Port Clarence is one small step closer to serving as the nation’s Arctic deep draft port.
In a press release from Friday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski announced the senate passed the Point Spencer Land Conveyance Act. Murkowski said the act would “streamline future infrastructure development and potential uses of Point Spencer.”
Point Spencer is the spit of land that shield’s Port Clarence Bay from the Bering Sea. The natural deep water port is about 120 nautical miles northwest of Nome.
For nearly fifty years, Point Spencer was home to a Coast Guard facility and airstrip. The facility was decommissioned in 2010.
The Land Conveyance Act was originally introduced by Murkowski in May, with support from both Senator Dan Sullivan and Congressman Don Young. Through land transfers, the act is intended to establish a public-private partnership between Bering Straits Native Corporation and the state of Alaska.
While the Coast Guard will retain their footprint at Point Spencer, the federal government will transfer approximately 2,500 acres of land to local, state, and federal stakeholders.
The act will also establish the Port Coordination Advisory Council for the Port of Point Spencer. According to the legislation, the council will “help coordinate infrastructure development and operations” at the deep-draft port.
The Point Spencer Land Conveyance Act was included in the Coast Guard Authorization Act, which the Senate passed unanimously on Friday.
Emily Russell is the voice of Alaska morning news as Alaska Public Media’s Morning News Host and Producer.
Originally from the Adirondacks in upstate New York, Emily moved to Alaska in 2012. She skied her way through three winters in Fairbanks, earning her Master’s degree in Northern Studies from UAF.
Emily’s career in radio started in Nome in 2015, reporting for KNOM on everything from subsistence whale harvests to housing shortages in Native villages. She then worked for KCAW in Sitka, finally seeing what all the fuss with Southeast, Alaska was all about.
Back on the road system, Emily is looking forward to driving her Subaru around the region to hike, hunt, fish and pick as many berries as possible. When she’s not talking into the mic in the morning, Emily can be found reporting from the peaks above Anchorage to the rivers around Southcentral.
