The Daily Alaska empire., 1951-01-04

A formal request is being made by Colonel Moves, he said for the immediate reopening of the port of Seward which, he pointed out, is one of the most important ports for the discharging of explosives in Alaska Unloading has been done at the ocean dock. A military waiver or exception was granted to allow unloading to December l, 1950 with the understanding the exception was seasonal. Moves will request that the exception or waiver, be extended for a period of 12 months He said the same request would be made for the port of Valdez pend- ing a final solution of the problem
 Amounts Vary
 Admiral Greenspun pointed out that allocations have been made to allow larger amounts of explo- sives than the 500 pound limit where it is considered dangerous to human habitation is negligible. This is true at Ketchikan, Cordova, Val dez and Anchorage where amounts vary from COCO to 5O,000 pounds allocated.
 Juneau Affected
 Juneau and Seward are the two ports most seriously affected by the new regulations inasmuch as nei ther has proper dock facilities or means of handling explosives by lighterage and barge in an accept able economic operation that would meet the requirements set forth by the Coast Guard.
 Juneau is limited to 500 pounds of explosives to be unloaded at one time.
 Norman Banfield, Juneau attor- ney, representing interests in Ju- neau and it's outlying localities told Admiral Greenspun that after a survey by a committee named for the purpose it had been determined that Juneau has no dock suitable for unloading of explosives in &C., cordance with present regulations. Use of the du Pont Powder com- pany holding six miles south of Ju- neau on Gastineau Channel would be impracticable as it would in- volve the present problem of un- loading in Juneau. Rehabilitation of the dock and buildings at du Pont and maintenance of a watch man would be costly, he said.
 Discharging by barge and lighter age operation at Aux Bay or Tee Harbor would not be feasible, he said. Neither location is favorable for operation from large vessel, operations would be costly involving the hiring of unloading crews, and schedule depending on arrival of ships or weather conditions. Both locations he said are in the midst of human habitation as permanent and summer homes line the beaches. The floats in Aux Bay are used at all times by small vessels.
 Banfield said he did not believe the use of the American Table of Distances to be practical. He said his committee believe that 10000 pounds of explosives is a reasonable request for an allocation at the port of Juneau. He said it would be desirable to have the job of un- loading ships be supervised by an officer of the Coast Guard. Amounts of from three to four thousand tons of explosives could be removed from the dock before more was un- loaded, he pointed out.
 It is estimated that approximately 100 tons of explosives will be used in the Juneau area in the next year as far as known. As magazines on the ships transporting explo- sives hold Il tons the regulations prohibiting the opening of maga- zines on ships to discharge small amounts make it almost impossible to get explosives into Juneau n small lots.