Alaska Economic Development - It's All Here!

Alaska's Economy on Shaky Ground, David Reume - former state economist

2010-09-14T10:05:00.001-08:00

The most reliable of the state Department of Labor's three sets of employment numbers tells us that Alaska's current economic performance and outlook are not quite as benign as many people have been led to believe. Instead of employment growing by 0.5 percent in 2009 as had been reported in the least reliable numbers, it actually fell by 0.5 percent (1,600 jobs).

Read more: http://www.adn.com/2010/09/11/1449889/alaska-economy-on-shaky-ground.html?mi_pluck_action=comment_submitted&qwxq=8969122#Comments_Container#ixzz0zWoa1qZu

BC Writer calls for a megaproject linking Alaska to NW BC and Yukon

2010-09-01T11:25:00.003-08:00

BC Writer calls for project linking Alaska, BC and Yukon. Says with the Northwest BC Transmission Line underway a railway linking Alaska with BC should be next.Click here to read his blog.

By the numbers: CNBC business climate ranking shows Alaska has work to do Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - The voice of Interior Alaska since 1903Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

2010-07-22T07:44:00.001-08:00

By the numbers: CNBC business climate ranking shows Alaska has work to do

Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

CNBC ranks Alaska dead last for business

2010-07-16T00:10:00.000-08:00

CNBC ranks Alaska dead last for business

Senator Murkowski introduces bills to boost hydropower generation

2010-07-15T22:24:00.001-08:00

Senator Murkowski introduces bills to boost hydropower generation: "<p>U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has introduced two pieces of legislation aimed at increasing the production of electricity from renewable hydropower and creating jobs in America’s energy sector. The "Hydropower Improvement Act" and the "Hydropower Renewable Energy Development Act" would boost federal support for hydropower projects.</p>"

The Alaska Journal of Commerce - Parnell zapped for energy fund cuts 06/18/10

2010-06-26T16:39:00.000-08:00

The Alaska Journal of Commerce - Parnell zapped for energy fund cuts 06/18/10

Gov. Sean Parnell is taking flak for his June 3 vetoes of state funds for energy projects.

"The governor has talked a lot about how we have to be fiscally conservative, but these are projects that will make our communities more self-reliant and less dependent on diesel, and state Power Cost Equalization funds, in five to 10 years," when petroleum revenues will be sharply lower, said Bob Venables, energy director for the Southeast Conference, the economic development association for Southeast Alaska.

Click above link for full story in the Alaska Journal of Commerce.

Gambling on hydro in Eagle

2010-06-16T13:38:00.000-08:00

Gambling on hydro in Eagle

Eagle, a community of 200 far up the Yukon River and just a short snowmachine ride from the Canadian border, faces an issue that affects many remote Alaska communities: Electricity generated by burning diesel fuel, which has to be shipped in on small barges that travel during the ice-free months, is very expensive. So expensive, in fact, that across the state, high fuel costs are being blamed for outmigration to larger communities like Fairbanks and Anchorage.

Click on link above for full story at Alaska Dispatch.

Report of the Alaska Legislature's energy act - Energyboom

2010-05-12T14:27:00.002-08:00

Click here for more Coverage of the Alaska Legislature's energy act

The Alaska Energy Authority (AEA) has recently published two reports as part of their efforts to update the state’s energy policy.

The first report provides Alaskan communities with resources to build their own locally relevant energy plans based on their available resources.

The new report, ‘Alaska Energy Pathway,’[pdf] was released by the administration of Alaska Governor Sean Parnell. The new report reaffirms a previous goal to meet 50% of Alaska’s electric power needs through renewable energy resources by 2025, but the key substantive policy difference is a new goal to achieve a 20% increase in energy efficiency and conservation by 2020.

Energy efficiency is a cost-effective way to reduce the need for new energy sources in the first place – an important goal that the Palin plan lacked. It is a notable improvement, but the plan relies too heavily on fossil fuels to truly move Alaska toward a clean energy future.
Click on above link for full story.

Alaskans mourn death of former Gov. Walter Hickel - Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

2010-05-08T17:31:00.002-08:00

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - The voice of Interior Alaska since 1903

SITKA, Alaska - Alaskans on Saturday mourned the loss of former Gov. Walter J. Hickel and remembered him as a visionary and a maverick.

Alaska Democrats, meeting for their convention in Sitka, had a moment of silence in honor of Hickel, who served as Interior secretary under President Richard Nixon until Hickel was dismissed for objecting to the treatment of Vietnam War protesters.

A ripple of "Oh!" and "Oh, my God" rippled through the audience as word of his death, at age 90, was announced Saturday morning.

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - No easy path Report outlines costs methods of renewable energy conversion

2010-05-02T09:09:00.001-08:00

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - No easy path Report outlines costs methods of renewable energy conversion
The Alaska Energy Authority has completed an informative and useful study of the state’s energy challenges. It’s also rather daunting.

The study, presented this week at an energy conference in Fairbanks, described both the problems Alaska faces in trying to move to renewable energy sources and some ways it can try to overcome those problems.

Among the more interesting items in the report are estimates of how much it would cost to substantially increase the use of renewable energy sources, such as hydroelectric, geothermal and wind plants, throughout Alaska.

Click links above for full story.

Congressman Young states favorable AK-BC Intertie position, Wrangell Sentinel

2010-04-22T07:20:00.000-08:00

Wrangell Sentinel - the oldest continuously published paper in Alaska.
Alaska’s lone U.S. House Representative visited Wrangell Apr. 14 and Petersburg Apr. 15 to discuss various topics with residents including hydropower development, the recently passed health care bill, Sealaska and timber production.

Republican Don Young used a meeting with members of the Petersburg Chamber of Commerce to reaffirm his decision to run for a 20th term in the House.
“I am running, and will run hard,” Young said.

Young said that hydropower is as important to Southeast residents as the gas line is to the rest of Alaska. He said that hydropower development should be a priority.
“There should be an abundance of hydro power,” he said.

He said that developing an intertie between Southeast communities as well as between Alaska and British Columbia would benefit the local economy.

Click link above for full story in the online edition of the Wrangell Sentinel

VoteVets.org

2010-04-11T10:01:00.000-08:00

I was asked to post this by an Iraq veteran. It makes a lot of sense, whether you agree with climate change or not. America needs to become less dependent upon middle east sources of energy. We have it all here in Alaska from oil & natural gas to a rich renewable energy portfolio. We can choose to have a secure, economic future.

Northwest BC Transmission Line can help small Southeast AK and Northwest BC towns

2010-03-28T10:35:00.000-08:00

The upcoming Northwest (BC) Transmission Line portends some exciting and positive changes to both Canada and Alaska in the North Coast Mountain Region. This development can bring a change to Alaska, Northwest BC and Yukon. Turning them from basically third-world condition into producers and contributors for a green, renewable, less oil dependent North America. The benefits of opening this region of Alaska are to it's citizens and to our sister Pacific Northwest and Western states.

Take a look at this video, which envisions some of its benefits to Northwest BC First Nations, to Alaskans and Yukon.

State dangles incentives for open season takers, Tim Bradner, Ak Journal of Commerce

2010-03-28T09:56:00.000-08:00

Click to read full Alaska Journal of Commerce story

The state is offering a set of special natural gas royalty and tax terms as inducements for North Slope producers to sign pipeline capacity contracts during an open season set by TransCanada Corp. that will begin May 1, state officials told state legislators in a briefing.

The incentives could be worth more than $20 billion in value to producers over the life of capacity agreements signed, assuming the entire 4.5 billion cubic feet per day of capacity is subscribed, according to estimates by Black & Veatch, a consulting firm working with the state.

TransCanada is proposing a 1,500-mile, 48-inch pipeline from the North Slope to its Aeco hub in Alberta that could cost as much as $41 billion, the pipeline company estimates.

The state endorsed TransCanada over the rival Denali pipeline group led by BP and ConocoPhillips after the Calgary-based pipeline company agreed to meet certain state goals regarding tariff structure and expansion terms.

Budgets, energy and scholarships take center stage

2010-03-23T06:35:00.000-08:00

Budgets, energy and scholarships take center stage
The Legislature has hit the session's final third, and certain bills are starting to move pretty fast.
The House and Senate are each convening every day to move those bills that committees have vetted. And of course, the operating and capital budgets are taking priority. Senate Finance holds both - the operating budget passed over from the House, and the capital budget yet to go to the House.
Most of the bills moving are energy-related. Senate Finance is expected to take up the gas tax this week, and various proposals to change the oil tax, ACES, are being heard. Plans to shift instate natural gas pipeline planning from the administration are trotting along in both bodies...
Click link above to read the full story in the Alaska Dispatch.

BBC News - Canada's 'secret land' Yukon woos tourists

2010-03-13T08:56:00.000-09:00

BBC News - Canada's 'secret land' Yukon woos tourists

As Vancouver gears up for its second stint as Olympic host with the Paralympics beginning on 12 March, one northern Canadian territory is hoping the lasting legacy of the Games will be a boost to tourism.

The government of Yukon spent just under 3m Canadian dollars (£1.9m) trying to educate people about their territory during the Winter Games, promoting it as a great place to travel, invest and do business.

"The people that go to the Olympics are our kind of people," says Sheila Dodd, who works in economic and tourism development for Whitehorse, Yukon's capital.

B.C. group touts green economic solution

2010-03-11T20:35:00.000-09:00

B.C. group touts green economic solution

B.C. could pull in about $4.3 billion annually and eliminate its debt over several years by tapping into and selling its vast green-energy potential, said a report released yesterday.

Bio-energy, run-of-river, wind, geothermal, tidal, wave and solar energy could all be developed to help the environment and to work towards wiping out B.C.'s debt in 15 years or less, said the B.C. Citizens for Green Energy's 76-page report.

"B.C. is widely recognized as having a natural abundance of renewable green energy resources. However, this natural abundance is currently going virtually untapped as are the economic and environmental benefits that developing them could bring to our province," said the report, titled A Triple Legacy for Future Generations: B.C.'s Potential as a Renewable Green Energy Powerhouse.

Read more by clicking above link.

Tides come in (environmentalresearchweb blog) - environmentalresearchweb

2010-03-11T19:43:00.000-09:00

Tides come in (environmentalresearchweb blog) - environmentalresearchweb
The use of tidal energy for generating electricity is moving ahead rapidly around the world, and the potential for expansion is significant, with the emphasis being on tidal current turbines, although some tidal barrages are also being developed or planned – for example, various barrage and lagoon scheme are still under consideration for the Severn estuary. A decision on which to go for should emerge later this year.

The global potential is quite large. Trade network Tidal Today’s second annual ‘Tidal Summit’, held in London last November, heard from a speaker from the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology (IWES) who relayed some estimates of tidal energy potentials: China: 50 TWh p.a; Ireland: 10 TWh; UK: 31 TWh; France: 10 TWh; Norway: 3 TWh; US: 115 TWh. The big ones, in terms of capacity, included Canada: >40 GW and South Korea: 1000 GW.

Click on the link above to read the full story.

Canada, U.S. switch positions in Beaufort Sea boundary dispute - "All of a sudden, we have this almost perfect opportunity for a win-win..."

2010-03-08T16:03:00.000-09:00

Canada, U.S. switch positions in Beaufort Sea boundary dispute

Just days after the Conservative government's throne speech pledged to resolve several outstanding Arctic territorial disputes, polar experts have revealed an unexpected twist in the long-running disagreement over the Canada-U.S. border in the southern Beaufort Sea.

For decades, the two countries have been deadlocked over where to draw the maritime boundary off the coasts of Alaska and the Yukon — a conflict that has flared occasionally when it came to fisheries management and oil-and-gas exploration.

Click above link for full story in the Vancouver Sun.

It's time to build the all Alaska pipeline | The Alaska Standard

2010-03-05T14:19:00.000-09:00

It's time to build the all Alaska pipeline | The Alaska Standard
Here we are in 2010, another election year, with our gas still stranded on the North Slope.

Previously, the candidates who have declared for the office of governor could be characterized in one of three camps. 1. No declared pipeline preference; 2. AGIA or Denali; 3. the 2002 Prop 3 mandated all-Alaska natural gas pipeline to Valdez. Now, the Legislature and Ralph Samuels have added to the confusion.

For full story click on above link.

A sinking feeling about AGIA and plan B by Andrew Halcrow - Alaska Dispatch

2010-03-05T11:47:00.000-09:00

A sinking feeling about AGIA and plan B

This week we arrive at the annual ritual of spring break on the legislative calendar, when lawmakers will shove aside their pressing state business to attend the annual Energy Conference in Washington D.C.

The conference hosts policy makers from oil and gas states and provinces, while providing a forum to meet with federal regulators, congressional members and the ability to be briefed on the latest energy trends.

For full story click the link above to Alaska Dispatch.

Why the posting of the previous story on British Columbia? Why all the stories on this blog about one of our closest neighbors?

2010-03-03T07:14:00.000-09:00

The question might better be phrased - why is Northwest BC (and why not Alaska?) the only jurisdiction which is able to export its natural gas to foreign markets? Of course, there are some compelling reasons for this. In BC there is a significant amount of gas line and gas production infrastructure which is already in place. There is also a strong recognition in the petroleum industry that Asia is demanding these resources.

Alaska has surplus natural gas
Still it begs the question. Why are our state political leaders not leading the way in working towards energy production (for internal and export use)? Alaska should be making investments in trade missions to Asia (India, Japan and China) and in infrastructure to make this possible. Alaska has a dedicated right-of-way from the North Slope to Valdez in which to place a natural gas pipeline.

Notwithstanding the agreement with TransCanada, our state ought to be looking at markets outside of North America due to the predicted glut of natural gas into the future. Our state leaders, instead of being myopic ought to be inviting capital investment into Alaska through partnerships.

The development of Alaska resources won't happen in the absence of state involvement. No, I'm not talking socialism, I'm talking about making an investment in time by working with other jurisdictions to determine if foreign industries are interested in partnering on projects which can be of mutual benefit to Alaska and other jurisdictions and companies.

Not just natural gas.
Along the same vein Canada's initiative with the British Columbia Northwest (electrical energy) Transmission Line is an opportunity that Alaska and our federal government ought to be pouncing upon. Alaska (and our federal government) has been invited to participate in this transmission line extension. However, aside from some minimal discussion with BC, nothing has come to the forefront on this.

Unfortunately, the clock is running on this opportunity. The BC Transmission Corporation is close to making a decision upon the parameters of the line. To meet Alaska's needs in terms of voltage, the line's capacity must be doubled. Right of way clearing is set to begin within months, yet no word has come on Alaska or our federal government on whether they will pledge participation.

The implications for Alaska in Southeast alone are billions of dollars of investment in Alaska. It will be very sad if this investment isn't made and the blame for it not happening will rightfully be place on Alaska's leaders, state and federal, whom are all aware of it.

The very same can be said regarding an All Alaska Gas Line. Our leaders should be promoting this to the maximum extent - to ignore these opportunities imperils Alaska's very economic existence.

Please write to Governor Parnell, Alaska Legislators, Senators Murkowkski and Begich and Congressman Young in support of these opportunities.

South Korean firm joins EnCana in B.C. gas - The Globe and Mail

2010-03-01T17:02:00.000-09:00

South Korean firm joins EnCana in B.C. gas - The Globe and Mail
as-hungry Asia is making a major push into one of Canada's most promising energy frontiers, with a billion-dollar investment by a South Korean company that boosts British Columbia's efforts to become a natural gas export hub.

The deal announced yesterday by Korea Gas Corp. also sets the stage for more foreign interest in Canada's natural gas resources, which have struggled under low commodity prices but still form a huge reserve basin that other countries covet.

Click link above to read full story

2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics

2010-02-28T17:19:00.001-09:00

Congratulations to Canada and British Columbia for a successful hosting of the 2010 Winter Olympics!

View the vancouver2010.com medals' table

Is it time for an Alaska Ambassadors organization?

2010-02-27T09:39:00.000-09:00

Many have been racking their minds for ideas on how to get our state off of it's mono-industry mindset. Here's a novel thought.

How about an organization (such as the one described in the previously posted story) for Alaska? We could emulate what appears to be a success in Montana. They have a Montana Ambassadors program. The program works with the Montana governor's office and Montana Department of Commerce.

Rather than my describing it, here is a description lifted from www.montanaambassadors.com:

"The Montana Ambassadors is a volunteer, not-for-profit organization of leaders in business, education, and the professions with a common dedication to living and doing business in Montana and furthering the best interests of the state, serving at the pleasure of the Governor.

Represent the office of the Governor and the Department of Commerce in business related contacts in and out of the state.

Assist the Department of Commerce and the Governor's Office of Economic Development with their business, trade, and tourism development programs.

Sponsor projects that encourage and support economic improvements throughout the state.

Support, whenever practical, efforts by other groups to contribute to the economic vitality of Montana.

Support whenever practical, efforts by other groups to maintain or increase the quality of all levels of education in the State of Montana. And, as official Ambassadors of the State of Montana, put the best interests of the state before personal interests and give freely of time, energy and personal finances in support of this mission."

This type of organization appears to have some great merit. Have a look at the website and read the story below for details on what this organization does.