North Slope phone co-op moves to keep its Deadhorse airport site

The Arctic Slope Telephone Association Cooperative would keep its communications building, shop and antenna tower on Deadhorse Airport land for another five years under a lease extension the state proposed Friday.

The extension covers about 50,000 square feet at $14,250 a year for non-aeronautical use. The state is granting it without competitive bidding under an aviation land statute that allows extending an existing lease rather than rebidding land already built on. ASTAC is a member-owned cooperative providing phone and broadband to North Slope villages and the oil fields.

Comments are due to the Department of Transportation by 4:30 p.m. Aug. 31.