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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Tuesday, Jun 23
Anchorage Moves to Fix One of Its Most Dangerous Streets
Anchorage is finally redesigning Bragaw Street — no bike lanes, disappearing sidewalks, nowhere for the snow — with mostly federal money and a six-year timeline.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Anchorage housing resource fair Friday at Mountain View Library
Anchorage brings housing agencies, the DMV, and homeless services to Mountain View Library on Friday, June 26, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., walk-in and free.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Monday, Jun 22
North Slope, Fairbanks, Valdez sue over pipeline tax values
Three Alaska municipalities sued June 22 over how pipeline companies value their assets for local taxes, challenging assessments that affect borough and city revenue.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read
Federal regulators renew HEX authorization for Cook Inlet marine-mammal harassment
Federal regulators renewed HEX Operating's permit to incidentally harass marine mammals during natural gas work in Cook Inlet through September 2027.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Hilcorp wants five years to drive across North Slope subsistence land
A company wants 5 years to drive industrial rigs across North Slope tundra people hunt on. The real fight is who sets the rules, and when.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Homer's co-op is opening the door to community solar — with a fee and a six-month wait
Homer's electric co-op wants to let members share community solar — for an upfront fee, monthly charges, and a six-month wait after it's even approved. Baby steps.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Two Things Worth Watching at the Marijuana Board
Alaska's marijuana board meets in Fairbanks, where a license sale comes with baggage and growers renew their gripe that untaxed hemp THC is eating their lunch.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Point Thomson is the remote gas field Alaska's pipeline dream depends on
You know Prudhoe Bay. You probably don't know Point Thomson — the remote, pricey field Alaska's whole pipeline dream quietly leans on. And it's stirring.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
More from Economy & Business
Juneau Power Bills Could Jump 20 Percent This Summer
Juneau's only electric utility wants to raise bills about 20 percent — and thanks to "refundable" interim rates, you start paying the higher price before anyone decides it's fair.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min readFrom 
Kotzebue's backup runway is closing for construction, starting at night
In a roadless region the airport is the road. Kotzebue's bad-weather backup runway is closing for construction — nights first, then around the clock.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
A Hoonah Corporation Quietly Builds a Cruise Empire
Huna Totem Corporation, the Alaska Native village corporation for Hoonah, is expanding its cruise business by adding its own vessels to a fleet that already operates ports across Southeast Alaska.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
$2.2 million in federal trail money will fund 15 Alaska projects
Alaska handed trail money to its highway department, rebranded it ATLAS, and split $2.2M across 15 projects, from a new snow groomer to an Iditarod bridge.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Matanuska Electric wants members to go renewable without a rooftop, but it hasn't said what it costs
Matanuska Electric wants you to go renewable without the rooftop. What it'll cost, and whether non-subscribers help pay, is the part nobody's said yet.
by Alaska News4mo ago1 min read
This Juneau utility filing won't change your bill, but the rate case behind it could
Alaska Electric Light & Power filed some "housekeeping" for Juneau bills. Boring, sure, but don't confuse it with the separate case where it actually wants more money.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
The $16 Gas Promise Comes With Fine Print
The gas line's headline $16 price is firm — until you notice it's quoted in the wrong unit, climbs with inflation before any gas arrives, and gets policed by a commission missing half its top staff.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Sunday, Jun 21
A Chugach e-bike rule became a fight over who belongs in the backcountry
The Chugach reminded everyone e-bikes can't use hiking trails. The comment section promptly declared war.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo 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
Alaska's legal cannabis growers say tax-free synthetic THC is sinking them
Alaska's legal weed growers pay the nation's highest pot tax, then get undercut by tax-free THC from the mailbox. They'd like a word.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Alaska's LNG tax break now hinges on a gas line to Fairbanks
Alaska's LNG tax break now has a price: $80M, a labor deal, and a Fairbanks spur line before Glenfarne sees any relief.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
What the Senate Changed in the Gas-Line Deal
The Senate's gas-line rewrite caps your gas price, leashes the state's pipeline agency, and lets the boroughs pocket most of the tax money for decades before the state takes its cut.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min read
Chukchi Campus is getting ADA and fire-safety upgrades after 14 years on the master plan
Chukchi Campus in Kotzebue is finally getting ADA upgrades. The needs were identified in a UAF master plan back in 2011-2012.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Anchorage Assembly set to award $1.35M in homeless housing grants to five nonprofits
Anchorage Assembly votes June 23 on $1.35 million in housing grants to five nonprofits serving homeless people and domestic violence survivors.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
NMFS issues renewal IHA to HEX Operating for Cook Inlet natural gas activities
Federal regulators renewed a permit letting HEX Operating produce natural gas in Cook Inlet while monitoring disturbance to beluga whales and other marine mammals that share the inlet.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
A union-labor fight is breaking out over who builds Alaska's gas line
Alaska's forever-promised gas line finally has a fight worth watching — a union-labor mandate, a governor hopeful crying foul, and no one's seen the actual text.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
AIDEA authorized $190 million for ANWR — backed by Kaktovik, the residents
AIDEA put $190M behind ANWR seismic and lease bidding. Kaktovik — the only community inside the refuge — strongly supported it.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Saturday, Jun 20
Anchorage Assembly to consider AMEA-ASEA merger recognition June 23
Anchorage Assembly votes June 23 on recognizing ASEA as the bargaining representative for municipal employees after a union merger took effect in April.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Anchorage Assembly to vote on downtown sidewalk and ADA repairs
Anchorage Assembly votes Monday on a $1.77 million contract to repair crumbling downtown sidewalks and fix curb ramps that don't meet federal accessibility rules.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Alaska's Mental Health Trust will log old-growth near Hollis to fund care
Alaska's Mental Health Trust is logging old-growth near Hollis to fund care for vulnerable Alaskans. Good cause, complicated trees.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read
Alaska Senate digs in on gas tax bill, sends it to conference
Alaska Senate refused to back down on HB 381, sending the natural gas pipeline tax bill to a conference committee to resolve how to tax the Alaska LNG Project and fund municipalities and schools.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Alaska House recesses 10 days as gas line conference committee begins
We all know they're trying, but they very well may be intending for different outcomes when it comes to Alaska's LNG.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago4 min read
Coeur Alaska's Berners Bay dock got federal approval for pile driving
Coeur Alaska got federal approval to disturb marine mammals during dock repairs at Berners Bay — one of Southeast Alaska's richest bays.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Anchorage Assembly to vote on $76M Eagle River road deal with sole bidder
Anchorage Assembly votes Tuesday on a $76 million road maintenance contract for Eagle River, Chugiak, and Birchwood with McKenna Brothers, the only bidder.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read
Girdwood pot shop, Bird Creek grow op seek Anchorage license renewals
Two marijuana licenses in Girdwood and Bird Creek are up for renewal, with Anchorage having until early July to formally object.
by Alaska Newsadded 4mo ago1 min read
Anchorage Assembly considers $1.75M federal grant to replace port's 1960s electrical system
Anchorage Assembly considered a $1.75 million federal grant to replace the Port of Alaska's 1960s electrical system, but the port must find $33.25 million more for the $35 million project.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Pilot killed in Piper Pacer crash 40 miles southeast of Cordova
A pilot flying solo between Yakutat and Fairbanks was found dead Friday after an Alaska Air National Guard helicopter located the crashed Piper Pacer near Kanak Island, about 40 miles southeast of Cordova.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
GVEA seats new District 2 director, adopts nine bylaw changes
Philip Wight won a Golden Valley Electric Association board seat with 76% of the vote, and members approved nine bylaw changes, both taking effect at the June 23 board meeting.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min readFrom 
Alaska Senate passes S-corp LNG tax with 2028 effective date
Alaska Senate passed a tax on oil and gas pass-through entities, effective 2028, after rejecting an immediate start date. The state estimates the tax will recover more than $400 million annually once the LNG project reaches full production.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min read
Friday, Jun 19
Senate passes gas-line bill; Dunleavy immediately calls lawmakers back to rewrite it
Special session concludes without passage of a gasline bill, and now the question is if this is an end to negotiations or if they'll continue tomorrow. The Governor thinks they're close.
by Cale Green4mo ago3 min read
Anchorage Assembly votes Tuesday on an $859K Eklutna River study
The Anchorage Assembly's $859K Eklutna study isn't a small procurement — it's part of a decades-long fight over fish, hydropower, and tribal claims.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Tidal energy permit application opens in Isanotski Strait near False Pass
Tidal energy permit in Isanotski Strait. Small ask. Alaska has the biggest U.S. tidal resource, and Cook Inlet gas is running down.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
A new Mat-Su road would cross the ground its drinking water comes from
The Mat-Su drinks only groundwater — and keeps building over it. A new road would cross two drinking-water zones near a creek with a known PFAS problem.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
