Anchorage Assembly Infrastructure Enterprise and Utility Oversight Committee Meeting - July 16, 2026
Anchorage Assembly Infrastructure Enterprise and Utility Oversight Committee Meeting - July 16, 2026
The Assembly Infrastructure Enterprise and Utility Oversight Committee met on July 16, 2026 from 11:16 a.m. to 12:18 p.m. The agenda included updates on the NPDS permit renewal, solid waste master plan, Marad settlement, Port of Alaska modernization, AWU/Eklutna agreements, and the waste energy project. No public testimony was heard.
Discussion Items
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NPDS Permit Renewal for Asplin Water Pollution Control Facility: David Persinger (AWWU GM) and Sarah Rolando (Jacobs) presented the renewal of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, which has been on administrative extension since 2005. They reviewed the nine criteria under Clean Water Act Section 301(h), allowing less-than-secondary treatment due to Cook Inlet's unique conditions. The permit application includes extensive monitoring, biological evaluations for endangered beluga whales and Steller sea lions, and risk assessments for 250 analytes. A draft permit from EPA Region 10 is expected later in 2026 with a 45-day public comment period. Member Silvers asked about other cities with similar permits and potential federal funding impacts.
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Merrill Field Gas Project Closeout and Integrated Solid Waste Master Plan: Kelly Toth (Solid Waste Services Director) presented the closeout of the Merrill Field gas migration mitigation project, which included 21 new wells, 1,500 feet of header, and a new gas control system. Since implementation, no landfill gas migration has been detected in buildings, and the system has had zero shutdowns. The integrated solid waste master plan includes a tipping building replacement, additional gas collection and control systems, a 3,000 SCFM flare, and a 50,000 gallon per day evaporator. A temporary building from a FEMA project will be moved, and a biogas building grant proposal is pending. The landfill’s solar panels have made the pump house self-sustaining, with $2.35 put back onto the grid in the previous month.
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Port of Alaska Update – Marad Settlement: Terry Amitum (Port Director) reported that the settlement with the Department of Justice and Marad was completed a week prior, totaling approximately $191 million ($180 million plus $11.3 million from a previous appellate award). The funds are expected within months, and the administration plans to use them to lower consumer costs in Alaska. Municipal Attorney Eva Gardner noted a final item will come before the assembly to close out legal fees of about $1 million. Member Brawley inquired about the intended use of funds, and Amitum indicated the plan of finance may be amended.
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Port of Alaska Modernization Project (PAMP) Update: Eric Adams (Jacobs) gave a monthly update. Terminal one construction is on track with precast deck elements arriving, piling installation beginning, and a bubble curtain installed for beluga whale protection during impact hammer noise expected imminently. The electrical substation for the terminal is at 65% design. Terminal two design is progressing toward 35% design by end of September. The north extension helipad is out for bid with bids expected at the end of July.
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AWU Agreements Relating to Eklutna: Eva Gardner (Municipal Attorney) updated on AO 2024-123S, which approved three agreements (water supply, interconnection, and transportation) to enable the fish and wildlife program at Eklutna. The original ordinance included a condition that Chugach and MEA support AWWU’s voting rights on the owners’ committee. Since Chugach and MEA declined, the voting rights case is on appeal, and the condition is now obsolete. Gardner proposed bringing the agreements back without the condition for the assembly to approve on their own merits. David Persinger noted the 32-year water supply agreement would secure long-term rate certainty and eventual water rights. Member Brawley clarified this decouples the voting rights issue from the contracts. Member Baldone asked for specifics on the agreements, and Persinger detailed the three components.
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Waste Energy Project Update: Aaron Hudson and Laquita Jumalowski (Jacobs) presented the siting study results. After reviewing 90,000 parcels and a three-phase selection process, the preferred site is the Anchorage Regional Landfill (ARL) plus the JBER lease boundary. This site scored highest due to zoning, separation from sensitive receptors, co-location with the landfill, and limited environmental constraints. Next steps include geotechnical investigations, utility analysis, air quality and FAA analysis, concept site plans, stakeholder engagement, and cost estimates. A new website and newsletter are launched, with in-person and virtual engagement sessions planned for fall. Member Gerker recommended engaging with community councils, especially in Eagle River, and offered to facilitate conversations.
Key Outcomes
- NPDS Permit: No vote; update only. Draft permit anticipated later in 2026 with public comment period.
- Merrill Field Gas Project: Project completion imminent; no action required.
- Marad Settlement: Settlement amount confirmed; funds expected within months; plan of finance may be amended. Future assembly item to close out legal fees.
- AWU/Eklutna Agreements: Administration will bring revised ordinance to remove the condition on voting rights; introduction expected at the second meeting after this one (likely August). Assembly members will consider agreements on their own merits.
- Waste Energy Siting: Preferred site identified as ARL/JBER; further investigations and public engagement underway. No formal action taken.
Meeting Transcript
For members on the phone, we're just gonna give it one or two more minutes for everyone to get back to the room, hopefully. All right, we're gonna go ahead and get started here, everyone. It's 11 uh 16. We're getting going just uh a minute late. Um go ahead and start with uh well. First, let me just state we are here for the assembly infrastructure enterprise and utility oversight committee of the whole meeting for July. We are announced today from 1115 to 1215 p.m. We have a very packed agenda, so I'm gonna try and keep things moving along so we can get out of here as close to 1215 as possible. And I just asked that members um assist me in that endeavor. So let's go ahead and start with member introductions in the room. Jared Kirker. Sydney Scout, Anna Brawley. I'm Zach Johnson. Aaron Baldwin Dave. On the phone, I see Member Silvers. Yeah, member Silver's here. Uh member Martinez. Present, thank you. Member Parks Park. Janet Park. Thank you. Sorry about that. And Member McCormick. Here, thank you. All right. With that, let's go ahead and dive right in. Our our first item of business is going to be, I think our our medius today. So with this, we will start with a discussion on the renewal of the national pollutant discharge elimination system permit with a clean water act section 301 wave reading. Anyways, you guys uh take it away. Well, thank you. Uh good morning, David Persinger, uh, Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility General Manager. I've got Sarah Rolando here from Jacobs, who's our uh permit integrator and has worked with us for the last four years on this uh permit application slide. Um overview of this. What we're here to do is brief you on the uh NPDS net uh permit for asplin's water pollution control facility. That is the large wastewater plant that sits out uh kind of next to the airport. You've probably seen it when you fly in or out of Anchorage. Um our permit has been on administrative extension for a long time, and so um we are moving through that process and giving you an update on uh where we're at and what we anticipate uh the next steps be. Um, before the permit expired, and it has been on an administrative extension since 2005. About four years ago, the EPA started looking at uh these permits. There's about uh nine of them here in Alaska. They've renewed seven of them. Um ours and I think there's one other that are uh still in process, but they've been systematically going through these permits that have been on administrative extension for a long time. Another uh difference is this one is still administered by EPA Region 10 because of the discharge from marine environment and because of the section 301H. Um typically our other permits, such as Eagle River and Girdwood are administered through the Alaska uh Department of Environmental Conservation because they took primacy on that program several years ago. Um, anyways, we've done administration extension for over 20 years. About three years ago, the EPA said we wanted to uh start taking a look at this permit, and so we brought Jacobs on to do uh basically go through all of the science, uh, revise the permit application as well as go through an entire biological evaluation for the cooking blue slide. I'm not gonna spend a lot of time on these slides. There's a lot of information here, but this is a very complex process, and you can see it's taken us um several years. We've spent a lot of money on this. This is a uh kind of a generational project.
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