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Web posted Monday, May 12, 2003 Railroad closer to terminal purchase The Associated Press The Alaska Railroad Board has authorized its management to finalize a deal that would have the state-owned railroad purchase the dormant Seward coal terminal. The money would come from a $9.6 million federal grant secured by U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens. The railroad's board, over the chairman's objection, approved a resolution authorizing the state-owned Alaska Railroad Corp. management to finalize a purchase agreement with Hyundai Merchant Marine America and the state-owned Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority. Tentative terms call for Hyundai to receive $2.5 million for its 51 percent stake in the coal plant, said William Bittner, an Anchorage attorney for Hyundai. AIDEA, the other owner, would get $5.5 million, said Jim McMillan, AIDEA deputy director. [an error occurred while processing this directive] The leftover $1.6 million would be used to upgrade the Seward terminal, Bittner said. The terminal has been idle since last fall, when a contract with Korean coal buyers dried up after 18 years. Since then, efforts have been under way to revive the contract and persuade Hyundai not to walk away from the Seward terminal. The railroad directors' action advances the contract process, which had been stunted over the last few weeks. A deal is expected within the next month. If so, Usibelli Coal Mine in Healy would again ship coal on the railroad to the Seward terminal for two years, and a Seoul-based utility company would buy it. Shipments would resume in the fall. They are expected to total about 400,000 metric tons of coal per year, about half of what was shipped to Korea under a contract that ran from the mid-1980s until last year. The chairman of the board, Johne Binkley, cast the lone dissenting vote. "I just felt like we could have driven a little better bargain with Hyundai," Binkley said. The resolution sets the basic parameters of the deal but allows railroad management to continue negotiating to get the best purchase agreement, said James Blasingame, the railroad's corporate affairs chief. Any deal is contingent on an appraisal of the terminal. Those studies will be complete within a couple of weeks, railroad spokesman Pat Flynn said. Journal reporter Tim Bradner contributed to this story.