Max Baucus: “When I finish this letter. This is a letter from a resident of Cold Bay. She says: ``As a lifelong resident of this…”

“When I finish this letter. This is a letter from a resident of Cold Bay. She says: ``As a lifelong resident of this area, I have some great concerns with the proposed legislation . . .'' She talks about the 25 mile proposed road. ``When we are having inclement weather, are we to believe a vehicle could drive 27 miles in whiteout conditions, drifting snow, and winds?'' She says that she lived 3 rac{1}{2} miles out of the town of Cold Bay for 4 years with so-called ``road access'' to Cold Bay. During the winter, she says she spent many months stranded at home, or in town, depending upon where she was when the storm came. She says that the drifting snow would be so bad that it would take days--that is probably a slight exaggeration--to get the 3.2 miles plowed enough to be passable. That is not the only letter we have received. Here are some more letters from citizens from Cold Bay, AK. They say that in poor weather conditions, such as blowing snow and freezing rain, road travel becomes equally treacherous. On the Alaska peninsula they could only make the road passable seasonably. That is their view, and they live there. They talk about an alternative, which is mentioned in the Alaska report--a small ferry system--and improving the dock facility at Cold Bay. They go on to say that this has been studied for a while, and with state-of-the-art navigational aids, marine transport is probably more reliable.”