FROM: Basher Community Council Executive Committee                                 20 Aug 09

TO: Regulatory Commission of Alaska

SUBJECT: TA30-692/TA31-692 Rate Change Proposal Alaska Waste

The purpose of this letter is to respond to the Regulatory Commission of Alaska notice of utility tariff filing regarding tariff revisions by Alaska Waste.  We have discussed the matter with Mr. Jeff Riley, (Chief Operations Officer) and have reviewed the Prefiled Direct Testimony of Mr. Riley as filed by the Commission.  Further, we have discussed the matter with Ms Elizabeth Manning (ADF&G).

Our comments are restricted to the below paragraph taken from page 2 of the tariff filing.

AK Waste will determine which service locations require bear carts and which locations do not.  If AK Waste requires the customer to use a bear cart, AK Waste will provide the bear cart, otherwise the customer may choose to rent a bear cart from AK Waste or purchase a bear cart from a 3^rd party vendor.”

Comment 1

We feel AK Waste should not make the sole determination of which customers are “required” to have a bear cart.  We feel this decision should be made in conjunction with ADF&G and (if created) the MOA Safety Officer Regarding Bear-Human Safety (as proposed by the Anchorage Assembly).

Comment 2

Although we appreciate the unique challenges for providing service in our community, it is important to understand that we have a number of residents who physically cannot use the bear tipper carts due to driveway design.  Most of these driveways are relatively steep and do not allow for wheeled cart use.  We will need to arrive at an alternative solution.  At one point, our community had ~85% use-rate of the bear-tipper-carts.  Most of the residents that have ceased using the carts have done so because of steep driveways.

Comment 3

We do concur with the concept that the bear-tipper-cart cost (when ‘required’) should be spread among customers as the bear safety issue is an Anchorage-wide issue and not just a local community issue.

Respectfully submitted by,

Dave Keddington

President, Basher Community Council

(Stuckagain Heights, Anchorage, AK)