Nome council votes Monday on asking Congress to restore harbor dredging money

The Nome Common Council votes Monday on a resolution asking Alaska's congressional delegation to restore 2027 federal money for maintenance dredging of Nome's harbor channel. The resolution says the fiscal 2027 federal budget has no money for that work.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has kept Nome's federally authorized channel open by dredging it every year since 1917, the resolution says. It calls that an established federal responsibility, not a request for new construction. The city-owned port serves more than 50 western Alaska communities with fuel, cargo and supplies. Sediment builds up at river mouths like Nome's, and putting off dredging can restrict vessel access, disrupt commerce and raise future maintenance costs, the resolution says.

The measure asks the delegation to restore the Nome money, support adding the work to the Corps' 2027 work plan and push for steady yearly funding for every federally authorized navigation project in Alaska.

The port director said this month that the Corps had not budgeted 2027 maintenance dredging for Nome and several other Alaska ports, while Anchorage received its money, Alaska News reported Oct. 15.

A second request, from Kawerak, appears in the meeting packet under communications, with no vote scheduled. Kawerak is the regional tribal consortium for the 20 federally recognized tribes of the Bering Strait region.

The draft would have the council support a moratorium on seabed mineral exploration, leasing and extraction in Alaska federal waters until environmental, subsistence, cultural, socioeconomic and cumulative impacts are evaluated and affected tribes are fully consulted. It would ask the Interior Department to stop considering lease sales and not issue a Proposed Leasing Notice in the meantime. It would also ask the Legislature, the state, the delegation and federal agencies to support a moratorium.

A Kawerak FAQ dated Oct. 8, included in the packet, says the federal government began seeking public input in January on possible seabed mining lease sales over more than 113 million acres off Alaska, including Norton Sound. Comments closed in April. Leases are targeted for 2027 and would last at least 20 years, the FAQ says, and commercial mining of federal seabeds has never happened in the U.S. or anywhere else. It says the Norton Sound waters under consideration overlay red king crab nursery habitat and are Essential Fish Habitat for salmon, king crab and groundfish. It urges cities and tribes to pass moratorium resolutions.

Kawerak's board adopted its own moratorium resolution unanimously on Oct. 1. A federal lease sale could come as soon as December, Alaska News reported Oct. 10.

The council meets Monday at 7 pm at City Hall.