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Alaska’s natural resource industries are worried about a voter initiative that would create a complex new permitting system for construction projects near streams or other water bodies. “Save Our Salmon,” the ballot initiative, is being opposed in court by the state of Alaska. The state says that only the Legislature can make decisions on allocation of state resources, which is what the ballot proposition would do, state attorneys argue. A state Superior Court has approved the proposal going on the…

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Business booms at Anchorage’s airport, driven by cargo Business activity continues to grow at Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage. Alaska Airlines’ new $40 million maintenance hanger is in construction; a Request For Proposals will go out this spring for a new 150-plus room hotel on the airport premises; $100 million in various other airport improvements are planned this year; and new concessions are planned. That’s the word from airport manager Jim Szczesniak, delivered Feb. 20 to the Transportation Committee…

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Alaska wages dropped in third quarter Alaska wages declined 3.6 percent in the third quarter of 2017, according to state Department of Labor and Workforce Development data released Feb 15. Employers paid $4.5 billion in wages during the quarter. The decline is an effect of the recession. Nearly 90 percent of the wage loss was in three regions: Anchorage, the Fairbanks North Star Borough and the North Slope Borough. This last was mainly in oil wages paid to oil workers…

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Trilogy Metals completes Preliminary Feasibility Study for Arctic deposit Trilogy Metals completed a Preliminary Feasibility Study Feb. 20 for development of its Arctic copper/ zinc deposit in the Ambler Mining District of the western Brooks Range. The study estimated a $779.6 million initial capital investment with $845.5 million needed over the life of the mine. A 10,000 tonne- per-year surface mine is proposed using conventional truck-and-shovel mining methods. (A “tonne,” the unit commonly used in Canada’s mineral industry, is 2,200…

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Mat-Su has new hopes for federal grant to complete rail extension to port The Matanuska-Susitna Borough has hopes for a federal infrastructure grant that could complete the partly-build rail track extension from the Alaska Railroad’s main track to the borough’s Port MacKenzie, on upper Cook Inlet. Borough officials met late last summer with U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, a meeting arranged by Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan, and have since learned that the project was ranked high in the U.S. DOT…

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It’s official – China wants to play China now considers itself officially as having an interest in Arctic matters. In a policy paper issued by the the State Council, China’s cabinet, officials said the nation is a “Near-Arctic State” with a stake in shipping, scientific research and resource exploitation. China’s growing interest is long known but the paper puts a policy stamp on it. The paper promised support for international Arctic cooperation, new shipping standards and prevention of environmental degradation.

Ucore plant in Ketchikan is possible In a new study, Ucore Rare Metals says Ketchikan is the best location for a rare earths processing plant that would use ore extracted from the company’s planned Bokan-Dotson Ridge mine on southeast Prince of Wales Island. There is no estimate of timing as to when the mine and plant would be built. The company has been exploring a large rare earths deposit for several years. The plant would employ 30 at its full…

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Big cut to Southeast king quota The state Board of Fisheries has sharply cut the quota of allowable king salmon harvests in an effort to help stocks recover. The move will affect troll, gillnet and sport fishermen. Trollers say they will be affected significantly because they make about half of their income from king salmon. *** Octopus plant in Unalaska Construction will start in June on a small octopus processing plant in Unalaska planned by local entrepreneurs, doing business as…

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Conoco: $283 million 4th quarter profit ConocoPhillips reported a $283 million in adjusted earnings for the fourth quarter, 2017, and $652 million for the year, the company said Feb. 1. Production was up 4,000 barrels per day in 2017 to an average of 167,000 barrels per day. ConocoPhillips owns major shares of the Prudhoe Bay, Kuparuk River and Alpine fields on the North Slope. Also on Feb. 1, the compa- ny reported that it will acquire Anadarko Petroleum Corp.’s 22.45…

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Trend toward multi-family residential housing seen in Anchorage The bulk of Anchorage’s 2017 increase in residential housing came in multi-family and duplex units, according to the latest municipal building report. In total, 460 new residential units were added, up from 341 in 2016, but only six of those were new single-family homes. Total residential building activity was valued at $428.1 million, down from $466.9 million in 2016. The 2017 trend toward multi-family units in more urban, higher-density locations will likely…

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