An FAA cleanup contract for Gustavus, most of it at Metlakatla

In Gustavus, residents have been drinking hauled-in water for years, ever since PFAS — the "forever chemicals" tied to firefighting foam — turned up above safe levels in their wells. The FAA's latest step toward cleaning it up is a small one — $77,849, awarded Aug. 12, for work at its former tank farm there.

State environmental officials traced the contamination, found in 23 Gustavus wells in 2018, to foam the FAA required at the airport. Members of the Gustavus PFAS Action Coalition say the cleanup is falling short even as the runway is rebuilt — though the FAA's side isn't in the record.

The FAA's other new Alaska awards are more routine. Brice Solutions of Anchorage received $8.04 million on Aug. 13 for soil work at former housing sites that federal records place in Metlakatla, though the contract itself names no location, contaminant or method. A third award, $804,725, covers investigation at the Woody Island and Kodiak control-tower sites, where a 2022 cleanup already removed 600 cubic yards of tainted soil.

Brice Solutions is an Alaska Native Corporation firm in the federal 8(a) program for disadvantaged businesses, and has drawn about $164 million in federal contracts since 2015.