55°

Few clouds

Weather sponsored by:

Nome crews work to ready path for fuel line

NOME — Crews worked to build a path Sunday over a half-mile of Bering Sea ice for the final leg of a Russian tanker’s mission to deliver fuel to a town isolated amid one of the most severe Alaska winters in decades.

The tanker was moored roughly a half-mile from Nome’s harbor after a Coast Guard cutter cleared a path for it through hundreds of miles of a slow journey stalled by thick ice and strong ocean currents.

Comments: (3) | Read More | Login to post a comment

Tanker moored off Nome, gearing up to deliver fuel

ANCHORAGE — A Russian tanker carrying much-needed fuel to Nome moored less than a half mile from the town’s iced-in harbor Saturday evening, starting final preparations for delivering the diesel fuel and gasoline, the Coast Guard said.

The crew of the 370-foot tanker Renda is working to ensure the safe transfer of the 1.3-million gallons of fuel through a hose laid on top of the ice to the harbor, Coast Guard spokesman Kip Wadlow said.

Comments: (1) | Read More | Login to post a comment

Retired commander helping tanker mission

ANCHORAGE — The first commander of the Coast Guard’s only operational Arctic icebreaker is back on his ship to help get a Russian tanker through the frozen Bering Sea and to Nome, an iced-in city on Alaska’s western coastline awaiting a much-needed fuel delivery.

It is a homecoming of sorts for retired Coast Guard Rear Adm. Jeffrey Garrett, the Coast Guard Cutter Healy’s first commanding officer, who retired in 2005. Garrett was placed on the icebreaker Wednesday afternoon to help in the mission to get the 370-foot tanker to Nome.

Comments: (3) | Read More | Login to post a comment

Fuel tanker makes progress

ANCHORAGE — After being slowed and at times stalled by ice in the Bering Sea, a Coast Guard icebreaker and a Russian tanker were making “great progress” toward Nome on Tuesday, according to an official for the corporation arranging the fuel delivery to the iced-in city.

The delivery, which if successful would mark the first time petroleum products have been delivered by sea to a Western Alaska community in winter, remains challenging, said Jason Evans, chairman of Sitnasuak Native Corp.

Alaska towns deal with cruel grip of winter

ANCHORAGE — One town is buried in snow. Another is iced in. This year’s winter is being meaner than usual for at least two Alaska communities.

Now, residents are looking for outside help.

Dozens of National Guard members are helping the fishing town of Cordova dig out from mountains of snow that collapsed roofs, triggered avalanches and trapped some people in homes.

By one count, more than 10 feet of snow has fallen in the town of 2,000 in the last few weeks.

Comments: (2) | Read More | Login to post a comment

Icebreaker, tanker being slowed by shifting ice

ANCHORAGE — Shifting ice in the Bering Sea is dramatically slowing a Russian tanker’s mission to deliver fuel to an iced-in Alaska community.

A Coast Guard spokesman said Monday that an icebreaker and a fuel tanker are encountering “some really dynamic ice” that is slowing the mission and sometimes forcing both vessels to come to a complete stop.

But, “As long as we’re making progress, we’re going to Nome,” said Anchorage Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class David Mosley.

Comments: (9) | Read More | Login to post a comment

Tanker headed to Nome hits setbacks

ANCHORAGE — A tanker on a mission to deliver fuel to an iced-in Alaska community has been deterred by a storm, told it was too puny to dock in Japan, and been required to navigate the regulations of four countries since leaving Russia in mid-December.

This week, it hit another snag: The tanker had to return to port in the Aleutian Islands because of a bad valve.

Comments: (10) | Read More | Login to post a comment

Man dies at center for street alcoholics

SEATTLE — A man who was slurring his speech and appeared intoxicated was found dead on New Year’s Day at a controversial center in Anchorage where chronic street alcoholics are allowed to keep drinking.

The center has been under fire for its unconventional approach to dealing with alcoholism in Anchorage, where advocates have been looking for new ways to help homeless alcoholics after more than 20 people — most of them severely intoxicated — died outdoors over a 12-month period in 2009 and 2010.

Comments: (1) | Read More | Login to post a comment

Foreign tanker OK to deliver gas to iced-in city

ANCHORAGE — A Russian tanker’s mission to deliver petroleum products to an iced-in Alaska city cleared a large hurdle when a waiver was granted allowing the loading of hundreds of thousands of gallons of gasoline at a port in the Aleutian Islands.

The 370-foot tanker is due to arrive in the fishing port of Dutch Harbor at 6 p.m. today, the Coast Guard said Sunday.

Comments: (6) | Read More | Login to post a comment

Russian ship heads to Nome

ANCHORAGE — A Russian tanker slowed by ocean currents kept to its mission Tuesday of delivering petroleum products to an iced-in Alaska city, even as international red tape thwarted the journey.

The 370-foot tanker Renda was in the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday morning was about 740 nautical miles west-southwest of Attu in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. It was encountering currents that had slowed its speed to about 10 mph, the Coast Guard said.

If everything goes as planned, the tanker could arrive in Nome by the second week in January.