Barrow-based UIC to expand Cape Simpson runway and gravel pads

Barrow, Alaska-based Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corp. has applied to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to improve and expand the existing runway and gravel pads at the Cape Simpson DEW Line site some 42 miles southeast of Barrow to support work in NPR-A.

UIC said work at the site in section 27, township 20 north, range 11 west, Umiat Meridian, would involve placing up to 43,000 cubic yards of gravelly sand and up to 4,750 cubic yards of expanded polystyrene rigid insulation onto no more than 8.84 acres of wetlands.

The work would be done to meet current and projected needs of the site as a staging area for equipment and materials for National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska exploration and drilling.

The property at Cape Simpson is owned by the North Slope Borough and leased to UIC Inc.

Approximately four to nine acres adjacent to the existing runway and staging pads will be filled with two to four feet of gravelly sand. Four inches of rigid board insulation will be placed within the fill to preserve the permafrost.

UIC said there are four sites on the property that require fill.

Fill is available locally along the Beaufort Sea coastline. UIC said it is proposing to scrape off approximately two feet of the gravelly sand along the beach and barrier islands near the site.

Construction would occur during the winter of 2005-06. Packed snow roads will be used for travel and equipment with low ground pressures will be used. UIC said it expects to be able to recover the beach material by ripping and blading, and does not anticipate blasting to remove the material.

—Petroleum News