Friday, December 28, 2012

Reply from DOT/PF re Alaska Class Ferry Changes

Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT/PF) Commissioner Kemp transmitted a paper today titled Alaska Class Ferry: Project Overview and Change in Direction.  Go to the Haines Borough website and click on Alaska Class Ferry Changes under "What's New" to download the document.

Read it and let's talk.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Dear Governor Parnell....

Please tell us more about your alternative to the Alaska Class Ferry:
 
Governor Parnell, your decision, announced on December 4, to abandon the ongoing Alaska Class Ferry project in favor of smaller shuttle ferries raises many questions.  As Mayor of Haines, I have been inundated with comments, questions, and requests for information from Haines residents.  As to the questions and requests, I am as bereft of information as any of my constituents.  I cannot overemphasize the importance of this issue to my constituents.
            The Haines Borough Assembly will convene on Tuesday, January 8, 2013, and again on January 22nd.   Sometime during our January schedule, I expect that the assembly will wish to express a more formal opinion on this issue.  For that reason, I respectfully ask that you and your staff provide me with whatever of the following information that it is possible to assemble and transmit by early January, so that assembly members will be able to incorporate the information into their thinking.  I have tried to formulate questions that I think are key to our perception of the course change, but please do not hesitate to confine your response to my questions.  Please feel free to tell us what you believe we need to know in order to think clearly and carefully about your proposal.
            First, we are all very curious to know how the decision was made.  Your press release states that the decision was made “after it became apparent  … that building a 350-foot ferry, on budget, in Alaska, could not be accomplished.”  Where did these cost figures come from?  Who participated in this decision?
            Would, or should, the new plan be subject to legislative approval? 
            Why did you not follow established procedures for decisions about Alaska’s ferries?  The Marine Transportation Advisory Board was established in 2003 and adopted in statute in 2009.  It is a part of your Department of Transportation.  The MTAB was taken completely by surprise by this decision.  As far as I can discover, the Ketchikan shipyard was taken by surprise by this decision, as were Southeast Alaska legislators.  It looks to me as though your Deputy Commissioner for Marine Operations, Captain Michael Neussl was also surprised.  Many Haines residents feel that circumvention of the public process is one of the most important issues implicated by your decision.  How can I reassure them that participation in the public process is not in vain?
            If there is no design established yet for the two shuttle ferries your new plan contemplates, how can you make the statement:
            By setting a new course, Alaskans can build two smaller Alaska Class Ferries and stay on budget, and at the same time provide the same or better level of service Alaskans expect from our marine highways.
[Press release, Governor’s Office, December 4, 2012]
            What level of service do you believe is appropriate for Upper Lynn Canal?  By that I mean, how many cancellations or seasickness-inducing sailings are you planning for?  The Southeast Alaska Transportation Plan Shuttle Ferry Study, prepared in January of 2010, notes that
If the vessel is sized to the traffic demand, AMHS must ask of their customers whether a reduced reliability of service is acceptable, especially during the winter months.  If a vessel can make 99 out of 100 scheduled trips in the summer, but only 80 out of 100 trips in the winter, does that reach an acceptable level of service?  How should the ferry compare with other publically funded transportation such as the highways?  These are policy questions, not design questions.
            [Study, page 21]
            That study discusses wave conditions and wind speeds in various areas in Southeast.  While I am not familiar with the exact terminology used, I question whether the Elliot Bay group properly assessed conditions in Upper Lynn Canal.  The wave heights throughout the study appear to be underestimated. [1] The LeConte was cancelled twice this week due to 11-foot seas.  The past several weeks have seen sustained winds in the 55-knot range, with higher gusts.  While the LeConte (235’) was cancelled Wednesday and Friday, the Taku (352’) sailed Thursday, in essentially the same weather. 
            What connection, if any, does this change bear to the proposed Juneau Access Road?
            What is the conceptual design for the shuttle ferries?  Is it true that you are considering an at least partially open car deck?  [Did you see this recent picture of the LeConte in Upper Lynn Canal?]
 
            Your DOT Commissioner (Acting) Pat Kemp told me that his department is “going to assemble a paper that discusses the information and key points that led to the decision.”  [Email to me, Dec. 11, 2012]  Can you tell me when this study will be available?
            Finally, may I meet with you or your representative soon, in person or via teleconference, about our concerns?  Thank you. 


[1] It is also possible that sea conditions need to be reexamined in light of research that indicates that wind speeds and wave height will increase with global warming.  See http://www.researchgate.net/publication/50850792_Global_trends_in_wind_speed_and_wave_height