Economy & Business

A routine Anchorage roads vote this week would also fund cameras at 82 more intersections

A routine Anchorage roads-money vote this week also quietly funds 82 more intersection cameras, in the middle of a public fight over police surveillance.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago4 min read

Anchorage is weighing a trade of land it just bought for $2.35 million for four downtown parking lots

Anchorage is weighing a trade of land it just bought for $2.35 million for four downtown parking lots, over a state objection and around competitive bidding.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago3 min read

ENSTAR seeks a Southcentral gas rate hike as two landlords move to dismiss the case

ENSTAR wants to raise Southcentral gas bills by about $9 a month, and two landlords are moving to get the rate case thrown out before its September hearing.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

An Anchorage firm runs facilities services for North Dakota's federal buildings

A company owned by Kodiak's Koniag corporation keeps federal buildings running across North Dakota, with the revenue flowing home to Alutiiq shareholders.

by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min read

Alaska's largest fisheries lab swaps ozone for ultraviolet to treat its water

Alaska's largest fisheries research lab is swapping ozone for ultraviolet light to disinfect its water. A Juneau plumbing firm won the $155,653 job.

by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read

Juneau tourism task force takes final public testimony Oct. 15

Juneau's tourism task force set a second testimony session for Oct. 15, pushed back so residents can read the draft recommendations before speaking.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Alaska regulators may open the grid to far more home and community solar

Alaska regulators may raise the rooftop and community solar limit from 1.5% to 20% of a utility's demand, opening the grid to far more customer-owned power.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Northrim to buy Oregon bank, its first branches outside Alaska

Anchorage's Northrim Bank is expanding outside Alaska for the first time, buying an Oregon bank for about $167 million and 11 new branches.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

The bridge meant to reopen half of Denali is running behind, new permits suggest

The bridge meant to reopen half of Denali is running behind: its federal finish date has passed, but new permits seek staging space through 2028.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

A company wants to rework historic Interior goldfields, mining two creeks for a decade

A company wants to mine gold for a decade from two creeks in Alaska's historic Ruby goldfields, first struck in 1911, disturbing about 35 acres of streambed.

by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Juneau weighs $5.5 million more for flood recovery on a river that floods every year

Juneau is putting another $5.5 million toward flood recovery. The city still calls the Mendenhall barriers temporary and hasn't said who pays long term.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

More Mat-Su families are paying at the door to keep their power on, as their co-op runs ahead of budget

More Mat-Su families are paying at the door to keep their power on — nearly $472,000 this year — even as their co-op runs $4.9 million ahead of budget.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Judge vacates Izembek land exchange for King Cove road

A federal judge vacated the land exchange behind the King Cove road through the Izembek refuge, reopening one of Alaska's longest fights on primary day.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

DOT says cameras don't read plates; vendor policy allows video storage

Alaska says new cameras in Palmer, Wasilla and Anchorage count people and cars, not plates — but the vendor's policy sets no limit on storing video.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Alaska's trail grants reopen, with up to $100,000 on the table

Alaska's multi-use trail grants reopen Wednesday — up to $100,000 at a 90% federal match, open to trail groups, tribes and local governments through Oct. 30.

by Alaska News2mo ago2 min read

The state wants to give away land near Houston for housing, one piece of a statewide push

The state wants to give away 42 acres near Houston, free, for housing — one of several no-cost transfers to the Housing Finance Corporation across Alaska.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Railbelt ratepayers will repay up to $100M for a Bradley Lake expansion built around federal tax credits

Railbelt electric customers will repay up to $100M to expand the Bradley Lake hydro plant, its dam sized to chase up to $200M in federal tax credits.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Kodiak wants your best shot of the biggest bears on Earth for its visitor guide

Kodiak's visitor-guide photo contest is open, led by the Kodiak brown bear — the biggest bear on Earth. Seven categories, $200 each, through Oct. 1.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Eagle River hillside lot could lose the development limits set in 2002

Eagle River limits set in 2002 on a 34 percent slope would come off Tuesday. A neighbor says the storm drains there already ice over the intersection.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Ketchikan's long rebuild of the road toward Saxman inches ahead, with a waterside path and a tangle over land

Ketchikan's rebuild of the highway toward Saxman, adding a waterside path for walkers and bikers, drew more federal money as cost estimates keep swinging.

by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min read

Auke Bay quarry wins bigger blasts and Saturday hours through 2036

An Auke Bay rock quarry can now blast 60 percent bigger, start earlier and work Saturdays, through 2036. No residents showed up to the hearing.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Juneau denies Chilkat Vistas hillside plat after approval falls a vote short

Juneau's planning commission denied a hillside subdivision over landslide risk, two years after the Assembly struck landslide rules from the land use code.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Three Hillside road districts are dipping into savings as maintenance costs outrun their funding

Three self-funded Hillside road districts are drawing $145,000 from their own savings for road maintenance, as costs outrun what they collect in taxes.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Anchorage shifts $3.46 million from Denali Street to a Fairview pedestrian boulevard

Anchorage dropped a Denali Street walking project and moved $3.46 million to Fairview, where Hyder Street would become a pedestrian boulevard.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

A Seward Highway rebuild that doubled to $1.4 billion is back on Anchorage's plan, over objections

A Seward Highway rebuild that doubled to $1.4 billion is back on Anchorage's plan on a 3-2 vote, over objections about cost, priority and public input.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Ambler district copper mine nears its first public comment period

A copper mine proposed 22 miles from Kobuk is moving through federal permitting. Residents could get their first chance to comment as soon as September.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago3 min read

Follows: Ambler advances, but the U.S. stake in its developer hasn't closed

The fate of the EPA veto blocking Pebble Mine is now in a federal judge's hands

A federal judge is deciding whether the EPA veto blocking Pebble Mine survives, a fight over Bristol Bay salmon with Alaska Native parties on both sides.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

The state gave Red Dog another decade of eased water limits as the mine looks to run longer

Alaska extended Red Dog's wastewater permit 10 years, to 2036, past the mine's own expected ore life, citing thawing permafrost with no available remedy.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Fifty-nine rural Alaska villages get federal money to defend their power systems from hackers

Fifty-nine rural Alaska villages are getting $1.73 million to harden their power systems against hackers. Some of those systems average four kilowatts.

by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read

Kodiak fights landfill bears with a second fence and a look at composting

Bears keep breaking into Kodiak's landfill, so the borough is fighting back two ways: a fence to keep them out and composting to cut the waste that draws them.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min readFrom Aug 6

A family gold operation wants four more seasons on Cache Creek, mined since the early 1900s

A family gold operation wants to work Cache Creek near Petersville for four more seasons, on ground mined by family outfits since the early 1900s.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Anchorage airport would let CLEAR sell a faster security line

Anchorage's airport wants to let a private company sell a faster spot in the security line. Objections are due on a Sunday, when the office is closed.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Anchorage water chemical contract returns $855,400 higher with no explanation

Anchorage's water treatment chemical will cost $855,400 more than the bid the administration backed two weeks ago. It sits on tonight's consent agenda.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Nome buses roll as Steadman Street reopening goes unconfirmed

Nome school buses roll this morning down a street the state said would reopen Friday. The state's own weekly update does not say whether it actually did.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

State's latest fuel survey put Alaska gasoline at $6.63 a gallon, and it is seven months old

State fuel data shows Alaska gasoline averaged 6.63 dollars in January. This report is seven months old and prices have risen.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

The state wants $293M to rebuild 5th and 6th, but the funding isn't settled

The state wants Anchorage to program $293 million to rebuild 5th and 6th avenues downtown, but where the money comes from is unsettled.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Federal charter keeps water sampling going on the Unuk, downstream of three British Columbia mines

A $15,510 charter keeps USGS crews sampling the Unuk River this fall. Three large British Columbia mine projects sit in development upstream.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

An Iñupiaq village corporation from Wainwright is plugging orphaned wells in Wyoming

Olgoonik, an Iñupiaq village corporation from Wainwright now grown into a global federal contractor, won a $210K contract to plug abandoned wells in Wyoming.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

A $3.73 million contract will fix water intrusion at the Anchorage VA

A $3.73 million federal contract will fix water intrusion at the Anchorage VA Medical Center — a year of work by a Palmer firm, starting in September.

by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read

FAA plan would give a Cook Inlet oil-field airstrip its first instrument approaches

Hilcorp's Trading Bay airstrip may soon take planes in bad weather. The FAA notice announcing it gets the airport's name wrong and its boundary wrong twice.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read