Depressed Kuskokwim region point of focus for mine and land development: region debates pros and cons of Port authority.

• Author: Orr, Vanessa
• Position: 2005 Mining Special Section

The Kuskokwim tenon of Alaska is considered to be one of the most economically depressed areas in the state. Yet the concept of creating a Port Authority to promote economic development in the region, and in turn to help further the development of the Donlin Creek Mine, is being met with resistance from some village residents and Native corporations.

According to a fact sheet concerning Senate Bill 40, which would allow the formation of the Kuskokwim Port Authority, the goal of the Authority would be to improve, establish and develop transportation, energy, regional waste disposal and natural resource marketing infrastructure. Benefits from the authority's formation could include providing access to mineral deposits, such as those found at Donlin Creek, and the development of a river tourism industry.

On The Table

The bill, which is co-sponsored by Anchorage Republican Sen. John Cowdery and Bethel Democrat Sen. Lyman Hoffman, is currently sitting in the Senate Transportation Committee. When the legislative session begins in January, the issue is expected to heat up again.

While some Native companies, like the Calista Corp., are fervent supporters of the plan, others, like the Kuskokwim Corp., are just as vehemently opposed. "Calista, as a corporation, is very much in favor of establishing a Port Authority' as a way to meet the region's infrastructure needs," explained Kristina Holmes, Calista's director of communications. "It will enable us to better deliver supplies to the villages, and it will also bring jobs to the region, which we very much need. It is a winwin situation."

Maver E. Carey, president and CEO of the Kuskokwim Corp., disagrees. "We are very much against the idea of a Port Authority because we believe that it will take away local control," she said. "We are concerned that local communities will not have their voices heard."

Who's in Charge?

"We are also against it because the powers of the Port Authority are very unclear in Senate Bill 40," she added. "We don't know exactly what their powers will be."

Both the Calista Corp., who proposed the Port Authority in conjunction with the Alaska State Legislature, and The Kuskokwim Corp. have a big stake in any development plan for the area. The Calista Corp. owns the subsurface rights to the Donlin Creek property, and the Kuskokwim Corp. owns the surface rights to approximately 1 million acres in that area, including the land on which the prospective mine is situated.

If the mine...