Blog: Dermot Cole
Northwest storms disrupt travel plans in and out of Fairbanks
Published Monday, December 22, 2008
The worst winter storm in 12 years in the Pacific Northwest continues to make life difficult for thousands of people trying to get into or out of Fairbanks for the Christmas and New Year's holidays.
The delays at the Seattle airport, complicated by the problems in other cities, are the worst in 30 years, according to news reports.
Alaska Airlines planned to operate about one-quarter to one-third of its normal flights out of Sea-Tac today and hoped to get back to normal by Tuesday, according to news reports from Seattle. That means there is still a big bottleneck.
Alaska and Horizon canceled all flights Sunday afternoon and evening as the storm made travel impossible and about 3,000 people spent the night at the Seattle airport. The hotels nearby are all booked.
On Saturday, Alaska canceled 61 flights, the AP and King 5 TV said.
Alaska Airlines said this morning it has not restarted flights in or out of Portland because of runway conditions. They may be able to operate on a limited basis by the afternoon, the airline said.
Alaska and Horizon, which operate about half of the flights out of Sea-Tac, ran out of deicing fluid over the weekend, the Seattle Times said.
The lack of de-icing fluid was a factor in the number of cancellations, the Seattle P-I said this morning.
"Passengers with local residences were told to go home for the evening, and others were told to make their own hotel arrangements," the P-I said.
A friend of mine who planned to go to Hawaii with his family is trying to make new plans, but the first available option was the middle of next week. I imagine there are hundreds of others facing similar frustrations.
There are college kids stuck Outside trying to get home, relatives hoping to visit and people who are stuck in Fairbanks trying to get Outside for a vacation.
The P-I reported on one Fairbanks-bound traveler trying to visit his daughter.
"Joseph Gudall from Blairstown, N.J., flew from Newark to Seattle, hoping to get to Fairbanks, Alaska, on a 9 p.m. Saturday flight. The departure time kept getting pushed back until the flight was canceled at 1 a.m. Sunday, he said."
He was booked on a Sunday flight that was canceled as well.
If you are planning to fly, check with the airline before going to the airport.
Alaska Airlines said that passengers who have to rebook flights up until Sunday because of the weather problems will not be charged a fee for changes. Those who don't want to travel can get a full refund.
EXTRA DAY OFF: By executive order, President Bush is giving federal employees an extra day off. They don't have to work the day after Christmas. Gov. Sarah Palin is doing the same thing for state employees, giving 15,000 executive branch workers an extra day off . Personally, I think this sends the wrong message at this time of financial crisis. If federal and state employees want to take the day off, they ought to take it as leave.
A state official was quoted as saying there would be no "budgetary impact." That's true. But presumably there are things that won't get done.
The city and borough will be open. City employees won't get any extra leave as a bonus, while borough employees will get an extra half-day off, which they can take on either Dec. 24 or Dec. 31.
Below is the text of the EPA announcement this morning on the air quality designation for Fairbanks as a "non-attainment area."
Fairbanks is one of seven areas in the Pacific Northwest so designated. The only other one in Alaska is Juneau.
The EPA said:
A small portion of the Fairbanks North Star Borough, including the City of Fairbanks and the City of North Pole, is being designated as a PM2.5 nonattainment area. The designation is based on the 2005-2007 Fairbanks PM2.5 monitor.
Based on EPA’s analysis, local heating emissions from woodstoves, distillate oil, industrial sources and mobile emissions contribute to
primary and secondarily formed PM2.5 that violate the standard during
stable weather events associated with extremely strong temperature
inversions.
These emissions and the related effects are limited to the City of
Fairbanks, the City of North Pole, and nearby populated areas. The
rest of the county is very sparsely populated with no sources that
can contribute to a violation of the PM2.5 standard at the Fairbanks
monitor.
Information submitted by the state of Alaska and the Department of
Defense establishes that activity and emissions in large military
reservations to the South and East of the metropolitan areas, and the
Eielson Air Force Base, do not contribute to the standard violations.
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Re: Extra day off for state workers
In a letter to executive branch employees last Wednesday, Administration Commssioner Annette Kreitzer said that some state agencies may have to be open on Dec. 26, meaning some state employees would have to work.
"These employees will be credited with one day of leave as normally applied to state holidays, subject to individual circumstances," she said.
"The governor appreciates your hard work and hopes that this will give you more time with your families."
Can someone explain how they are going to correct the inversion factor which seems to be the main reason why we have this problem.
Fred,
Believe it or not, personal attacks based on lies have no place here.
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