NOAA awards $186,644 to Ahtna Solutions for fisheries complex groundwater monitoring

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation is requiring NOAA to keep sampling groundwater at its fisheries complex. NOAA awarded a $186,644 contract Aug. 17 to Ahtna Solutions LLC, an 8(a) Alaska Native Corporation contractor based in Anchorage, for work through Jan. 31, 2028. The contract record does not say where the complex itself is located.

The contract covers long-term sampling and contaminant trend evaluation at the two-party agreement wells and National Marine Fisheries Service Complex UST No. 2, an underground storage tank. The posting does not name the contaminants involved.

ADEC has required similar periodic monitoring elsewhere in Anchorage. At the Lake Aire Complex near Lake Hood, workers removed aviation fuel tanks in 1991, and the state ordered groundwater and surface water sampling to confirm the contamination was not migrating toward the lake.

Such orders recur at Alaska's legacy federal sites. Advocates, including Alaska Community Action on Toxics, argue that monitoring alone falls short of actual cleanup.