The Alaska Aerospace Corporation is suing an aviation insurance group for the roughly $3 million it spent cleaning up damages at the Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska on Kodiak Island last year. That’s according to federal court documents filed with the U.S. District Court of Alaska last week on Feb. 13.
Last summer in July, 2024, California-based ABL Space Systems was doing a test on its RS1 rocket at the state-owned spaceport, Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska, near Narrow Cape on Kodiak Island. The ground test was in preparation for an upcoming rocket launch, but a static fire damaged the rocket beyond repair. The static fire involved putting some aviation fuel into the rocket and igniting at least one of the engines to perform a ground test.
That also caused 1,800 gallons of aviation fuel and other contaminants to spill at the spaceport according to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Alaska Aerospace Corporation (AAC) is responsible for cleanup, the department says, and that process is still ongoing as of Feb. 18.
Alaska Aerospace said in its lawsuit, filed in federal court Thursday, Feb. 13, that the cost to repair the damages and cleanup at the spaceport had reached at least $3.1 million. That's according to an email sent by Alaska Aerospace Corporations’ attorney Adam Cook to USAIG on Jan. 8, 2025.
The corporation claims ABL Space Systems was required to carry insurance that covered the spaceport, and had a policy for up to $50 million through the U.S. Aircraft Insurance Group (USAIG) to cover the damages.
But after sending three emails to USAIG asking for a copy of its policy and status on a filed claim, which allegedly existed but was never confirmed by the insurance group, Alaska Aerospace’s lawyer Cook with Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot sent a final follow up email last month on Jan. 8.
The CEO of Alaska Aerospace, John Oberst, told KMXT via email that, “It has taken far too long to close out these claims but also [is] not uncommon in the insurance industry.”
Oberst said the corporation filed the lawsuit to expedite the recovery of environmental remediation costs.
The lawsuit names the U.S. Aviation Underwriters Inc. (USAU) and its managing entity, the U.S. Aircraft Insurance Group (USAIG). A summons has been issued in the case but a court date has not yet been set to hear the case.
