Frustrations flared at Thursday night’s Alaska LNG community meetings where residents seemed exasperated with vague answers offered by the project’s team members.
The project team first met with commercial fisher people of the Nikiski area like Richard McGahan who had questions about how geophysical testing for the facility’s dock will impact fish sites this summer.
McGahan: “And they responded by, ‘Well we’re hoping they’re done before the fishing season is over,’ so hopefully there are. There are only two fishing sites on Salamantof that it will effect. Those two fishermen seem to be satisfied and [the project tests] are not going to be on my beach as far as I know but then again they change their mind quite often, so, that’s part of it.”
During a presentation later in the evening, a new draft layout for the site was shown to attendees.
Members of the public, including Mike Peek who lives adjacent to the proposed site, asked if the Alaska LNG project is still contacting property owners to purchase their land…
Peek: “It changes… (chuckles) and I say that because in one statement they say that they’ve contacted everyone with property they wanted, and then in the next statement they say they’ve contacted everyone with property at this time.”
Matt Horneman with Alaska LNG told attendees that negotiations are fluid but also private. He says there have been several draft layouts for the site and the purchasing plan is ongoing.