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Fairbanks EPA clean energy loans The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has given the Fairbanks North Star Borough a $4 million grant to help local homeowners nance a change out of old wood stoves for more efficient, less-polluting wood furnaces. EPA gave the borough $2.5 million last year for the same purpose. Fairbanks has serious winter air pollution problems aggravated by the local use of wood for home heating. *** Low water slows Southeast hydro A low northern Lynn Canal snowpack and…

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Strong zinc prices drove revenues and profits up for Teck Alaska at the Red Dog Mine north of Kotzebue, according to Teck’s rst quarter nan- cial statistics. Revenues were up to C$336 million (Canadian) for the quarter, compared with revenues of C$246 million in first quarter 2017; pro ts were up to C$181 million in the quarter compared with C$121 million for the same period of 2017, and royalties paid to NANA Regional Corp., the land-owner, were C$84 million compared…

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Legislature takes big step in closing fiscal gap As the state Legislature moves with agonizing slowness toward a major restructuring of state finances and fiscal policy, business leaders have pointed out that the uncertainty creates a hesitation to invest. Some sectors of the economy are relatively stable but the instability of the state’s finances affects them as well. The Legislature adjourned its 2018 session May 12 and took two big steps in resolving the state’s structural scal gap, a problem…

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At the end, it happened fast. The conference committee on SB 26 convened at 9 a.m. May 8, voted and sent the bill out eight minutes later. A few hours later both the House and Senate ratified the conference committee report, sending SB 26 on to the governor. After a year of agony and sniping over the proposal to use some of the Permanent Fund earnings for the budget the quick resolution seemed anticlimactic. But that’s the way these things…

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