"We have received letters of interest from several companies similar to companies doing business here now, and we have already been approached by some current tenants with requests for more real estate than we have now," Deputy Port Director Steve Ribuffo said.

A cement ship sits anchored at the Port of Anchorage in this 2008 file photo as it offloads cement destined for use by the construction industry in Alaska. Environmental groups are questioning the need for the port expansion. File Photo/Rob Stapleton/AJOC

Once the invitations to bid on the new parcels goes out, the port will decide which are the most advantageous, but that process is still a couple of years away, Ribuffo said. Some will go to current tenants who want more space, some to the military for staging and the rest to new tenants.

Although the final statistics aren't in yet, it appears that the port will end the year with a tonnage increase of about 1 percent over 2007, he said. Annual tonnage statistics published by the port show that in 2007 tonnage totaled 4.315 million tons, compared to 4.327 million tons in 2006, 5.101 million tons in 2005, 4.628 million tons in 2004 and 4.412 million tons in 2003.

Bob Shavelson, executive director of Cook Inletkeeper, a nonprofit group that focuses on protecting the Cook Inlet watershed, notes the three-year decline in port tonnage between 2004 and 2007.

The Port of Anchorage has never demonstrated the need for an expansion of the size and scope being pursued, he said.

The port puts the cost of the expansion at $700 million, and includes adding larger cranes on the new docks, space for cargo staging areas and new administration facilities.

"How is the port going to pay off the debt?" Shavelson asks. "Where are the increases in commerce?"

Shavelson posed those questions in a letter of Jan. 12 to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

"In fact, for one aspect of the project - a new, dedicated cruise ship dock - the port director admitted it was being built on a 'build it and they will come' basis, notwithstanding the fact that less than a handful of cruise ships visit the port annually," he wrote. "While the project may be close to 'shovel ready' in the sense that it has been permitted, there's no financial or business plan in place to utilize this grandiose facility once it is completed, let alone generate the operating revenues needed to keep it running."

The port's Ribuffo sees the argument from a different perspective.

"The future of this port, which supports 75 percent to 80 percent of the state, has to be about vision too," he said. "It can't be all about looking at what the economy is doing now and putting the brakes on it as a consequence of that. You have got to have a little vision with respect to what the future will potentially bring."

Shavelson said that in his organization's view, it would be irresponsible to direct additional federal funds to the port of Anchorage until the project's need, cost, geotechnical and environmental questions have been answered.

"In our view, they have been asked and answered," said Ribuffo. "Perhaps because it is not the answer people want to hear, it is not a sufficient answer. We have invested millions of dollars in making this seismically sound for any seismic event. We feel very comfortable that we have done and continue to do the due diligence and continue to keep lines of communication open with the state and municipality."

Shavelson also told Reid and Pelosi, the project area is one of high seismic activity and there has been no independent third-party geotechnical analysis of the stability of the sheet pile design being used in unprecedented ways.

"Who is going to pay for the independent third party review?" Ribuffo asked. "The minute the port pays for it, it is not independent any more. We have done the best we can to get as many experts in the field to review the design and make input to it, but the minute we fund it, it is not independent any more."

More than $200 million in funding has come from federal earmarks, largely secured by former Republican Sen. Ted Stevens and passed through the U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration.

Shavelson sent a second letter to Acting Anchorage Mayor Matt Claman on Jan. 17, on behalf of Cook Inletkeeper and the Alaska Center for the Environment. He asked why the municipality felt there was a demonstrated need for an expansion of this size and scope "in light of the fact that anticipated port use cannot sustain the annual projected costs of port operations."

Shavelson also asked how the municipality would finance the construction, especially as credit markets tighten and federal earmarks fall off.

Municipal officials said that to date no tax dollars have been spent on port expansion.

Port Director Bill Sheffield said the expansion project is about one-third complete. He said he hopes to accelerate the work, which could lop $40 million to $60 million off the cost, and have the facility ready up to 18 months earlier than the 2015 planned completion date.

Federal funds so far have financed the bulk of the project. About $210 million has been spent to date, and another $500 million is expenditures are planned. Sheffield said he hopes to secure $100 million this year in additional state or federal funding rather than rely on increments of financing over the next five years.

Shavelson said infrastructure development should be embracing cleaner and more sustainable transportation alternatives, and the port expansion project has failed to include the most basic green technologies necessary to lead Alaska shipping into the 21st century.

"Any construction we are going to do down here has to be done to LEED standards," said Ribuffo. LEED is an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, an environmentally friendly standard of construction.

Ribuffo said the expanded port would not, however, offer cold ironing, a service that allows ships to come to dock, shut down and plug in, because of safety issues.

"It's a safety thing," he said, noting sometimes hazardous ice conditions. "If something should happen and the ship has to get away from the dock quickly, it can't be done from a dead stop."

Speaking of green, Ribuffo said that in rerouting some roads and removing aging structures, the port expansion has included planting a lot of grass, giving the port more green area than ever before. "It is actually pleasant to look at when you come in, as industrial areas go," he said.

Shavelson wasn't talking about grassy views, however.

The project as planned will fill in more than 135 acres of salmon and beluga whale habitat in Cook Inlet, Shavelson said. Because of its adverse environmental impacts, federal resource agencies opposed the project's lay out and questioned its need, he said.

Concern over the diminished numbers of Cook Inlet beluga whales prompted the National Marine Fisheries Service in October to list the Cook Inlet population of beluga whales as endangered. The number of Cook Inlet belugas declined by nearly 50 percent since the 1990s and the population has not rebounded, despite a decade long effort, federal officials said.

The state disputes the findings.

Margaret Bauman can be reached at margie.bauman@alaskajournal.com.