Post by ferryfast admin on Apr 4, 2005 10:18:14 GMT -5
Alaska ship sailing into legal fight
GLACIER BAY: State and federal governments battle over park where Murkowski will send ferry.
By TOM KIZZIA
Anchorage Daily News
www.adn.com/
(Published: April 4, 2005)
Whether it's gunboat diplomacy, as some are suggesting, or just a charitable gesture toward the good folks of Gustavus, Gov. Frank Murkowski's announcement that he's sending a state ferry into Glacier Bay National Park this summer has surprised national park officials and local residents -- and started state employees scrambling in search of a spare ferry for a new Gustavus run.
The state ferry, bound for a part of the park where access is restricted, would be entering troubled waters. The state and federal governments are locked in a legal battle over who controls the water in the park, with a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court expected any week. Access to the park by cruise ships and commercial fishermen have been key points of contention between the two sides.
The dispute was a major sore spot for Murkowski when he was in the U.S. Senate, with national environmental groups battling against him to limit access. When he made his surprise announcement March 22 at a meeting of Southeast government and business leaders, Murkowski described the new ferry service as an assertion of state sovereignty.
It's mostly symbolic, the governor elaborated in an interview Friday. He's not sending in the Alaska navy, he said -- at least not yet. But someday, he said, it would be nice to see state ferries carry Alaskans into the scenic headwaters of the park, where cruise ships are now limited.
"Why should our ferry system be exempted if we wanted to operate at a more leisurely pace in the waters of our own state?" Murkowski said. "I find it very frustrating -- and also very energizing."
For now, however, the state plans to follow the national park's access permit requirements, probably sending in the ferry after a scheduled call at nearby Hoonah, Murkowski said. He said he's hoping for one or two visits a week. There may have to be some discussion, the governor added, about a pending federal rule on ship size that would exclude most of the state's fleet from Bartlett Cove, location of the park's visitor center and dock.
Beyond that, the governor's decision to show the eight stars of gold off the coast of Point Gustavus creates some interesting wrinkles.
For one thing, it may pit the state against private enterprise. The national park had made arrangements for a private high-speed ferry to provide six-day-a-week service to the area from Juneau. Unless the state can arrange to have its ferry arrive only on Wednesday, park officials said, they may have to bounce the private operator under their strict one-big-boat-a-day rule for Bartlett Cove.
"I think it's more likely that the state is concerned with access and jurisdiction into Glacier Bay than they are with providing a regular ferry service," said a mildly disgruntled John Dunlap, tour division vice president for Allen Marine, the Sitka company now scheduled to serve Bartlett Cove.
Meanwhile, the roadless community of Gustavus, at the park's entrance, says its needs are for freight, vehicle delivery and reconstruction of the main state dock outside the park. The governor's decision to send a state ferry into Bartlett Cove, 12 miles from town, won't help on any of those counts, said Gustavus Mayor Sandi Marchbanks, a local lodge owner.
"My understanding is they can't bring vehicles in or freight over that dock, so it's not really helping out the community if this is in fact what they're talking about," she said.
But an occasional ferry could offer some benefits, she said. And even Allen Marine's Dunlap said infrequent visits from the slower state vessels aren't likely to take away much of his business.
"It's hard to imagine, with all the problems the marine highway system is facing, that they would really dedicate much of their resources to going to Glacier Bay," Dunlap said.
Gustavus, with a year-round population of 450, has Alaska Airlines service in summer and air taxis the rest of the year.
The national park was surprised by the governor's announcement but is eager to work with the state, said Glacier Bay superintendent Tomie Lee. She said the state did not make a proposal when the park sought passenger ferry service for this summer. But she had been talking to the state about possible ferry service for next year.
"They don't want to be in competition with private enterprise," Lee said. "I'm assuming it's going to work very well. They've been really great to work with."
Robin Taylor, the former state senator recently appointed to head the state ferry system, says the new Gustavus run will be experimental. The state wants to improve access to the park for tourists and help out Gustavus, he said.
Taylor said most details have yet to be worked out, such as how much the new ferry run might cost the state. He said the system is still trying to settle on a vessel. A pending federal rule limiting ships to 100 tons in Bartlett Cove would limit the state to using the Lituya, now serving the distant Ketchikan-Metlakatla run. Taylor said that's not going to work.
The experiment will help the state decide if it wants to expand the service to Glacier Bay in 2006, Taylor said.
Like the governor, Taylor said the state is not out to compete with private enterprise. But he said he couldn't guarantee that the ferry would arrive only on Wednesday -- the day Allen Marine holds back all its available vessels to serve heavy cruise ship traffic in Juneau.
The governor's "full-steam ahead" announcement appears to be a personal cause, said Jim Stratton, regional director for the National Parks Conservation Association. The environmental group filed a friend-of-the-court brief against the state in the pending Supreme Court case.
"The governor just has a thing about Glacier Bay and the park. It's historical," Stratton said. "So the state is going to lose a bunch of money to send a boat into a place already served by private enterprise."
Stratton said he was not concerned about the state ferry's arrival as long as the state gets the proper park permits.
The setting for this maritime dispute is a spectacular 60-mile-long bay of mountains and glaciers that was first set aside as a national monument in 1925. Conservationists call it the largest protected marine environment in the United States. A national park since 1980, the area receives close to 400,000 visitors every summer, the great majority floating by in cruise ships and never setting foot on land.
Environmental groups, citing concerns about whales in the bay, have pressed the park in court cases to limit cruise ship traffic. The current limit is two a day, up to 139 a summer. That limit, and a federal effort to phase out commercial fishing, helped prompt a state lawsuit by former Gov. Tony Knowles over ownership of Glacier Bay's waters.
The lawsuit was taken directly by the Supreme Court to sort out the federal-state dispute. The case was first heard by an appointed special master, who recommended a year ago that the court rule for the federal government. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the dispute in January.
State lawyers argued that, under the federal Submerged Lands Act, navigable waters like Glacier Bay belong to the state unless Congress makes a clear move to keep them. Some justices appeared skeptical, saying it was unlikely Congress intended to surrender the water in a park mostly visited by boat.
"It's like saying we're keeping Yellowstone but we're giving you the geysers," Justice Stephen Breyer suggested.
A decision in the case, Alaska v. United States, is expected sometime before the Supreme Court term ends in June.
GLACIER BAY: State and federal governments battle over park where Murkowski will send ferry.
By TOM KIZZIA
Anchorage Daily News
www.adn.com/
(Published: April 4, 2005)
Whether it's gunboat diplomacy, as some are suggesting, or just a charitable gesture toward the good folks of Gustavus, Gov. Frank Murkowski's announcement that he's sending a state ferry into Glacier Bay National Park this summer has surprised national park officials and local residents -- and started state employees scrambling in search of a spare ferry for a new Gustavus run.
The state ferry, bound for a part of the park where access is restricted, would be entering troubled waters. The state and federal governments are locked in a legal battle over who controls the water in the park, with a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court expected any week. Access to the park by cruise ships and commercial fishermen have been key points of contention between the two sides.
The dispute was a major sore spot for Murkowski when he was in the U.S. Senate, with national environmental groups battling against him to limit access. When he made his surprise announcement March 22 at a meeting of Southeast government and business leaders, Murkowski described the new ferry service as an assertion of state sovereignty.
It's mostly symbolic, the governor elaborated in an interview Friday. He's not sending in the Alaska navy, he said -- at least not yet. But someday, he said, it would be nice to see state ferries carry Alaskans into the scenic headwaters of the park, where cruise ships are now limited.
"Why should our ferry system be exempted if we wanted to operate at a more leisurely pace in the waters of our own state?" Murkowski said. "I find it very frustrating -- and also very energizing."
For now, however, the state plans to follow the national park's access permit requirements, probably sending in the ferry after a scheduled call at nearby Hoonah, Murkowski said. He said he's hoping for one or two visits a week. There may have to be some discussion, the governor added, about a pending federal rule on ship size that would exclude most of the state's fleet from Bartlett Cove, location of the park's visitor center and dock.
Beyond that, the governor's decision to show the eight stars of gold off the coast of Point Gustavus creates some interesting wrinkles.
For one thing, it may pit the state against private enterprise. The national park had made arrangements for a private high-speed ferry to provide six-day-a-week service to the area from Juneau. Unless the state can arrange to have its ferry arrive only on Wednesday, park officials said, they may have to bounce the private operator under their strict one-big-boat-a-day rule for Bartlett Cove.
"I think it's more likely that the state is concerned with access and jurisdiction into Glacier Bay than they are with providing a regular ferry service," said a mildly disgruntled John Dunlap, tour division vice president for Allen Marine, the Sitka company now scheduled to serve Bartlett Cove.
Meanwhile, the roadless community of Gustavus, at the park's entrance, says its needs are for freight, vehicle delivery and reconstruction of the main state dock outside the park. The governor's decision to send a state ferry into Bartlett Cove, 12 miles from town, won't help on any of those counts, said Gustavus Mayor Sandi Marchbanks, a local lodge owner.
"My understanding is they can't bring vehicles in or freight over that dock, so it's not really helping out the community if this is in fact what they're talking about," she said.
But an occasional ferry could offer some benefits, she said. And even Allen Marine's Dunlap said infrequent visits from the slower state vessels aren't likely to take away much of his business.
"It's hard to imagine, with all the problems the marine highway system is facing, that they would really dedicate much of their resources to going to Glacier Bay," Dunlap said.
Gustavus, with a year-round population of 450, has Alaska Airlines service in summer and air taxis the rest of the year.
The national park was surprised by the governor's announcement but is eager to work with the state, said Glacier Bay superintendent Tomie Lee. She said the state did not make a proposal when the park sought passenger ferry service for this summer. But she had been talking to the state about possible ferry service for next year.
"They don't want to be in competition with private enterprise," Lee said. "I'm assuming it's going to work very well. They've been really great to work with."
Robin Taylor, the former state senator recently appointed to head the state ferry system, says the new Gustavus run will be experimental. The state wants to improve access to the park for tourists and help out Gustavus, he said.
Taylor said most details have yet to be worked out, such as how much the new ferry run might cost the state. He said the system is still trying to settle on a vessel. A pending federal rule limiting ships to 100 tons in Bartlett Cove would limit the state to using the Lituya, now serving the distant Ketchikan-Metlakatla run. Taylor said that's not going to work.
The experiment will help the state decide if it wants to expand the service to Glacier Bay in 2006, Taylor said.
Like the governor, Taylor said the state is not out to compete with private enterprise. But he said he couldn't guarantee that the ferry would arrive only on Wednesday -- the day Allen Marine holds back all its available vessels to serve heavy cruise ship traffic in Juneau.
The governor's "full-steam ahead" announcement appears to be a personal cause, said Jim Stratton, regional director for the National Parks Conservation Association. The environmental group filed a friend-of-the-court brief against the state in the pending Supreme Court case.
"The governor just has a thing about Glacier Bay and the park. It's historical," Stratton said. "So the state is going to lose a bunch of money to send a boat into a place already served by private enterprise."
Stratton said he was not concerned about the state ferry's arrival as long as the state gets the proper park permits.
The setting for this maritime dispute is a spectacular 60-mile-long bay of mountains and glaciers that was first set aside as a national monument in 1925. Conservationists call it the largest protected marine environment in the United States. A national park since 1980, the area receives close to 400,000 visitors every summer, the great majority floating by in cruise ships and never setting foot on land.
Environmental groups, citing concerns about whales in the bay, have pressed the park in court cases to limit cruise ship traffic. The current limit is two a day, up to 139 a summer. That limit, and a federal effort to phase out commercial fishing, helped prompt a state lawsuit by former Gov. Tony Knowles over ownership of Glacier Bay's waters.
The lawsuit was taken directly by the Supreme Court to sort out the federal-state dispute. The case was first heard by an appointed special master, who recommended a year ago that the court rule for the federal government. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the dispute in January.
State lawyers argued that, under the federal Submerged Lands Act, navigable waters like Glacier Bay belong to the state unless Congress makes a clear move to keep them. Some justices appeared skeptical, saying it was unlikely Congress intended to surrender the water in a park mostly visited by boat.
"It's like saying we're keeping Yellowstone but we're giving you the geysers," Justice Stephen Breyer suggested.
A decision in the case, Alaska v. United States, is expected sometime before the Supreme Court term ends in June.