Water Resources Development Act passes out of committee, containing provisions for port expansion

The Port of Nome expansion project may potentially see cost savings to the City of Nome, if amendments to the Water Resources Development Act, for short WRDA 2026, find their way to the final House and Senate bills that have yet to be reconciled and passed.
The port expansion, formally known as the Port of Nome Modification Project, entails the extension of the causeway, the removal of the breakwater and creation of a causeway on the east side of the port basin and the dredging of the port basin to a deeper depth to accommodate ships with a deeper draft.
The expansion is a joint responsibility of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the City of Nome as the so-called non-federal sponsor.
Simplified, a cost share in place that assigns the costs for building the rock structure of the causeways, called navigational features, to 90 percent of the Army Corps and 10 percent of the City. The cost for the build-out of the docks, surface, fuel headers and lines, and all utilities is fully, 100 percent borne by the City of Nome. No cost estimates have been made public what the portion of the City of Nome’s contribution is.
The project is split into four phases, spanning multiple years of construction.
The Corps has awarded a nearly $400 million contract to Kiewit Infrastructure West to build phase 1A – the dismantling of the spur at the end of the causeway, the buildout of the first 1,200 ft. of the envisioned 2,284 ft causeway, and the creation of 600 ft dock space toward the ultimately 1,8790 ft. dock space. Phase 1b, not awarded yet, will complete the extension of the west causeway. Phase 2 entails the deepening of the port basin to -28 MLLW in the outer basin and -40 MLLW in the deepwater basin.
Phase 3 entails the removal of the current breakwater, creation of a 2,410-ft causeway, 800-ft. dock, 1,450-ft breakwater and a bridge.
According to the 2020 Feasibility Study, the cost was pegged at $680 million for the entire project, but that amount has long been surpassed by realities of ongoing inflation.
The Army Corps’ first call for Phase 1 bids in 2024 resulted in a cancelation. The sole bid entered had surpassed the available funding for the project and exceeded the “statutory cost limitations.”
The Corps and the City then cooperated on reducing the project’s first phase and splitting it into two sub-phases. Another call for bids on Phase 1A ended in Kiewit being awarded the contract. And this summer, the trucks are rolling, hauling large rocks from the Cape Nome granite quarry to laydown areas at the port.
One section of the amended version of the WRDA bill which passed out of the Senate’s Environment & Public Works Committee, would prevent further paring down of the project and would “prohibit any reduction in the scope or capability of the Port of Nome project and classify its supporting infrastructure as serving a federal interest in national security, with the potential to significantly reduce the cost of the project to the local community.”
Asked for clarification on the cost reduction statement, Sen. Sullivan’s spokesperson Amanda Coyne said in an email to the Nugget, “The bill doesn’t include a specific cost-share percentage or dollar amount. It’s not an appropriation. Further, the Senator wrote it to be as encompassing as possible so all local facilities could be eligible for federal funding. 
Another section in the bill, Sec. 1380 says that the Secretary shall “determine that the Port of Nome, Alaska, provides national security benefits;” and  “consider facilities, improvements, and infrastructure integral to the operability, safety, access, and year-round reliability of the project including local service, logistics, and support facilities, to be features serving a federal interest in national security.”
Asked for clarification, Coyne said “LSFs [Local Service Facilities] have historically been kept 100% non-federal because the Corps treats them as local needs. By statutorily instructing the Secretary to now treat some of that same category of infrastructure as serving a national-security federal interest, Sec. 1380 creates the legal pathway for shifting that cost burden onto the federal side.”
“Thanks to Senator Sullivan’s steadfast efforts, the Arctic Deep Draft Port in Nome is a reality,” said Nome Mayor Kenny Hughes. “Construction is underway this summer, and the provisions he has secured in the 2026 WRDA bill in today’s mark-up will help to ensure that this vital infrastructure project is one step closer to supporting national security missions and the region’s economy.”