Post by ferryfast admin on Jan 27, 2006 22:28:09 GMT -5
Alaska trying to nab Seattle-based Coast Guard cutter
06:49 PM PST on Friday, January 27, 2006
Associated Press
SEATTLE - Alaska's senior senator and its lone congressman are pushing to have the Seattle-based Coast Guard cutter Healy and its crew moved to Anchorage.
Republicans Ted Stevens and Don Young say the Healy, the nation's newest and most advanced icebreaker, should be based where the ice is.
Video Clip
Gary Chittim reports
The Coast Guard opposes the move, saying most of the 420-foot ship's crew has family in the Seattle area, and no Alaska ports have the facilities to handle an icebreaker of that size. The move would cost taxpayers an extra $8 million or more a year, according to an internal Coast Guard analysis reported by The Seattle Times on Friday.
The Healy is worth about $18 million in contracts to Todd Pacific Shipyards over the next four years. In September, the Coast Guard awarded Todd a multiyear contract to maintain the ship. The Seattle yard already had a separate contract for Healy dry-dock repairs.
But that same month, Young added one line to a 78-page bill on the Coast Guard and maritime transportation - language that would homeport the Healy in Anchorage pending funding from the appropriations committees, The Times reported.
Young did not notify Puget Sound members of Congress or Coast Guard officers in Seattle, according to U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash. Dicks said the Coast Guard told him that "moving the Healy out of Seattle to Anchorage would be unnecessarily costly, and a terrible burden on the families."
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., sent a letter to the Coast Guard objecting to the move. She sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee, which would be asked to allocate the money needed to relocate the Healy.
"The Coast Guard saves money by bunking its three icebreakers in Seattle," said Murray's spokeswoman, Alex Glass.
The Healy's duties include clearing shipping lanes and performing Arctic research and rescue missions. Its crew can include up to 45 scientists.
The Senate version of the Coast Guard and maritime transportation bill, approved last fall, did not suggest moving the ship. Congressional conferees have been trying to reconcile the two bills.
According to the Coast Guard analysis, Anchorage's port would need dredging to handle the big ship. The report also said Todd is one of only two commercial shipyards - the other in San Diego - that could handle the vessel.
In addition, the Coast Guard recently spent more than $13 million on a pier-renewal project in Seattle, which upgraded mooring capability and electrical power for the Healy, according to Todd.
06:49 PM PST on Friday, January 27, 2006
Associated Press
SEATTLE - Alaska's senior senator and its lone congressman are pushing to have the Seattle-based Coast Guard cutter Healy and its crew moved to Anchorage.
Republicans Ted Stevens and Don Young say the Healy, the nation's newest and most advanced icebreaker, should be based where the ice is.
Video Clip
Gary Chittim reports
The Coast Guard opposes the move, saying most of the 420-foot ship's crew has family in the Seattle area, and no Alaska ports have the facilities to handle an icebreaker of that size. The move would cost taxpayers an extra $8 million or more a year, according to an internal Coast Guard analysis reported by The Seattle Times on Friday.
The Healy is worth about $18 million in contracts to Todd Pacific Shipyards over the next four years. In September, the Coast Guard awarded Todd a multiyear contract to maintain the ship. The Seattle yard already had a separate contract for Healy dry-dock repairs.
But that same month, Young added one line to a 78-page bill on the Coast Guard and maritime transportation - language that would homeport the Healy in Anchorage pending funding from the appropriations committees, The Times reported.
Young did not notify Puget Sound members of Congress or Coast Guard officers in Seattle, according to U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash. Dicks said the Coast Guard told him that "moving the Healy out of Seattle to Anchorage would be unnecessarily costly, and a terrible burden on the families."
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., sent a letter to the Coast Guard objecting to the move. She sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee, which would be asked to allocate the money needed to relocate the Healy.
"The Coast Guard saves money by bunking its three icebreakers in Seattle," said Murray's spokeswoman, Alex Glass.
The Healy's duties include clearing shipping lanes and performing Arctic research and rescue missions. Its crew can include up to 45 scientists.
The Senate version of the Coast Guard and maritime transportation bill, approved last fall, did not suggest moving the ship. Congressional conferees have been trying to reconcile the two bills.
According to the Coast Guard analysis, Anchorage's port would need dredging to handle the big ship. The report also said Todd is one of only two commercial shipyards - the other in San Diego - that could handle the vessel.
In addition, the Coast Guard recently spent more than $13 million on a pier-renewal project in Seattle, which upgraded mooring capability and electrical power for the Healy, according to Todd.