Skagway Ore Terminal and ship loader. Photo courtesy AIDEA.

White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad recently applied for a permit to dredge a portion of Skagway’s harbor basin. The project is part of a plan to address contamination caused by loading ore onto ships at a dock operated by the railroad. The municipality is concerned that the project is not ready to be permitted. 

White Pass hired environmental engineering firm Anchor QEA to develop a plan for removing contaminated sediment from the harbor. The firm says it can remove 85 percent of the mass of contamination by dredging the harbor basin in front of the ore loader. They hope to begin dredging as early as next fall and estimate the work can be completed in 6 weeks.

The Army Corps of Engineers announced White Pass’ permit application to dredge the harbor last month. Originally they set a deadline of December 6th to submit comments on it, but they extended the deadline by 10 days in response to a request from the Municipality of Skagway.

Mayor Andrew Cremata worked with the borough manager and legal council to draft a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers. He says Anchor QEA’s plan doesn’t do enough to ensure that all of the contamination is removed. 

“It’s not comprehensive. It doesn’t take into account any of the remediation needs underneath the dock or the loader. There are also a number of concerns that there hasn’t been enough testing,” Cremata says. “We’re not aware of any plans post-remediation that focuses on public health and safety or what the institutional controls would be.”

The Skagway Borough Assembly will review the letter and decide whether to send it to the Army Corps of Engineers at its meeting Wednesday. 

In addition to the contamination around the dock, municipal leaders say that the ore terminal’s aging infrastructure needs to be addressed. Skagway Port Commission Chair Tom Cochran has suggested that removing the ore loader during renovations could open up access to the contaminated area beneath the dock. 

But that could disrupt the port’s ore shipping operations, which are expected to resume next month. 

The deadline for submitting comments on the dredging plans is December 16th. Comments can be submitted by email to regpagemaster@usace.army.mil or by mail to:

JUNEAU FIELD OFFICE
Regulatory Division (1145)
CEPOA-RD
Post Office Box 22270
Juneau, Alaska 99802-2270

All comments must include the reference number POA-1981-00334.