Battery power in Kwethluk Nuvista Light and Electric Cooperative of Bethel is working with Kwethluk, a small village in the region, on the installation of a 675 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery storage system that will provide backup power and, when a planned local wind project is built, allow surplus power generated by wind to be stored. This will allow the community to use less diesel for power generation. The U.S. Department of Energy has provided a $477,050 grant for the project,…
Doubt on Medicaid emergency State Superior Court Judge Jennifer Henderson ruled that the state’s move to cut Medicaid reimbursements to health care providers was not an “emergency” justifying immediate action outside normal procedures for rate adjustments, but the judge did not rule on an injunction requested to halt the action. The Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association filed the lawsuit, challenging the expedited action by the state administration on an emergency basis. Judge Henderson said the action was not…
The question of who will operate the Prudhoe Bay oil field BP’s sale to Hilcorp Energy is unresolved, it turns out. ConocoPhillips spokeswoman Patty Sullivan told us talks with Hilcorp are currently underway. ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and BP (Hilcorp after 2020) own the field in differing percentages. ConocoPhillips owns 36 percent; BP owns 26 percent, and the remainder held by ExxonMobil and the state’s 12.5 percent royalty share. Normally, the company that owns the majority of resources becomes operator, but BP…
Much of the expense borne by feds, but state share substantial The total cost of this summer’s heavy firefighting season won’t be known until later this fall but as this is published the tally is above $125 million. This combines state expenditures (about $74 million and an additional $36 million paid for by the state but reimbursable by the federal government) and an additional $15 million-plus expended by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for fires on lands it is…
Ketchikan delays RFP for investor Ketchikan’s city council opted to delay a Request For Proposals for private investment in expansion of one of the city’s cruise ship docks so that the city’s engineering consultant, Bermello Ajamil & Partners, can resolve concerns over which berth to expand. Meanwhile, locally-owned Survey Point Holdings, which is also involved in a private cruise dock project in nearby Ward Cove, gave the city its estimate that a 400 ft. by 50 ft. floating dock could…
177 million salmon caught so far Alaska’s salmon harvest is winding down with the catch estimated at 177 million fish as of Aug. 24, according to McDowell Group, a consulting firm retained by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. Bristol Bay saw a huge run of sockeye salmon this year, and the statewide harvest of 55 million sockeyes is 10 percent ahead of 2018 as of Aug. 24. Pink salmon harvested so far total 107 million fish, 12 percent down from…
Corps says Pebble EIS is on track U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials are in the midst of meeting with federal agencies and tribal organizations on comments for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement document on Pebble, they said in a briefing last week. It may take a month or two longer to conclude those – hopes were for late October but it may now be December – but the process appears to be on its officials published schedule for a…
Furie assets on the auction block Furie Operating Alaska’s assets go on the auction block Oct. 7 with bids due Oct. 4 on the company’s Cook Inlet gas reserves and production facilities, mainly four producing wells, a Cook Inlet production platform and pipelines to shore. Seaport Global Securities, of New Orleans, has been retained as financial adviser to Furie and issued a solicitation to potential buyers on Aug. 12. Furie filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a Delaware bankruptcy…
Licensing for use of Alaska Grown logo; fee for non-food retail use State Division of Agriculture officials say they will begin a program of licensing and eventually a fee payment program for non-food retailers who use the popular “Alaska Grown” design logo, which is actually owned by the state. The logo is widely used on t-shirts, hats and other merchandise sold retail. Alaska food producers, who also register to use the logo, will not be charged a fee, officials said….
Deferred maintenance price tag is bigger than thought The combined state and municipal backlog on deferred building maintenance is much bigger than thought. The state backlog, mostly University of Alaska buildings, is currently estimated at about $1.9 billion. When deferred maintenance on schools in the Anchorage School District and Matanuska–Susitna School District is added, the number grows to about $2.76 billion ($660.2 million for Anchorage and $201 million for Mat-Su). The state’s $1.9 billion includes about $1.1 billion for the…