Alaska News Daily Brief, Monday, November 2

Alaska News, Monday, November second. This morning's news reaches Bethel homes that wait on a water truck, Kodiak shop owners, Haines preschool families, and Ketchikan library users outside city limits.

0:14State regulators approve APA's takeover of Badami pipelines on the eastern North Slope

State regulators on Friday signed off on the oil company APA Corporation taking over the Badami oil and gas pipelines on the eastern North Slope. It's one step in APA buying Badami's operator, Savant Alaska, for about seventy million dollars upfront. APA already holds exploration land right next to Badami. The company planned two wells for this winter. One of them would also help show whether Badami's existing facilities can be put to use. Those facilities come with the deal. Along with the pipelines, APA gets a processing plant, worker housing, a barge landing and runway access. It also gets about 104,000 acres and about 1,500 barrels a day of oil production. The oil line runs about 25 miles west to the Endicott pipeline, which feeds the trans-Alaska pipeline. It also carries oil from the Point Thomson field. The pipeline company has lost money in 3 of the last 5 years, including nearly two million dollars in twenty twenty-five. Because of that, the Regulatory Commission of Alaska looked at APA's own finances. And it's requiring APA to file a signed guarantee covering the pipelines' obligations by November 30th. The eventual job of pulling out the original lines and cleaning up the land sits with Harvest Midstream, with BP as a fallback. The companies said APA is buying Savant itself so that arrangement stays in place. The order doesn't say what the cleanup would cost. Savant will keep running the system with the same staff. The deal still needs one more state approval. APA expects to close by the end of the year.

1:52Bethel has 36 of 121 city jobs open, including most of its water and sewer haulers

Out in Bethel, the crew that trucks water to homes and hauls sewage away has just 5 of its 19 jobs filled. Many Bethel homes still get their water by truck. Those 14 openings have shown up in every monthly city report since May. The city has leaned on temporary drivers, who weren't counted in those numbers. But a union agreement letting them work past 6 months ran out at the end of June. The crew has also lost experience. Its foreman retired at the end of August after 25 years with the city. Average time on the job in that division dropped from about 10.7 years in July to 5.8 in October. Public Works Director Bill Arnold says the routes are covered and a new sewer truck is coming on the last barge. Another driver starts this month. Arnold is trying to hire one more because two drivers will be out in November. He called it "nothing we can't handle." Across the city, 36 of 121 jobs are open. Police are short 5 of 19, and dispatch is short 3 of 6. The city says jobs needing a commercial driver's license are among the hardest to fill. City workers' union members rejected a tentative contract, and talks are still going.

3:17Kodiak Assembly to vote on trash deal raising some business rates up to 43%

In Kodiak, the borough Assembly votes Thursday on a 5-year trash contract with Alaska Waste. It's the only company that bid, and some businesses would pay up to 43% more. For households, the monthly roll cart goes up about 5%, from fifty dollars and ninety-six cents to fifty-three dollars and fifty-one cents. The seven dollars senior discount stays. Curbside bulk item pickup jumps from twenty dollars to fifty dollars an item. Businesses feel it more. A 2-yard dumpster emptied once a week would go from about three hundred forty-seven dollars to four hundred sixteen dollars a month. An 8-yard bin emptied 4 times a week would go from about four thousand eight hundred forty dollars to about six thousand nine hundred ten dollars. Alaska Waste says inflation is up about 24% since twenty twenty, while its Kodiak rates rose about 11% under limits in the current contract. It's also switching business rates to dumpster size and pickup frequency instead of average tonnage. Borough Manager Aimee Williams said there's not much room to negotiate with only one bidder. Assembly member Jeremiah Gardner said a 43% jump is going to hurt, no matter how much a business makes. After the first year, rates would rise every July with a federal price index for garbage service. The new contract would start July 1st, twenty twenty-seven. The Assembly meets at 6:30 Thursday evening, and residents can comment during the meeting.

4:45Assembly weighs using $400,000 in Girdwood reserves for Ruane Road culvert

Quickly now, around the state. In Girdwood, the Anchorage Assembly votes Wednesday on spending four hundred thousand dollars from Girdwood's reserves. That money would match a federal grant for a two million dollars project on Ruane Road. It would replace aging culverts with a design fish can swim through.

5:05Halibut commission staff recommend wider 2027 survey as bait costs jump 70%

Staff at the halibut commission want to expand the 2027 survey near Adak and other areas. But bait costs have jumped 70%. Even with the wider survey, the plan would still lose more than six hundred thousand dollars.

5:20Kodiak borough manager asks Assembly to reject landfill bear hazing contract

Kodiak's borough manager is asking the Assembly to turn down a contract for overnight bear hazing at the landfill, meaning crews scaring bears away from it at night. The contract would cost up to two hundred fifty thousand dollars for its first 60 days, then about one hundred twenty thousand dollars a month. The manager says the state no longer requires it.

5:43State releases preliminary draft to renew Westward Seafoods' Unalaska wastewater permit

In Unalaska, the state Department of Environmental Conservation has a draft permit out for Westward Seafoods' fish plant. It would renew the plant's permit to discharge wastewater. Westward gets first look, and the public can comment once that review ends November 17th.

6:00Draft deal would renovate Haines' preschool building and give it to the tribe

Haines has a draft deal to spend a one million dollars federal grant fixing up the borough's preschool building. The building would then go to the tribe, the Chilkoot Indian Association. Two other groups want it too: the preschool itself, now a member-run co-op, and the Haines Senior Center the building is attached to.

6:21Anchorage road plan keeps contested Seward Highway and downtown rebuilds

Anchorage's draft road plan keeps the one point six billion dollars Seward Highway rebuild. It also keeps a downtown redo of 5th and 6th Avenues that would cut lanes. Both projects have drawn opposition. The plan counts on getting more federal money than the city's usual share.

6:39Assembly to consider $587,000 contract to rebuild Creekside Park paths and playground

Also in Anchorage, Creekside Park's worn paths and playground could be rebuilt. The Assembly takes up a five hundred eighty-seven thousand dollars contract for the work Wednesday. Work would wrap up by summer 2027.

6:54Ketchikan borough manager proposes paying less for city library as deal nears end

In Ketchikan, the borough pays the city so residents outside the cities can use the city library. That deal ends December 31st. The borough manager wants to pay less than the city asked for, and the borough Assembly votes Monday on reopening talks on those terms. It's not clear what library access looks like after the deal ends.

7:14NOAA clarifies more of Europe's new seafood export paperwork

NOAA put out more guidance Friday on the new paperwork Europe requires for seafood imports. It covers everything from shellfish to shipments bound for Norway. The European Union is the biggest direct buyer of Alaska seafood.

7:29Federal judge dismisses DOJ's bid to hold up Alaska's Senate certification

A federal judge has dismissed the Justice Department's bid to hold up certification of Alaska's Senate race if Senator Dan Sullivan loses. A retired Petersburg teacher with the same name, Daniel J. Sullivan, is also on the ballot, and the department argued his candidacy could mislead voters who mean to back the senator. The judge said there was no fix that wouldn't expose how Alaskans voted. The Justice Department filed an appeal the same day.

7:55Wrap-up

Not in the brief, but posted this morning: Kenai votes Wednesday on claiming gas storage space the state wants to lease to ENSTAR, and Anchorage weighs a police unit targeting impaired drivers. Tomorrow is Election Day for the general election. That's all for this edition of the Alaska News daily brief. The full stories, and more, are at Alaska News dot com. And that's the way it is, Monday, November second, twenty twenty-six.