Alaska news

• Tongass Forest advisers finish review of logging transition plan

  07-12-2015 22:30
  Aerial view of Tongass National Forest. (Creative Commons Photo by Alan Wu)
  The Tongass Advisory Committee ended a 16-month series of meetings Thursday, formally completing its effort to advise the Tongass National Forest in a transition from old to young growth logging.
  The committee met in Ketchikan last week to finalize its recommendations to the U.S. Forest Service and review the agency’sdraft Environmental Impact Statement for a forest plan amendment.
  The plan would transiti
  
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• Thousands of pages in newly-released Donlin Gold environmental impact statement

  07-12-2015 22:28
  Donlin runway and camp site in summer 2014. Photo by Dean Swope / KYUK.
  The Environmental Impact Statement, or EIS, has been released for the proposed Donlin Gold mine.
  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released the document, which is more than a thousand pages long, in late November.
  The EIS is a part of the permitting phase for Donlin Gold, who’s aiming to create an open pit gold mine 10 miles near the village of Crooked Creek on the Kuskokwim.
  Numerous state and tribal agencies assisted
  
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• EIS released, comments open on Kuskokwim gold mine proposal

  07-12-2015 22:28
  Donlin runway and camp site in summer 2014. Photo by Dean Swope / KYUK.
  The Environmental Impact Statement, or EIS, has been released for the proposed Donlin Gold mine.
  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released the document in November. It’s more than 1,000 pages long.
  The EIS is a part of the permitting phase for Donlin Gold, who’s aiming to create an open pit gold mine 10 miles near the village of Crooked Creek on the Kuskokwim.
  Numerous state and tribal agencies assisted in d
  
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• Tesoro’s Flint Hills acquisition expected to streamline petroleum distribution

  07-12-2015 22:26
  Tesoro’s pending acquisition of Flint Hill’s fuel distribution and marketing operations in Fairbanks, North Pole and Anchorage, will streamline the transportation of refined petroleum products from Southcentral to the Interior.
  Tesoro Vice President of Strategy and Business Development Nate Weeks told the Fairbanks Economic Development Corporation’s Energy Task Force Friday that access to the railroad out of Anchorage is key.
  “We currently serve customers with trucks in t
  
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• Southeast Alaska priest dies following heart attack

  07-12-2015 21:44
  
  The Rev. Thomas Weise, who serves Catholic churches in Petersburg and Wrangell, celebrates communion during an Easter Vigil. (Photo courtesy Diocese of Juneau)
  A Catholic priest who served parishes in Wrangell and Petersburg died Sunday night, 10 days after suffering a heart attack.
  The Rev. Thomas Weise, also known as Father Thomas, was pastor of St. Rose of Lima parish in Wrangell and St. Catherine of Siena parish in Petersburg. He also served at Juneau’s Cathedral of the Nativity.
  The 4
  
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• State stops requiring annual phone books

  07-12-2015 17:55
  Alaska telephone companies will not have to produce annual phone books starting in 2016.
  The Juneau Empire reports a regulation signed by Lt. Gov. Byron Mallot on Wednesday removes the requirement.
  Phone books are getting thinner as people increasingly replace landlines with cell phones. The state’s larger phone companies have been pushing for the change since at least 2012.
  A bill signed in 2014 removed phone book authority from the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, which had required the
  
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• Native corporations deal with federal contracting changes

  07-12-2015 17:54
  Alaska Native regional corporations are receiving a decreasing amount of their revenue from a government contracting program that gives preferential treatment to disadvantaged businesses.
  A report from the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act Regional Association shows that total revenue earned through the 8(a) contracting program by the 12 corporations was $2.4 billion in 2014, down from $3.6 billion in 2010.
  The Alaska Dispatch News reports that obtaining contracts through the 8(a) program has
  
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• Fish economist Gunnar Knapp retiring as head of ISER

  07-12-2015 17:53
  (Photo via UAA)
  Alaska budget expert and fisheries economist Gunnar Knapp is retiring as director of the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
  In a letter posted online Wednesday, Knapp said he’ll retire from the top position in June 2016, but he’ll continue to work part-time for the think-tank, to continue his research and public outreach about the state’s budget deficit.
  “I can’t imagine a more interesting and rewarding c
  
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• Hydro project one step closer to some diesel-powered Interior communities

  07-12-2015 17:49
  A small hydropower project near Tanacross is one step closer to start-up after receiving a half-million dollar federal grant.
  The Yerrick Creek Natural Energy Project aims to use renewable energy to replace thousands of gallons a year of diesel fuel used by the region.
  Alaska Power and Telephone is partnering with the Village of Tanacross and the local Native Corporation to build a small hydropower project on the Yerrick Creek.
  Because the project lies on Native and State-owned lands, project Ma
  
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• Join the road trip to skate the middle of nowhere - Red Bull

  07-12-2015 12:22
  Red Bull
  Join the road trip to skate the middle of nowhere
  Red Bull
  Ride with a hardy crew of adventurers as they explore the uncharted and unknown spots of Alaska. Date 7 December 2015 Author Jonathan Mehring. Alaska is an elusive place. I had been trying to plan a trip there for years and every time I was close to ...
  

• Playing the Alaska card - High Country News

  07-12-2015 11:05
  High Country News
  Playing the Alaska card
  High Country News
  Kids deliberate ice cream options from Bob Hickey's Alaskan Polar Bear Ice Cream truck parked at Goose Lake in Anchorage, Alaska. Loren Holmes/Alaska Dispatch News. I call it playing the Alaska card. It's a sure-fire remedy for awkward silences at ...
  

• Journalism student explores the limitlessness of an Alaska internship - Daily Nebraskan

  07-12-2015 08:21
  Daily Nebraskan
  Journalism student explores the limitlessness of an Alaska internship
  Daily Nebraskan
  Nearly 2,700 miles away from home in Lincoln, journalism major Jessica Levtsenyuk found herself in Denali, Alaska. She had never been away from home for more than a week and had never been to Alaska, but for three months, she worked at a photo studio ...
  

• Diminishing federal contract program has Native corporations diversifying - Alaska Dispatch News

  07-12-2015 06:11
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Diminishing federal contract program has Native corporations diversifying
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Alaska Native regional corporations are drawing a decreasing amount of their revenue from a controversial government contracting program that gives preferential treatment to minority-owned businesses, financial reports show. Federal budget cuts, a ...and more »
  

• 'Vertical farm' in Anchorage finally gets its greens to market - Alaska Dispatch News

  07-12-2015 05:58
  Alaska Dispatch News
  'Vertical farm' in Anchorage finally gets its greens to market
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Jason Smith founder of Alaska Natural Organics poses in with lettuce growing in the Old Matanuska Maid building on Northern Lights Blvd. in Anchorage, AK on Friday, Dec. 4, 2015. The company just delivered hydroponic grown basil, it's first sale, to ...and more »
  

• Will GMO salmon harm Alaska's fishing industry? - Summit Daily News

  07-12-2015 05:16
  Summit Daily News
  Will GMO salmon harm Alaska's fishing industry?
  Summit Daily News
  Poor exchange rates and big runs have eaten away at the profits of Bristol Bay's commercial salmon fishermen. « 1 of 2 images; ». Related Media. By now, you may have seen November's big biotech news: The Food and Drug Administration has approved ...and more »
  

• Alaska holiday travelers beware: Temporary IDs prompt more TSA screening - Alaska Dispatch News

  07-12-2015 02:53
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Alaska holiday travelers beware: Temporary IDs prompt more TSA screening
  Alaska Dispatch News
  A Polar Air Cargo Boeing 747-400 cargo jet takes off from Ted Stevens International Airport over a snowman built on at the end of the runway. Dec. 8, 2014. Bob Hallinen. Holiday travelers take note: If you're flying with the temporary Alaska driver's ...and more »
  

• Project Chariot planned to use nuclear warheads to create port in Alaska - CCTV-America

  07-12-2015 00:13
  CCTV-America
  Project Chariot planned to use nuclear warheads to create port in Alaska
  CCTV-America
  In the late 1950's, the U.S. government planned to develop a deep-water port off the far northwestern corner of Alaska. The plans moved forward, despite the fact the waters in the region are frozen solid most of the year. Sean Callebs explains how ...
  

• 1 killed, 1 injured in Western Alaska snowmachine crash - Alaska Dispatch News

  07-12-2015 00:02
  1 killed, 1 injured in Western Alaska snowmachine crash
  Alaska Dispatch News
  A 32-year-old Alakanuk man was killed after being hit by a snowmachine while he was walking in the Western Alaska village Saturday night, Alaska State Troopers said. Troopers from Emmonak, about 8 miles away, were called to Alakanuk around 10:25 p.m. ...and more »
  

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