Corps has not defined project or estimated its cost, Goetz says
Army Corps Brig. Gen. Clete Goetz outlined a competitive solicitation for designs of a long-term glacial flooding solution for Suicide Basin in Alaska during a press briefing Friday. The briefing included Republican U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, with Sullivan participating remotely, along with local municipal and tribal leaders. Goetz described the selection process as “a series of what we call pitch briefings” and compared it to the reality television show “Shark Tank.”
Goetz said the Corps had not defined the project or estimated its cost, and intended to select a project and industry partner by the end of the year. “We don’t have a price tag because we don’t know yet what it is that we’re building and how it will be built,” Goetz said.
Sullivan endorsed the approach, calling it “innovative” and saying it could deliver a solution “much faster and much cheaper” than previous proposals. “We’ve got innovative, creative approaches to this that can make it much faster and much cheaper,” Sullivan said.
Officials at two previous public events used similar words about faster or cheaper approaches where project specifics were also lacking.