The Gakona High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program may have been saved in the nick of time.
According to Alan LeMaster, who runs a lodge at Gakona Junction, five room reservations made by U.S. Air Force officials for this week have been canceled, he says, because demolition of the research facility has been “put on hold.”
LeMaster told APRN that leaders of the demolition project told him that a “cease and desist” order has been issued for the scheduled demolition.
APRN has not had official confirmation of the order to halt the HAARP demolition, but Carl Grusnick, a public information office with the Air Force Research Lab in New Mexico, says that it is not unusual for large projects to be put on hold temporarily because of delays in negotiations with contractors. Grusnick says the Air Force has completed it’s research at HAARP, which has been slated for closure as of June 10.
And Charles Gulick, with the USAF press office, emailed Tuesday that at this time, he has no word on the order to cease and desist, but that he will have more information in the future.
Meanwhile, Matt Felling a spokesperson with Senator Lisa Murkowski’s office, says an announcement will be made on Monday.
APTI Reporter-Producer Ellen Lockyer started her radio career in the late 1980s, after a stint at bush Alaska weekly newspapers, the Copper Valley Views and the Cordova Times. When the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Valdez Public Radio station KCHU needed a reporter, and Ellen picked up the microphone.
Since then, she has literally traveled the length of the state, from Attu to Eagle and from Barrow to Juneau, covering Alaska stories on the ground for the AK show, Alaska News Nightly, the Alaska Morning News and for Anchorage public radio station, KSKA
elockyer (at) alaskapublic (dot) org | 907.550.8446 | About Ellen
