BRADNERS' ALASKA LEGISLATIVE DIGEST

Cost reductions: Anchorage port job A group hired by Anchorage’s assembly found potential cost savings in the plan to rebuild and modernize the city’s aging port. One idea is to build one new cargo dock rather than two and to require two container shipping firms serving Anchorage to shift schedules. The consultants pointed out that the municipality’s estimates for the entire rebuild are based on an extrapolation of bids from the petroleum and cement terminal replacement now underway, an approach…

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Workforce shortage in Southeast Health care providers in Southeast Alaska are having big problems filling positions with registered nurses particularly in short supply. Up to 30 percent of the professional workers employed by health providers in the region are “travelers,” or temporary staff brought up from the Lower 48. The average is 9 percent. This is an extremely high-cost answer to the workforce problem, which is also experienced in other rural Alaska regions. The University of Alaska is being asked…

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Chugach rates; fire damage Chugach Electric Association will temporarily bump rates to offset costs of using more natural gas because of the shutdown of a transmission line bringing hydro power from the Bradley Lake project north from the Kenai Peninsula. The Swan Lake wildfire burned 167,000 acres on the Kenai this summer, disrupting transportation and causing a shutdown of the transmission line. Bradley Lake supplies about 10 percent of Chugach’s needs. The estimate is for a 3 percent to 6…

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Here are some effects of the current organizational turmoil at the University of Alaska. Fall semester enrollment at University of Alaska Anchorage is down by 13 percent, according to the university. Enrollment at University of Alaska Fairbanks is down 2.9 percent and University of Alaska Southeast is down 5 percent. Statewide enrollment is down 9.3 percent. In Anchorage, the sharp drop is mainly in continuing students, the university told us. Ironically, the incoming freshman class at UAA is one of…

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Private/public port investments in Southeast, now planned for Seward Rapid growth of cruise tourism (see page 4) has prompted major cruise companies to invest in new Alaska infrastructure to ensure ports will have the capability of handling the new very large cruise ships. Carnival Corp. which owns Princess Cruises and Holland America, has already invested at Skagway. Ward Cove Group is developing a $50 million new cruise ship dock and passenger facility in Ketchikan with God- speed Inc. and Norwegian…

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Rare mine wall collapse at Pogo A rare mine wall collapse incident occurred at the underground Pogo Mine in late August, blocking one portal, or entrance. Safety was not jeopardized and mine workers used other portals to exit. Northern Star Resources Ltd., the mine owner and operator, and the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, are investigating the cause. The company said “seasonal factors” may have played a role, but did not cite surface water or heavy rains in the…

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Chinese tariffs on seafood hiked China imposed an additional 10 percent tariff on U.S. seafood imports, bringing total tariff to 35 percent. Chinese tariff increases were ordered beginning in July in response to U.S. tariffs on China’s products imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. Seafood imports from the U.S. dropped 35 percent after the July tariffs, with a $340 million loss of sales, much of which was borne by exporters of Alaska fish products. Rising interest in mariculture Interest in…

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Tax consequence of BP-Hilcorp The sale of BP’s Alaska assets to Hilcorp Energy will cost the state treasury because Hilcorp, as a Subchapter S corporation, does not pay a state corporate income tax unlike BP, which is a normal corporation. Instead, Hilcorp’s state income tax liability passes to its shareholders. But because Alaska has no personal income tax no payments will be made. How much this could amount to is uncertain and may never be known to the public (and…

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Anchorage’s retail flagship, Nordstrom’s, closes Sept. 13 Anchorage’s flagship retail store, Nordstrom’s, will close Friday, Sept. 13. The only luxury retail department store in Alaska, Nordstrom’s closing is not only a big hit on local morale – it seems symbolic of economic malaise – but it will leave a big, 97,000-square-foot hole in a prime downtown location at 5th Avenue and C Street. The store acts as a feeder to smaller nearby shops and to restaurants, and is connected to…

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Campaign to recall governor hits a milestone, but lawsuits loom The campaign to recall Gov. Mike Dunleavy reached a milestone, with organizers turning an application with 49,006 signatures in to the Division of Elections Sept. 5, well over the 28,502 signers needed. Under state law this triggers a formal review of the legality of petition, the claim that Dunleavy has acted unlawfully, and of the signatures themselves to ensure they are valid and from those registered to vote. The extra…

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