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“80th” percentile rule studied The state Division of Insurance is still considering changes – if any – to the so-called “80th percentile rule” that requires insurers on private and public health plans to pay a minimum at the 80th percentile for specific medical services. Many blame the rule, adopted originally to protect consumers, for adding to upward pressures on health care costs. That could happen because if there are a limited number of providers, for example for specialty procedures, the…

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GVEA starts up its Healy Unit 2  Golden Valley Electric Association started up its Healy Unit 2 coal power plant on July 3 for a three-month operating test. The Interior cooperative hopes to begin full service with the plant in September. The $295 million plant was built in 1989 with a large U.S. Department of Energy grant supplemented with Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority bond funds to test new coal plant emissions control technologies. DOE was satisfied with tests…

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Revised Pebble plan irked Walker Gov. Bill Walker asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to suspend work on the Environmental Impact Statement for the big Pebble copper/gold/molybdenum project near Iliamna, basing the request on the lack of an economic feasibility determination by the owner, Northern Dynasty Minerals. However, Army corps officials said they cannot use economics in the EIS analysis, which focuses on environmental and community impacts. Part of what is concerning the state, we were told, is a…

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China tariffs on fish for reprocess It looks like China may apply tariffs to Alaska seafood imported for processing into products and re-exported, much of it back to the U.S. As the week ended it looked like a 10 percent tariff would be applied. The trade situation with China is so volatile that it’s  hard to say where things will end up. Frozen salmon shipped to China for reprocessing is a huge business for Alaska seafood processors. A 25 percent…

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First look at state investment in gas project? State Department of Revenue officials will have financial modeling completed by early next year on financing options for the proposed $43 billion Alaska LNG Project, and they will include analyses of possible state investment including the Permanent Fund. Legislators were briefed on the modeling in an update provided by state agencies and Alaska Gasline Development Corp., the state gas corporation leading the big LNG project. Legislators were generally negative on the idea,…

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Scott Hawkins withdraws in governor’s race, leaving volatile mix The 2018 governor’s race is getting more complicated. Republican Scott Hawkins withdrew his bid in the race, citing complications caused by the entry of former Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell into the Republican primary. Treadwell is now the only opponent to Mike Dunleavy, a former state senator who is considered the Republican frontrunner. Meanwhile, Mark Begich’s entry as a Democrat leaves him as the major contender for the democratic nomination, since incumbent…

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Report: ANCSA regional corporation revenues dipped in 2016 Alaska Native regional corporations shared $234 million in natural resource production revenues among themselves in 2015, according to the latest information from the ANCSA Regional Association. Shared revenues, required under Section 7i of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, were mostly from petroleum and minerals. Since 1982, the year revenue-sharing began, distributions have totaled $3.2 billion. Seventy percent of revenues are required to be shared with other Native regional corporations as well…

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CIRI deal on gold exploration Cook Inlet Region Inc. signed a letter of agreement with Vancouver, B.C.-based Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. for lease rights to CIRI’s 20,942-acre Johnson Tract mineral prospect on the west side of Cook Inlet, south of Drift River. The prospect includes gold, zinc, lead, silver and copper mineralization and is near tidewater. Westmin Resources Ltd. explored the prospect in the late 1990s and drilled 88 drill tests but returned the property to CIRI. Anaconda Minerals made…

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Doyon’s drilling in Nenana basin Drilling is underway on Doyon’s latest well near Nenana, its fourth in the Basin, and is approaching the depths at which hydrocarbons might be encountered.  Fairbanks-based Doyon expects to have results of the drilling by late July. A partner in the well is Cook Inlet Region, Inc. of Anchorage, which also joined Doyon in drilling the last well in the Nenana Basun. In another development, Doyon has signed a confidentiality agreement with a company to…

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Bering Sea/Aleutians processors’ big economic punch Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands fish processors spend a lot of money in sustaining operations. A new McDowell Group report documented these expenditures in 2016, the most recent year for which data is available. Spending with Alaska-based businesses or firms with an Alaska presence totaled $220 million in 2016 and included: $100 million on shipping $34 million on fuel and other products $32 million on construction $17 million on air transportation services $  6 million on…

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