Cordova's proposed port: a controversial project: will this development benefit an economically depressed community?

• Author: Santi, Behlor
• Position: $18 million project

In August 2003, United States Interior Secretary Gale Norton announced that the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs is issuing requests for an environmental impact study on a public-works project near Cordova.

The $18 million project calls for several facilities: a 4.3 mile road to be built between Cordova and Shepard Point, and a deep draft port and spill-response depot to be built at Shepard Point. The Bureau of Indian Affairs hopes to complete the environmental impact statement in 2004.

"Construction will begin as soon as possible once the EIS and permitting are properly completed and design work is finalized," says Bruce Cain, executive director of the Native Village of Eyak.

Eyak is located on the Copper River Highway, 5.5 miles southeast of Cordova between Eyak Lake and the Cordova airport. Shepard Point is located 10 miles north of Cordova on Orca Inlet. It is the site of an abandoned cannery owned jointly by Eyak Corp. and Chugach Alaska Corp. They have agreed to contribute the site as a right of way for the project, says Cain.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs, the federal Department of Transportation, the Alaska Department of Transportation and the Native Village of Eyak see the proposed project as a way to improve Cordova's standard of living. So does Peratrovich, Nottingham & Drage Inc., which has been involved as a consultant on the project since 1989 until several years ago.

"Cordova is a dying town," states Dennis Nottingham, of the Anchorage-based engineering firm. "The city is economically depressed and could use this project."

Margy Johnson, who has served as mayor of Cordova for three terms, says the idea of a deep-water port has been around for many years.

The 1964 earthquake raised the sea bottom in the nearby harbor by up to 10 feet, blocking access by cruises and many other commercial ships. Johnson says that a city without road access needs a deep-water port.

On the other hand are environmentalists, headed by the Eyak Preservation Council. They have spent years fighting the proposed project.

Dune Lankard, a shareholder in the Native Eyak Corp., and member of the Eyak Preservation Council, notes, "to date, EPC does not believe that the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Federal Department of Transportation, The Eyak Corp. ... have shown sufficient needs and supporting facts about why we need to move forward on this port project."

Margy Johnson questions Lankard's statement. "Coastal towns like Cordova need to have a chance to...