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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Monday, Jul 27
Wasilla hiring event features employer with no listed openings
A nonprofit is recruiting at the Mat-Su Job Center on Wednesday. Its own careers page says every position is currently filled. Bring a resume anyway.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
A village's water grant score can hinge on whether the clerk took a class
A free state course Aug. 3–11 can boost a village's water and sewer grant scores — clerk training counts for up to 40% of project points. Sign up by July 31.
by Alaska News3mo ago1 min read
The new Richardson Highway bridge takes shape at Mile 346
The last girders are up on the new Richardson Highway bridge at Mile 346 — a rebuild aimed at reopening a key Valdez-to-Canada freight route to heavy loads.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Chena Small Tracts Road closed for the season as roundabout goes in
Chena Small Tracts Road is closed for the season while a roundabout goes in. West Fairbanks: your detours are Palo Verde, Amherst and Dartmouth.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
It's July, and it's snowing on the road to the Arctic
It's late July and it's snowing on Atigun Pass — the 4,739-foot Brooks Range crossing that's the only road to Alaska's North Slope.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Anchorage Platting Board to weigh Girdwood plat note removal Aug. 5
Anchorage Platting Board will vote Aug. 5 on removing a vegetation screening requirement from a Girdwood lot, which would free space for multifamily housing at 116 Kami Circle.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago2 min read
Sunday, Jul 26
Anchorage may let duplex owners sell half the house and its land
Anchorage may let duplex owners in single-family zones sell one unit and its land as its own lot — more housing, plus questions about running a split lot.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago1 min read
New Canada tariffs land Aug. 19 with a narrow Alaska bite
New 50% tariffs on select Canadian goods start Aug. 19. Alaska's exposure: cement and hockey gear, not fuel and fish — but check your subheadings.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago1 min read
More from Economy & Business
Federal rule changes loosen protections for Alaska's listed species
New federal rules quietly loosen Endangered Species Act protections just as Alaska's development push accelerates, with belugas, polar bears and eiders in the balance.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
A sacred site promised in 1978 is being considered by Congress to go to Doyon
A sacred Athabascan site was promised to Doyon in 1978, then a national park grew around it. Congress is finally moving to hand it over.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Alaska is auctioning 18 Fairbanks-area timber sales
Alaska is auctioning 18 timber sales near Fairbanks next month — more than double last fall's round — and the cash-up-front rules favor established outfits.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Saturday, Jul 25
Full-time St. Paul Island homeowners can get replacement fuel tanks
St. Paul Island homeowners can now get free replacement heating fuel tanks through a new community program, limiting eligibility to full-time residents.
by Alaska News3mo ago1 min read
Nominations open for Arctic shipping panel with reserved Alaska seats
Alaska Native tribes and coastal groups have until Sept. 22 to seek seats on a new federal panel shaping U.S. Arctic shipping policy as sea lanes open.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago2 min read
Juneau's fifth cruise dock clears a federal hurdle
Juneau's contested fifth cruise dock cleared another hurdle: a federal permit for the pile-driving that will disturb sea lions in Gastineau Channel.
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago2 min read
Friday, Jul 24
NSF backs UAF-led critical minerals coalition with $15 million
Alaska holds 56 of the 60 minerals Washington calls essential. NSF is putting $15 million behind a UAF-led coalition to figure out how to get them.
by Melinda Communities.News3mo ago1 min read
Draft settlement would protect ANWR leasing terms
A draft settlement would bar Washington from shrinking ANWR leasing below what Congress required, a win the state and Kaktovik's drilling backers wanted.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 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
Mike Rowe helps mark a $250,000 gift to Seward's trade school
Mike Rowe showed up in Homer to help hand Seward's trade school a $250,000 Wells Fargo gift for scholarships and instructors.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Thursday, Jul 23
State weighs 30-year lease for St. Michael barge dock
No roads reach St. Michael, so everything arrives by barge. The state is now weighing a 30-year lease for the dock it lands at.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
West Petersville Road is washed out, and the creek won't let crews in
West Petersville Road is washed out at Kenny Creek with no reopening date — crews can't start until the water slows down enough to work in.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Alaska makers can claim a free booth at November's holiday market
Alaska makers can grab a free booth at Anchorage's holiday market in November. Applications close Sept. 18, and spots go first-come.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
More than 100 land deals stand between Alaska and a safer KGB Road
Alaska can't fix KGB Road until it buys land from 100-plus owners. Elsewhere a Gustavus generator waits on a signature. Everything's sliding to 2027.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Anchorage faces federal funding freeze if transportation plan misses December deadline
Anchorage could lose the ability to start new road, trail, and transit projects in December — because the agency funding them can't agree on its border.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min readFrom 
EPA suspends Arctic clean-diesel rules amid Middle East supply crunch
A Middle East fuel crunch reached the North Slope, and EPA suspended clean-diesel rules there through Aug. 2 — putting more soot over Iñupiat communities and Arctic snow.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min readFrom 
Alaska Senate passes LNG bill as Republicans warn it kills financing
Alaska's Senate passed its LNG bill 11-8, and Senate Republicans immediately said the added taxes and labor rules make the pipeline unfinanceable.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min readFrom 
Eleven Sitka islands lose power for a day as crews swap a channel cable
Eleven islands off Sitka go dark for eight hours on July 31 while crews swap out an aging underwater cable. Charge everything Thursday night.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Sitka moves to fix its late-night ride problem
Sitka has few cabs, no Uber, and a hard time getting anyone to the airport. The city is rewriting its 1990s taxi rules to fix that.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
A sinkhole swallowed a Seward Highway lane, and that lane is closed for a month
A sinkhole ate a northbound lane of the Seward Highway at Potter Marsh. Crews are on it around the clock — and it stays closed until August 24.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Oil is beating the forecast, and it still won't cover a dividend
Oil is running $11 a barrel above what the state budgeted. Sounds like a windfall — it wouldn't cover a single $1,000 dividend.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Murkowski targets federal conditions on Southeast's hydropower licenses
Southeast's power comes from dams on Tongass land. Murkowski's bill would limit what the Forest Service can demand as those licenses come up for renewal.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Wednesday, Jul 22
A Parks Highway gas station, ahead of the state's traffic review
Wasilla may approve a new Parks Highway gas station before the state finishes deciding whether its driveway onto the highway is safe.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Cook Inlet Tribal Council wants input on next winter's heating help
Cook Inlet Tribal Council is taking comment through Aug. 24 on how it'll run heating assistance next year — the help that covers fuel bills through an Alaska winter.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Hoonah just locked in 15 years of Disney ships
A Tlingit village of under a thousand people just guaranteed itself 15 years of Disney cruise ships — one a week through 2041.
by Melinda Communities.News3mo ago1 min read
The program mapping Alaska's unknown ground expires this year
Most of Alaska's interior has never been mapped with modern tools. The federal program that's been fixing that runs out at the end of this year.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago1 min read
Alaska has the most earthquakes. The program that watches them expired in 2023.
The federal earthquake program has been running on expired authorization since 2023 — awkward for the state that gets a magnitude 7 most years.
by Melinda Communities.Newsadded 3mo ago2 min read
Many Bethel homes still haul water. This money starts to change that.
Many Bethel residents still get water by truck. The state just forgave $3.4 million in loans that starts the design work toward piping it instead.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Nome port's national security designation could save city $132 million in construction costs
A Senate bill could cut Nome's share of its Arctic port project from 35 percent to 10 percent, saving the city $132 million as construction begins this summer.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min readFrom 
Nenana River erosion threatens Alaska Railroad mainline; DNR proposes 6-acre land sale near Healy
Alaska is selling 6 acres of state land to the Alaska Railroad so it can move its mainline tracks away from the eroding Nenana River near Healy. Comments due August 14.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min readFrom 
Glacial outburst flood destroys 100 feet of Fish Creek bear platform near Hyder
A glacial outburst flood destroyed over 100 feet of the Fish Creek Wildlife Observation Site platform near Hyder, forcing the Forest Service to close the bear and salmon viewing facility.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min readFrom 
Hilcorp seeks 50 megawatts of new power at Milne Point
Hilcorp wants about 50 megawatts of new turbine power at Milne Point — three big turbines and 185,000 gallons of fuel. Comments close 30 days from July 18.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Rocket Lab wins $266 million DoD contract for suborbital launches from Kodiak spaceport
Rocket Lab won a $266 million Defense Department contract for at least 12 suborbital launches from Kodiak's state-owned spaceport by end of 2028.
by Melinda Communities.News3mo ago2 min read
