Post by ferryfast admin on May 27, 2005 0:21:00 GMT -5
Juneau road project draws fire from EPA
OPTIONS: State prefers highway, but agency likes combo with ferry.
The Associated Press
(Published: May 26, 2005)
JUNEAU -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has objected to the state's Juneau Access Project environmental impact study, citing potential harm from a road proposed to connect Juneau to Skagway.
"There may be an alternative that is less harmful," said Chris Meade, a Juneau-based EPA scientist in charge of reviewing the state and federal highway project.
The EPA gave the state's Juneau Access environmental impact study the third poorest rating on a scale of one to four, Meade said.
Out of nine road and ferry alternatives detailed in the draft study to improve access to Juneau, the state prefers a 68.5-mile, two-lane road that would begin at Juneau's road system and be built along the east side of Lynn Canal to Skagway.
To reduce environmental effects, the EPA is suggesting a shorter road route along the east side of Lynn Canal that would end south of the Katzehin River Delta. Shuttle ferries would carry vehicles to Haines and Skagway.
The Alaska Department of Transportation is concluding its review of 1,700 comments on its draft supplemental environmental impact statement. The department plans to publish its response in the first week of June.
The state has not embraced the EPA's amended road alternative.
"There are a couple of different problems with it," said Reuben Yost, special projects engineer with the Transportation Department.
"Every step you take away from the north side of the delta makes the distance to Haines and Skagway greater," Yost said. He estimated that it would add an hour to the road trip.
A shortened route would reduce environmental harm at the Katzehin and would save $40 million in construction costs, EPA officials said.
State transportation officials are changing some aspects of the project's design to address environmental issues. For those and other reasons, the project's $281 million price tag is expected to increase, Yost said. The project's cost estimate has not been updated since 2003.
Federal regulators from the EPA and National Marine Fisheries Service also noted that improving ferry service out of Auke Bay in Juneau would be less environmentally damaging than the proposed road.
The road would cross Berners Bay, a favorite Juneau recreation area, and the Katzehin River delta, affecting wildlife and fish habitat in those areas, regulators said.
To meet the Clean Water Act, the state needs to show the EPA that a less-damaging Auke Bay ferry option is not feasible, Meade said.
NMFS wants to minimize loss of fish habitat from a road, said Jon Kurland, a regional habitat division chief for the agency.
"They've been really responsive," Kurland said of state transportation officials.
The biggest change suggested by NMFS involves realigning two bridges in Berners Bay farther upstream to reduce harm to fish habitat.
State biologists are asking for further study of Berners Bay wildlife that could be affected by the road, said Jackie Timothy, a habitat biologist for the Department of Natural Resources.
OPTIONS: State prefers highway, but agency likes combo with ferry.
The Associated Press
(Published: May 26, 2005)
JUNEAU -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has objected to the state's Juneau Access Project environmental impact study, citing potential harm from a road proposed to connect Juneau to Skagway.
"There may be an alternative that is less harmful," said Chris Meade, a Juneau-based EPA scientist in charge of reviewing the state and federal highway project.
The EPA gave the state's Juneau Access environmental impact study the third poorest rating on a scale of one to four, Meade said.
Out of nine road and ferry alternatives detailed in the draft study to improve access to Juneau, the state prefers a 68.5-mile, two-lane road that would begin at Juneau's road system and be built along the east side of Lynn Canal to Skagway.
To reduce environmental effects, the EPA is suggesting a shorter road route along the east side of Lynn Canal that would end south of the Katzehin River Delta. Shuttle ferries would carry vehicles to Haines and Skagway.
The Alaska Department of Transportation is concluding its review of 1,700 comments on its draft supplemental environmental impact statement. The department plans to publish its response in the first week of June.
The state has not embraced the EPA's amended road alternative.
"There are a couple of different problems with it," said Reuben Yost, special projects engineer with the Transportation Department.
"Every step you take away from the north side of the delta makes the distance to Haines and Skagway greater," Yost said. He estimated that it would add an hour to the road trip.
A shortened route would reduce environmental harm at the Katzehin and would save $40 million in construction costs, EPA officials said.
State transportation officials are changing some aspects of the project's design to address environmental issues. For those and other reasons, the project's $281 million price tag is expected to increase, Yost said. The project's cost estimate has not been updated since 2003.
Federal regulators from the EPA and National Marine Fisheries Service also noted that improving ferry service out of Auke Bay in Juneau would be less environmentally damaging than the proposed road.
The road would cross Berners Bay, a favorite Juneau recreation area, and the Katzehin River delta, affecting wildlife and fish habitat in those areas, regulators said.
To meet the Clean Water Act, the state needs to show the EPA that a less-damaging Auke Bay ferry option is not feasible, Meade said.
NMFS wants to minimize loss of fish habitat from a road, said Jon Kurland, a regional habitat division chief for the agency.
"They've been really responsive," Kurland said of state transportation officials.
The biggest change suggested by NMFS involves realigning two bridges in Berners Bay farther upstream to reduce harm to fish habitat.
State biologists are asking for further study of Berners Bay wildlife that could be affected by the road, said Jackie Timothy, a habitat biologist for the Department of Natural Resources.