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.
Inside Economy & Business
Places and organizations in this news
Numbers are stories in the last 30 days.
Have a story about Economy & Business? Send a tip
Sunday, Aug 9
Anchorage Assembly weights resolution would back JBER buildout as base housing nears full
Anchorage weighs committing to planning for a military buildup of up to 1,050 personnel, on a base whose family housing is already 98% full.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Juneau pilots pay $12 a gallon for fuel, and want an alternative to the airport's only seller
Juneau pilots pay over $12 a gallon for avgas, about 50% more than Anchorage, from the airport's only seller. Fifty-plus want a self-serve option added.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Kodiak fish waste hauler is only applicant for former cannery site
A fish waste hauler is the only applicant for Kodiak's deteriorating former cannery site, and the city council must decide whether to sell.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
A Kodiak homeowner takes his flooded yard to the borough board
A Kodiak homeowner is fed up with a too-small, often-clogged borough pipe flooding his yard, and he's taking his complaint to the service-area board Tuesday.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
A Chugach substation rebuild draws a neighbor's concern over transformers near a home
A Chugach substation rebuild in south Anchorage draws a neighbor's concern over two nearby transformers, with a hearing before the planning commission Monday.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
A company is drilling near Cantwell for the source of half a million ounces of gold
A company wants to drill near Cantwell for the lost source of 500,000+ ounces of gold pulled from the Valdez Creek district's creeks.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Matanuska Electric goes on taproom tour as members absorb rising rates and a looming gas cliff
MEA's CEO is hitting the taprooms to meet members — right as they absorb a rate hike, brace for 5%-a-year increases, and face a 2029 gas cliff.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Saturday, Aug 8
Kodiak will homeport the Coast Guard's first Arctic Security Cutters
Kodiak will homeport the Coast Guard's first two Arctic Security Cutters, part of a multibillion-dollar Arctic buildup, with a third headed to Seward.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
More from Economy & Business
Juneau's paratransit service for seniors has failed riders for nine months
A 96-year-old left at Foodland, 25 calls for one trip: Juneau's paratransit for seniors has failed nine months, the commission says — and the city renewed it.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
King Cove road materials arrive on scene as local workers hit another milestone in the development of a contested project
A barge of equipment for the long-disputed King Cove-Cold Bay Road has reached King Cove, though the fight over the route through Izembek refuge continues.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Cook Inlet's oil and gas discharge rules expired in 2021, and EPA is finally rewriting them
The rules for what oil and gas exploration can discharge into federal Cook Inlet waters expired in 2021 and have run on an extension. EPA is rewriting them.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Bethel weighs a climbing fee to force action on empty buildings
A draft Bethel ordinance would make owners of empty buildings register and pay a fee that climbs the longer they sit vacant: $100, $500, then $1,000-plus.
by Alaska News3mo ago1 min read
Potter Drive designs test Anchorage guidance on in-street bike lanes
Anchorage planners will review four design options for Potter Drive that would add its first sidewalks and bike lanes, though two conflict with a city plan recommending a separated bikeway.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago2 min read
A Whittier man trying to sell booze on a family glacier-tour boat
A Whittier man is fighting a plan to serve alcohol on the family Ptarmigan glacier-tour boat, which has run dry for decades. The Assembly decides by Aug. 15.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago1 min read
A Larsen Bay spillway is 'nearing failure' and unfunded in Kodiak's list
A spillway supplying Larsen Bay's water and power is "nearing failure," but the $1.2 million fix isn't funded and ranks sixth, in Kodiak's out-year pile.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Peltola's energy platform draws fire from both sides in the race
Mary Peltola rolled out an energy platform in her Senate race against Dan Sullivan, drawing rebuttals from his campaign and from Alaska environmental groups.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
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
The state is drilling test holes for a Seward Highway fix, as a bigger $1.5 billion plan draws fire
The state is rebidding a routine Seward Highway drilling job, but the real fight is a $1.5 billion rebuild up the road that critics call oversized.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Sitka's Coast Guard cutter dock clears review; work set for 2026
Sitka's Coast Guard cutter dock cleared its environmental review, with waterfront construction set to run from 2026 to 2028.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago1 min read
Friday, Aug 7
The 5th and 6th avenue rebuild just hit $370 million — and even planners are flagging "scope creep"
Anchorage's 5th and 6th avenue rebuild just hit $370 million with no clear way to pay for it — and even the city's planners are flagging scope creep.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Electric bills would rise in Bethel, Yakutat and 50-plus rural communities
Electric bills would rise about 4.75% in Bethel, Yakutat and 50-plus rural communities under an AVEC proposal, on customers already paying several times urban rates.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Sitka Harbor Office closes at noon Friday, reopens Monday
Sitka Harbor Office closes at noon Friday and reopens Monday, leaving boat owners and fishers without walk-in service or phone access until then. Call 907-738-0835 for emergencies.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Anchorage asked to raise bus tire contract authority by $500,000
Anchorage needs up to $500K more for tires on its 63 city buses, which it leases rather than owns, as leasing and labor costs rise — funded by bonds and grants.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago1 min read
Fairbanks inventors patent an ultra-light meal for the backcountry
Fairbanks scientists and a hunting expert patented a powdered meal for people who burn more calories than they can carry: hunters, racers, special ops.
by Melinda Communities.News3mo ago3 min readFrom 
Sitka's old pulp mill site keeps filling up — another lot goes out for development
Sitka is seeking a developer for another lot at its former pulp mill site — long mostly empty after the mill's 1993 closure, and now steadily filling up.
by Melinda Communities.News3mo ago1 min read
Hughes $25 billion pitch: connect Alaska's railroad to Canada, and Nome to the Interior
Candidate Shelley Hughes wants to link Alaska's railroad to Canada and reach Nome — a roughly $25 billion pitch with no identified funding source.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Rural road access was Alaska's biggest federal award last week
Tribal transportation was Alaska's biggest federal award last week — $2.68 million for rural road access, in a state with fewer road miles than Connecticut.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Thursday, Aug 6
Anchorage board vacates a Glen Alps public easement the city paid $130K to acquire
Anchorage's board gave a Glen Alps lot a public easement the city paid $130K for — over objections it's still access to big public land with few ways in.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
In Talkeetna, a debate over whether weather or a bridge is eroding the riverbank
Weather, or a rebuilt railroad bridge? As Talkeetna's bank erodes, one river-watcher says the bridge choked the river — and that's the fixable cause.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Alaska moves to open child care assistance to more working families
Alaska wants to raise the income ceiling for child care assistance from 85 to 105 percent of the state median, though it's contested whether the expansion needs new money.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
As Anchorage cements its role as a global cargo hub, the growth is colliding with its neighbors
Anchorage's cargo boom brings nighttime jet noise — and a new study warns the fixes might just shift it from one neighborhood to another, not end it.
by Alaska News3mo ago2 min read
Landowner gets variance to split land off Wasilla-Fishhook Road
A landowner near Wasilla-Fishhook Road, a route to Hatcher Pass, got a variance to split his land after the state barred new lots from tying directly into the road.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Hilcorp says opposing the tax isn't opposing the gas line
Hilcorp told the gas-line caucus that opposing a targeted tax on the company isn't opposing the pipeline, even as that tax deadlocks the bill in Juneau.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago3 min read
Enstar tells Alaska Gas Line Caucus it could be 18 days short of gas this winter
Enstar told lawmakers it could run 18 days short of gas this winter if Cook Inlet supply stays low, but the Alaska LNG pipeline pitched to fix the problem won't arrive in time to help.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago3 min read
Kenai council approves $775,000 for Sixth Street water, sewer, road work
Kenai City Council approved 775000 dollars for Sixth Street infrastructure. The project will serve new senior housing but stop short of future development sites.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Anchorage seeks 50 acres of JBER land for a waste-to-energy plant
Anchorage is asking Congress for about 50 acres of JBER land next to the landfill for a waste-to-energy plant, with the request riding in this year's defense bill.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
A plan would move Anchorage's bike route off the highways onto trails
Anchorage's official cross-country bike route runs on highway shoulders. A plan would move it onto the city's trails — the Seward corridor stays contested.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Coast Guard asks Homer to accept transfer of cutter support building
Homer City Council votes Aug. 24 on accepting ownership of a Coast Guard cutter support building. • The ordinance does not specify maintenance costs or operational details the city would assume. • Residents can testify at the 6 p.m. public hearing.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
New law ties Anchorage's federal housing grant to how fast it builds
Anchorage's biggest federal housing grant will now rise or fall with how fast the city builds, raising the question of whether it'll be punished for constraints it can't control.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
A landslide cut rail service to Denali after record Talkeetna rain
A landslide from record July rain cut off Alaska Railroad service to Denali north of Talkeetna, in a corridor already under a flood-and-erosion emergency.
by Melinda Communities.News3mo ago1 min read
Wednesday, Aug 5
Anchorage union deals would sweeten benefits amid a labor shortage
Two union contracts before the Anchorage Assembly would sweeten benefits — rehire leave credit, easier holiday pay, master's tuition — for a labor shortage.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
