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New idea coming on insurance “80th percentile” payment rule State Sen. Cathy Giessel says she is working with state insurance director Lori Wing-Heier on a possible modification of the “80th-percentile” rule, a state regulation requiring insurers to pay health providers at the 80th percentile for medical procedures. Business groups and insurance companies have long blamed this for part of the steady rise in Alaska health care costs, and the belief is now backed  by research by the University of Alaska…

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Corps sticks with its schedule on Pebble EIS The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is sticking with its January target to complete a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Pebble copper/gold/molybdenum mine near Iliamna but will keep the DEIS open for public comment for 90 days rather than the usual 45 days. In a briefing July 26, Shane McCoy, the Army Corps’ Alaska district Pebble program manager, said that a Record of Decision, clearing the way for federal permits…

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With new oil, ConocoPhillips likely to increase Alaska capital spending ConocoPhillips will likely increase its Alaska capital spending from $1 billion a year to $2 billion a year in the early 2020s as it tackles development of Willow, its new National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska discovery, and other recent finds, state officials said. The company briefed Gov. Bill Walker and other officials July 16. ConocoPhillips also hosted a group of analysts in Anchorage, and to a North Slope visit for briefings on…

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Fishing is hectic in Bristol Bay; statewide, sockeye is down 12 percent At the July 4 peak of the Bristol Bay sockeye season there were 674 boats fishing in the Nushagak region compared with 389 in 2017; 308 in 2016; 325 in 2015 and 335 in 2014. Fishing is so hectic that ice deliveries to fishermen, which are important to maintain quality, were cut sharply. Most boats fishing in Bristol Bay are equipped with refrigerated water systems but 10 percent…

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Fairbanks gets ready for military population influx North Pole, near Fairbanks, is seeing a sharp increase in local residential and commercial construction in anticipation of new military personnel arriving at nearby Eielson Air Force Base supporting two F-35 interceptor squadrons to be based there. North Pole city officials have issued 30 residential building permits this year, twice the normal number. One new local subdivision, Eagle Estates, will add 39 new units bringing it up to a total of 65 homes….

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Alaska’s Permanent Fund gained 10.74 percent in Fiscal Year 2018, which ended June 30. Assets totalled $64.894 billion in value as of that date. The gain exceeded the Fund Trustees’objectives of 7.87 percent and a benchmark of 8.2 percent gain by a peer group of endowment-type funds.

Anchorage’s housing starts will drop to 440 in 2018, down from 532 in 2017. Building permit values in Anchorage are down,  too, which mainly reflects the slowdown in public, mainly state-funded, construction, an effect of lean state capital budgets. AEDC’s estimate for 2018 is $380 million in permit values, down from $422 million in 2017 and $549 million in 2015, the year oil prices dropped, and the recession began. Residential permit values are holding steady, however, and there are number…

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A deeper dig into the consumer index, however, shows there is still caution, with a 52.3 percent score for confidence in the present Anchorage economy and 54.2 per-cent in expectations that things will improve. The trend in expectation for the future is important, Popp said. “Last year at this time it was at 38,” he said. What drives up the overall score, which is a composite, is that consumers’ sense of their own finances was at 68.1, “the best it…

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Survey shows an uptick in consumer confidence The recession is still dragging employment down in Anchorage but job losses are slowing, and conventional wisdom among economists is that things will stabilize in 2019 and jobs will start to increase, slowly, in 2020. Anchorage Economic Develop-ment Corp. predicts a 0.5 percent employment gain in 2020 in the city, based on work by McDowell Group, a consulting firm. AEDC released its three-year forecast July 25. What was interesting in AEDC’s presentation, at…

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In this Issue: State government Fiscal plan is signed – now comes the hard part Minerals Pebble changes its mine plan Energy DOE new energy tech grants Deal signed on Fairbanks LNG Transportation Bering Sea traffic rules agreed Health care Health plan consolidation talks Petroleum State gas corporation says it has sufficient funds to get to FID Gas corporation asks AIDEA for financing, and is rebuffed Is this why legislators are wary of AGDC? Doyon now drilling Nenana well BLM…

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