted the easy access to specialty health care. Many patients
in Cordova are unable to be accommodated on flights and depend
solely on the ferry system to get to Anchorage to have their
health care needs taken care of. This change in ferry schedule
completely isolates them and completely inhibits their ability
to get attention and surgical services during that period.
2:53:42 PM
PENELOPE OSWALT stated she is a 42-year resident of Cordova.
She continued as follows:
The Alaska Marine Highway is part of the national
highway system, designed as a transportation corridor
for rural Alaska. The state receives federal funds to
ensure this happens. Our road is no less important
than any other road in Alaska. Are funds being cut
for the Glenn, the Sterling, the Richardson, the
Seward highways? Are they being deprived of service?
With these tax cuts and poor long-term planning, we
have an eight-month service deficit. The schedule
posted at the ferry terminal is the last ferry is
December 12th and the next one is May 12th. This
means some fishermen will lose up to two to three
weeks of fishing at the end of the season and one to
two weeks at the beginning of the next season. This
will have a huge economic impact on the people and
businesses in our community that rely on our fleet.
Although my child is grown, she used the ferry
regularly from seventh to twelfth grade, I can't even
tell you how much. But our children will have limited
participation in sports and educational events around
the state. Our access to additional medical care in
Anchorage, shopping opportunities, military transport,
families and tourists coming to visit, business
travel. My family and I need to schedule medical
procedures in Anchorage throughout the ... winter. ...
Airfare and car rental make it cost prohibitive to fly
to each of these.
2:55:23 PM
This is our home, we live here. We want to grow. We
want our road. But the decisions being made this year
may cause those that want to invest in our city to
question if this is where they want to start a
business or choose to raise their children. Many have
worked diligently for several years on the AMHS reform
plan to keep our marine highway system alive and
sustainable. With these proposed cuts to the current
budget, Cordova, Valdez, Whittier, Chenega, Tatitlek,
and, yes, Anchorage, Mat-Su, and Fairbanks are the
losers.
We want you as our legislators to help keep our rural
communities economically viable and alive. Take the
politics out of our transportation system and the
legislative decision planning. Keep current and build
vessels that work in Prince William Sound,
Southcentral, and Southeast. To fund this, I urge you
to roll back the credits to the oil companies and
charge what oil to other states charge to harvest
their resources. Re-institute a state education and
income tax to ensure all users of Alaska systems pay
their fair share. And reduce the permanent fund to
what it was originally intended - a bonus, not
something to support your families on. Alaska is so
much more than Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau.
Please save our ferry.
2:57:17 PM
ROBIN IRVING testified she is a 35-year resident of Cordova.
She said that while she understands Cordova cannot expect to
have full service restored, she would like to see some sort of
limited and regular service in Prince William Sound. She
suggested some operational changes that could be done that would
give Cordova service and spread those gaps out more equitably
among all the communities in the system.
MS. IRVING said her first suggestion is to leave the M/V Aurora
in Prince William Sound for at least two more weeks, if not a
month, since it is the busiest time of the year in Prince
William Sound and there would definitely be enough traffic to
support it. Although the M/V Aurora is scheduled to take the
place of the M/V LeConte in northern Lynn Canal, the schedules
of the M/V Columbia and the M/V Malaspina, also operating in
northern Lynn Canal, could be tweaked to pick up a few of the
ports that the M/V Aurora would have served. By mid-fall the
M/V LeConte would be back in service. After the M/V Aurora
leaves, the M/V Tustumena could be brought into Prince William
Sound to provide regular once a month service throughout the
duration. Although the M/V Tustumena is only scheduled to be in
service until January, bringing it into Prince William Sound for
at least 10 days a month would not alter the total number of
service days that are already on the books for that boat. Crew
schedules wouldn't have to be altered because the two-week
rotation of the crews could be maintained to provide a regular
service in Prince William Sound. Kodiak and Cordova would get a
little gap, but everybody would have regular service.
2:59:17 PM
MS. IRVING noted that the overhaul schedule calls for the M/V
Kennicott and the M/V Tustumena to go into overhaul almost
simultaneously. She said she understands there are issues with
scheduling drydock but that longer service could be provided by
staggering the drydocking of these two vessels such that one
could be in service while the other is in drydock. While the
M/V Tustumena cannot use the AMHS dock, it can use the cruise
ship dock with some limitations, so at a minimum Cordova would
at least get service to a road system in Valdez.
MS. IRVING further suggested that the M/V Kennicott be brought
in if the M/V Aurora cannot be kept in Prince William Sound in
September. She noted the schedule shows that Prince William
Sound has a gap starting October 1, but Cordova has a gap
starting September 12 when the M/V Aurora leaves. The M/V
Kennicott could come into Prince William Sound, go over to
Whittier and Chenega Bay and then out to Kodiak to cover the M/V
Tustumena's run while the M/V Tustumena is making its last run
of the chain. So, instead of sending the M/V Kennicott over to
Kodiak, it would be kept in Prince William Sound to do several
roundtrips during the five days that it would have gone to
Kodiak. The M/V Tustumena is coming back and servicing Kodiak
anyway, so it wouldn't give Kodiak a very big gap and it would
help Cordova tremendously during one of the busiest times of
year. Plus, the car deck of the M/V Kennicott is about two-and-
one-half times the size of the car deck on the M/V Aurora, so it
could take a lot of traffic. She urged that her suggestions be
used as a starting point to think outside of the box.
3:01:54 PM
TAMARA MARTIN stated she was born and raised in Cordova and grew
up riding the ferry but is no longer a resident. Her husband is
in the Alaska fishing industry and Vermont is their other home
when not traveling. She pointed out that she and her husband
don't pay taxes on the income they make fishing in Alaska, but
they do in Vermont. She urged that Alaska fix this. She and
her children are currently stranded in Cordova [due to the ferry
worker strike] after arriving on the ferry. She visits family
in Cordova and her family needs the ferry for medical, family
visits, and other uses throughout the season.
MS. MARTIN related that while talking with two Cordova teenagers
last night the teenagers expressed fear at how expensive it will
now be to live in Cordova without ferry service and what that
will mean for them. She said this isn't how a child should
believe in their home. These drastic cuts have been made during
the two weeks that she has been in Cordova visiting family.
Planning needs to be done in advance so parents can explain
these things to their children. These children are in fear
because they are hearing the fear from their family. It is
unfair to communities and families to suddenly say that in two
months they will no longer have a service that was being relied
on. She urged [DOT&PF] schedule planners and legislators to
remember who they are serving.
3:04:47 PM
KRISTY ANDREW, Director, Budget and Finance, Cordova City School
District, stated she is a three-year resident of Cordova and is
a business owner as well as the school district's director of
budget and finance. She said she is honored to represent the
350 students within the community. The community of Cordova
relies heavily on the Alaska Marine Highway System to provide
essentials such as food, medical supplies, equipment, and a
variety of necessary services. The school district relies on
the marine highway to provide safe and cost-effective
transportation for its student activity and athletic programs.
The AMHS presents equitable opportunities to Cordova students
like those experienced by students on the traditional road
system.
MS. ANDREW explained that prior to release of the proposed ferry
schedule, Cordova School District must work with other schools
to set up a schedule for its coming school year events and
competitions. Travel for a great majority of these is the
Alaska Marine Highway System. Between the months of August 2019
and May 2020, the district has scheduled 180-plus vehicle ferry
tickets to carry more than 1,600 students, chaperones, and
coaches to these events. If the marine highway system is not in
operation during this time the school district's transportation
costs will more than triple. In short, a disruption of ferry
service as proposed will land a debilitating blow to the range
of tangible and intangible opportunities that the district will
be able to offer its students. Many of the district's students
will miss out on regional and state event participation. In
addition, they will miss out on the competitive experiences and
increased understanding of the larger sense of community,
growing in knowledge regarding different regions and cultures
within the state, peer networking, and leadership and self-skill
development opportunities. She urged that consideration be
given to the impacts a limited ferry schedule will have on
Cordova's children.
3:08:08 PM
KARL BECKER testified he has been a Cordova resident for over 40
years. He and his wife use the ferry system for shopping in
Anchorage, medical appointments, visit friends, dining, and
movies, so the ferry is a significant part of their lifestyle.
He said he would like to keep the ferry system running as it
does now with service to Cordova several days a week throughout
the winter. Cordova residents depend on the ferry and the
current proposal is totally unacceptable.
MR. BECKER pointed out that when he drives the Glenn, Seward, or
Richardson highways he gets to drive them for free. Yet,
somehow, he is made to feel like a freeloader when he buys a
ticket to get on the ferry, and this is unconscionable. This
hearing wouldn't be occurring were it not for the administration
trying to balance the state budget in one or two years and to
pretend that Alaska is somehow destitute and financially
strapped when the state has billions of dollars in a bank
account. He expressed his hope that committee members will take
back to the administration that it is unacceptable to balance
the budget in one or two years.
MR. BECKER noted that the possibility of privatizing the ferry
system has been presented. He posited that the profit made by a
private company taking over the system and maintaining the same
level of service would be a tax in disguise. Privatization
should be taken off the table. Privatization is not the way
Alaska's highway system should be run unless tolls are put on
the roads in the other parts of Alaska's highway system.
3:12:37 PM
REPRESENTATIVE DRUMMOND offered her appreciation for the
testimony suggesting that Alaska's paved highways should be made
into toll roads. She related that when DOT&PF was making its
budget presentation to the committee this past spring, she asked
the deputy commissioner, "How many other highways in the state
collect 42 percent of their operating costs in revenues?" The
deputy commissioner's response was "none of them because we
don't have toll roads here." Representative Drummond said she
wanted the audience to know this because, at least, she is
considering toll roads.
3:13:24 PM
CO-CHAIR WOOL related that privatizing the ferry system has come
up in many meetings. He said he has asked the commissioners
about the number of ferry systems in the world that are
profitable, and the answer is none. So, he isn't sure a private
company would want to step into that. Regarding testimony that
many more years should be taken to balance the budget, he
pointed out that the House and Senate this year passed a budget
that was balanced and that had a permanent fund dividend (PFD)
of $1,000 rather than the full $3,000. Thus, it is possible to
balance the budget with no taxes and pay everyone $1,000, and he
doesn't think that is a bad thing.
3:14:43 PM
CHELSEA CORRAO, Music Teacher, Cordova City School District,
stated she is Cordova's only music teacher and this year it is
Cordova's turn to host the Aurora Music Festival, a festival
that has been around since the 1970s. It is a small school
festival that is comprised of anywhere from 8 to 16 schools and
right now 12 to 14 schools are expected to come to the festival
in April. It is a logistical nightmare to get participating
schools from the rest of the state that are on a road system to
Cordova. It will take two ferry trips roundtrip within 24 hours
to get all 400 students plus teachers and chaperones to Cordova.
It is a big cost for schools, so charges must be made for
registration, and meals. Except for Unalaska, Cordova is the
only participating school not on the road system, and Unalaska
cannot host it because that is logistically impossible. The
Cordova festival is the most expensive because the students must
ride the ferry. Now, she will have to go to the other schools
and tell them that if they still want to have the festival in
Cordova their students will have to fly. At this point, if
Cordova cannot host it, then the festival will not happen. The
logistics were figured out in April 2019 and she let the ferry
know in May 2019 what was needed. She said this festival is
needed and includes about 500 people. She related that the
district is begging for a ferry an April 15 and 16, [2020], and
again on April 18 and 19 to take the students home.
3:17:14 PM
DICK SHELLHORN testified he is a lifetime resident of Cordova.
He quipped that in his 75 years in Cordova this is undoubtedly
the biggest gathering of Cordovans in one room all agreeing on
the same thing. He referred to an article he wrote for the
newspaper titled "Time to Go Jump Off the Dock." Of course, he
doesn't mean literally, but his biggest concern is how people
who don't agree with the ferry cuts can change the minds of
[those who made the cuts].
MR. SHELLHORN said he was a high school teacher for 30 years and
is now retired. He recounted that in 1989 some Cordova High
School kids got together and had a protest down at the dock
where five of them in wetsuits jumped off the dock and the
protest got some recognition statewide. He said he supposes he
could ask how many in the audience today would be willing to
jump off the dock to get published this time. Perhaps then the
Anchorage paper and other publications would pay some attention.
It is frustrating and so repetitive to come to these meetings
over so many years to present the same arguments and have them
ignored. He expressed his hope that the minority who is
governing the state will make some changes for the positive and
good of everybody in Alaska.
MR. SHELLHORN recalled that when he came back to Cordova and
started teaching in 1972, he rode a ferry called the M/V
Bartlett. The M/V Bartlett was commissioned in 1968 and from
1968 to 1977 it ran without any oil revenue for the State of
Alaska. So, the argument that there is not revenue to pay for
the ferry is not logical because this year the oil industry
contributed $1.9 billion to the state budget. He questioned why
the ferry could run before without oil revenue but not now. He
jested that in the meantime he is looking for a wetsuit so he
can jump off the dock.
3:20:19 PM
TONI BOCCI stated she has worked at the Cordova ferry terminal
for 26 years. She and her co-workers have worked through many
ferry schedule crises, she said, and she has faith in the Alaska
Marine Highway System and those who administer it. If given
sufficient funds, they would be able to give all Southeast,
Southwest, and Southcentral a year-round ferry service of some
kind. She expressed her hope that Alaska legislators can find
common ground and do what is best for all of Alaska.
3:21:34 PM
MICHELLE KOCAN, LAc, Owner, Acupuncture & Wellness of Cordova,
testified she is a Cordova resident who provides health care
services to year-round and seasonal residents. She offered two
suggestions. For the seasonal residents who participate in the
fishing industry, she suggested it is important that ferry
access start in at least March and extend through October.
Seasonal residents are a significant part of her patient base,
she noted, as is the case for other businesses in Cordova. If
ferry service could be kept year-round, she suggested there be
roundtrip access to Whittier at least twice a month so people
can get medical care. Without specialized medical care in
Cordova, people are already waiting longer than they should for
their care. Getting this care is inconvenient and expensive and
often entails three to four appointments across several days, so
being able to combine it with other errands is important.
MS. KOCAN pointed out that travel for medical care for Cordova's
expectant mothers is difficult and inconvenient. She explained
that pregnant women must go [to Anchorage] at 36-37 weeks if
there are no complications. This requires that housing be found
for the duration until delivery, so the housing cost can be up
to $2,000 a month during the wait to have a baby. To not have a
vehicle would another other expense and difficulty.
3:23:35 PM
CARL BURTON, SR., stated he is a 50-year resident of Cordova,
having arrived in 1968 on the ferry. He said his concern is the
same as everyone else's. In 2013 his son was diagnosed with
lupus. After flying to Seattle and getting a treatment plan
going, monthly trips to Anchorage had to be made for the next
five years to do blood tests, scans, and other things for
keeping his son on the right medication. There was no way
during that time period that he could have afforded to fly and
rent a car, when it was double the price. He said he is
bringing this up because every day people are getting sick. He
spent $130,000 in the first two years and that was the best he
could do, there was no way he could have flown.
3:25:13 PM
NICOLE SONGER, Director, Cordova Family Resource Center,
testified that the center is a nonprofit domestic violence and
sexual assault program that also helps low-income individuals
and families with state and public assistance. She said she is
speaking for the marginalized and underserved population who may
be unable to attend today and speak. She explained that this
will impact their safety. Cordova has no shelter and sometimes
individuals need to get to a shelter, with the closest shelters
being in Valdez and Anchorage. Flying people to Anchorage or
Valdez will cost a lot more from the center's budget. Another
impact will be the cost of food; if that goes up, people will
come to the center more to seek service. Single parent families
will be impacted as a single parent must often take his or her
entire family to Anchorage when only one child has a medical
appointment because the family has no other resources for
childcare. Flying versus taking a ferry could be quite
detrimental to their resources. A further impact is that the
cost of supplies for use at the center will go up, so with an
already tight budget the center will not be able to do more.
She urged that the marginalized be considered because they will
be highly impacted by these decisions.
3:27:55 PM
TAMMY ALTERMOTT, Board Member, School Board, Cordova City School
District, stated she is serving a third term on the school board
and has two kids in the school. She and her husband own a local
construction company and their business depends on the ferry to
get parts and supplies. Oftentimes in the middle of the week a
piece of equipment will break down and they cannot wait for the
barge to come in or [the parts are] too big for the plane to
bring in. So, they will run up on the ferry and get the parts.
Working a job has a timeframe and there is no consideration for
if equipment breaks down and it cannot be fixed.
MS. ALTERMOTT said it is the kids who will take the brunt of
having no ferry. She recounted that last winter's ferry
schedule wasn't great and then the ferry broke down. The
basketball teams traveled between seven and ten days. They flew
out and then drove in the wintertime around the state and played
basketball games seven or eight days in a row. So, once again,
this is what the kids are looking at this year. Junior high
kids pretty much did not have activities because of the costs.
A lot of the teams chose not to come to Cordova because it would
cost them too much. The wrestling regionals were scheduled to
be in Cordova last year but that changed when they saw the ferry
schedule. This year Cordova is supposed to have wrestling and
music regionals, but they probably won't happen without the
ferry. There have been so many cuts in education. Cordova is
continually advocating for education dollars, so this will be
devastating to Cordova's kids.
MS. ALTERMOTT advocated for weekly service that supports the
Cordova community and Cordova's kids.
3:30:39 PM
WILLIAM DEATON, Student, testified he is 17 years old and is a
senior at Cordova's high school. He spoke as follows:
As some of the legislators have said on the House
floor in Juneau, the ferry system was created in
advance of some of the most traveled highways within
our state. Can you imagine one of the most traveled
highways going unplowed in the wintertime? We have
been told that DOT is planning this schedule off of
profitability. Is it profitable for DOT to plow
Thompson Pass near Valdez during the wintertime?
As a student who is in sports and music, I am impacted
by the inability to travel for competitions. Cross-
country travel uses the ferry system most weekends to
travel across the state to compete. It is doubtful
now whether we will be able to do that if the strike
continues and the travel schedule is solidified as is.
Furthermore, Music Festival is in April. I can tell
you from experience three years in a row that that is
one of the most important learning abilities for music
students to go to this festival and to learn from
highly trained music individuals to teach us how to
use our instruments well. Cordova has a wonderful
music teacher in Chelsea Corrao, she is phenomenal,
and I cannot wait until we have music here in Cordova.
It is vital that we have that here this year.
I want to make clear however that I do support a full
statutory PFD. Representative Stutes, your amendment
to add $5 million back into the Alaska Marine Highway
System is so appreciated by my family and I. Thank
you for your leadership. Please reinstitute ferry
service to Cordova. Even if it is extremely limited,
we need this service.
3:32:43 PM
ROB CAMPBELL noted he has lived in Cordova for 12 years and
rides the ferry four to eight times a year. He said he came to
Cordova on the ferry Bellingham to Haines and then Valdez to
Cordova - in January to work at the Prince William Sound Science
Center. Like the science center's other researchers, he has a
program that brings in $400,000 to $1 million annually to
support his research efforts. The research is done locally, and
the science center tries to make sure the money stays local.
The ferry brings in much of the science center's raw materials,
such as field supplies, food, and hazardous materials. For
example, he uses disposable train wheels that weigh 700 pounds
each and he brings in 16 at a time. He bought a 24-foot flatbed
trailer just for this purpose because bringing the wheels by
ferry is a third of the cost of sending them by freight. The
science center tries to hire technicians in Alaska and they
often come on the ferry. The science center is about to spend
$20 million to build a new campus in Cordova, much of which is
predicated on having ferry service.
MR. CAMPBELL related it is often heard that residents declined a
road to Cordova many years ago. He pointed out that the 1973
environmental impact statement (EIS) can be found online and in
1973 the estimate was $50 million to build the road and $5
million a year to run it. He estimated that in 2019 it would be
more like $500 million to $1 billion to build and tens of
millions of dollars to run, which puts a ferry budget of $180
million into context. He said the ferry is Cordova's highway
and this highway is needed by residents to get their work done.
He offered his belief that daily service isn't needed, and
neither is a gas-guzzling fast ferry that can't sail in rough
winter weather. Additionally, he doesn't need a $3,000 PFD, he
continued, but Cordova does need regular, dependable ferry
service to get its work done.
3:35:12 PM
CAITLIN MCKINSTRY testified she is an eight-year resident of
Cordova. She and her partner, Mr. Campbell, are in the
beginning stages of a house project. She said a home is
probably the biggest investment that she and Mr. Campbell will
make in their lifetimes and they are choosing to do that in
Cordova. The money from the substantial loan that they are
getting will go to carpenters, plumbers, and craftsmen in
Cordova. As well, they will need to make trips to Anchorage.
They are going to hire a firm in Homer to build the shell of the
house, which will then be brought from Homer to Cordova via
ferry. However, without ferry service they will be unable to
afford to do their home project. Additionally, the carpenters
and engineers from Homer will need to come to Cordova to do this
project. Their home project, she pointed out, shows that ferry
service is important to Cordova and to other parts of the state.
3:36:57 PM
WENDY RANNEY, Co-Owner, Orca Adventure Lodge; Owner, Whale's
Tail Caf?, stated that she and her husband have structured their
successful lodge business for 26 years around using the ferry
service. The ferry service affects them professionally as well
as personally. She explained that it isn't only residents
leaving the community to get services outside, but also what the
ferry brings in. For example, she turns 50 this year and she
depends on the mammogram bus coming to Cordova on the ferry so
she can get regular checkups. Her lodge business depends on the
fire services that come in to service the lodge's fire
extinguishers and sprinkler systems. Tools and hazardous
materials for the lodge cannot be brought via airplane. Enough
time cannot be scheduled to barge things in because a quick
turnaround is needed for the lodge to get those services. She
and her husband purchased a box truck to take to Anchorage to
get supplies and to keep their business sustained. They try to
keep as much money as they can in the community, but that is
unrealistic when they must supply a summer business that houses
upwards of 100 people. To provide perspective, she quipped that
the volume of toilet paper needed for the 68 toilets on the
lodge's property cannot be brought in by a tote on Alaska
Airlines; it must come on a box truck and she needs to be able
to do that affordably so she can provide an experience for
people who are coming to Cordova.
MS. W. RANNEY further pointed out that her lodge has boats and
airplanes that need parts and service. She has a boat that is
U.S. Coast Guard inspected and equipped with a life raft. The
life raft must be sent to a single business on the Kenai
Peninsula to be inspected every year. So, the raft is put in a
box truck which she drives over to that business where it stays
for months during the winter while it is taken apart and
inspected and then put back together. Then she must go back to
Anchorage with the box truck to get the raft and return to
Cordova so it can be put back on the boat by April or May for an
inspection and utilized for the summer. While these things
aren't big numbers, they are a necessity to her way of life.
Yes, she continued, Cordova residents choose to live off the
road system, but that doesn't make them second-class citizens.
Cordovans are part of this state and it is a constitutional
right for Cordova's residents to have health and transportation
services. Cordova needs its ferry.
MS. W. RANNEY added that her lodge supports the Inlandboatmen's
Union of the Pacific in this strike. If this strike doesn't get
solved, she said, it means she loses 46 room nights next month.
Those 46 room nights cost her when the ferry cannot bring those
people in. Those people aren't going to fly; they are going to
cancel. This is important to their business, yet she and her
husband are supporting the strike. To testify today she had to
close her business on the busiest day of the week. This is
important to her and her husband and it is important to Cordova.
Cordova residents are tired of talking to deaf ears, so
committee members coming to hear residents is appreciated.
MS. W. RANNEY reiterated that the ferry is needed. She related
that she and her husband cannot run their lodge business with
such short notice of the loss. She recounted that when the fast
ferry came, she and her husband ramped up their business to take
the fast ferry business. When the fast ferry was lost, they
lost all their travel agents, so they revamped their business
model and came out ahead and stayed successful. Their business
can handle a reduction in service, but she and her husband
cannot take a two months' notice and handle an eight-month loss;
their business needs something.
3:42:09 PM
LAUREN BIEN, Education Director, Prince William Sound Science
Center, introduced three current students present with her. She
explained that the ferry provides educational opportunities for
the center's science-based education for Cordova students. She
coaches the National Ocean Sciences Bowl team, which is an
amazing opportunity for students to learn about the sciences and
the oceans and become future leaders in Alaska, a state whose
healthy economy is based on its ecosystems. The team travels
via the ferry, but this year the team was unable to do that due
to a two-day notice cancelling the ferry. The team then flew at
great cost to its already small budget.
MS. BIEN said the science center also runs the Copper River
Stewardship Program. She explained that this program brings
together students from Cordova and from all over Alaska to learn
about the state, the watershed, the economy, the ecology, and
the people. The ferry is used as an education tool in that
program; it's 12 hours of time out on the sound that normally
would not be made available to the program. While riding the
ferry the Exxon Valdez oil spill is discussed, and observations
are made for learning about ecosystems. The three students
standing with her today were stranded at Kenny Lake when the
ferry was canceled and were brought back to Cordova by the water
taxi that the science center had to hire. She invited the three
students to provide testimony.
3:45:19 PM
JACQI KINSMAN, Student, Copper River Stewardship Program, Prince
William Sound Science Center, testified he is a three-year
resident of Cordova. He lived in Utah before moving to Cordova,
he shared, so he was new to having no roads. It has been a
great experience for him to be able to go on school sports trips
and learn new leadership and teamwork skills that have affected
his life. He now feels more confident and it is easier for him
to click and bond with new people because he has learned these
skills through these educational trips. Through the Copper
River Stewardship Program, he and the other students have an
opportunity in February to revisit and regather and share what
they have learned at the Alaska Youth Forum, but now they won't
be able to do this because it will simply cost too much. If he
cannot go, he will be greatly disappointed because he is excited
to share all the things he has learned. While he can do that in
Cordova, it would be amazing to go and meet new people and share
what he has learned with them so they can learn about this
experience that could be offered to them.
3:46:59 PM
GRACE COLLINS, Student, Copper River Stewardship Program, Prince
William Sound Science Center, stated she is a 12-year Cordova
resident. The ferry is important to her because she rides it to
go to [her family's] cabin and to travel for sports trips. She,
too, would like to go to the Alaska Youth Forum in February and
re-meet with the stewards who went on this year's trip.
3:47:47 PM
BRADEN BECKETT, Student, Copper River Stewardship Program,
Prince William Sound Science Center, related that he also went
on this trip with the stewards. He said they had planned to
return to Cordova by taking the ferry, but then it was learned
the ferry was going on strike. It took many hours and lots of
work from the science center to gather resources and find a way
back for the stewards. The ferry is getting taken and there
isn't much that can be done about it unless [people] act.
3:48:59 PM
ANGELO NORFLEET testified he is a 10-year resident of Cordova
and works for the Alaska Marine Highway. He estimated that the
ferry on average brings into Cordova [$10-$20 million]. People
are here asking for two days a month, but this town will not be
sustained on two days a month, he advised. He advocated that
Cordova needs a ferry four days a week because Cordova's ferry
is chock full almost every day.
MR. NORFLEET further advised that during winter there doesn't
need to be a run to Valdez because Valdez has a road. He said a
great winter schedule that would be easy to do, is to leave
Cordova in the morning, arrive Whittier in the morning,
overnight, and then return to Cordova the next day. Because
there are rooms on the M/V Aurora, no money would need to be
spent on a hotel or per diem, which is money that is now being
spent for the Hubbard.
3:51:08 PM
CINDY APPLETON stated she is a 36-year resident of Cordova. She
came to Cordova via ferry after college, she said, and works for
the city but is speaking today on her own behalf. She gave
birth and raised her children in Cordova. Her oldest daughter
just made it out, but her two other children who were supposed
to leave on the ferry this week are now unable to, although she
supports the strike.
MS. APPLETON recounted that in the mid-1990s she served two
terms on the school board. She was in Cordova during the oil
spill and when the economy crashed in the early 1990s, during
which time Cordova lost many families that have never come back.
Currently she is seeing an uptick in the number of young people
wanting to come back to Cordova to live, but they need services
like good schools, good medical care, and recreational
opportunities. The ferry is Cordova's highway; it is a
constitutional right that was promised years ago by Congress.
MS. APPLETON allowed the ferry schedules over the years haven't
always been great given midnight and 5:00 AM arrivals. But, she
continued, she has many fond memories waiting with other parents
in their cars. Watching the ferry turn the point for coming
into Cordova always gave her goosebumps that that ferry, that
infrastructure, took her kids to the Aurora Music Festival,
basketball tournaments, and other events. That ferry was
bringing home family and loved ones. It scares her to think of
Cordova not having a ferry system this winter. Her youngest son
just graduated and is going off soon. She offered her agreement
with what the other witnesses have said today.
3:55:54 PM
KATE WILLIAMS, Principal, Cordova Jr./Sr. High School, testified
she is going to talk today about things that cannot be measured
in dollars and sense. She said these cuts to the Alaska Marine
Highway System will cripple the high school's athletics, music,
robotics, and problem solvers programs, as well as the National
Ocean Sciences Bowl, the school's partnership with the science
center.
MS. WILLIAMS related that as principal she loses sleep over many
things. Most of the time, she said, it is beyond her control
and unwelcome. But often she willingly gets up at 3:30 AM to go
to the ferry terminal to send off a team, or she stays up until
midnight to welcome a team home. Whether it is the swim team,
the cross-country team, the band, the choir, or robotics, these
students sacrifice their sleep, their time away from their
families, and they do this to represent Cordova across the state
and the nation. The value of this is beyond measure. She gets
up and meets them because encouraging these students is
important. At graduation this year she spoke to the students
and about the students as travelers and how that prepares them
for life. These young Cordovans are sent out into the world and
they represent the community well.
MS. WILLIAMS pointed out that the 160 students in the seventh
through twelfth grades will be impacted by these cuts. She said
about 36 of them will be seniors, the class of 2020. This is
their last chance and they shouldn't be robbed of these
experiences, of state championship titles, regional championship
titles, and tournament titles. The ferry is the heart of this
community, it is the heart of who the people are as Cordovans,
and it is the heart of the Wolverines. She urged that funding
be restored to the Alaska Marine Highway System and year-round
service. Cordova's students deserve it.
3:59:03 PM
GAYLE RANNEY noted she has been in Cordova a long time and first
came to Alaska by ferry when her sons were aged two and four.
She noted it was called an autoliner at that time and the vessel
was the M/V Taku. She said she is a silent partner in the Orca
Adventure Lodge and was a bush pilot for over 40 years but is
now retired. Cordova is a family-oriented community, children
are here for this hearing. It is vital to keep the families
traveling. The local priest in the Episcopalian church is a
missionary to many of the villages and the ferry can be very
important for that missionary work. The ferry is a healing
process for so many people. It is a part of people's lives and
enriches their lives.
MS. G. RANNEY pointed out that Prince William Sound Community
College, located in Cordova, is a way for kids without much
money to get started. They can then go on the University of
Alaska because so many kids cannot afford to go out of state for
their education. She added that her permanent fund dividend is
unnecessary.
4:03:25 PM
SHAWNA WILLIAMS-BUCHANAN testified she is a commercial fisherman
and she is before the committee today to speak for her fellow
commercial fishermen and her family who are not here because
they are out fishing. She explained that for commercial
fishermen to be able do what they do, they must at the beginning
of the season load up trucks, trailers, and cars to go to
Cordova, sometimes making several trips back and forth. At the
end of the season, they do the exact same thing again. Along
with their boats, many families bring their travel trailers to
live in.
MS. WILLIAMS-BUCHANAN pointed out that the ferry is a vital part
of commercial fishing. Of the more than 500 gillnet fishermen
in Cordova, she said, 120 are Cordova residents. So, 380
fishermen use the ferry starting in April, not May, to begin
their pre-season work. The end of the season is in October, not
September. Those 380 permit holders use the ferry to take their
trucks, trailers, and boats home for the winter, and with what
is happening right now, these fishermen, including herself and
her vehicle, are stranded in Cordova.
4:05:43 PM
PETER HEPTERER stated that loss of the ferry service has many
impacts upon everyone in Cordova, including personally for him
for health care and purchasing goods, and commercially
transporting goods to and from Anchorage. The suddenness of the
reduction in services has brought great concerns from Cordova
residents as well as multiple solutions to remedy this.
MR. HEPTERER said he has lived in Cordova for 26 years and has
raised his family as a commercial fisherman, a small business
owner. He sits on several boards locally as well as statewide.
He has had the pleasure of watching his two daughters and their
cohorts grow up and go through Cordova's excellent education
system. One aspect of that was his multiple years of pleasure
driving the high school volleyball team to games around the
state via the ferry system. He is on the school board, and the
impact on the school district's already strained budget will
additionally take a hit with school and activity costs increased
by flying. With limited and decreasing funding, this further
complicates [the school district's] educational funding. The
suddenness of this action is disturbing because plans have been
put into motion and budgets have been structured on the ferry
system. This economic impact will be felt in Anchorage as well.
MR. HEPTERER pointed out that important to travel on Prince
William Sound is the connection to Whitter, not to Valdez.
Valdez already has a road, he noted, and Thompson Pass can be a
very dangerous place to send one's children during the winter
due to treacherous driving conditions. Reasonable, consistent
ferry service is needed. He suggested that the state could
raise revenue by immediately instituting an increase in oil
corporation taxes, reinstating an income tax, and decreasing the
PFD, thereby getting state services for constituents.
4:08:34 PM
MAYA RUSSIN, Student, discussed the effects on students of not
having ferry service. Most high school students participate in
activities that rely on ferry travel throughout the year, such
as basketball, track, or robotics. Pretty much every kid in the
Cordova high school would be impacted by not having ferry
service. She believes that sports and travel are very important
for students, from team building to experiencing other places in
Alaska, which help students [grow up] as a person. Some of the
most important things she has learned in the four years she has
lived in Cordova have been taught when she was traveling with
her team or on the ferry having a great time with her teammates.
Every single student deserves the opportunity to travel and
experience that.
4:09:29 PM
PETE MICKELSON stated the shoulder season is important to him
because in March and April he uses the ferry to haul supplies to
Cordova. During the first week of May, again the shoulder
season, Cordova holds a shorebird festival and people from
around the state take the ferry from Whittier or Valdez to
attend this festival. From mid-April to early May all the
fishermen are getting organized for the season opening in mid-
May. In the summertime the ferry is important for bringing
people across for the Copper River Salmon Jam and the bluegrass
music camp that has been organized by Belle Mickelson for the
past 25 years. In August and September, he takes a trip to the
Interior for caribou hunting and the fair in Fairbanks. In the
past he has traveled Outside for a fall trip mainly in September
and October. The shoulder season is quite important to him and
others in Cordova.
MR. MICKELSON further noted that hauling supplies all year round
is important to the restaurants and other businesses in Cordova.
He said he is willing to give up at least half of his PFD to pay
for the ferry service and advocated that an income tax needs to
be reinstituted for all people who work in Alaska. That type of
revenue, plus higher taxes on the oil industry, will help
balance Alaska's budget.
4:11:48 PM
MELINA MEYER stated she is 29 years old and was born and raised
in Cordova. She was born after the oil spill, she said, so she
knows what it's like to grow up in a town that is very
depressed. She remembers stores closing and few restaurants
because Cordova was in a depression. As she got older Cordova
had a slow and steady growth out of the depression. Cordova's
canneries are now operating, its economy is coming back, and
restaurants and hotels are open rather than being boarded up
like they were when she was in high school. Part of that was
the fast ferry. Cordova was promised it would have regular,
consistent, fast service to Whittier, which brought in growth
that Cordova hadn't seen in a long time. Cordova was resilient
when it lost that fast ferry and kept the doors of businesses
and restaurants open.
MS. MEYER related that after going off to college she thought
heavily about not returning to Cordova. But she decided to
return because Cordova had fast internet, consistent service via
plane to Anchorage and Seattle, and she could take her car on
the ferry over to Anchorage and see the rest of the state. She
still chooses to live in Cordova even without the fast ferry.
MS. MEYER offered her opinion that perhaps people are being too
accommodating to say that ferry service just twice a month is
all that is needed. Rather, she thinks Cordova deserves more
than that. Cordova needs consistent service three to four times
a week. Or, if not every day a roundtrip, then at least over
one day and back the next day.
4:14:12 PM
JOAN JACKSON testified she is a 47-year Cordova resident and an
artist. She pointed out that some of Cordova's recreational
opportunities are the result of having a ferry. For example,
people bring in the ammunition and supplies for the trap and
skeet shoots at the gun range, things that couldn't be brought
in via an airplane. As well, [materials] are brought in for
building playgrounds and [the ferry enables] performances
through the arts council. Artists like herself often take their
work to shows in Alaska and elsewhere.
MS. JACKSON said she would like to see the same quality that
Cordova has been able to maintain. The Cordova Chamber of
Commerce has listed many of the aspects that were heard about
from people testifying today. Consistent ferry service is very
important to her. She and her husband go out for a few months
in the winter, leaving in October and returning on the first of
April. She shares a car with her son in Anchorage, which is his
winter car, but now she doesn't know how she will get the car to
him. She expressed her hope that the words of today aren't
falling on deaf ears.
4:17:15 PM
MICHELLE HAHN stated she is a 46-year resident. She noted she
had the privilege of working for the Alaska State Legislature
for 16 years, 12 as the information officer for the Cordova
Information Office. Through her work in this nonpartisan
position she was able to watch as the three committee members
here today came into office and began working hard on behalf of
the citizens of the state of Alaska. They are doing their work
with compassion and caring. In their attempts to do the right
things they often run up against some big politics.
MS. HAHN thanked Co-Chair Wool for speaking to the balanced
budget that was passed. A balanced budget wasn't done only this
session and vetoed by the governor, she said, but it was also
done last session. She argued that the budget crisis is
completely manufactured by Governor Dunleavy and that there is
no budget crisis. The real question here today, and that
committee members face every day, is what kind of a culture is
wanted for the state. What kind of a vision do people have for
the state and what kind of a future is wanted for the state?
Alaskans can have a future where they're takers, where they
become dependent, and where they become slaves to receiving a
permanent fund dividend, or Alaskans can have a culture of being
givers where they want to see everyone succeed and do well.
MS. HAHN posited that Governor Dunleavy's veto cuts cannot be
looked at as simply to the ferry and the Cordova community. She
said the Power Cost Equalization cuts combined with fish tax
cuts combined with school cuts combined with (indisc. - audio
difficulty) all join up to devastate the economy, not just of
Cordova's community, but of all of Alaska. The ferry gives a
broad scope picture of what that devastation will be, as stated
so eloquently by today's speakers. The message that needs to be
heard by the representatives and senators of Alaska's non-
coastal communities is that what is done in coastal communities
will still directly affect them. For example, Cordova's
wonderful fungus festival is put on in October and attendees
will be unable to bring their cars so they can drive out to the
mushrooming spots. Cordova's incredible shorebird festival is
also scheduled for a time when there will now be no ferry
service, so again attendees will be unable to bring their cars
to drive out to the birding spots on their own.
4:22:12 PM
MS. HAHN stated that what she hears Governor Dunleavy saying is
that Alaska is open for business to large corporations while he
throws all the mom-and-pop businesses under the bus. She said
she also feels that certain members within DOT&PF have been
almost trying to sabotage....
MS. HAHN maintained that once a month service is not service.
She said that a ferry going up once a month and then returning
is unusable. It would reinforce that the ferry doesn't get used
because no one in Cordova could afford to leave their car in
Anchorage for a month. Cordova residents cannot go up and back
on the same day for doctors' appointments. Most people need
three or four days for going to appointments and loading their
trucks and then coming back.
MS. HAHN summarized by stating that these cuts, combined with
the ferry cuts, could be as bad for the Cordova community
economically as was the [Exxon Valdez] oil spill.
4:24:15 PM
JOSIAH KELLY stated he is a fisherman. He said Cordova's
winters are rough and it's important to have a ferry for
resources and other reasons. Returning the ferry to Cordova
should be more of a priority than it seems it is being given.
4:25:08 PM
KELLEY WEAVERLING testified he is a 32-year Cordova resident,
former mayor, and retired Cordova business owner. He stated he
is fatigued with every year having to talk to transportation
people about getting a decent ferry service through the
wintertime. However, he noted, this is the first in 32 years
that Cordova has had to argue for ferry service at all, and he
isn't feeling very hopeful. While it's unknown how bad this is
going to be, it's known that it is going to be very bad, it
won't be neutral or positive. It is going to be bad for the
children, bad for the schools, bad for the sick and infirm, bad
for the hospital, bad for fish processors, bad for fishermen,
bad for every business in town, bad for every individual in
town, bad for Cordova's economy and the community as a whole,
and bad for the state's economy as a whole. He said these are
all good reasons not to vaporize Cordova's ferry service through
the wintertime. But what really fatigues him and makes him very
depressed, he continued, is that he doesn't think the decision
is being based on reason.
MR. WEAVERLING stated he cannot add anything more to what people
have said today. They say this every year. One thing he can
add that might make some difference is that if it isn't reason,
perhaps it is numbers. Fatigue has taken a toll on the
attendance here today, but earlier he counted over 200 people.
Cordova's population is about 2,000 and it's the middle of the
fishing season so not everybody is here who would like to be;
but 200 people represents 10 percent of Cordova's population.
Put in scale, this means that 30,000 people would be here
speaking today had the hearing been held in Anchorage.
4:28:07 PM
KATHRYN KELLY noted she is a Cordova resident and an employee of
the Alaska Marine Highway System. She explained why the ability
to put vehicles on the ferry is so important to Cordova. She
said the difference between Southeast Alaska and Cordova is that
when villagers in Southeast cannot get their vehicle on the
ferry they can go as a walk-on and then find taxis in the
[destination] parking lots for shopping. However, going from
Cordova to Valdez or Whittier requires driving. As well, coming
from Kodiak and villages out that way also requires driving.
The focus is on getting to Anchorage and the main part of
Alaska, versus people in Southeast going to Seattle; they don't
focus on bringing business up into the main part of Alaska.
Southeast Alaskans can use luggage carts, but for this region it
is almost like a different ferry system, and Cordova just gets
the leftovers from Southeast. The Southwest ferry system is the
stepchild compared to Southeast. She provided examples of how
the people in Southeast don't even know where the towns of
Southwest Alaska are located.
4:30:30 PM
MS. KELLY said she has worked for the ferry system about 10
years and much of the ridership in Southwest is locals and not
tourists. Employees of AMHS in this area do not work one week
on and one week off, they work longer and get to know the locals
and become a family with the people of Southwest Alaska.
Whereas in Southeast Alaska, employees work one week on and one
week off and the ridership is mostly tourists and when they get
off the boat the boat is trashed. When the kids who live in
Southwest Alaska are on the ferry they are doing their homework
and many times if they create a mess their coaches will make
them clean it up, promoting ownership of the ferry and that is
part of the culture of Cordova. When decisions need to be made,
Southwest Alaska cannot just be lumped in with Southeast Alaska.
She further pointed out that when Cordovans go to Anchorage,
they drive on the only toll road to get back to Whittier.
4:32:30 PM
BECKY CHAPEK testified that this is a very dire situation. She
noted she owns a car rental company and that she took a car to
Anchorage for some body work, along with a transmission in the
back. However, [because of no ferry service], she had to fly
home without the car or transmission as baggage. She said
Cordova residents depend on the ferry system.
MS. CHAPEK related that upon her return to Cordova, she had
messages. One was from a woman bringing her husband's ashes to
Cordova to scatter. The woman was canceling half of her party's
visitation because they couldn't afford to fly. Another message
was from a woman who was bringing her grandchildren on a
staycation to Cordova. The woman was very apologetic about
having to cancel her rental car reservation. A contractor left
today who is 10 days short of completing what he was hoping to
get done, but there is no way to haul the equipment. A family
from Wisconsin had the trip of their life [planned], but they
are now going elsewhere in Alaska and not Cordova. She also
tried to give advice to a group of 15 rafters coming down the
Copper River as to what they should do.
4:34:28 PM
MS. CHAPEK advised that Cordova needs a ferry in the summer for
people like these visitors and for Cordova residents. She
further advised that a ferry is also needed in the winter
because Cordova residents are so busy in the summer with running
their small businesses that they do most of their work and
travels in the winter. While Cordova might survive with a
smaller population and less service, it won't thrive, and that
isn't what a future is. Cordova residents wants to keep their
promises to their kids and their community, and they want
legislators to keep their promises. This cannot be done when a
governor does [this type of budget savings]. She added that she
has been in Cordova a long time, and she paid state taxes and
school taxes when she first came.
4:36:10 PM
KORY BLAKE stated he was born and raised in Cordova and his
father served in Juneau for many years. He said that in the
last 10 years, [Cordova fishermen] brought their business to
Anchorage and surrounding communities, with 30-50 boats built in
the Anchorage area. He brought his last boat business to
Anchorage where he built a $230,000 boat that he is using today;
he had an opportunity to save and support his state. Other
boats from Cordova that are bigger than his are spending money
in Anchorage, Palmer, and Homer. These boats are brought down
through the highway and use the ferry system sometimes.
MR. BLAKE added that he fishes for Copper River Seafoods, a
company that spends $1.2-$1.4 million a year on the ferry system
with his fish. That is his market. A couple years ago there
was a ferry system rate increase and as well fishermen pay fuel
taxes. So, where is Cordova's road going? Cordova needs a road
and a stable road.
MR. BLAKE pointed out that business by Cordova residents cannot
be done in Anchorage on one trip a month. He posited that the
M/V Aurora is probably the one ship that pays for itself with
business from Cordova. There is the health and wellbeing of the
Cordova community - last year in April he went for health and
there were eight people going for health services in Anchorage
or elsewhere in the state. The M/V Aurora is Cordova's tourism
boat for all its festivals. Perhaps Anchorage should start
paying for itself, he suggested, maybe Anchorage needs a sales
tax. Cordova has a sales tax; most small communities do. He
offered his belief that Anchorage is just sucking off state
revenues. He said he supports a state income tax; he paid one
when he was young and he's 59 years old now. He would also
support a little less dividend. He urged that the state quit
giving money to the oil companies which are making more money
than anybody else.
MR. BLAKE noted [Prince William Sound] has one of the biggest
Ship Escort/Response Vessel System (SERVS) fishing vessel fleets
in the state to protect from another oil spill. The SERVS drill
is done at the end of September. How are all those people going
to get out and back to Palmer and Wasilla who do those spill
drills out of Cordova? Another drill starts in April. Most
people are coming over in April, but the schedule is for May and
that isn't fair.
4:39:30 PM
CHARITY SCHANDEL testified that her family has been established
in Cordova for over 70 years and her household is U.S. Coast
Guard. At the beginning of 2019, she said, her household was
told that a paycheck was not going to be received for an
unforeseen amount of time, and now her household is being told
that it's lifeline to resources will be non-existent. Until
this very moment she has never involved herself with politics on
a serious level and has always believed that a person has no
right to complain unless he or she is going to do something
about it. So, her sitting here is a testimony of her
disagreement with the ferry services being eliminated and she is
going to share what her family is deciding to do about it.
MS. SCHANDEL related she has two children in Cordova Jr./Sr.
High School. Elimination of Cordova's ferry service, she said,
will mean that school sports will suffer if not be non-existent.
The lack of ferry service will leave no alternative other than
paying double the price to fly teams via Alaska Airlines.
Although Alaska Airlines is loved, the people who pay the
difference are the ones filling this room right now. This
town's livelihood is its fisheries and if the seining fisheries
continue to not be as profitable as was hoped for this year,
where will the people here come up with the extra funds to get
their students on flights? The domino effect of removing
Cordova's ferry service for eight consecutive months is going to
be catastrophic to Cordova.
MS. SCHANDEL said her household's Coast Guard tour of being
stationed home in Cordova ends summer 2020. It is unknown where
their next station will be, she continued, and they may not know
until as late as the coming spring. The house her family
currently rents is on the market and their lease ends October 1.
Their landlords have said her family can stay on a month-to-
month basis until they transfer but to be aware that if the
house sells, they will have 90 days to relocate. This may sound
like a reasonable timeframe, but it is very possible that there
might not be any available housing options when that happens,
much less letting her family move in knowing that they cannot
logistically sign a year lease.
MS. SCHANDEL explained that the decision to remove the ferry
feels like she is being violently shoved into deciding whether
her family will need to leave Cordova much sooner than had been
anticipated. She and her family have decided that if Cordova's
ferry service is to be removed, the safest option is for them to
leave Cordova as the school year approaches. This is because it
would be ludicrous to temporarily establish somewhere else while
waiting for orders, especially since there will be no way to get
their household goods and vehicles out of Cordova. As a backup
plan, she will homeschool her children this next year while
traveling to various farms across the Lower 48 and incorporating
their learnings and work trade as part of the children's
curriculum. In other words, she and her children will do work
trade for eight to nine months in exchange for housing and food.
Ms. Schandel urged that this potentially irreversible damage to
families across the state be taken into account [and the
decision] reconsidered.
4:43:41 PM
CO-CHAIR STUTES thanked everyone for coming to the hearing and
invited attendees to come over to the Reluctant Fisherman to
speak to committee members one-on-one after the hearing. She
invited the committee members to make closing remarks.
4:44:07 PM
REPRESENTATIVE DRUMMOND stated how impressed and grateful she is
that so many Cordovans took time out of their busy schedules to
speak today. She said she has heard some excellent ideas and
offered her hope that the DOT&PF officials listening today will
take up residents' suggestions for how to make the ferry
schedule work better for Cordova.
4:44:37 PM
CO-CHAIR WOOL concurred with Representative Drummond that it is
great to hear from so many people and see such a great turnout,
especially in a town this size. He noted that in Juneau the
committee heard testimony on the ferries from hundreds of
people. While a lot of the testimony was similar, he has
learned that the issues for Cordova are slightly different than
for other communities. For example, he wasn't so aware of the
economic connection and that the loss of ferry service will
result in loss of commerce with Alaska businesses in other
places like Anchorage, and that much of that business will
subsequently go south. He also learned at the other meeting, as
well as at this meeting, about the important numbers shown in
the 2016 McDowell Group study. However, a price tag cannot be
put on the educational aspect of the team experiences from
school athletics, robotics, band, and science fairs.
4:46:25 PM
CO-CHAIR WOOL posited that perhaps Cordova is a microcosm for
the whole state as to what the impacts will be, and that those
impacts aren't just the ferry cuts but also all the other cuts.
For example, his community of Fairbanks is looking at a massive
cut to the university system, which may ripple to Cordova. But,
he continued, the massive cut to the ferry system is
disproportionate to the other cuts and the reason given is that
the state doesn't have the money, the budget isn't there. He
questions that and whether these cuts would still be happening
even if there was the money.
CO-CHAIR WOOL said legislators must push back as hard as they
can. He related that legislators tried to override some of
these cuts but fell short of the super high threshold of three-
quarters, but most legislators don't support this. While people
get mad at the legislature the legislature passed laws not to
have this happen, but three-quarters of the bodies are needed to
overcome it. Referencing the phrase "survive not thrive," he
said he thinks the state has the resources to thrive and not
just survive. What is happening with the ferries, the
university, and other big institutional cuts is important to
address. While this hearing is about the ferries, the PFD and
the budget are a part of the [legislature's] conversation, which
was also resoundingly heard from witnesses today. Pushback
needs to continue against the obstinate leadership to show that
intelligent leadership and wisdom should prevail.
4:49:13 PM
REPRESENTATIVE HANNAN noted she represents a coastal district
that includes the communities of Lynn Canal, Haines, Skagway,
and Gustavus. She said she spent her childhood riding the
ferries of Prince William Sound and a career taking students on
the ferries of Southeast. It is heartbreaking to those who know
the importance of ferries to the lifeblood of small communities.
She is a fish broker and has totes of fish sitting in Pelican.
As a teacher of geography, she was stunned to hear that
dispatching for the marine highway's workers doesn't understand
that McCarthy is not a skip away from Cordova.
REPRESENTATIVE HANNAN shared that IBU and the State of Alaska
have been in the Capitol complex today with a federal mediator
since 1:30 p.m. and are still at it. So, she continued, there
is potential optimism for renewed service soon if mediation
continues. The critical nature of ferries to Alaska's coastal
communities can never be overstated; it is how these communities
connect to each other and how they stay. Without the ferries
the communities don't thrive and wither up. She thanked the
attendees for giving up a day of fishing season to make sure
that the legislative branch of government understands this. She
said legislators are fighting to get ferry service restored.
4:51:08 PM
CO-CHAIR STUTES thanked Representative Drummond and Co-Chair
Wool for traveling to Cordova for this hearing. She
complimented her district and thanked Cordovans for attending
this hearing. She said the committee has heard Cordovans and
will be following up on this. She expressed her belief in
ferries and said that while this is a trying time for everyone,
she believes everyone will get through it in a positive manner.
She announced that DOT&PF is holding a teleconference on the
draft schedule at 1:30 p.m. on 7/29/19. She and her fellow
committee members will be working on DOT&PF schedule changes
that benefit communities like Cordova. They will also be trying
to secure more funding. She noted that restoring ferry service
is her number one priority.
4:53:41 PM
MAYOR KOPLIN announced that the room used for today's hearing
will open at 1:00 p.m. on 7/29/19 for people to testify on
DOT&PF's proposed winter schedule.
MAYOR KOPLIN added that he wants to stress the importance of the
state airports in Cordova and Yakutat. He pointed out that
seining has been closed for a week or two in Southeast and there
are a lot of fishermen that need other areas to fish or tender,
so there is a lot of commerce back and forth in traveling. When
bringing in a boat, it is Cordova's state airport that gives
fishermen a chance to get their crews in and out in a timely
fashion. The airport is an important economic and
transportation tie for the whole of Prince William Sound.
Having regular ferry service in and out of Cordova is what
connects the sound to the airport. For example, he continued,
while at the Board of Fisheries in Valdez last year, only 24 out
of 50 flights had flown out because of weather, so everyone took
the ferry to get home. He thanked the committee members for
their work.
4:55:56 PM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Transportation Standing Committee meeting was adjourned at 4:56
p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HTRA 7.27.19 Supporting Documents.pdf |
HTRA 7/27/2019 1:30:00 PM |