Homer Alaska - Business

Surrounded by a bustling lunch crowd, Sen. Lisa Murkowski took time Friday to visit with Homer's mayor, city manager, elected officials and several small business owners.

"She's very well-attuned to our needs," said Mayor James Hornaday of the mid-day meeting at Fresh Sourdough Express Café and Bakery.

Hornaday presented Murkowski with a list of topics of importance to the city. It included a new water source; sewer treatment plant improvements; replacement of the gangway and approach for the No. 3 ramp in Homer Harbor; the feasibility and design for an east boat harbor; Deep Water dock expansion; and Kachemak Bay tidal power.

Bryan Zak, who, in addition to being on the Homer City Council, is the regional director for the Alaska Small Business Development Center's southwest region, facilitated Murkowski's contact with local small business owners. For starters, he recommended the meeting site.

"She was able to recognize Kevin and Donna (Maltz) as the 2010 Small Business Owners of the Year," Zak said, referring to an award recently given to the Fresh Sourdough Express owners by the Small Business Administration. "And there were some other small business owners who were able to get there. Jess and Lee Tenhoff (of Nomad Shelters) were able to express their needs for capitalization for small businesses."

Murkowski, the ranking member of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, also answered questions relating to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Specifically, she addressed support Alaskans have provided and what can be done to ensure a spill of this magnitude does not happen in Alaska.

"Alaskans that have lived through the Exxon Valdez and that true disaster in their lives can offer so much more than just the technical expertise," she said. "As you know, in a fishing community like you have here or in Cordova, your identity is as a fisherman, so when you don't have that, what happens to you as an individual and a community?"

Those whose lives were hard hit by the Exxon Valdez spill have been able to address more than the spill's environmental and economical impact, according to Murkowski.

"It's not something anyone wants to stalk about, but when the stresses on your life come like this and you have no control ... there's a level of empathy Alaskans have and can share with our southern neighbors because of those experiences," Murkowski said.

Other response from Alaska has included providing both equipment and personnel, including deployment of the USCGC Sycamore from Cordova.

"The people in Cordova want to be of help, but they also don't want to be left in the lurch if something happens, and you just never know if a worst-case scenario is going to happen. So there is much tension, much stress felt even by those here in Alaska 4,000 miles away. But it's the Alaskan way to help out," Murkowski said.

Lt. Jared Cherni of the USCGC Hickory in Homer confirmed that the Sycamore's deployment means it will be away from Alaska for several months. Buoy tenders from San Francisco, Calif., and Astoria, Ore., also have been deployed to the Gulf. That means coverage of the West Coast is currently being provided by the Hickory and two other Alaska-based buoy tenders in the 225-foot sea-going class, as well as patrol boats and law enforcement cutters.

When a solicitation of Coast Guard personnel to assist in the Gulf was issued in June, the Hickory was on patrol in western Alaska.

"We weren't able to send anybody then, but there's a chance they'll ask for volunteers again," said Cherni, adding that several of the Hickory's crew expressed an interest in responding to the call.

Asked how Alaska can be assured a replay of the Deepwater Horizon disaster does not happen close to home, Murkowski said, "It is the question we are all asking because we are a state that is reliant on the oil industry. ... We want to do all we can to make sure we have a strong industry that continues to offer jobs, we're very concerned about care for the environment and making sure to the fullest extent possible that something like this could not happen in Alaska."

She pointed to short-cuts taken within the operation of the Deepwater Horizon well and the oil industry as a whole, the lack of a complete spill response plan for the well and an existing "level of complacency."

"We, as a state and from the federal perspective, need to ensure that technologies that have allowed us to drill the deepest of the deep or to explore in iced waters, technologies that have gotten us this far are also as aggressive when it comes to technologies to help us deal with prevention and response," Murkowski said

She also pointed to failures on the regulatory side, including an insufficient number of trained inspectors within the Minerals Management Service.

"They have just over 60 inspectors for all of the rigs in the entire Gulf. There are thousands of rigs in the Gulf and just over 60 inspectors. ... And the technology has taken it so far that the guys that really know what's going on are the ones running and operating the rigs, the technicians," she said. "The regulators may be going by a guidebook that may be 10 years out of date."

The "take-away" from the disaster in the Gulf is to avoid "assumptions that the level of preparedness and level of precaution is adequate," Murkowski said. "You cannot ever make the assumption that we're on top of this. There has to be a level of vigilance because you are operating in an area that will have consequences."

McKibben Jackinsky can be reached at mckibben.jackinsky.@homernews.com.