Author: kfskadmin

The water pipeline from the Cabin Creek reservoir into Petersburg should be a little cleaner this week. The city has been scouring the inside of the line with a device called a “pig." It’s meant to scrub away a bacterial growth inside the conduit that may be decreasing the amount of water that flows through the pipe. Joe Viechnicki stopped by the water treatment plant Saturday as officials watched one of the pigs pop out of the pipe.

The federal agency that regulates hydro-electric power projects will use a random drawing to decide who gets a federal permit to study hydro potential at one perched lake in Thomas Bay near Petersburg. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission received four competing applications for a hydro plant at Ruth Lake north of Petersburg. It will be a one-in-three chance for the three Southeast communities seeking the federal preliminary permit.

The U.S. Forest Service’s top official in Alaska has reversed an agency decision for a large timber sale planned for Etolin Island near Wrangell. The Navy sale could mean a harvest of 72 million board feet of timber and over eight miles of new permanent roads on the island, about 22 miles southwest of Wrangell. But the sale will need further environmental review for the planned harvest to go forward.

Travelers on Mitkof Highway this month have been noticing a new art installation in the muskeg, just across from the road to Papke’s Landing, about 10 miles south of Petersburg. So far the creator of the display is remaining anonymous but the work is prompting a few passers-by to slow down and take a closer look. Twelve brightly painted doors stand in the muskeg facing Papke’s Landing road. Joe Viechnicki spoke with Papke’s resident Jackie Tyson Wednesday on Mitkof Highway.

A cold-war era military communications site on a mountaintop in Duncan Canal could see some more clean-up work in the next few years. The former "White Alice" station on Kupreanof Island, about eight miles west of Petersburg, was built in 1959 and was part of a system used to relay radio communications from Clear, Alaska to Colorado Springs. The former manned station was demolished and had its buildings removed in 1986. The land was transferred to the U.S. Forest Service in 1987. However fuel drums and abandoned vehicles were discovered at the site in 1999 nearer to the beach, and close to several hunting cabins. In 2000, the Air Force removed over 100 dumped fuel barrels from the site. Since then, the Air Force has hired a private contractor, Weston Solutions, to investigate the remaining fuel drums, spilled fuel and chemicals remaining at the site. Jamie Grund works for Weston Solutions and he spoke with Joe Viechnicki about the company's findings.