Alaska News Daily Brief, Tuesday, October 27

Alaska News, Tuesday, October twenty-seventh. Today the calls belong to a federal judge, state regulators, and a run of local councils and boards from Juneau to Kodiak. Western Alaska, meanwhile, is unusually mild.

0:16Alaska election officials ask judge to dismiss DOJ's Senate suit by Nov. 2

Some of today's deadlines are days away, and one of them isn't until late 2027. Alaska's election officials want the Justice Department's lawsuit over the Senate race thrown out by next Monday, the day before Election Day. The state filed that request yesterday with U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason. It's asking for dismissal with prejudice, which means the department couldn't file the case again. The Justice Department sued last Thursday. Here's the scenario it's worried about. Senator Dan Sullivan loses. But he would have won if every vote for Daniel J. Sullivan, the other Sullivan on the ballot, had gone to him. In that case, the department wants the court to stop the state from making the results official. That would hold while the department investigates what those voters meant. The state's lawyers wrote that the federal government has no authority to step into state elections at all, much less in support of a favored candidate. They say the law the suit relies on is a voter registration law. And they say Congress has never passed anything about similar names on a ballot. The state points out that the ballot already tells the two men apart. Senator Dan Sullivan has a different middle initial, a longtime Republican label, and the word Incumbent beside his name. In the primary, the senator got 41.4 percent of the vote and Daniel J. Sullivan got 2.5. The state also says the investigation the department wants would mean matching ballots to the voters who cast them. That would break the ballot secrecy Alaska protects by law. The state wants the department's answer by 5 tomorrow afternoon. A state lawyer said a voicemail to the department hadn't been returned when the state filed. Judge Gleason plans to rule by that same time on whether Mary Peltola's campaign and voter groups can join the case.

2:03Regulators won't decide Hilcorp's gas storage rates for Southcentral until late 2027

In Southcentral, regulators won't decide what Hilcorp can charge to store natural gas until late 2027. Hilcorp's own studies this year found its storage rates were bringing in about 25 percent more than its costs plus the profit it's allowed. So on October second, the Regulatory Commission of Alaska cut those rates by as much as 31 percent while it investigates. Hilcorp had wanted to keep charging the old rates and refund the difference later. This storage is how the region gets through winter. Utilities pump gas underground in summer. They pull it back out when the cold demands more than Cook Inlet's wells can produce. Hilcorp's field on the Kenai is one of the region's 2 storage fields. Matanuska Electric said in July that Hilcorp's storage fees cost it about one hundred seventy thousand dollars a month. Its members pay that through their electric bills. When the cut took effect, it was unclear whether or when it would show up on Matanuska Electric or Chugach Electric bills. ENSTAR buys most of its gas from Hilcorp, and it wants to join the case. ENSTAR says storage costs could reach its customers. Chugach and Marathon Petroleum argue customers could be owed refunds on the old rates, and the commission hasn't ruled on that. Under the schedule set yesterday, testimony is due in March of twenty twenty-seven. The hearing starts that August. A final decision is due by November twenty-sixth, twenty twenty-seven.

3:43Alaska is in line for the third-largest share of federal grid money among states

Statewide, Alaska is in line for about thirty-two point eight million dollars more in federal money to toughen up its power grid. That's the third-largest share of any state, behind California and Texas. It's also twelve point eight million dollars more than the Alaska Energy Authority expected. The U.S. Department of Energy announced it last Tuesday as the final round of a grid program from the 2021 infrastructure law. Earlier rounds show what the money buys up here. The biggest project, ten point three million dollars, goes to Golden Valley Electric for the Alaska Intertie. Uneven snow makes those lines sag along the southern 80 miles. Another Golden Valley project, worth eight point nine million dollars, would replace or move lines in the Interior where permafrost is sinking. Matanuska Electric got six point three million dollars. That will move and upgrade a 6.2-mile stretch of the aging Eklutna hydropower line near Palmer. And the Southeast Alaska Power Agency got four point five million dollars for a new substation in Ketchikan. The new money isn't in hand yet. To apply for it, the state has to put in one point eight million dollars of its own. The energy authority plans one more competitive round to pick projects, but it hasn't set a date. Tribes get their own share directly. This month, the Village of Solomon said it used part of its money to help buy Nome's utility a new bucket truck.

5:08Housing agency has no set plans for proposed state land transfers, CEO tells senators

Quickly now, around the state. The Alaska Housing Finance Corporation has no firm plans yet for more than 400 acres of free state land the Department of Natural Resources wants to give it for housing. The corporation's chief executive, Brian Butcher, told senators that. Senator Bill Wielechowski asked what the public purpose is if the corporation doesn't know what it will do with the land. Butcher said the purpose is housing.

5:40Conservation district applies for 885 Point MacKenzie acres DNR plans to give AIDEA

At Point MacKenzie, a Wasilla conservation district has applied for 885 acres the state proposes to give the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority for free. The district wants to keep those hayfields farmed and build a farm hub there.

5:55Chatham schools could serve salmon, venison and seaweed under new wellness policy

In Southeast, the Chatham School District board votes today on a wellness policy that calls for local food in school meals where it's practical. That means things like salmon, halibut, venison, seaweed and berries.

6:08Unit 13 moose closure on BLM land takes effect Tuesday, six months after the vote

In Unit 13, Bureau of Land Management land closes today to moose hunters who aren't federally qualified subsistence users. That shuts out other Alaskans who've hunted moose there. The board voted in April, but the closure couldn't take effect until the rule was published in the Federal Register, so the land stayed open to all moose hunters this fall. The first season under the closure opens in August twenty twenty-seven.

6:33Business adviser says a small Wasilla project faces $100,000 in permit requirements

In Wasilla, a business adviser told the city council a small construction job is being treated like a big commercial project. The adviser said that adds up to about one hundred thousand dollars in requirements and about a year of process.

6:47Juneau Assembly splits 5-4 on paying $80,000 to restore arts grants the arts council kept

Juneau's arts council kept part of its city grant money, meant for local artists, to cover its own costs. The Assembly allowed that in September as a one-time exception. Now it has voted 5 to 4 to add eighty thousand dollars so the grants go out anyway.

7:01Juneau Assembly drops e-bike trail rules and takes aim at e-motos citywide

Juneau's Assembly also dropped its e-bike trail rules so it can go after e-motos, the faster, heavier electric dirt bikes, citywide. A trail group says young teens on electric dirt bikes that hit 50 miles an hour are damaging a bike park.

7:16Kodiak council votes Thursday on backing a 10-mile path along Rezanof Drive

In Kodiak, the city council votes Thursday on backing a 10-mile paved path along Rezanof Drive. Thursday is also the last day the state takes comments on the plan that lists the path.

7:27Nova Minerals plans antimony refinery beside federally funded Port MacKenzie rail line

At Port MacKenzie, Nova Minerals plans a refinery for antimony, a mineral the company aims to turn into a military-grade product. The refinery would sit beside the federally funded Port MacKenzie rail extension, and the company will build a rail siding to tie it into that line.

7:43Southeast seiners and gillnetters have until Nov. 13 to shape December task force agendas

Southeast seiners and gillnetters have until November thirteenth to send Fish and Game topics for December task force meetings in Ketchikan. Those meetings cover how the seine and gillnet fisheries are run.

7:54Sitka's residential electric rate drops more than a third for the winter

In Sitka, the residential power rate drops from 21.93 cents a kilowatt-hour to 13.71 for the winter. That's more than a third off during the months Sitkans lean on electric heat. Summer rates come back in May.

8:09Wrap-up

Kodiak, your comments on the plan listing the Rezanof Drive path are due to the state Thursday. Southeast seiners and gillnetters, your task force topics go to Fish and Game by November thirteenth. Elsewhere, a storm that stayed colder than forecast left Fairbanks under fresh snow. That's all for this edition of the Alaska News daily brief. The full stories are at Alaska News dot com. And that's the way it is, Tuesday, October twenty-seventh, twenty twenty-six.