Economy & Business
RSSEconomy & Business in Alaska is the mix of government decisions, contracts, grants and private projects that shape the state's economy. It covers municipal budgets, infrastructure and airport planning, federal grants and contracts, employment trends, and energy development across Alaska.
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Thursday, Sep 3
Clay Koplin will lead Matanuska Electric starting in January
Clay Koplin, who has run Cordova Electric for nearly 20 years, takes over Matanuska Electric Association in January as Tony Izzo retires.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min read
Anchorage Assembly keeps a non-binding housing resolution moving
The Anchorage Assembly refused to delay a housing resolution that, by its own sponsor's account, does not require anyone at all to do anything.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
A gravel company can dig below the water table on Beaver Loop
A gravel company can dig two pits below the water table on Beaver Loop Road, over a neighbor's objections about his wells and the noise.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min readFrom 
Anchorage's planning director could approve bigger encroachments alone
Anchorage's planning director could approve setback encroachments three times larger than now allowed, without the public hearing a variance requires.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Anchorage weighs a variance for a 1998 setback encroachment
A house on Chandalar Drive in Anchorage has stood 1.3 feet inside its required setback since 1998, and the city is being asked to let it stay.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Alaska rule would limit cannabinoids to licensed grows, approved hemp
Alaska regulators want to force all cannabinoids in legal pot products to come from state-licensed grows. This move aims to stop cheap out-of-state hemp from undercutting local businesses.
by Alaska News2mo ago1 min read
HEX plans to triple its gas deliveries, enough to cover a tenth of demand
HEX plans to triple its contracted gas to ENSTAR by 2027. Even so, it would cover roughly a tenth of Southcentral demand as Cook Inlet keeps declining.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min read
Wednesday, Sep 2
Wasilla is hiring someone to write its next road plan, and a new parks plan too
Wasilla's 20-year road plan ran out this year, and the city is about to hire someone to write the next one. Its parks plan dates back to 2011.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
More from Economy & Business
Port of Alaska advances a new substation to power its next cranes
The Port of Alaska is building a new substation to power its next-generation cranes — and it has to be running by 2028, or the cranes can't operate.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Alaska would give 20,000 acres near Houston to a state authority for free
Alaska proposes giving nearly 20,000 acres near Houston to a state development authority at no cost, and waiving its right to reclaim the land.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Anchorage would trade away land it bought five years ago for $2.35 million
Anchorage would trade away land it paid $2.35 million to buy in 2021, before its own study of the site is finished and over a state objection.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Alaska would change who can question the medical report in a workers' comp fight
Alaska is rewriting how injured workers' claims get fought: who can question the doctor who wrote the report, and how the lawyer gets paid.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Red Dog is one approval away from a new corporate owner
Teck Resources, owner of the Red Dog zinc mine near Kivalina, awaits one final regulatory approval before its merger with Anglo American closes, likely between September 2026 and March 2027.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Washington bought into Ambler. The payoff depends on the road being built
The federal government will own about 10 percent of Trilogy Metals, but cannot cash in most of its stake until the Ambler road is built.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago4 min readFrom 
Kenai man says a gravel company mislabeled a salmon stream on his land
A Kenai man says a gravel company mislabeled a salmon stream on his property to avoid a 50-foot buffer — and dug up that buffer without permission.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min readFrom 
Some Anchorage homes went a month without running water last winter
Some Anchorage homes went a month without running water last winter. Frozen lines hit triple the usual number, and thawing them is the customer's expense.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min readFrom 
About Economy & Business
Economy and business in Alaska is the mix of government decisions, contracts, grants and private projects that shape the state's economy. It is the broad subject that holds narrower topics such as business, energy, oil and gas, mining, aviation and tourism.
Much of it runs through public bodies, with municipal assemblies approving contracts and planning decisions, state agencies leasing land and selling gravel and rock, and AIDEA lending to industry. Recurring questions concern infrastructure such as harbors, airports, roads and water and sewer lines, along with housing and zoning rules, energy supply, labor contracts, federal grants and military construction.
Its decisions reach every part of the state, from Anchorage and the Mat-Su to Kodiak, Cordova, Haines and the North Slope. Federal and military spending, resource development and Alaska Native corporation ventures all feed into the economy.
More from Economy & Business
Three Sterling streets end at the river, and the neighbors have had enough
Three Sterling streets dead-end at the Kenai River on public easements, and neighbors report trespass, human waste and an armed confrontation.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min readFrom 
Mat-Su cut school walking paths from its short-term road list
Mat-Su dropped walking path projects at two elementary schools from its short-term transportation list, replacing them with road reconstruction and paving.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min readFrom 
Cordova would get one ferry sailing a month this winter, and none in January
Cordova would get one ferry round trip a month this winter instead of none. January still has no service, and February hangs on how fast a shipyard works.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read
Anchorage board weighs dropping a shared-driveway rule for two Lake Otis lots
Anchorage Platting Board hears a request Wednesday to let two Lake Otis Parkway lots have separate driveways instead of sharing one.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Anchorage trails plan keeps Muldoon trail but drops JBER from its name
Anchorage kept the Muldoon trail in its revised plan but dropped JBER from the name after the military base cited security concerns during public comment.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Anchorage trails plan adds inland fallback route for stalled Kincaid-to-Potter Marsh trail
Anchorage planners added an inland route option to a stalled coastal trail between Kincaid Park and Potter Marsh, blocked since the 1990s by private land and wildlife refuge concerns.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
A $293 million plan would rebuild and narrow Anchorage's downtown couplet
A $293 million rebuild of Fifth and Sixth avenues would narrow the couplet that funnels traffic through downtown Anchorage. No one commented at the meeting.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Cordova weighs a model where you own the house but lease the land
You own the house and a trust owns the ground under it, and you pay $50 a month for the ground. Cordova is weighing whether that math works.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min readFrom 
GVEA's fuel charge drops 12.6%, reversing about a third of June's increase
GVEA's fuel charge dropped 12.6 percent Tuesday, cutting about $15 from monthly bills for Interior members, though the rate remains far above pre-summer levels after diesel prices spiked.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Alaska schools warned on parental consent for surveys and student records
Alaska schools could risk federal funding if they survey students on sensitive topics without written parental consent, or withhold records parents can see.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read
Anchorage will weigh housing density, not just price, when it sells land
The Anchorage Assembly voted 11-0 to tell the city to weigh housing density and affordability, not just price, when it disposes of municipal land.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
A judge let Alaska start 2.8 miles of the King Cove road with the land swap vacated
A judge will not stop Alaska from starting 2.8 miles of the King Cove road, even though the land swap for the full route has been thrown out.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago3 min read
Kenai Elks Lodge RV spaces get a city permit after years without one
Kenai Planning and Zoning Commission approved a conditional use permit for six RV spaces at the Elks Lodge that operated without one for years.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read
Mat-Su explores building the troopers a new home and leasing it back
Mat-Su is exploring building troopers a $13 million facility and leasing it back. Troopers now work from six buildings never designed for police work.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Tuesday, Sep 1
North Slope Borough Assembly raises lot density to four homes in zoning code rewrite
North Slope Borough Assembly voted 9-0 to allow four homes per lot instead of two, aiming to address a shortage of 637 housing units across the region.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Alaska joins a suit accusing Amazon of setting the price its ad auctions were meant to discover
Amazon promised advertisers they would pay only enough to beat the runner-up bidder. Regulators say Amazon quietly made itself the runner-up.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Alaska rent increases were the smallest in five years, but Mat-Su and Kenai set records
Alaska rents rose again this year, but the pressure shifted. Mat-Su and the Kenai set records while Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau saw their smallest rises.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Hilcorp wants to plug five Cook Inlet wells for good
Hilcorp asked the state to dissolve a Cook Inlet unit and permanently plug five of nine wells at an offshore platform, as the basin runs short of gas.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read
A barge of secondhand equipment is bringing a military antimony refinery to Port MacKenzie
A barge of secondhand refining gear is headed for Port MacKenzie to start a $43.4 million military project for a metal the US stopped mining in the 1990s.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago3 min read
Alaska's labor agency has management and a union teaching bargaining together
A city HR director and an IBEW business agent will teach Alaska public employers and unions how to bargain, together, at a state session this month.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Sitkana's new patent covers how its tidal generator looks, not how it works
Juneau's Sitkana won a 15-year design patent for its floating tidal generator, protecting the device's exterior shape.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min read
Matanuska Electric's next CEO inherits a gas contract that expires in 2029 and years of rising bills
Clay Koplin takes over as Matanuska Electric CEO on Jan. 7, 2027, as the cooperative braces for rising natural gas costs that could push member bills up 5% yearly for three years.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read
$21 million for 29 miles of the road that supplies the North Slope
Federal records show $21 million for 29 miles of the Dalton Highway, the road that supplies the North Slope. The state awarded the work in May 2025.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
New flood maps would end mandatory flood insurance for thousands of Fairbanks properties
New flood maps would pull 2,343 more Fairbanks structures out of the high-risk zone than they add, ending mandatory flood insurance for thousands.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
