Southcentral ports polish expansion plans.

• Author: Schneider, Douglas
• Position: Fire Island port development - Includes related article on Kenai Peninsula

Other regional competitors regard Fire Island port development as cause for concern.

Gov. Walter Hickel's plan to turn Anchorage's Fire Island into a megaport -- from which Alaska's vast deposits of coal, timber, fish, gravel, petrochemicals and other products would find a fast track to world markets -- has thrown several neighboring Southcentral communities with port plans of their own into a race to develop the state's next major seaport. Which city ultimately wins depends on how much each port costs, the needs of industry and the dictates of nature.

A supporter of huge capital projects, Hickel has long dreamed of turning Fire Island into a world-class seaport. Such a port, according to Paul Fuhs, senior legislative liaison and formerly the state's director of economic development, would open up Alaska resources and create thousands of new jobs.

In November, Hickel administration officials announced they had reached an agreement with Cook Inlet Region Inc. (CIRI), the Native regional corporation that owns Fire Island, to buy 200 acres of real estate on the island's west side for $1 million. The sale is contingent on the outcome of a state feasibility study of the site. Should the location prove acceptable, the state would have the option to buy up to 1,200 acres of additional CIRI land holdings on the island.

But rather than widespread support, Fire Island has sparked mostly fireworks. Critics say upper Cook Inlet is a nightmare for ship navigation, and the cost, estimated at between $500 million and $1.8 billion, is too steep. Most vocal have been a host of Alaska communities that say pouring so much state money into a new port project would disrupt their own port expansion plans, plans that each view as far more practical.

Wishbone Wishing. Northeast of Palmer lie the untapped, high-quality bituminous coal deposits of Wishbone Hill. Largely owned by the Japanese resource-development company Idemitsu-Kosan, Wishbone Hill could produce some 1.5 million tons of coal each year -- if only developers could find an inexpensive way to get the coal to markets.

Gary Daily, port director for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, thinks he has the answer. "Alaska's minerals are source competitive, but not transportation competitive," Daily says. "The idea is to get the coal to the closest deepwater port, dump the coal into ships and come back for more. Our Point MacKenzie is the closest deepwater port."

Located about three and one-half miles northwest of Anchorage on the north shore of Knik Arm, Point MacKenzie would be the hub for Wishbone Hill coal, Daily says. Point MacKenzie also would ship resources extracted from along the Railbelt, such as Interior coal from Usibelli Coal Mine in Healy and timber harvested from forests around Fairbanks and Nenana. Last year, some 1 million board feet of Interior timber were brought south on the Alaska Railroad. Gravel and limestone might also have market potential through Point MacKenzie.

The Mat-Su borough would be hard-pressed to find a better spokesperson for its port dreams. Daily soothes his skeptics with a sales pitch woven with a deep, charismatic voice finely tuned from a career in radio. It's convincing, polished. Adding heft to his remarks is Daily's long association with harbor development.

Daily first served as Homer's harbor master and later as port director, a job he held for 10 years. In 1987, Daily became Dutch Harbor's port director and oversaw...