June 30, 2004
To US Senate Committee on Appropriations
Testimony of the City of Bethel, Alaska for the hearing on ”Alaska Native Villages Affected by Flooding and Erosion”.
Mayor Hugh Short, City of Bethel
Dear Senator Stevens and members of the Committee on Appropriations, thank you for providing the City of Bethel and other rural communities affected by flooding and erosion the opportunity to testify about this extremely important issue.
The City of Bethel is located on the north shore of the largest oxbow along the Kuskokwim River. The lower Kuskokwim River is an active meandering river that travels through low lying tundra regions to the Bering Sea. In a region without interconnecting roads this river provides the principal transportation corridor for most heavy commodities including fuel. Because of the rivers active meander and low lying terrain it is susceptible to both active erosion and flooding. The Kuskokwim River is the key to economic self-sufficiency in our region, and Bethel serves as the host that can promote economic self-determination.
The location and growth of the City of Bethel is attributable to its being the farthest upriver location that can accommodate large ocean going vessels. This governed the location of the US Army Air Corps airbase developed during WW II. The port and the airbase would provide the necessary beginning infrastructure for many other large federal government projects in the 1950’s such as the White Alice communications facility (part of NORAD), the regional IHS hospital and a large Air Force facility that was later converted to the regional BIA headquarters.
The community has always been challenged with active river erosion. In earlier periods (1960’s through the 1970’s) the community itself attempted to contain this erosion. However, it was soon learned that the resources needed to effectively manage this were far beyond the means of the community. As a result vast amounts of river frontage real estate were lost to erosion. In 1968 Congress, by resolution, directed the Corps of Engineers to investigate this erosion problem. Unfortunately Bethel found itself in a similar status as many of the smaller communities now being mentioned in the GAO December 2003 Alaska Native Villages report – the cost of an effective erosion control project far exceeded the required cost/benefit ratio.
It would be another decade (1978) before Congress again directed the Corps, through a continuing resolution of its original 1968 resolution, to again investigate the erosion problem. Tragically, throughout that previous decade, significant amounts of irreplaceable land was lost. However, because significant large infrastructures were now being threatened (bulk fuel facility and the IHS hospital compound) the Corps determined that an effective erosion containment project would have a positive cost/benefit ratio.
As a result of this in the 1980’s and 1990’s, through both state and federal funding, the 8,000 linear feet of erosion protection now in place was erected. Since this construction no further uplands have been lost to erosion.
As mentioned in the December 2003 GAO report, the city is again engaged through the Corps in rehabbing, extending and improving another 1200 feet of this wall system.
We certainly support the recommendations being offered in the December 2003 GAO report. Particularly the recommendation that social and environmental factors be considered in cost/benefit analysis, and the cost/benefit requirement relief proposed in H.R. 2557. If such had been available to our city during the 1960’s and 70’s, literally hundreds of thousands of dollars of now irretrievable land could have been saved.
Additionally, we support the recommendation that the Denali Commission serve as the clearinghouse for future erosion and flooding support. The Denali Commission has set the bar for coordination and intervention of major projects in rural Alaska.
In conclusion it is also important to mention that a significant portion of the city’s downtown is situated in a FEMA determined Special Hazard flood area. The city has been in the national flood insurance program since 1974. It historically maintains a rigorous management posture when it comes to development within this special flood hazard area. We believe the communities flood claim history over the past decades bears this out.
Thank you again for your interest in erosion and flooding in Alaska Native villages. Please let me know if you have further questions.
