Copper River salmon a bust? Is the famed Copper River sockeye shery a bust this year, or are the sh just late? A third scheduled “opener” for the shing near Cordova was cancelled after the rst two openers were ops, with a frac- tion of the predicted sh netted. Fisheries experts think the salmon could be running later due to a cold spring and cool ocean temperatures, but they just don’t know. About 500 vessels were on hand for the…
As recession eases, what will drive recovery? The recession is moderating but job losses continue. April wage and salary employment was down 1,200, or 0.4 percent. Retail, oil and gas, government and most other occupations registered declines, although smaller than in recent month. Construction and transportation were level with April, 2017, however, and health care showed continuing growth. At some point job losses will atten, but economists are now wondering what can restart growth? The losses of high-paying jobs in…
Lift of “roadless” rule pending? Rep. Don Young secured a long-sought exemption from the federal “roadless” rule in national forests in a narrow vote on an amendment to the federal farm bill. The bill itself stalled over other issues but House leaders will be bringing it back for another vote, including Young’s amendment. Young worked to get a win by razor-thin one-vote margin on the roadless amendment, 208 to 207. The roadless rule has blocked U.S. Forest Service development of…
Federal rural health payments cut Funding is being cut in the Federal Communication Commission’s Rural Health Care program, jeopardiz- ing nancial support for telecommunication services to small rural hospitals. Cordova’s hospital, the Cor- dova Community Medical Center, is facing an imme- diate problem, with Alaska Communications System threatening to cut service to the facility on June 30 if a $964,370 bill isn’t paid. This affects medium-sized hospitals like Central Peninsula in Soldotna as well as small hospitals. This is a…
ConocoPhillips: Willow likely big ConocoPhillips appears to have all but decided on “stand-alone” oil processing facilities for its Willow oil discovery in the northeast National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. This is significant in that it would require a multi-billion-dollar new investment by the company in years following 2020, which allows time for regulatory approvals, and that it would extend support infrastructure into the northeast NPR-A, which would help make other discoveries in the area economically viable. Willow’s discovery was first announced in…
New downtown Anchorage residential project underway Site preparation has started on a long-planned $17 million downtown Anchorage high-end residential development project. “Downtown Edge” will offer 35 townhouse-style condominiums. It is the rst new residential construction in downtown Anchorage in many years, city of cials said, and marks the rst part of a downtown revitalization. The project is on Alaska Railroad Corp. land on Second Avenue, near the industri- al Ship Creek area. Peterson Group is developing the project. Phase one…
Pebble says it will replace First Quantum Minerals for mine Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. and First Quantum Minerals Ltd. terminated an agreement under which First Quantum would have become a partner in Northern Dynasty’s large Pebble copper/gold project southwest of Anchorage. Northern Dynasty First Quantum were unable to reach agreement on the option and partnership transaction contemplated in the December 15, 2017 framework agreement between the parties. Opponents to the mine were quick to celebrate: “Today is a victory for…
Siemens: LNG to Fairbanks Siemens and a joint-venture of two Mat-Su Alaska Native organizations, the Knik village corporation, Knikatnu Inc. and its tribal partner, Knik Tribe, have made an offer to supply liquefied natural gas to the Interior Gas Utility at a price of $12.60 per thousand cubic feet, or mcf, which would be about $15.50/ mcf once gas is delivered through IGU’s distribution system to customers. If the IGU makes the decision to proceed, the plant could be built…
A federal lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge could come as early as July, 2019. Joe Bal- ash, Assistant Interior Secretary for Lands and Min- erals, said the Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision for leasing is to be complete by late spring. The lease sale comes after that, Balash said in a brie ng Thursday, May 30. The federal Tax and Jobs Act of 2017 requires that two ANWR sales be held with not less than…
Conservation groups are employing a new tactic to ght major projects, and it appears to be having an effect with large public companies sensitive to reputation. This was likely a factor in First Quan- tum Minerals’ decision not to exercise an option on Pebble Mine (see page 3). Pebble opposition groups including tribal entities from Bristol Bay and the Natural Resource Defense Council, a ma- jor conservation organization, mounted an intense lobbying campaign on First Quantum’s manage- ment to exit…