Bipartisan effort keeps icebreaker based here

WASHINGTON — The attempt by Alaska politicians to move the Coast Guard icebreaker Healy to Anchorage has been thwarted — at least temporarily — by Washington Democrats and a freshman Republican in the state delegation.

Late Friday, Alaska's powerful GOP congressman, Don Young, agreed to withdraw his proposal to move the homeport of the Healy from Seattle to Anchorage. Young had quietly inserted a one-sentence line about this in the 78-page bill on the Coast Guard and maritime transportation a few months ago. Young has defended it on the grounds that the icebreaker needed to be closer to the ice; i.e., Alaska.

But after protracted prodding last week by Democrats Norm Dicks of Bremerton, Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell; risk taking by freshman Republican Dave Reichert of Auburn; and a lot of Coast Guard legwork behind the scenes, Young conceded.

The Coast Guard had estimated the cost of re-porting the Healy to Anchorage at more than $8 million a year in a confidential report in December. Last week, a new Coast Guard memo obtained by The Seattle Times claimed that alternate Alaskan ports would be even more expensive.

The memo was produced in response to a letter dated Wednesday from Murray, asking the service to estimate costs for assorted Alaskan homeports suggested by Young and Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska.

For instance, the Coast Guard estimated the start-up cost of moving the Healy to Ketchikan as $32.3 million. That, noted Dicks, amounts to the cost of the $33 million national Urban Indian Health Program, crucial to Seattle, that was zeroed out of President Bush's new budget two weeks ago as a way to cut the deficit.

Prepping another Alaska port, Kodiak, would cost more than $57 million initially, the memo said.

The Healy, a 420-foot-long cutter, one of only three Coast Guard icebreakers, has been based in Seattle, along with the other two icebreakers, since it was commissioned in 2000. The government had intended, for financial and logistical reasons, to drydock and handle major repairs to the heavy ships at one location, Seattle's Todd Pacific Shipyards.

The Healy fight had been simmering since December. Last month, it bubbled over when Stevens confronted the Coast Guard commandant on the issue at a Capitol Hill party in front of several guests. The Coast Guard's internal memo opposed the switch in homeports to Alaska because of the enormous cost, the need to dredge Alaskan ports, and the additional months the crew and its scientific team would be away from their families in Puget Sound.

Meanwhile, Dicks had been tweaking his pal Young, spouting "Save the Healy!" at every possible opportunity in public and private, while Young responded, "I'm taking your ship to Alaska."

"We've got all the facts on our side," said Dicks, "and I just want Don to know that." He added, "This is the tightest budget I've ever seen in my time in Congress; we don't have money to waste on this."

Reichert irked Young on Thursday when he approached him on the floor of the House to plead for the Healy. He sat down next to Young and broached the issue.

"It was pretty heated," said Reichert. He added that he told Young, "The Coast Guard, from top to bottom, is against this. It's a waste of money."

Young erupted briefly, Reichert said, "But then he patted me on the knee and said, 'I'll think about it.' "

Opposing Young or Stevens is risky, even for a Republican. Reichert angered them in late December when, in a procedural motion, he voted against opening up oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Young chairs the House Transportation Committee, which holds sway over federal funding for replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

Reichert also collared aides to House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., last week. "His diligence to Seattle went a long way towards helping the area's concerns on this issue," said a Hastert spokesman.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Coast Guard, also weighed in last week with a letter to Young complaining about re-porting the Healy, even if the money was available to do it.

"There are significant negative operational, logistic and personnel impacts of this directed homeport change," said the missive, which was prepared with a lot of help from the Coast Guard. It added, "This would require the crew to be away from their homes and families for nearly 300 days per year."

Todd Shipyards has long-term contracts for all three Coast Guard icebreakers; the Healy portion alone is worth $18 million over four years and about a hundred jobs. In September, the government paid $13 million to upgrade Seattle's Pier 36 for the Healy.

In recent weeks, Cantwell, ranking member of the Coast Guard Subcommittee, leaned on Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, her mentor and a longtime friend of Stevens. She worked the issue as one of the congressional appointees to the committee negotiating the Coast Guard bill.

Young made his decision Friday in the closed conference session. Afterward, Cantwell said, "I am glad my colleagues agree that it simply makes sense for Seattle to remain the homeport for the Healy."

Alicia Mundy: 202-662-7457 or amundy@seattletimes.com