Alaska Business August 2019

ENVIRONMENTAL | HEALTHCARE | SUMMER CONSTRUCTION August 2019

The Who and What of

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CONTENTS AUGUST 2019 | VOLUME 35 | NUMBER 8 | AKBIZMAG.COM

FE AT URES © Matt Waliszek

14 F INANCE Distinguishing Differences in Financial Institutions Ever wondered how a big bank differs from a credit union? Here’s how.

8 HEALTHCARE

56 T RANSPORTATION

Evolving Healthcare

Cold Cargo

Innovative digital technologies increase patient access, decrease costs

Expertise and careful planning are required to keep things exactly cold enough

By Vanessa Orr

©Javier Villasenor-Gaona

By Tracy Barbour

By Vanessa Orr

24 CONSTRUCTION Building Alaska— Summer Edition Construction projects from North Pole to the Kenai Peninsula

By Samantha Davenport

64 O IL & GAS

70 AGRICULTURE

Booming Interest in Nanushuk

Growing Green Alaska’s agriculture industry is ready to bloom

Major players explore the formation’s production potential

By Sam Friedman

By Isaac Stone Simonelli

E N V I R O N M E N TA L SPECIAL SEC TION 30 SITE ASSESSMENT

40 D IRECTORY

Assessing Environments

2019 Alaska Business Environmental Directory

How scientists statewide protect Alaska’s lands

By Brad Joyal

36 C ONTINGENCY PLANS ‘Plans Are Nothing, Planning Is Everything’

ABOUT THE COVER ENVIRONMENTAL | HEALTHCARE | SUMMER CONSTRUCTION August 2019

The Who and What of

50 S TEEL & SCRAP Marginal Metal Steel is the most recycled material in the world, but volume doesn’t always mean profit

By Sam Friedman

Being proactive with spill contingency plans

Finance in Alaska

Alaska houses a range of financial institutions: banks, credit unions, trust companies, mortgage loan originators or lenders, and more. All of these entities work under varying regulations, overseen by different state or federal agencies, but what they all have in common is their desire to help Alaska’s businesses find stability, pursue growth, or otherwise meet their financial goals.

A special thanks to First National Bank Alaska (serving Alaskans since 1922), which allowed us to use the lobby of its stunning U-Med Branch for our cover shoot. From left to right: Elaine Kroll, senior vice president of cash management; Sheila Lomboy, VP and loan officer; and Charles Parker, president and CEO of Alaska Village Initiatives and an FNBA customer.

Cover Design: Jontue Hollingsworth | Photo: Matt Waliszek

By Amy Newman

DEPARTMENTS 6 FROM THE EDITOR

79 E VENTS CALENDAR

82 BUSINESS EVENTS

86 O FF THE CUFF

78 E AT, SHOP, PLAY, STAY

80 INSIDE ALASKA BUSINESS

83 R IGHT MOVES

88 A LASKA TRENDS

4 | August 2019

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

FROM THE EDITOR

Published by Alaska Business Publishing Co. Anchorage, Alaska

One Sunny Summer

EDITORIAL STAFF Managing Editor

Kathryn Mackenzie 257-2907 editor@akbizmag.com Associate/Web Editor

Tasha Anderson 257-2902 tanderson@akbizmag.com Digital and Social Media Specialist

Arie Henry 257-2906 ahenry@akbizmag.com Art Production

Linda Shogren 257-2912 production@akbizmag.com Photo Contributor

Judy Patrick

BUSINESS STAFF President

Billie Martin

I

VP & General Manager

t’s been quite a summer so far in Alaska. If you love the sun, this has been a stunning display from Mother Nature with record breaking temperatures that sent many of us running to the nearest body of water for a bit of relief. And what better segue to introduce our annual environmental special section than this super-sized summer. This year we’re featuring several articles focused on the manifold ways businesses throughout the state work to keep our environment pristine, including when and how to implement an environmental contingency plan; what a site assessment entails; and how scrap metal is reused and recycled. Of course we also give you all the information you need to get familiar with the state’s environmental companies in our annual directory.

Many of the industries we cover regularly have announced or instituted plans to even further reduce the impact they have on the environment. BP is just one example of a global company operating locally that it is putting into place several initiatives to curtail its environmental footprint significantly by exploring alternative energy sources and reducing emissions in its own operations; improving its products to help customers lower their emissions; and creating low carbon businesses. BP predicts that the United States will become energy self-sufficient by 2020 and maintain its position as the world’s largest producer of liquid fuels and natural gas.

Working with the environment is nothing new to Alaska’s industries. Being environmentally responsible is just part of doing business in every major industry operating here; not just because of state or federal requirements but because our industry leaders live and work here and recognize how fortunate we are to in live in a location that is not just visually dazzling but also holds rich cultural roots. Sustainability is not just a buzzword for Alaska’s industries—it’s part of the foundation on which each industry was built and operates on a daily basis.

Also in this issue of Alaska Business, our talented team of writers delve into the exciting opportunities being explored in the Nanushuk Formation on the North Slope, talk new technology in healthcare, and present you with a special summer construction compilation.

But perhaps our best advice to you for this August issue is to take it somewhere shady, kick back with a cool beverage, and enjoy, because the sun won’t last forever.

6 | August 2019

VOLUME 35, #8

Jason Martin 257-2905 jason@akbizmag.com VP Sales & Marketing

Charles Bell 257-2909 cbell@akbizmag.com Senior Account Manager

Janis J. Plume 257-2917 janis@akbizmag.com Advertising Account Manager

Christine Merki

Kathryn Mackenzie Managing Editor, Alaska Business

257-2911 cmerki@akbizmag.com Accounting Manager

Ana Lavagnino 257-2901 accounts@akbizmag.com Customer Service Representative

Emily Olsen

Sustainability is not just a buzzword for Alaska’s industries—it’s part of the foundation on which each industry was built and operates on a daily basis.

257-2914 emily@akbizmag.com 501 W. Northern Lights Boulevard,Suite 100 Anchorage, Alaska 99503-2577 Toll Free: 1-800-770-4373 (907) 276-4373 www.akbizmag.com Press releases: press@akbizmag.com

ALASKA BUSINESS PUBLISHING CO., INC. Alaska Business (ISSN 8756-4092) is published monthly by Alaska Business Publishing Co., Inc., 501 W. Northern Lights Boulevard, Suite 100, Anchorage, Alaska 99503-2577; Telephone: (907) 276-4373; © 2019 Alaska Business Publishing Co. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher.

Alaska Business accepts no responsibility for unsolicited materials; they will not be returned unless accompanied by a stamped, self addressed envelope.

One-year subscription is $39.95 and includes twelve issues (print + digital) and the annual Power List. Single issues of the Power List are $15 each. Single issues of Alaska Business are $4.99 each; $5.99 for the July & October issues. Send subscription orders and address changes to circulation@akbizmag.com. To order back issues ($9.99 each including postage) visit simplecirc.com/back_issues/ alaska-business.

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H E A LT H C A R E

Evolving Healthcare Innovative digital technologies increase patient access, decrease costs

E

By Vanessa Orr

very day, new technologies emerge that are designed to make it easier for people to connect with the things they need, and healthcare is no exception. Today’s tech-savvy patients are using digital means to make appointments, check test results, remember to take medication, get answers to healthrelated questions, and more.

Healthcare facilities are also using updated technology to run offices and 8 | August 2019

practices more smoothly, using artificial intelligence (AI) to ensure equipment remains up and running, and taking advantage of virtual training tools to provide staff with continuing education opportunities. And insurers are embracing new technologies to deliver a more positive customer experience.

Monitoring Medical Equipment Having the right equipment to help patients is important; knowing that it will be running when it’s needed, especially in the case of an emergency, is paramount.

GE Healthcare uses digital technologies and AI to determine when machines, such as MRIs and CTs, require maintenance so that potential problems don’t come as a surprise.

“In the past, the chance of a machine such as an MRI going down because it needed maintenance was a fairly unpredictable thing,” explains Rob Reilly, vice president and general manager, US and

Canada Services, GE Healthcare. “When it did happen, techs were dispatched to deal with the problem, but depending on where the equipment was, the fix could be hours or even days away.”

While technicians have had the ability to log in remotely on these machines to look at fault codes and diagnose issues for more than a decade, today’s AI algorithms monitor patterns in the fault detection modules to predict failures before they occur.

“We’ve been able to remotely connect to machines to provide remote triage for fifteen-plus years, but with the evolution of new technology, the smarts embedded in the newer machines have taken this to a whole new level,” says Reilly.

“This is a huge deal in Alaska, where things are logistically challenging,” he adds. “If we can anticipate a problem, we can manage where our teams need to be. And now that we have a local warehouse in Anchorage, we can even

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forward deploy the parts that are needed so that we can provide same-day service.”

According to Reilly, once a potential problem has been detected, the remote fix rate is approximately 35 percent to 45 percent, so teams don’t have to go to the hospital or clinic. “When we do need to send an engineer, about 80 percent of the time they already have a game plan and know exactly what needs to be done,” he says. “The days of seeing a technician working on a machine with parts spread out across the floor are largely gone.”

Using Insite as its core technology, GE’s AI suite includes OnWatch and Tube Watch. OnWatch monitors systems in real-time, looking at different parameters to determine potential problems.

“It’s sort of like ADT monitoring for your home,” says Reilly.

For example, because it’s important to keep MRIs super-cooled, AI technology monitors the magnets inside to make sure that the machines do not overheat.

“During last year’s hurricanes in the southeastern United States, we were constantly monitoring and remotely adjusting MRIs to help these devices ride out power outages for twelve to eighteen hours

without quenching and losing helium,” says Reilly.

OnWatch reduces unplanned downtime by approximately 35 percent by preventing unscheduled disruptions.

“Even when we can’t repair the equipment remotely, it’s still 30 to 40 percent faster when we dispatch a technician because they already have a game plan,” says Reilly.

Tube Watch, an AI technology used in CT scanners, helps monitor tube life.

“The tube inside a CT scanner generates radioactive beams, but it is a consumable, like a light bulb,” explains Reilly. “It will wear out after a certain number of scans, though this number can be unpredictable based on how many scans are done, how long they take, and how the machine is maintained.

“The CT scan is the first line of defense for trauma patients in the emergency room—if the tube goes, it’s typically an eight-hour job once you have a replacement tube,” he adds. “If an ER machine has to be down for eight hours, the hospital may need to go on divert.”

By knowing how long a tube will last, healthcare facilities can plan their maintenance schedules for times when

“Using AI, an MRI might be able to use far less data than we would normally acquire and use deep learning from tens of thousands of images to build out full scans.”

—Rob Reilly GE Healthcare

there is far less patient demand. Using digital twin technology similar to that used to monitor jet engines, GE can create a digital twin that simulates how a facility’s device is operating and pull data parameters, including electrical current,

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Alaska Business

August 2019 | 9

vibration, and other measurements, from the physical tube.

“With the AI digital twin running, we can accurately predict tube failures with about 80 percent accuracy within 72 hours of an event,” says Reilly. “This allows us to forward deploy parts so that they are available when needed. We can change a tube after-hours or on a Saturday when we can minimize disruption to patient schedules.

“Before we had the Anchorage warehouse and the ability to predict upcoming failures, a tube could go down at 9 a.m. on a Thursday and, in some cases, we

wouldn’t be able to get it fixed until Monday,” he adds. “You’re talking days of downtime. And now we’re talking hours.

It has had a dramatic impact.”

This capability even extends to facilities in Bush villages, where working equipment can mean the difference between life and death. “Many Alaska hospitals have this technology, including in Southcentral Alaska and in a number of Southeast villages, but the biggest benefit is in far north villages such as Barrow and Nome,” says Cody Pittman, GE’s service director for Alaska.

Through GE’s partnership with Norton

Sound Health Corporation, it has installed a state-of-the-art MRI in Nome with this technology, which is one of GE’s most remote MRI installations in the world.

“Now that we have CT scanners with this technology in Barrow and Nome and an MRI in Nome, we are able to offer Lower 48 metro-level service delivery to Bush villages in Alaska,” says Pittman. “In the case of an emergency, it’s incredibly valuable to know that they have scanners with minimal downtime to prevent life-flighting a critical patient out of the village.

“Our customers bring patients in from smaller villages,” he adds. “Bringing this technology to Bush villages has resulted in lower wait times, and they no longer have to travel to Anchorage for outpatient scanning.”

In addition to possibly saving lives, the use of AI technology saves money.

“Without Tube Watch, a facility is probably looking at a minimum of twelve hours of downtime,” says Reilly. “In Alaska, which has relatively lower patient volumes than in the Lower 48, that may mean about twelve to fourteen patients affected per day, meaning a loss of $5,000 to $10,000 in revenue.”

Virtual Training In 2016, GE introduced its Virtual Onsite Trainer, an interactive mobile telepresence device, to provide an opportunity for users to enhance their tech education.

“In the past, using these high-tech machines required a very knowledgeable GE specialist who flew around the country teaching hospitals how to use it,” says Reilly. “But even if an expert was onsite for a week, after he or she left, there was a large decay curve of how much users could remember.”

Virtual technology not only provides the opportunity for users to revisit what they were taught but also to expand their knowledge. “Medical equipment is like your phone or computer at home—a lot of people may know the basics, but they are not harnessing 80 percent of the power it has,” he adds.

Because of lower patient volumes, hospital staff may not be as familiar with the equipment as they would be in busier areas.

“Healthcare facilities in rural areas don’t see the volume of cases—for example, head injuries—like they would in somewhere like New York, so hospital staff 10 | August 2019

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

may not be as familiar with the different software and the way to properly position a patient,” says Reilly.

For this reason, some cases may need to be re-scanned, and using virtual training can lessen that likelihood. “It also enables more advanced techniques that can give physicians and radiologists better scans, allowing them to harness the horsepower of this advanced technology,” he adds.

Virtual training is used across GE’s entire portfolio of equipment, including CTs, MRIs, patient monitors, mammograms, and ultrasound equipment. “It will

never replace hands-on, one-on-one training, but we’ve seen improvements at facilities using it to augment that training,” says Reilly, adding that this service is available for purchase when facilities buy new equipment and can also be included in long-term service agreements.

Shorter Scan Times Even as these innovations improve the use of medical equipment, technology continues to evolve.

“On the device side, we’re doing a lot of research with academic institutions to come up with new ideas,” says Reilly. “For

Believe in Alaska and Win For Life!

example, studies are now being done to use different AI techniques during MRI exams to extrapolate information from less intensive scanning.”

A typical MRI can take forty-five minutes, but with AI it’s possible to acquire a smaller dataset faster and arrive at the same results. “Using AI, an MRI might be able to use far less data than we would normally acquire and use deep learning from tens of thousands of images to build out full scans,” says Reilly. “Radiologists have been blown away by looking at AI-enhanced MRIs compared to full MRI exams; in many cases they can’t tell the difference. This would create a significant difference in patient throughput and patient comfort without sacrificing quality.”

This could also allow hospitals to handle much higher patient volume using fewer machines.

Making Insurance and Accessibility Easier

For nearly three decades, First National Bank Alaska has demonstrated their enduring belief in Alaska as ASAA’s valued partner and Title Sponsor.

The lives of nearly 300,000 student-athletes and activity participants have been enriched and energized thanks to First National’s vital support and the enthusiasm of hundreds of employee volunteers at ASAA’s major events.

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We believe in you!

To join our team contact ASAA at 907-563-3723, or email: contactus@asaa.org

12 | August 2019

Some insurance companies, such as Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska, are also leading the way in digital innovation.

“The Alaska market is exciting because the employer population understands that the high cost of healthcare and remote access is creating barriers to care, and they want to get digital tools out to their employees to make it easier for them to find and access the care they need,” says Patti Brooke, director of innovation at Premera Test Kitchen. “As we run new digital pilots, we see a very high level of engagement.”

Premera has introduced a number of new technologies including the webbased platform Premera Pulse, which allows users to log in and search for providers, book appointments, and manage their medication lists. Launched in September of 2017, the platform includes twenty-four providers and has been activated by 16,000 Premera members. To date, 360 people have found physicians and booked seventyeight appointments.

In early June 2019, Premera launched a pilot program for MyCare Alaska, which allows users to find and connect with a physician in real-time to resolve their healthcare needs. Users can download the iOS or Android app, list their symptoms, and shortly thereafter text with a doctor to determine a course of care.

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

line where you can find that information.

“The cool thing about it is that you don’t have to use insurance jargon to ask your questions,” she adds. “It uses a form of AI natural language processing that can understand users’ questions in their own words, even if services are described in a different way.”

Premera’s digital customer experience team continues to build capabilities to provide a chat service through its mobile apps, as well as to connect to users’ specific accounts for direct answers instead of links to places where answers can be found. The virtual assistant, which was

designed in conjunction with Microsoft Healthcare NExT, has already won several awards, including the 2019 Microsoft for Healthcare Innovation Award.

“We’re still in the early stages of AI in healthcare, and we’re working with predictive analytics and new algorithms to apply it to data to better forecast the health needs of our members,” says Brooke. “The fact that we now have so much data gives us the opportunity to make navigating the healthcare system much easier and more efficient, increasing patient satisfaction and decreasing costs.”

Premera Pulse users can log in and search for providers, book appointments, and manage medication lists.

Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska

“MyCare Alaska gives Premera customers immediate access to physicians, which is especially important for those living in remote areas or who have challenges with physician availability,” says Brooke.

The pilot program is currently available to about 20,000 fully insured large group members, and the company is collecting feedback from members and providers for future iterations of the product. Both Premera Pulse and MyCare Alaska are SOCQ and HITRUST-certified to make sure that patients’ medical information is kept safe.

Premera Scout, which was launched in January 2018 on Premera’s Android app and the following July on Premera’s Facebook page via Messenger, is a virtual assistant that uses easy-to-understand, text-based chat conversations to help customers find information on claims, benefits, and other Premera services.

“On Facebook, you can ask about what services are covered and how much of your deductible is left, among other questions,” says Dani Chung, corporate communications representative at Premera. “The virtual assistant deep-links you to a place in your member account onwww.akbizmag.com

PROTECTING OUR MOST

PRECIOUS RESOURCE Usibelli Coal Mine produces more than one million tons of coal every year, helping energize Interior Alaska.

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August 2019 | 13

FINANCE

Distinguishing Differences in Financial Institutions Ever wondered how a big bank differs from a credit union? Here’s how.

14 | August 2019

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

© Matt Waliszek

T

By Tracy Barbour

here are thousands of financial institutions in Alaska, providing everything from checking and savings accounts to loans and investment solutions.

Banks and credit unions are among the most prominent financial services companies serving Alaskans. However, there are distinct differences—and similarities—between how these insti-

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tutions function to meet the needs of businesses and consumers. And each one fills a particular role in the financial services marketplace.

The state’s diverse roster of financial institutions also includes specialized entities: trust companies, finance companies, money service businesses, mortgage lenders/ loan originators, and payday lenders. All of these institutions give Alaskans more choices when it comes to satisfying their financial requirements.

Alaska Business

Regulatory Primer As a brief regulatory overview, the United States has a dual banking system that allows financial institutions to choose a state or national charter, which, in turn, determines how they are governed and function. The federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) oversees banks that operate nationally, and the Federal Reserve regulates most state banks. The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) regulates, charters, and August 2019 | 15

Elaine Kroll © Matt Waliszek

16 | August 2019

supervises federal credit unions.

And as an area of dissimilarity, deposits at banks and credit unions are insured by different regulatory bodies.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Patrice Walsh Corporation (FDIC) Alaska Division of Banking provides insurance and Securities for individual bank deposits up to $250,000 while the NCUA provides insurance up to $250,000 per share deposit for credit unions.

Within Alaska, the Alaska Division of Banking and Securities regulates many of the financial institutions that operate in the state. The division charters and examines state-chartered banks, bank holding companies, credit unions, trust companies, small loan companies, business and industrial development corporations (BIDCOs), payday lenders, and premium finance companies. More specifically, it regulates four banks— Northrim Bank, First Bank, Denali State Bank, and Mt. McKinley Bank—and one credit union: Credit Union 1.

Banks and credit unions that are chartered in Alaska must adhere to distinct statutes, according to Patrice Walsh, director of the Alaska Division of Banking and Securities. Banks must follow AS 06.05. Alaska Banking Code.

Credit unions are bound by AS 06.45.

Alaska Credit Union Act. And both banks and credit unions must follow AS 06.01.

Banks and Financial Institutions. “The credit union is a nonprofit and the banks are privately-owned corporations, so there are slightly different guidelines,” Walsh says.

The ownership structure is one of the key differences between the two types of institutions. Banks are private businesses owned by a few individuals or entities, and credit unions are nonprofit cooperatives owned by all of their customers—referred to as “members.”

As not-for-profit cooperatives, credit unions are exempt from federal income at the entity level while banks generally pay taxes at the corporate level. The tax exemption is designed to support credit unions in their original mission to give people with a “common bond” and modest means affordable access to banking services.

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Bank Attributes Many people are confused about the differences between banks and credit unions. The distinction between these entities is typically not visible to most people as the difference is related more to how the institutions are run versus the functions they perform, according to Elaine Kroll of First National Bank Alaska.

“Both banks and credit unions provide very similar consumer products and services such as check cashing, depository transactions, ATM services, and loans,” says Kroll, senior vice president of cash management and Anchorage branch administration director. “This similarity can be confusing to consumers, who wonder why credit unions seem to offer better pricing on loans and deposits.”

Kroll attributes the difference in pricing to credit unions’ tax-exempt status. She explains: “Paying taxes is a significant cost of doing business incurred by banks; under today’s rules, credit unions can compete for the exact same market share, only with a tax-free advantage.”

There are also contrasts between different kinds of banks, such as national and regional or community banks. They

dent, chief operations officer, all offer similar products and general counsel, and corporate services, but national banks secretary at Northrim Bank, may be able to bring to marexpresses similar thoughts. ket innovative products or Community banks are much services more quickly than a more localized, he says, and regional bank, Kroll says. That’s this allows them to really spebecause national banks may cialize and become experts in have more leverage across a what makes Alaska’s economy larger branch network and a work. For example, Northrim greater number of customers Michael Martin has sixteen branches in the over which to spread the Northrim Bank state and strictly focuses on expense. But technology is meeting the needs of Alaskans. helping level the playing field.

“National banks are quick to meet the “What we like to say is that we’re fully demands of consumers nationwide, but invested in the state of Alaska because with the evolution of technology-based that is clearly where we have all our operservices such as online banking, bill pay, ations,” he explains.

Community banks, like larger institumobile deposits, and money transfer options like Zelle, community banks are tions, are spending a tremendous amount of capital to provide customers with the closing the gap,” she says.

Kroll continues: “Regional or commu- latest and greatest technology to enhance nity banks are well-known to be more their access to banking services, says customer-friendly because of their local Martin, who also serves as vice president of presence and knowledge. Loan requests the Alaska Bankers Association. Northrim, and/or other customer needs can be which is a $1.5 billion bank, has an app nimbly and quickly met at the local lev- that allows customers to do pretty much el versus a standardized, non-flexible anything they can do in a branch. Although approach with which many larger banks Northrim gives customers different ways to do their banking, it still prioritizes prostruggle.”

Michael Martin, executive vice presi- viding “customer first” service. “Banks and

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18 | August 2019

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“Regional or community banks are well-known to be more customer-friendly because of their local presence can be nimbly and quickly met at the local level versus a standardized, non-flexible approach with which many

FNBA

and knowledge. Loan requests and/or other customer needs

larger banks struggle.”

—Elaine Kroll SVP Cash Management/Anchorage Branch Administration Director First National Bank Alaska

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information to make better-informed financial decisions and giving them the tools and ability to instantly complete a transaction whenever they want and wherever they are,” Deal says.

Non-traditional, online-only banks are another option for Alaska businesses and consumers. Online banks like Discover Bank, Capital One 360, and E-Trade boast lower fees and loan interest rates as well as higher earnings on deposit accounts.

These banks—which are federally-regulated and -insured—may be a viable alternative for someone seeking to make a shortterm deposit and earn higher interest, according to Kaitlin Morris, MPA, Financial Examiner III with the Alaska Division of Banking and Securities. “They have a place in the competitive market,” says Morris, whose job entails evaluating the soundness and safety of financial institutions.

Credit Union Characteristics Credit unions possess a variety of distinct characteristics, such as democratic control of their financial institutions. Members vote for their board of directors, who must be members of the credit union. Also, credit unions must rely on their retained earnings (or profit) to raise capital for growth; banks can sell stock to raise capital. In addition, credit unions have a statutory cap on their business-lending activities because, in part, they are formed for the purpose of promoting thrift among their members and providing them with a low-cost source of credit.

As financial cooperatives, credit unions operate with a “people first” principle, says Randy Butler, regional executive at Denali a division of Nuvision Federal Credit Union. “In general, you’ll find credit unions offer lower costs on loans and

“Our financial system really works together with spurring economic development around the state. It’s all based on risk appetite, board approval, and monitoring

©Anthony Burden

credit unions are quick adaptors, and the price of technology is where we can keep up these days,” he says. “I believe there will always be people who will value customer service.”

Wells Fargo & Company is a major example of a nationwide, diversified financial services company that offers a vast array of services to Alaskans. The San Francisco-based company provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 8,700 locations, more than 12,500 ATMs, online, and on mobile devices. With approximately 262,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States, according to its website.

In Alaska, Wells Fargo’s 640 Alaska team members serve the state through a network of forty-eight banking, mortgage, and investment offices and 117 ATMs in twenty-eight communities from Ketchikan to Barrow, according to Wells Fargo Alaska Regional Bank President Greg Deal. “Wells Fargo has maintained the largest market share among banks in Alaska since the late 1960s (currently 50 percent of all deposits),” he says. “Wells Fargo has more than doubled its deposits since the National Bank of Alaska merger, from $2.4 billion in 2001 to $6 billion in 2018.”

As a company, Wells Fargo employs innovation and technology to build stronger relationships with customers.

For example, it recently introduced cardfree ATMs and a free Control Tower mobile banking service to give customers a snapshot of their digital financial footprint. “It's about giving our customers

these risks as they go.”

—Kaitlin Morris Financial Examiner III, Alaska Division of Banking and Securities

Alaska Business

August 2019 | 19

FNBA's U-Med Branch in Anchorage.

FNBA

fees and provide higher dividends on deposits than banks,” he says.

Butler says products offered by banks and credit unions are pretty commoditized in today’s financial field, with both types of institutions offering similar services. And the outdated perception of a “traditional” credit union only serving a single business or small group of people generally does not exist any longer, he says, explaining: “For many people, their concept of a credit union may be where 20 | August 2019

they can open a ‘Christmas savings’ account and, perhaps, get a car loan.

Today’s credit unions offer complete financial services to assist the member with all aspects of his/her financial life.”

Like banks, credit unions also offer online and mobile services to ensure members have secure, easy access to their accounts. After all, people expect their bank or credit union to offer 24/7 access to accounts and to be secure, Butler says. He elaborates: “If you are not

able to offer around-the-clock access to accounts, loan applications and followup, mobile banking [to include remote deposit capture and other remote access services], a call center, ATMs, and other financial technology channels, you are going to have a tough time competing for customers/members.”

Over the years, credit unions have had to overcome the misconception that they cannot offer the same breadth of personal access to accounts as larger

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

where they can open a ‘Christmas savings’ account and, perhaps, get a car loan. Today’s credit unions offer complete financial services to assist the member with all aspects of his/her financial life.”

Denali. A division of Nuvision Credit Union

“For many people, their concept of a credit union may be

—Randy Butler Regional Executive-North Denali a division of Nuvision Credit Union

banks. However, in the “cooperative” spirit of credit unions, several shared branch and shared ATM networks have been created, which offer access across the nation. Butler explains: “Denali, as an example, is part of the CO-OP Financial Services network, which includes more than 5,600 shared branches [which is, in effect, the second-largest branch network in the United States] and access to more than 30,000 ATMs [nearly doubling the size of the largest bank ATM

network]. Our members can conduct no-surcharge transactions at all of these ATMs and at the shared branches, just like they’d be able to do at any of our branches in Alaska or Washington.”

Today, credit unions and banks are experiencing a trend toward more consolidation. There were roughly 12,000 credit unions in the United States about twenty years ago, and now there are approximately 6,000, Butler says. And according to a December 2018 report by

the Congressional Research Service, the total number of credit unions declined from 9,014 to 5,573 between 2004 and 2017. During that same period, the number of community banks declined from 8,379 to 4,920. However, the number of credit unions with $1 billion or more in total assets increased from 99 to 287.

Denali is a dynamic example of how the consolidation trend is playing out in Alaska. Denali merged with Nuvision Credit Union in September 2018 and

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recently completed an upgrade to a new core computer system. “The merger with Nuvision now means we are a financial institution with the strength of $2.3 billion in assets and more than 170,000 members [compared to $670 million and 72,000 members prior to the merger] and branch offices in five western states: Alaska, Washington, California, Arizona, and Wyoming,” Butler says.

He adds: “This is an exciting time for Denali as we are working toward introducing new products to members and building a long-term service model keyed on the new computer system that’s in place. Denali’s fifteen-branch network that we built in Alaska and Washington remains in place, joining with the sixteen branches in Nuvision’s network to offer multi-state services to members in addition to the shared branch/ATM networks in which both Denali and Nuvision participate.”

Specialized Financial Institutions Along with overseeing banks and credit unions, the Alaska Banking and Securities Division regulates an assortment of specialized financial institutions. A prime example is Alaska’s first BIDCO, Alaska Growth Capital (AGC). Founded in 1997, AGC BIDCO fosters economic development and job creation by providing loans, investments, and management assistance to businesses. AGC supplies business loans utilizing programs offered by the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), providing financing up to—and in some cases exceeding—$10 million.

The unique nature of BIDCOs let them maintain more flexible lending practices.

Because a BIDCO is a private entity and does not take on deposits, it often has the ability to take on more risk than other types of financial institutions, according to Morris. Banks and credit unions, on the other hand, carry more regulatory burden because they collect deposits from the public and private entities. However, a BIDCO can provide funding to entrepreneurs who may be starting higher-risk businesses as well as pull in banking partners to participate on larger loans if necessary. “Our financial system really works together with spurring economic development around the state,” she says.

“It’s all based on risk appetite, board approval, and monitoring these risks as www.akbizmag.com

CEO Matt Blattmachr. they go.”

Although most people do Morris adds: “Our team not think of Alaska as a financial regulates BIDCOs, and we services hub, Blattmachr says, ensure that they are lending in Alaska has some of the best a safe and sound manner and trust and estate planning laws are following state statutes. in the nation. “That provides We make sure they have the a huge advantage to Alaskans appropriate policies and proand brings outside revenue to cedures in place.” the state,” he says. “It’s a very Another type of specialized Matt Blattmachr good kind of economic diverfinancial services entity overPeak Trust Company sifier. It’s attractive for people seen by the Alaska Division of to do business here.”

Banking and Securities is trust Alaska also has a wide range of companies. Currently, the division regulates four such entities, including Peak other financial services industries Trust Company (formerly Alaska Trust operating in the state. According to Company). As a full-service provider, Walsh, the Alaska Division of Banking the firm offers legacy planning services and Securities regulates 2,700 mortto individuals, families, and their advi- gage loan originators, 306 mortgage sors. Peak Trust assists clients with trust lenders, 111 money service businesses, and estate administration, investment twenty-six premium finance companies, management, and family planning in twenty-three payday lenders, and ten general (transitioning wealth). Unlike small loan companies.

Alaska’s diverse financial institutions a trust department located within a bank, the company provides fiduciary play an important role in the economy services as its core business. “While Peak and are beneficial for consumers and Trust is technically a bank under Alaska businesses, Walsh says. “Each one is statutes, we are a limited services needed, and each one serves its role,” bank—meaning we don’t take deposits she says. “This gives Alaskans a variety of and make loans,” says President and choices in the financial marketplace.”

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August 2019 | 23

CONS TRUC TION

Building Alaska— Summer Edition Construction projects from North Pole to the Kenai Peninsula

By Samantha Davenport

S

ummer is in full swing, and Alaskans know what that means: construction season.

24 | August 2019

A rendering of Eielson Air Force Base’s School Age Services building—a $19.5 million project expected to be completed next August—one of Design Alaska’s summer projects.

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ISER’s Alaska Construction Spending Forecast 2019 projects that construction in Alaska will increase 10 percent compared to 2018—rising to approximately $7.2 billion. An estimated $200 million of that is traceable to damages from the 7.1 earthquake that rattled the state last November.

But other projects, planned long in advance, are still taking place this summer.

Alaska Business has compiled a few of these projects from across the state. www.akbizmag.com

Alaska Business

August 2019 | 25

Interior Steven Edwards, senior public relations specialist for Stantec, says the North Pole Water System Expansion will extend the public water supply to more than 650 properties within and around the city. Exclusive Paving is the contractor for the Stantec-designed project, a $52 million job constructing 181,000 feet of insulated water mains.

“The project includes expansion of the existing water treatment plant, a new 750,000-gallon water reservoir, and a new water system pump house,” Edwards says.

26 | August 2019

Construction on the North Pole Water System Expansion started in February of 2018 and should be finished by the end of August.

At Eielson Air Force Base, Design Alaska is in the midst of a $19.5 million afterschool facility project, says Jeff Putnam, vice president of the firm. “[The project] supports the new F-35 aircraft that are coming to the base,” Putnam says. “With the increase in personnel, there’s a number of support buildings that are also needed to either be rebuilt or enlarged or something along that line. This building provides

after-school services for military personnel and their families.”

Putnam says the design-build project is being managed by the US Army Corps of Engineers-Alaska District, GHEMM Co. is the general contractor, and Design Alaska is the architect-engineer for the design. The project broke ground in June and should be complete in the summer of 2020.

Another military project Design Alaska is assisting with is the replacement of the Birch Hill Ski and Snowboard Area, currently within the boundaries of Fort Wainwright. The $10 million project will replace the existing facility. Stellar Construction is the construction manager for the project, GHEMM Co. is the general contractor, and Design Alaska is the designer of record.

“Demo, site work, and driving piles should begin this fall with construction starting next spring,” Putnam says. “The facility should be back up in operation in time for the 2020-2021 ski season.”

Architecture firm McCool Carlson Green (MCG) has some projects in the works in the Interior as well, including an Eielson Air Force Base Missile Maintenance Facility and a Conventional Munitions Maintenance Facility, both of which will begin construction this summer and be complete in the fall of 2020.

Corissa Lickingteller, marketing director at MCG, says the clients for both projects are the US Army Corps of EngineersAlaska District and the US Air Force.

Schneider & Associates is the structural engineer on-site; Coffman Engineers is handling the civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering.

MCG is also in the middle of constructing a new fire station at Clear Air Force Station for the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF). Clear Air Force Station sits south of Fairbanks and just north of Denali. The new station will increase in size from 6,000 square feet to 20,000 square feet and feature four drive-through stalls, a training room, and fourteen individual bunk rooms.

Lickingteller says the design team consists of Coffman Engineers, which will assist with mechanical and electrical engineering and landscape architecture, and Schneider & Associates, which is in charge of structural engineering. The contractor for the new station, slated for completion this fall, is UNIT Company.

Tutka, a contractor that specializes in

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bridge construction and heavy civil work, is also staying busy in the Interior this summer. Amie Sommer, owner of Tutka, says the team is working on replacing the Jenny M Creek Bridge on Chena Hot Springs Road, Milepost 20. DOT&PF is the owner of the $3.7 million project expected to be completed in November of this year.

Southwest and Southcentral MCG is currently constructing a replacement for the Auntie Mary Nicoli Elementary School for the community of Aniak and the Kuspuk School District. While the schedule is still being determined, it will be ready for the school year starting in either 2020 or 2021. Lickingteller says the contractor for the job is ASKW; leading project management is ARCADIS; RPKA is heading civil projects; and RSA Engineers is handling mechanical and electrical.

MCG is also working on some projects in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, including a new station for the Wasilla Police Department for the City of Wasilla, which should be completed in spring of 2020.

Collins Construction is the general contractor. AMC Engineers is the mechanical and electrical engineer on-site, PND

A Tutka employee walks alongside the Seward Highway Road and Bridge Rehabilitation project. Tutka is replacing the Peterson Creek, Virgin Creek, and Glacier Creek Bridges and repairing the Ingram Creek Bridge. ©Amie Sommer

Engineers will assist with structural design, DOWL is heading civil work, and Corvus Design will provide landscape architecture design. Construction is scheduled for completion in mid-2020.

Tutka is assisting with Phase I of the $51 million Seward Highway Road and Bridge Rehabilitation project, owned by

DOT&PF. Tutka’s scope of work includes replacing the Peterson Creek, Virgin Creek, and Glacier Creek Bridges and repairing the Ingram Creek Bridge.

The contractor for the job is Granite Construction Company and the engineering firm is PND Engineers. The entire rehabilitation project should be

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completed by November 2020, and Sommer says Tutka’s portion of the job should be completed this year.

Southeast MCG has two construction projects slated for fall in the Panhandle; the Wastewater Treatment Plant Rehabilitation project and a renovation to the Juneau Airport.

The Wastewater Treatment Plant was built in the early ‘80s and most of the building systems have failed or are long overdue for replacement. According to an assembly update from the City of Sitka, “The air quality within the building is inadequate and corrosive and the exposed piping and metal within the building are corroded. The building’s envelope leaks air and does not allow for proper pressurization of the office areas and other clean rooms. Corrosive air in these spaces results in electronics regularly becoming dysfunctional within months, in addition to creating an unhealthy air quality for the WWTP operators.”

The initial cost is estimated at $10 million, with the project expected to wrap up in the spring of 2021.

Lickingteller says that MCG is the architect and project manager for the Juneau International Airport Terminal Renovation. PND Engineers is the civil, structural, and mechanical engineer on the renovation and Haight & Associates is the electrical engineer.

A master plan was created in 2005 to renovate the airport’s terminals and replace areas that were constructed before 1984. Phase I of the plan added 13,000 square feet and renovated 40,000 square feet of the airport. Phase II is currently underway, which will replace all areas

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

The Homer Police Department is getting a new facility next August, fit with dispatch, training, administrative, investigative, and patrol offices; armory; evidence storage and lab; and jail with five cells and a detention room.

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that were constructed before 1984, add a second story for a concourse, a new lobby, counter space, and more. The initial project cost is estimated at $21.6 million.

Kenai Peninsula Stantec broke ground in May on a $7.5 million project to construct a new 12,000-square-foot police station. Edwards says that Stantec, the City of Homer, and Cornerstone General Contractors are collaborating on a design-build to construct a station tailored to the needs of the Homer Police Department. Homer residents approved a $5 million bond to complete financing for the new station in 2018.

“Through extensive staff interviews and investigation of the existing layout, the team has been able to create a modern police station to serve public safety staff and the community,” Stevens says. “The new facility includes dispatch, training, administrative, investigative, and patrol offices; armory; evidence storage and lab; and jail with five cells and a detention room.”

Stevens says the new police station should be completed in August of 2020.

MCG is constructing the Homer Airport Aircraft Rescue & Fire Fighting Facility, a project that could cost between $5 million and $10 million. The facility should be finished by February of next year.

“This is a new facility that will service the airport and surrounding area in Homer. We are designing this with R&M Consultants for the Alaska Department of Transportation,” Lickingteller explains.

RSA Engineers and PND Engineers will assist with mechanical and electrical engineering and structural, respectively. www.akbizmag.com

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August 2019 | 29

ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIAL SECTION | SITE ASSESSMENT

Assessing Environments How scientists statewide protect Alaska’s lands

By Brad Joyal

Surface soil sample collection.

Environmental Management Inc.

30 | August 2019

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

sampling and have deep water wells, you might be able to sample year-round. If it’s shallow water and you’re having to poke through ice, you are kind of limited.”

A worker conducts groundwater sampling in Kenai.

Shannon & Wilson

N

o two environmental site assessments are the same. Organizations and individuals request assessments because of specific needs unique to the circumstances of their particular project. Environmental site assessments are most commonly used to determine the risks of contaminants on a property, and some projects require a more thorough assessment to be completed due to the history of the site.

Environmental site assessments are generally requested during the early stages of a transaction process, as the involved parties typically view the assessment as a part of the “due diligence” period before the transaction is complete, so the majority of Phase I site assessments occur before a property changes ownership.

If contamination risks are identified and need remediation, the site would require a Phase II site assessment to clean up the contaminants.

when a client is preparing to refinance a property.

“Environmental site assessments are a due diligence tool that potential buyers and sellers of properties can use to assess environmental risk that can impact the value of a property,” says Matt Hemry, vice president for Shannon & Wilson, a geotechnical and environmental consulting firm with offices in Anchorage and Fairbanks. “There’re a couple different scenarios. A potential buyer or seller of a property sometimes likes to know this information for their own education of what’s there. But a lot of times it’s driven by a financial institution requiring a test as a part of their financial project. The bank, financial institution, or investor is going to be on the hook if there is an environmental contamination found at a later date and they haven’t done their due diligence.”

Conducting Assessments

The first step is a Phase 1 site assessment to evaluate what, if any, environmental risks exist on the property. One of the first measures in that process is to learn about the history of a site and what the property was used for in the past. The Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) databases, which include data on contaminated sites, spill sites, and registered underground storage sites, are a good

Phase I Site Assessments Site assessments are generally requested by organizations or individuals planning to purchase or sell a property, and the bulk of environmental site assessments are completed by environmental consulting firms that specialize in the field. Many of the consulting firms in Alaska work in collaboration with financial institutions that suggest site assessments take place www.akbizmag.com

Alaska Business

–Shayla Marshall Senior Program Manager Environmental Management, Inc.

place to start.

“Each database has a prescribed radius that we have to look at,” explains Bob Braunstein, president of BGES, a fullservice environmental consulting firm.

“For national priority lists, it’s a mile radius.

For registered tanks, it’s just the property and the adjacent properties. For some of the other databases, it’s either a half mile or a quarter mile. There’s roughly about a dozen databases that we look at.”

Some sites, particularly those in remote parts of the state, don’t have much documented information in the DEC’s databases. According to Braunstein, having little information to work with isn’t necessarily a bad thing. “Finding nothing in the databases is a good thing—that means there’s no reported contaminated sites nearby,” he says.

When a search of the databases doesn’t produce results, consulting firms spring into action to conduct their own reconnaissance to discover more about the site’s history. Although consulting firms employ scientists that are versed in identifying contaminants, their research is often completed with the help of others, especially when a site is in a remote part of the state that isn’t easily accessible.

“There are outfits that specialize in aerial photography and they’ll encompass the state,” Hemry says. “We can go into their office and say, ‘Can I see aerial photographs August 2019 | 31

ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIAL SECTION | SITE ASSESSMENT

“If you’re doing water

ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIAL SECTION | SITE ASSESSMENT

Groundwater sampling at Brooks Lake in Katmai National Park and Preserve.

Ahtna Engineering Services

showing this parcel dating back to the 1950s?’ We’ll choose one from 1950 and maybe another from 1960, and we’ll see what’s going on with the site and start honing in on what we’re interested in.

We’re certainly interested in any type of development.”

Firms can often spot contaminants just by viewing photographs. The easiest indicator of contaminants is discolored or dead vegetation, or sometimes a spill is very visible. Even if the site isn’t visibly contaminated, photographs can help identify other features that may indicate a risk.

“If there are cracks in the surface, that could allow contamination to migrate to the subsurface,” Hemry explains. “One of the other big things we look for are vent pipes—or fill pipes—that might indicate the presence of an underground storage tank. We also go inside of the buildings, typically in the boiler room: even if it’s been converted over to natural gas, there still could be old return lines or copper pipes that extend into the walls. That’s usually a good indication that there’s an old tank there. If there’s an old tank, we’re obviously concerned about the potential of a leak in the past.”

BGES also reaches out to gas and water companies to learn when a specific 32 | August 2019

“One thing that comes up all the time in Alaska soils is arsenic. It’s naturally occurring and it exceeds the DEC cleanup criteria. The DEC becomes concerned with arsenic if it’s from what appears to be a potential man-made source.”

–Bob Braunstein President, BGES

site first connected to those services.

Braunstein notes that, if a property was constructed before natural gas was connected to the property, there’s a good chance an underground storage tank was once present and utilized for heating fuel.

Although the risk of present contaminants is almost always identified during Phase I environmental site assessments, they aren’t required for every property transaction. And, even if a contaminant is present, it doesn’t mean a Phase II site assessment will be necessary.

“Just because we identify an obvious risk or a potential risk, that doesn’t

necessarily mean something needs to happen,” Hemry says. “At that point, the controlling party of the site can make a business decision, based on their risk tolerance, whether or not additional action is needed.”

Common Contaminants In order to make a decision about additional actions, it’s important to know which contaminants are present and what kind of risks they pose. Environmental Management, Inc. Senior Program Manager Shayla Marshall says her firm often evaluates dangerous contaminants by looking at their exposure pathways.

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

been converted over to natural gas, there still could be old return lines or copper pipes that extend into the walls. That’s usually a good indication that there’s an old tank there. If there’s an old tank, we’re obviously concerned about the potential of a leak in the past.”

–Matt Hemry Vice President, Shannon & Wilson

“We ask: How can somebody get sick from that contaminant? Is it in an area that’s right along a waterway where people go fishing, or is there a drinking well on site and is the contamination getting into the drinking source?”

Marshall also notes that wells are a driving factor for determining the potential risk of contaminants and that vapor intrusion has become a bigger issue throughout the state during the past fifteen years. “If you have contamination below a building you are working or living in, can that contamination potentially go up into the

structure where you can breathe it and get sick? Where is it going, and is somebody being exposed to it on a daily basis but is unaware because you can’t see it, smell it, or taste it?”

Although environmental site assessment consultants widely agree that the state’s most common contaminants are from petroleum-related gases, there are other contaminants routinely found.

“One thing that comes up all the time in Alaska soils is arsenic,” Braunstein says.

“It’s naturally occurring and it exceeds the DEC cleanup criteria. The DEC becomes

concerned with arsenic if it’s from what appears to be a potential man-made source.”

It’s one thing to identify the dangers of various contaminants, but what about cleaning up the site?

That’s where things can get tricky.

Phase II Assessments After consulting firms identify the risks—or potential risks—of the contaminants that are present, the property owner determines how to address the situation through a Phase II site assessment. Especially in

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August 2019 | 33

ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIAL SECTION | SITE ASSESSMENT

“We also go inside of the buildings, typically in the boiler room: even if it’s

ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIAL SECTION | SITE ASSESSMENT

Kenai soil sample collection in winter.

Shannon & Wilson

remote areas, Phase II assessments can be the costliest aspect of environmental site assessments. In addition to driving costs, working in remote areas also forces firms to be creative about how they conduct their work.

“The interesting assessments are ones that are tough locations that the average Alaskan doesn’t get to go to, like working

34 | August 2019

out on the Aleutian Islands,” says Greg Jarrell, Alaska regional director for Ahtna Environmental. “There’s a string of islands where a lot of environmental work is being done, and that’s interesting because it’s a unique location so the logistics are kind of fun to put together. It’s like putting a puzzle together and hoping you have the right pieces.”

How to treat contamination can also be a puzzle. Braunstein describes a recent Phase II assessment that BGES is currently working on that is particularly interesting because of where contaminated vapors were found.

“Sometimes you have deep contamination,” Braunstein says. “We have a project in Peter’s Creek where contamination extends down to about 145 feet. So obviously it’s not feasible to excavate. What we’re doing is we put in a solar vapor extraction system that basically sucks the air out of the soils with a vacuum. It pulls out the vapors over time and can take several years to reduce the soil concentration to acceptable levels, but that’s the most feasible way to deal with a deep contamination. It’s not inexpensive, but when you deal with contamination that deep, it’s about the only way to deal with it.”

As it is for all of Alaska’s major industries, the state’s long, dark, cold winter season is also challenging.

“We have a very finite window to do our work up here,” Jarrell says. “Our summer season is pretty short, so it takes a lot of planning and coordination and communication to make it all come

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The Buckner Building in Whittier undergoes a hazardous materials assessment.

Shannon & Wilson

together in order to successfully complete these projects.” Marshall goes on to say that the weather can cause problems depending on what equipment is needed to complete an assessment. “If you’re using an excavator, a lot of the time you’re limited by how deep the frost level is,” she says.

Environmental Management, Inc. worked atop a mountainside in the Interior this past November, a project that required the firm to helicopter in a rig so it could drill in the middle of a blowing snowstorm. “It all depends on the equipment being used,” Marshall says. “That dictates what you’re able to do with soil sampling. If you’re doing water sampling and have deep water wells, you might be able to sample year-round. If it’s shallow water and you’re having to poke through ice, you are kind of limited.”

Regardless of what an environmental site assessment requires, the scientists involved are pleased to be a part of the industry.

“I find it to be a very interesting field in that—more than other consultants like engineers—we are a real mixed group,” says Nino Muniz, a senior program manager for Ahtna Environmental. “It’s an interesting field because there are so many components of so many different kinds of sciences that you use to try to do this work. A civil engineering group is going to do civil engineering design; a mechanical engineer is going to do mechanical engineering design, but we put all that stuff together." www.akbizmag.com

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August 2019 | 35

ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIAL SECTION | SITE ASSESSMENT

The Vision and Experience in Environmental Services for a Cleaner and Safer Tomorrow

ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIAL SECTION | CONTINGENCY PLANS

Crowley’s tank farm in St. Mary’s was visited by Shannon & Wilson engineers as part of an SPCC plan update.

Shannon & Wilson

‘Plans Are Nothing, Planning Is Everything’ Being proactive with spill contingency plans

spills and discharges and 2) outlines response and clean-up procedures should catastrophe strike.

By Amy Newman

Environmental contingency plans can be both broadly and narrowly defined.

From a regulatory standpoint, they are highly-specific documents required of a narrow set of companies that meet certain federal and state guidelines. In Alaska, that generally means large-scale companies that deal in high-volume oil storage, distribution, and production.

“Most of the time here in Alaska, when somebody says ‘contingency plan,’ they’re generally referring to oil spill/discharge contingency plans by the DEC [Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation],” explains Craig Wilson, principal with Stantec, a multidisciplinary design firm that offers environmental consult-

A

ccording to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), just one gallon of spilled oil can contaminate more than 1 million gallons of water, so it’s critical for companies that deal with these products on a daily basis—whether in their primary trade or secondary to their primary business—to take steps to prevent a spill or discharge and mitigate the damage should one occur.

Enter environmental contingency plans.

These documents provide companies with a blueprint that 1) helps implement safety and containment measures to prevent and mitigate the effects of accidental 36 | August 2019

Regulated and Unregulated Entities

ing services.

DEC regulations encompass most of Alaska’s large oil distribution, production, and storage facilities.

“The big thresholds that stand out to people are tank farms that are either 210,000 gallons of crude or 420,000 gallons of refined product. If you meet that threshold, you have to have a contingency plan,” says Graham Wood, program manager of the DEC’s Prevention, Preparedness, and Response Program, which is tasked with preventing and mitigating the effects of an oil spill or discharge and ensuring its cleanup. Oil production and exploration facilities, pipelines, tank vessels, and non-tank vessels are also subject to DEC regulations, he adds.

Facilities that don’t meet the DEC threshold likely fall under the EPA’s Spill, Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) plans, which Matt Hemry, PE, vice president of environmental consulting

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

accidents and the ones that chemicals,” says John Jones, make national headlines, like PE, branch manager for ATC the Exxon Valdez or DeepwaGroup Services. ter Horizon, Wilson explains; Potential accidents fall into they are “defined by the fact one of three categories, Wilson that you are overwhelmed says. Routine incidents, like oil and outside help needs to run spilled from a bucket, happen the show.” regularly; they’re relatively easy When determining how to to contain and are handled mitigate each risk as part of the entirely in-house. EmergenJohn Jones contingency plan, applicable cies, like a tank truck rollover, ATC Group Services regulations should serve as release a larger quantity of cona starting point for the pretaminants and require the aid of special teams to assist with containment ventative steps to take, Wood says.

AlaskaBusiness_2019.pdf 1 4/15/19 10:41 AM and clean-up. Disasters are the worst And regardless of whether the DEC

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Risk Assessment and Prevention

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Regulations aside, contingency planning is simply an exercise in risk analysis: identify potential harm, take steps to prevent that harm from happening, and have procedures in place to mitigate damage and deal with clean-up if preventative steps fail. It’s an analysis every company that stores or handles potentially harmful products or materials should undertake.

“The bottom line is, regardless of which set of regulations you’re talking about, if you have hazardous materials or things that are potential environmental pollutants at your facility, you need to be thinking about ways to avoid spills and ways to avoid unintentional release of those www.akbizmag.com

Alaska Business

August 2019 | 37

ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIAL SECTION | CONTINGENCY PLANS

firm Shannon & Wilson, calls “a contingency plan lite.”

SPCC plans cover non-transportation facilities with either an aggregate aboveground oil storage capacity greater than 1,320 gallons or a completely buried oil storage capacity greater than 42,000 gallons, provided there is a reasonable expectation of discharge into or upon navigable waters of the United States or adjoining shorelines. The EPA also broadly defines oil to include petroleum products, vegetable oils, synthetic or mineral oils, and oil or grease derived from animals.

“The umbrella of entities that are subject to SPCC regulations are much broader, and, as you can imagine, the facilities can vary greatly,” Hemry explains. Hospitals with emergency generator tanks, small oil and distribution generators, airports, and even small businesses with 2,000-gallon fuel tanks on premises used to heat a shop or power machinery all fall under the SPCC. Many of these entities, particularly small businesses off Alaska’s road system, are simply unaware that the regulations apply to them, Hemry says.

But while large or even mid-size oil storage, production, and distribution facilities are most commonly regulated, the deciding factor of whether or not to create a contingency plan shouldn’t hinge solely on whether a company’s particular industry is regulated.

“From a response standpoint, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a regulated entity or not; you can’t spill onto lands or waters of the state,” Wood says, adding that “a lot of the [spill] responses are from these smaller, unregulated facilities.”

ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIAL SECTION | CONTINGENCY PLANS

regulates a particular facility, the department is always available to answer questions from companies regarding the creation or implementation of contingency plans.

“From a prevention standpoint, even if you’re a smaller operation that’s not necessarily regulated, I would encourage you to pick up the phone and call us,” he says. “Technical assistance in creating a contingency plan from DEC is free; when you spill oil, it’s not.”

Basic common sense also comes into play when creating a contingency plan, whether the industry is regulated or not.

“A lot of times what you need to do may or may not be covered by the regulations,” Jones says. “You need to use a little bit of common sense.”

To start, businesses should examine their facility with a critical eye and identify every area that could possibly fail, the ramifications of that failure, and what can be done to prevent it.

“If something leaks, where’s it going to go? Is it going to go into the stormwater drain, is it going to go into the ditch, will it be contained, is it out of a double wall tank?” Jones lists as questions businesses should ask as they walk through the facility.

38 | August 2019

“If we have a spill at this particular spot, where’s it going to go, and how are we going to stop it? If it’s going to be spraying out of a pipe, do you know where the shutoff valves are, and does your staff know how to shut them off?”

Checking that equipment is operating properly and in compliance with any regulations is also important.

“As you can imagine in Alaska, we’ve had facilities that have been around for decades or more, so the older tanks can be well out of compliance,” Hemry says.

And the duty to prevent and mitigate risk doesn’t end when the contingency plan is completed.

“There are inspection components where you have to go around and check; some are daily, some are weekly or monthly,” Jones says. “If something were at a high chance of a spill, inspections might be daily; fueling trucks, for example, every time you fill a truck you look at the ground for spills. It just kind of depends on the risk of the activity.”

Have and Use the Plan Despite the known potential for harm if a spill occurs, Peter Beardsley, PE, principalin-charge at Nortech, says it is sometimes

“From a response standpoint, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a regulated entity or not; you can’t spill onto lands or waters of the state.”

–Graham Wood Program Manager, DEC Prevention, Preparedness, and Response Program

difficult to convince companies of the necessity to plan for a hypothetical situation they hope never happens, particularly if regulations don’t require them to have a contingency plan on file.

“People just put their head in the sand and hope it doesn’t happen to them, or they rationalize it,” he explains. “There’s a human component to that. ‘Oh, it happens

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

www.akbizmag.com

Crowley’s tank farm in rural Aniak, outside of Bethel, was inspected by environmental consulting firm Shannon & Wilson engineers as part of an SPCC plan update.

Shannon & Wilson

off the top of the bookcase, and blew the dust off.”

One practical way to ensure that employees understand the plan is to conduct tabletop exercises, which walk them step-by-step through the response procedures and can be an “eye-opening” experience, Wilson says.

Alaska Business

If there’s one takeaway, he adds, it’s that every company needs to know its contingency plan.

“They need to open it up and read through it before something happens,” he says. 'It’s the old saying, ‘Plans are nothing. Planning is everything.' It’s the process, not the paper.”

August 2019 | 39

ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIAL SECTION | CONTINGENCY PLANS

to other people, it doesn’t happen to me, so I don’t need a contingency plan.’”

The danger with that line of thinking, according to Jones, is that if a discharge does happen, it will be too late to come up with a clean-up plan.

“If you have a good plan and it’s in place, even if you have a small spill, nothing bad happens, because it’s contained or you’re able to clean it up quickly,” he says. “The really bad ones are where you didn’t have the right plan in place or the employees didn’t follow it.”

While some large companies may handle contingency planning in-house, the majority turn to environmental consulting and design firms that specialize in creating plans for their particular industry. Costs vary from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars, depending on the size and complexity of the facility, its location, and the type and amount of hazardous materials stored, Jones says, but it’s money well invested, both from an environmental and financial standpoint.

He remembers one incident where an employee filling an oil barrel forgot to turn off the hose before going home for the weekend. The result was a 2,500 gallon spill—an amount Jones calls “not gigantic”—that cost close to $1 million to clean up.

“As a guy who’s spent a good chunk of my career cleaning up spills, it’s way, way cheaper to spend money to prevent a spill than to clean one up,” Jones says. “People complain about the cost. One spill and you’d wish you’d bought that stuff.”

Creating the contingency plan is only half the battle. The other half is making sure that those responsible for implementing the plan understand how to respond to a spill before the plan ever has to be put into action.

“A contingency plan is only as useful as the fact that people know it’s there and know what to do in the event of an emergency,” Beardsley says. “We can write plans all day long, and if it just sits on a shelf and no one reads it, nobody is going to know what to do when the situation arises.”

On a shelf is exactly where Wilson once found a company contingency plan.

“I was doing one inspection of a facility and told the guy that he was required to have an oil spill discharge plan and asked to see it,” Wilson recalls. “The guy literally walked over to a large bookcase, stood on top of a chair, pulled a three-ring binder

ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIAL SECTION | DIRECTORY

2019 Alaska Business

Environmental Directory E NVIRO N M E NTAL 1-Call Alaska Top Executive: T odd Duke, GM Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 2 015/2015 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 2 0/20 www.1callalaska.com | Ops@1callalaska.com Oil spill response. Environmental compliance services ship monitoring.

6231 Airpark Pl.,Anchorage, AK 99502 | 907-243-0069

3M Alaska Top Executive: S tephanie Mathers, Reg. Mgr. Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 902/1971 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 9 0,000/12 3M.com | innovation.3malaska@mmm.com facebook.com/3M 3M manufactures a wide range of products covering many markets in Alaska. In the area of natural resources, we provide products and services that support the oil/gas and mining industries in worker safety, electrical, welding protection, and fire/corrosion protection.

11151 Calaska Cir., Anchorage, AK 99515 | 907-522-5200

ABR Top Executive: T erry Schick, Dir. Business Dev. Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 976/1976 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 4 9/49 abrinc.com | info@abrinc.com facebook.com/abrincorporated twitter.com/abrinc_ak Known for objective, rigorous work, ABR's unrivaled experts provide innovative, cost-effective solutions on wildlife science; wetland, vegetation, and landscape ecology; fisheries and aquatic sciences; marine science; statistics, GIS, and database management; and NEPA and permitting. We are GSA contractors.

PO Box 80410, Fairbanks, AK 99708 | 907-455-6777

AECOM Top Executive: B ill Craig, Sr. Mgr./Office Lead 40 | August 2019

Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 904/1948 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 8 5,000/267 aecom.com AECOM Alaska is a team of engineers, scientists, planners, and support staff providing Arctic-smart engineering and environmental services for the complete project life-cycle from permitting for air, water, soils, and solid waste to planning, design, and construction through production and site closure.

700 G St., Suite 500, Anchorage, AK 99501 | 907-562-3366

Ahtna Engineering Services Top Executive: T imothy F. Gould, Pres.

Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 2 003/2003 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 1 03/46 ahtnaes.com linkedin.com/company/ahtna-engineering-services Ahtna Engineering Services is a selfperforming federal and commercial contractor. The firm performs services nationwide including engineering, construction, environmental, administrative, and professional services. AES is positioned to support nationwide requirements with offices in Alaska, Washington, and California.

110 W. 38th Ave., Suite 200A, Anchorage, AK 99503 907-646-2969

Ahtna Environmental Top Executive: T im Finnigan, Pres.

Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 2 010/2010 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 1 75/57 aeiak.com linkedin.com/company/ahtna-environmental-inc Specializes in the execution of timesensitive, complex, and multifaceted environmental, engineering, construction, and professional services projects for government and commercial clients.

110 W. 38th Ave., Suite 200B, Anchorage, AK 99503 907-644-0760

Ahtna Global Top Executive: T im Finnigan, Pres.

Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 2 016/2016 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 4 4/42 ahtnaglobal.com linkedin.com/company/ahtna-global-llc AGL is an 8(a) and HUBZone subsidiary specializing in the execution of timesensitive, complex, and multifaceted environmental, construction, engineering, and professional services projects for government and commercial clients.

110 W. 38th Ave., Suite 200J, Anchorage, AK 99503 907-569-8250

Alaska Chadux Corporation Top Executive: M atthew Melton, GM Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 993/1993 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 1 4/14 chadux.com | info@chadux.com Alaska Chadux Corporation is a memberfunded, 501(c)(4) nonprofit oil spill response organization headquartered in Anchorage.

Chadux is classified as an OSRO by the USCG and registered as a PRAC and an NTVCC with the State of Alaska. We provide resources to cleanup oil spills.

2347 Azurite Ct., Anchorage, AK 99507 | 907-348-2365

Alaska Clean Tanks Top Executive: R obert Wilson, Owner Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 2 013/2013 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 4/4 alaskacleantanks.com | bobwilson@alaskacleantanks.com AST/UST bulk fuel polishing and tank cleaning; hazardous cargo tank cleaning; purging and cleaning of tanks for safe entry prior to maintenance or closure; hazard/ non-hazardous waste disposal; vac truck services; tank removal and replacement; tank tightness testing, confined space entry certified.

PO Box 60415, Fairbanks, AK 99706-0415 | 907-385-3975

Alaska Maritime Prevention & Response Network Top Executive: B uddy Custard, Pres./CEO Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 2 011/2011

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

Alternative planning criteria, federally required regulatory compliance coverage, vessel tracking and monitoring, oil spill removal organization.

1400 W. Benson Blvd., Suite 420, Anchorage, AK 99503 907-754-9700

Alaska Soil Recycling Top Executive: Kris Shippen, Env. Coordinator Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 988/1988 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 10/10 anchsand.com | Kris.Shippen@anchsand.com Remediation of petroleum-impacted soils by thermal desorption. Our process is capable of off-site and on-site remediation projects.

Results are quick and guaranteed. Soils are recycled into beneficial products after treatment thereby complying with green and sustainable recycling (GSR) practices.

1040 O'Malley Rd., Anchorage, AK 99515 | 907-348-6700

Alaska Tent & Tarp Top Executive: K elly Dart, Dir. Commercial Sales Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 945/1945 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 75/75 alaskatent.com | anchorage@alaskatent.com facebook.com/aktentandtarp Secondary containment production.

Geomembrane liners and berms. Portable fabric structures.

529 Front St., Fairbanks, AK 99701 | 907-456-6328

Arctic Fox Environmental Top Executive: R alph Allphin, Pres.

Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 2 004/2004 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 7/5 arcticfoxenv.com | arcticfox@astacalaska.com Analytical laboratory and hazardous waste consulting office in Prudhoe Bay. Arctic Fox also has rooms available for rent in our brand new facility. Each room includes a private bathroom, flat screen TV, and individual climate control.

PO Box 340043, Prudhoe Bay, AK 99734 | 907-659-2145

ARCTOS Alaska, a Division of NORTECH Top Executive: P eter Beardsley, CEO Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 979/1979 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 25/25 arctosak.com | info@nortechengr.com facebook.com/nortechengr linkedin.com/company/2525754 Full service environmental regulatory compliance contractor, tank and piping inspection, field compliance services, permit and compliance management, oil discharge contingency and SPCC plans, plan audits, full range spill prevention and response planning services, response management, and support.

3105 Lakeshore Dr., Suite A106, Anchorage, AK 99517 907-222-2445

ATC Group Services Top Executive: B obby Toups, CEO Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 982/2018 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 1,900/20 atcgroupservices.com | anchorage@atcgs.com

services; asbestos, lead-based paint, and mold surveys; asbestos and lead laboratory; due diligence services; EHS training.

383 Industrial Way, Suite 300, Anchorage, AK 99501 907-258-8661

B.C. Excavating Top Executive: N athan Haines, Pres.

Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 982/1982 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 40/40 Remediation services, soil farming, site cleanup for PCB, TCE, diesel/gasoline contamination, UST removal/replacement, contaminated soils hauling and disposal, etc.

2251 Cinnabar Loop, Anchorage, AK 99507 | 907-344-4490

Top Executive: E lijah Donat, Sr. Project Mgr. Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 2 007/2007 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 4/4 chilkatenvironmental.com chilkat@chilkatenvironmental.com Contaminated sites, NEPA, NALEMP wetlands and permitting, fisheries studies, project management, tribal environmental services, and grant writing.

223 Old Hart Box 865, Haines, AK 99827 | 907-303-7899

Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council

Top Executive: M ike Taylor, Acting Pres.

Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 994/1994 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 350/30 bseak.com

Top Executive: M ichael Munger, Exec. Dir. Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 990/1990 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 7/7 circac.org | circac@circac.org facebook.com/CIRCAC @CookRcac

Range management, munitions response, range and general environmental remediation, electronic war fighter training.

3601 C St., Suite 1000, Anchorage, AK 99503 907-278-2311

Congressionally mandated citizens oversight council promoting environmentally safe marine transportation and oil facility operations in Cook Inlet.

8195 Kenai Spur Hwy., Kenai, AK 99611 | 907-283-7222

BGES

CRW Engineering Group

Bering Sea Ecotech

Top Executive: R obert Braunstein, Pres.

Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 2 002/2002 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 9/8 bgesinc.com | info@bgesinc.com Environmental site assessment, remediation, ground-water monitoring programs, project management and permitting. Lead and asbestos inspections.

1042 E. Sixth Ave., Anchorage, AK 99501 | 907-644-2900

CampWater Industries Top Executive: J on Dufendach, Pres.

Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 2 009/2009 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 2/2 campwater.com | jondufendach@gmail.com Design/build portable and emergency drinking water plants. NSF61-approved models to meet USEPA drinking water standards available off-the-shelf. Affiliates Worldwide; see website.

Box 309, Delta Junction, AK 99737 | 907-895-4304

Central Environmental Top Executive: S tuart Jacques, Pres.

Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 983/1983 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 125/100 cei-alaska.com | stuart@cei-alaska.com Provides civil/environmental construction services including decontaminated soils handling, excavation and site restoration, asbestos abatement, lead abatement, hazardous materials abatement, and demolition.

311 N. Sitka, Anchorage, AK 99501 | 907-561-0125

ChemTrack Alaska Top Executive: C arrie Jokiel, Pres.

Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 973/1973 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 35/35 chemtrack.net Please check out our Statement of Qualifications at chemtrack.net/about_us.htm.

11711 S. Gambell St., Anchorage, AK 99515 | 907-349-2511

Top Executive: D . Michael Rabe, Mng. Principal Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 981/1981 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 72/72 crweng.com | bmorris@crweng.com facebook.com/crwengineering Civil, environmental, structural, electrical, mechanical, and geotechnical engineering; surveying, permitting, aviation design, and construction management.

3940 Arctic Blvd., Suite 300, Anchorage, AK 99503 907-562-3252

Cultural Resource Consultants Top Executive: L inda F. Yarborough, CR Specialist Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 975/1975 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 5/4 crcalaska.com | lfy@crcalaska.com Specialize in identifying, evaluating, and mitigating historic, archaeological, and traditional cultural property sites on private and public lands in Alaska; advises clients on cultural resource issues and assists them with complying with their obligations under federal and state laws.

3504 E. 67th Ave., Anchorage, AK 99507 | 907-349-3445

DOWL Top Executive: S tewart Osgood, Pres./CEO Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 962/1962 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 475/125 dowl.com | info@dowl.com facebook.com/DOWLEngineers linkedin.com/company/dowl DOWL is a multi-disciplined consulting firm that has been serving Alaska clients for more than 55 years. We offer a full suite of environmental services, including biological and cultural resource surveys, environmental impact assessment and documentation, agency consultations, and permitting.

4041 B St., Anchorage, AK 99503 | 907-562-2000

Ecology & Environment Top Executive: T odd Musterait, Pres./CEO

Environmental consulting; industrial hygiene

www.akbizmag.com

Chilkat Environmental

Alaska Business

August 2019 | 41

ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIAL SECTION | DIRECTORY

Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 5/5 alaskaseas.org | admin@alaskaseas.org linkedin.com/company/18497706

ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIAL SECTION | DIRECTORY

Ecology & Evironment continued: Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 970/1970 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 885/2 ene.com | Info@ene.com Environmental consulting, planning, environmental engineering, and design services to industry and government.

Committed to sustainable development through responsible environmental stewardship. E & E has thirty offices throughout the United States and eight international locations.

1007 W. Third Ave., Suite 201, Anchorage, AK 99501 907-257-5000

EHS-Alaska Top Executive: R obert French, PIC Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 986/1986 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 5/5 ehs-alaska.com | tjuliussen@ehs-alaska.com Our staff of engineers and project managers are skilled in hazmat design for building remodel and demolition projects. Asbestos, lead, PCB, and other hazardous building materials identification. IAQ, welding fume, and ventilation studies. MOA third party plan review and ICC and IFC code consulting.

11901 Business Blvd., Suite 208, Eagle River, AK 99577 907-694-1383

Environmental Management Top Executive: L arry Helgeson, Principal Eng. Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 988/1988 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 15/15 emi-alaska.com | lhelgeson@emi-alaska.com

facebook.com/EMIAlaska Environmental and civil engineering, Phase I and Phase II ESAs, asbestos management and design, HUD lead paint activities, UST closure, SWPPPs, SPCCs, GIS mapping, and safety training. A team of dedicated professionals working to make Alaska cleaner and safer.

206 E. Fireweed Ln., Suite 201, Anchorage, AK 99503 907-272-9336

ERM Alaska Top Executive: T homas Beckman, Partner/Area Mgr. Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 995/1995 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 5,000/22 erm.com facebook.com/ERMInsight twitter.com/erminsight linkedin.com/company/erm Full environmental consulting services including ecological sciences (assessment, permitting, restoration), site remediation (investigation, engineering, closure), air quality, EHS management (systems, compliance, auditing, sustainability), and water resources (engineering, hydrology, wetlands, etc.

825 W. Eighth Ave., Anchorage, AK 99501 | 907-258-4880

Fairweather Science Top Executive: S heyna Wisdom, GM Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 2 010/2010 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 9/9 fairweathersciencellc.com sheyna.wisdom@fairweather.com

environmental support services to industries and agencies throughout Alaska. These services include marine mammal permitting and monitoring, marine research, logistics and permitting, safety supervision, and subcontractor management.

301 Calista Ct., Anchorage, AK 99518 | 907-267-4611

Geosyntec Consultants Top Executive: B en Martich, Principal Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 983/2012 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 1,200/5 geosyntec.com facebook.com/GeosyntecConsultants twitter.com/Geosyntec linkedin.com/company/geosyntec-consultants A specialized consultant for complex site assessment and remediation projects in Alaska focusing on innovative technologies, data management, litigation support, and managing risk with collectively more than thirty years of experience in Alaska.

3003 Minnesota Dr., Suite 302, Anchorage, AK 99503 907-929-3326

Golder Associates Top Executive: M ark Musial, Principal Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 960/1980 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 6,500/33 Arctic and geotechnical engineering, groundwater resource development, environmental sciences, and remedial investigation.

2121 Abbott Rd., Suite 100, Anchorage, AK 99507 907-344-6001

Fairweather Science provides a wide range of

KEEPING ALASKA CLEAN

â– â–

Thermal treatment of petroleum-impacted soils since 1988.

Now accepting soils with chlorinated compounds.

907-349-3333 www.anchsand.com

42 | August 2019

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 10/6 integrity-environmental.com info@integrity-environmental.com facebook.com/IntegrityEnvironmental

Top Executive: D avid Lundin, Principal/Pres.

Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 2 000/2000 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 90/90 hdlalaska.com | info@hdlalaska.com facebook.com/HDLEngineeringConsultants HDL's environmental professionals are skilled in the NEPA process. Well versed in federal NEPA guidance, they specialize in developing NEPA documentation including CEs, EAs, Environmental Impact Statements, wetlands delineations, invasive species surveys, Section 7 consultations, and permitting.

3335 Arctic Blvd., Suite 100, Anchorage, AK 99503 907-564-2120

High Tide Environmental Top Executive: C hris Hoffman, Owner Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 2 010/2010 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 2/2 hightidealaska.com | Chris@hightidealaska.com We provide marine mammal observers during construction and environmental permitting in Alaska focused on endangered species and underwater noise impacts. We also gather underwater video to depths of 1,000 feet using our Remotely Operated Vehicle throughout Alaska and locations worldwide.

180 E. Hygrade Ln., Wasilla, AK 99654 | 907-354-3132

Integrity Environmental Top Executive: S hannon Oelkers, Owner Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 2 010/2010

The staff at Integrity Environmental are bulk fuel storage specialists; we assist clients with permitting, compliance, NOV negotiation, regulatory advising, API 653/570 infrastructure inspections, STI SP001 tank inspection, tank tightness testing, and CP systems assessment.

12110 Business Blvd., Suite 6 PMB #434 Eagle River, AK 99577 | 907-854-9639

Kinnetic Laboratories Top Executive: M ark Savoie, VP Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 972/1979 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 25/4 kinneticlabs.com Offers environmental consulting and marine monitoring of biological, chemical, and toxicological parameters; oceanographic studies and current modeling, including APDES/NPDES permit and mixing zone applications; storm water evaluations; sediment and water quality monitoring; and vibracoring.

704 W. Second Ave., Anchorage, AK 99501 | 907-276-6178

Kuna Engineering Top Executive: K eith Guyer, Dir. Env. Sciences Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 981/1981 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 55/55 kunaeng.com Professional consulting services for energy, water/environmental, development/facilities,

surveying, transportation, and construction/ program management.

3111 C St., Suite 300, Anchorage, AK 99503 | 907-339-6500

Lifewater Engineering Company Top Executive: B ob Tsigonis, Pres.

Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 998/1998 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 10/10 LifewaterEngineering.com Info@lifewaterengineering.com Custom fabrication of welded plastic tanks, boats, and other products including sewage treatment plants for man camps, homes, and lodges in the most extreme climates and remote places. For Rough Duty Boats, visit www.Class5Boatworks.com.

1963 Donald Ave., Fairbanks, AK 99701 | 907-458-7024

Michael L. Foster & Associates Top Executive: M ichael Foster, PE/Owner Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 998/1998 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 20/20 Full service architectural/engineering firm providing planning, investigation, design, permitting, oil spill cleanup, environmental remediation, construction, and expert witness/litigation support services. Experts in civil, geotechnical, and environmental design, and cold regions construction.

13135 Old Glenn Hwy., Suite 200, Eagle River, AK 99577 907-696-6200

New Horizons Telecom Top Executive: L eighton Lee, CEO

Engineering Results for Alaskan Communities Since 1979 Energy Efficiency Industrial Hygiene Engineering Design Environmental Remediation Hazardous Materials Management

Regulatory Compliance Support Certified Inspection Services HSE Program Development Contingency Planning Tank Inspections

FAIRBANKS ANCHORAGE JUNEAU JUNEAU FAIRBANKS ANCHORAGE 907-452-5688 907-222-2445 907-222-2445 907-586-6813 907-452-5688 907-586-6813

Learn more at www.nortechengr.com www.akbizmag.com

Alaska Business

August 2019 | 43

ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIAL SECTION | DIRECTORY

HDL Engineering Consultants

ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIAL SECTION | DIRECTORY

New Horizons Telecom continued: Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 978/1978 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 75/75 nhtiusa.com Telecommunications design and construction. In-house engineering, installation, and project management services for urban and remote communications facilities, RF, OSP and ISP cabling, and equipment installation and integration, as well as commercial electrical and data design and construction.

901 Cope Industrial Way, Palmer, AK 99645 | 907-761-6000

NORTECH Top Executive: P eter Beardsley, Pres.

Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 979/1979 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 25/25 nortechengr.com | info@nortechengr.com A multi-disciplined consulting firm with registered professional engineers and certified industrial hygienists on staff providing environmental, engineering, oil spill contingency planning, water/ wastewater, compliance, industrial hygiene, and health and safety professional services throughout Alaska.

2400 College Rd., Fairbanks, AK 99709-3754 | 907-452-5688

North Wind Group Top Executive: C hristopher Leichtweis, CEO/Pres.

Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 997/1997 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 1,250/75 northwindgrp.com Environmental investigation, restoration,

and remediation; engineering; natural and cultural resources; GIS services; construction; demolition; waste management; regulatory support; mine reclamation; facilities management; operations and maintenance.

2525 C St., Suite 130, Anchorage, AK 99503 | 907-290-8222

NRC Alaska

equipment fleet.

3201 C St., Suite 700, Anchorage, AK 99503 | 907-375-4726

Olgoonik Oilfield Services Top Executive: J ames Nunley, GM Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 2 009/2009 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 25/25 olgoonik.com | jnunley@olgoonik.com

Top Executive: B lake Hillis, Sr. VP NRC AK Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 2 014/2014 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 1,850/125 nrcc.com | info@nrcc.com facebook.com/nrcak twitter.com/NRCAlaska linkedin.com/company/nrc-alaska

We work with our government and commercial contract clients to provide environmental remediation, remote site support, and Arctic overland transportation solutions.

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425 Outer Springer Loop Rd., Palmer, AK 99645 | 907-258-1558

Top Executive: M att Emerson, Pres.

Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 975/1975 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 100/97 pdceng.com facebook.com/pdcengineers twitter.com/PDC_Engineers linkedin.com/company/pdc-inc—engineers

Olgoonik Construction Services Top Executive: D ave Smith, GM Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 2 014/2014 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 30/30 Full service contractor: well P&A, general contracting, design/build, site preparation, demolition and waste management, personnel camp logistics, remodel and renovation, regulatory compliance, logistics and deployment, North Slope heavy

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Quantum Spatial Top Executive: A dam McCullough, AK Program Mgr. Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 960/1960 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 471/21 Quantum Spatial's comprehensive capabilities encompass the acquisition, analysis, integration, and management of geospatial data. We offer a diverse portfolio of advanced imaging and remote sensing technologies, backed by powerful modeling, visualization, and GIS tools.

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R&M Consultants Top Executive: L en Story, CEO Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 969/1969 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 101/101 rmconsult.com | email@rmconsult.com twitter.com/RMConsultInc linkedin.com/company/r&m-consultants-incCivil, waterfront (marine), structural and geotechnical engineering; land surveying; geology; environmental; transportation and land use planning; construction

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Rescon Alaska Top Executive: N athan Oberlee, Principal Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 2 012/2012 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 11/11 resconalaska.com Rescon is a full service environmental consulting company dedicated to providing high quality and cost effective solutions for environmental issues. Our engineers, scientists, and geologists have project experience working in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, serving public and private clients.

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SEAPRO Top Executive: D ave Owings, GM Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 991/1991 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 10/10 seapro.org | info@seapro.org Oil spill response organization.

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SGS North America Top Executive: C huck Homestead, GM Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 964/1964 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 97,000/65 sgs.com/alaska Environmental services: Providing fullservice environmental testing since 1964. The Alaska division has branches in Anchorage

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200 W. Potter Dr., Anchorage, AK 99518-1605 | 907-562-2343

Shannon & Wilson Top Executive: M atthew Hemry, VP/Anch. Office Mgr. Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 954/1974 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 300/50 shannonwilson.com | info-anchorage@shanwil.com facebook.com/ShannonAndWilson twitter.com/ShanWil_Inc linkedin.com/company/shannon-&-wilson-incAnchorage, Fairbanks (907-479-0600), Palmer (907-433-3214). Phase I & II environmental site assessments; monitoring, remediation, compliance; storage tank investigation, removal, remediation; stormwater pollution prevention plans; spill prevention control and countermeasure plans, wetlands permitting.

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Spill Shield Top Executive: L ark Christensen, Ops Mgr. Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 992/1992 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 3/1 spillshield.com | lark@spillshield.com Supplier for Smart Ash, Oil Away, Drug Terminator, and MediBurn incinerators.

Absorbents, water scrubbers, oil spill response kits, Super Sacks, harbor boom, nitrile gloves, MicroBlaze, absorbent pads, rolls, boom, sock, duck ponds, spill kits, and related oil spill cleanup and prevention products.

2000 W. International Airport Rd., #D-1, Anchorage, AK 99502 907-561-6033

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Stantec Top Executive: G ord Johnston, Pres./CEO Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 954/1972 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 22,000/87 stantec.com facebook.com/StantecInc twitter.com/Stantec linkedin.com/company/stantec At Stantec we always design with community in mind. We care about the communities we serve—because they’re our communities too.

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725 E. Fireweed Ln., Suite 200, Anchorage, AK 99503 907-276-4245

TELLUS Top Executive: S cott Erdmann, Pres./Prof. Geologist Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 997/1997 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 1/1 tellus@acsalaska.net Project management, environmental assessment and compliance, corrective action programs.

2416 Loussac Dr., Anchorage, AK 99517-1148 | 907-248-8055

Terrasat Environmental Services Top Executive: D an Young, Principal Hydrogeologist/Pres.

Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 983/1983 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 5/5 terrasatenvironmental.com dan.young@terrasatenvironmental.com

Groundwater exploration, stormwater services, SWPPPs, geophysical surveys, ground penetrating radar, Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessments, environmental restoration, expert witness, land development, environmental permitting.

4203 Iowa Dr., Anchorage, AK 99517 | 907-344-9370

The Nature Conservancy Top Executive: S teve Cohn, AK State Dir. Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 951/1988 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 400/16 nature.org/alaska | alaska@tnc.org A nonprofit organization whose vision is a world where the diversity of life thrives and people act to conserve nature for its own sake and its ability to fulfill our needs and enrich our lives.

715 L St., Suite 100, Anchorage, AK 99516 | 907-865-5700

Trihydro Corporation Top Executive: J ack Bedessem, Pres./CEO Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 984/2015 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 495/9 trihydro.com | information@trihydro.com facebook.com/Trihydro twitter.com/Trihydro linkedin.com/company/trihydro-corporation Trihydro specializes in strategic project implementation, air quality and process management, engineering and surveying, environmental, water resources and IT consulting. We serve a diverse clientele: petroleum, federal and state, mining and natural resources, industrial and commercial, and infrastructure.

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TTT Environmental Instruments & Supplies

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Top Executive: D eborah Tompkins, Owner Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 2 003/2003 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 10/9 tttenviro.com | info@tttenviro.com

Top Executive: M ike Holzschuh, Sr. Territory Mgr. Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 971/1971 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 43,000/2

Portable gas detection, health and safety monitoring, environmental equipment.

Rentals, sales, service, and supplies. Warranty center. Alaskan-owned small business.

4201 B St., Anchorage, AK 99503 | 907-770-9041

Tutka Top Executive: A mie Sommer, Member Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 999/1999 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 30/30 tutkallc.com | amie@tutkallc.com Heavy civil general contractor (roads, bridges, culverts, site work), environmental cleanup and consulting. WBE/DBE, WOSB, HUBZone.

2485 E. Zak Cir., Suite A, Wasilla, AK 99654 | 907-357-2238

UMIAQ Environmental Top Executive: T erri Mitchell, GM Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 2 016/2016 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 10/10 uicalaska.com UMIAQ Environmental services include natural resource management, permitting, regulatory compliance support, stakeholder relations, spill response planning, and contaminated site clean-up. State of Alaska DBE and SBA 8(a) certified.

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Hazardous and nonhazardous waste disposal, project management, complete logistical oversight, complete US and Canadian manifesting, rail transportation, over-the-road transportation, marine transportation, and turnkey remedial services.

1519 Ship Ave., Anchorage, AK 99501 | 907-274-0477

REC YCLIN G Alaska Car Crushing and Recycling Top Executive: G ary Jacobsen, Owner Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 998/1998 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 5/5 Recycling of all kinds of scrap metal including appliances, junk vehicles, batteries, copper, aluminum, and cats. We are a full service company; we have a fleet of tow trucks picking up cars and trucks; we have a baler; we are fully licensed and insured.

PO Box 875188, Wasilla, AK 99687 | 907-357-5865

Alaska Soil Recycling Top Executive: K ris Shippen, Environmental Coordinator Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 988/1988 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 10/10 anchsand.com | Kris.Shippen@anchsand.com

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1040 O'Malley Rd., Anchorage, AK 99515 | 907-348-6700

C & R Metal Recycling Top Executive: D ennis Wilfer, Pres.

Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 992/1992 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 48/48 crrecycle.com | dennisw@crpipe.net facebook.com/crrecycling Full-service metal recycling center serving Alaska’s Interior and surrounding areas for more than twenty years. Largest buyer of non-ferrous metals in the Interior. Ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metal processor servicing industrial, commercial, and individuals throughout Alaska.

401 E. Van Horn Rd., Fairbanks, AK 99701 | 907-452-4417

Central Recycling Services Top Executive: S tuart Jacques, Pres.

Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 2 009/2009 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 23/23 centralrecyclingsevices.com | crs@crs-alaska.com Scrap metal and inert debris recycling facility. Accepts separated and mixed loads of recyclable debris including wood, plastic, metals, concrete, asphalt, cardboard, tires, sheetrock, etc. Waste Management Plans and LEED consulting. Sales of salvaged and recycled building materials.

2400 Railroad Ave., Anchorage, AK 99501 | 907-748-7400

August 2019 | 47

THE BEST OF ALASKA BUSINESS AWARDS 2019 | DIRECTORY ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIAL SECTION

312 Tyee St., Soldotna, AK 99669 | 907-262-2315

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Chena Power Top Executive: B ernie Karl, Pres./Owner Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 984/'1984 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 30/30 chenapower.com Recycling centers (wholesale); municipal recycling programs; large facility recycling programs.

PO Box 58740, Fairbanks, AK 99711 | 907-488-1505

Green Star of Interior Alaska Top Executive: T ait Chandler, Exec. Dir. Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 998/1998 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 5/5 iagreenstar.org | info@iagreenstar.org facebook.com/GreenStarInteriorAlaska Green Star provides recycling bins and coordinates volunteers to collect recyclables at special events, publishes and distributes the Fairbanks Recycling Guide annually, and offers waste reduction and recycling education and outreach to our community.

PO Box 82391, Fairbanks, AK 99708 | 907-452-4152

NRC Alaska Top Executive: B lake Hillis, Sr. VP NRC AK Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 2 014/2014 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 1,850/125 nrcc.com | info@nrcc.com facebook.com/nrcak twitter.com/NRCAlaska linkedin.com/company/nrc-alaska Emergency spill response, hazardous/ non-hazardous waste disposal, petroleum

product recycling, industrial cleaning services, vacuum truck services, automotive fluids recycling and sales, environmentally friendly cleaners/degreasers. Thermal Soil remediation too. Anchorage/Kenai/Prudhoe/ Fairbanks.

425 Outer Springer Loop Rd., Palmer, AK 99645 907-258-1558

Threshold Services Top Executive: W endel Capilli, Plant Mgr. Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 989/1989 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 12/12 We are a nonprofit corporation that provides employment and training to people with physical disabilities and other barriers to employment. We do this by operating Kodiak's recycling facility.

PO Box 8709, Kodiak, AK 99615 | 907-486-6551

Total Reclaim Environmental Services Top Executive: G ary Smith, AK Branch Mgr. Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 991/2005 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 200/5 gsmith@totalreclaim.com Recycler for electronics, fluorescent lights, household batteries, and refrigerants.

Community resource regarding information on recycling matters. Also non-ferrous metal buyer.

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Top Executive: M ollie Boyer, Exec. Dir. Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 998/1998 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 8/8 valleyrecycling.org VCRS operates a community recycling center receiving and processing material kept out of the landfill into bales/feedstock to make new products. We provide education via field trips, curriculum kits, and outreach to our community for people of all ages to learn how recycled resources rise again and again.

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VRC Companies Top Executive: C lint Reed Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 2 000/2000 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 30+/30 vitalrecordscontrol.com | info@shredalaska.com Document storage, on-site and dropoff document shredding, and hard drive shredding services to all customers throughout Southcentral Alaska.

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WN Recyclers Top Executive: N ancy Castle, Owner Year Founded/Established in Alaska: 1 985/1985 Worldwide/Alaska Employees: 1/1 wnalaska@mosquitonet.com Recycling copper and brass.

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ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIAL SECTION | STEEL & SCRAP

Marginal Metal Steel is the most recycled material in the world, but volume doesn’t always mean profit

I

By Sam Friedman

n the world of recycling, the line between trash and treasure moves with geography and the state of world markets.

Generally speaking, plastics tend toward the trash end of the spectrum, especially low-grade materials like the “clam shell” plastic boxes that Anchorage and many other towns across the United States recently began to throw away as they’ve lost value as recycled materials.

Used metals, on the other hand, usually have value. Sometimes they have enough value to warrant extensive processing work—even enough to inspire thieves to

50 | August 2019

tear out copper wiring or vehicle catalytic converters to “recycle” them. That’s especially true for non-ferrous metals: metals that don’t contain iron. Non-ferrous metals include aluminum, copper, and even precious metals like gold, silver, and platinum.

Ferrous metals include steel, the most recycled material in the world. On average, the United States produces enough ferrous scrap by weight to produce twenty-five Eiffel Towers every day, according to the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, a national trade group.

But ferrous metals usually have less value by weight, which can make profit margins thin for scrap yards when prices

drop, especially in places like Alaska with high transportation costs. It doesn’t help that many of today’s consumer products like cars and refrigerators have less steel and more unrecyclable parts like foam and plastic than they used to.

No Cash for Clunkers It wasn’t nearly as big a payout as the $1,000 from the 2009 federal government “Cash for Clunkers” program, but vehicle owners in Fairbanks about five years ago used to be able to get a bit of cash (less than $20 to as much as $40 for a 1 ton pickup) from metal recycler C&R Pipe and Steel for the metal value of their cars.

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ENVIRONMEN TAL SPECIAL SECTION | STEEL & SCRAP

A row of junked cars at the Fairbanks North Star Borough Solid Waste Facility. The middle vehicle is a Toyota Corona from the 1970s.

ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIAL SECTION | STEEL & SCRAP

A mountain of junked cars at K&K Recycling in North Pole. These vehicles have had their batteries removed and their fluids drained but will have to have their tires removed before they can be recycled. ©Sam Friedman | Alaska Business

Those payouts stopped in 2014, when metal prices dropped. Today, C&R founder Dennis Wilfer doesn’t accept junked cars from the public because they’re more trouble than they’re worth. He does process junked cars for salvage yard clients and for the Fairbanks North Star Borough’s junked car program.

Newer model junked vehicles in decent shape in Alaska’s second largest city can still be turned into cash, but at auto salvage yards, not metal recyclers. Most of their value is in their still-working parts, not their bulk metal value.

Because of scrap metal prices, junked cars have become a liability in Fairbanks instead of a small asset. Despite the low or even negative market value of junked cars, the Fairbanks North Star Borough junked vehicle program will still accept any vehicle that’s delivered to the borough landfill at no cost. Businesses pay a fee of $30.

For residents, the deal of getting rid of an unwanted vehicle at no cost has

increasingly been worth it in the last few years. The program tends to be popular when scrap prices are down, and scrap yards in Fairbanks are unlikely to pay anything for the scrap value of a car, says Grant Wright, solid waste environmental specialist at the borough landfill.

As of June, crushed cars were selling in the Pacific Northwest for about $165 per net ton, says Wilfer at C&R. That’s a similar price to the last market low in late 2014.

The borough program has disposed of between 400 and 800 vehicles per year in recent years. This year the borough budget predicts the program will receive about $5,500 in scrap metal receipts and will pay about $84,000 for the expense of preparing vehicles for recycling and towing junked cars found abandoned on borough property.

Although the junked vehicle program doesn’t pay for itself when metal prices are low, it’s worth the expense because it diverts waste from the landfill and en-

courages people to remove abandoned vehicles, says Bob Jordan, the borough’s solid waste manager.

“We don’t want to bury scrap metal because it’s got some value to it,” he says. “The other good thing about it is it’s one less junked vehicle that we have in our community, one less that you find in someone’s yard or along the ditch. You have to give some value to that, but it’s hard to decide the dollar value.”

The Car Recycling Process At the Fairbanks North Star Borough Solid Waste Facility, junked cars waiting to become recycled metal sit on an old landfill, a grassy hill overlooking Fairbanks and the Alaska Range. Vehicles awaiting destruction range from clean looking vehicles driven to the landfill on their own power to picked-apart chassis.

“It’s a good way to pick out what model of car to buy. You see which ones come here after ten years and which ones come

This year the Fairbanks North Star Borough budget predicts the junked vehicle program will receive about $5,500 in scrap metal receipts and will pay about $84,000 for the expense of preparing vehicles for recycling and towing junked cars found abandoned on borough property.

52 | August 2019

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

pass out of the landfill and across the railroad tracks into the C&R yard, where they’re condensed and loaded onto railcars for the journey south.

Railroad access is vital for recycling junked cars, as well as other scrap steel and iron. Rail shipping is significantly less expensive than trucking.

While C&R doesn’t buy cars from the public any more, the business does accept other steel and iron products.

In addition to cars, other products that have only marginal scrap value in Fairbanks include culverts and “white goods,” which are domestic appliances like washing machines and stoves, says Wilfer.

“I buy almost no ferrous metals. We recycle them and accept them, but the logistics of getting them out of here is very difficult,” he says. “You look around here, we’ve got that big scrap pile and the only reason it’s here is because I can’t ship it. I need rail cars to ship it and there are only so many available.”

The Last Recyclables Left Five years ago, K&K Recycling in the North Pole area was a main consumer product recycling service in the Interior, accepting products including plastics,

K&K Recycling employee Zac Eckelberger works to remove wire ends at K&K Recycling in North Pole. Both the ends and the wires can be recycled, but they're worth more if they're separated. ©Sam Friedman | Alaska Business

The line between trash and treasure moves with geography and the state of world markets.

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August 2019 | 53

ENVIRONMEN TAL SPECIAL SECTION | STEEL & SCRAP

here after twenty years,” says Wright.

Before they’re scrapped, the vehicles have their titles investigated. If the person who brought in the car isn’t the owner— such as if the car was abandoned on the side of the road—landfill staff make an effort to research and contact the owners to see if they object to the vehicle being scrapped. Very few do.

When the vehicles are ready to be scrapped, a forklift carries them onto stands where they’re drained of fluids including oil, gasoline, antifreeze, brake fluid, and refrigerant. The landfill burns the used oil in a furnace used to heat the facility’s buildings.

C&R has a fifty-acre yard next to the landfill and has borough contracts to both drain junked cars and sell them to a Lower 48 metal recycler.

Wilfer started C&R in 1992 as a provider of new pipes and metal products for North Slope projects. He got into metal recycling as a natural sideline, accepting used steel products from the companies he sold new products to. Today, C&R Recycling, the recycling side of the company, accounts for about 40 percent of the business, he says.

After being drained, the junked cars

ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIAL SECTION | STEEL & SCRAP

“I buy almost no ferrous metals. We recycle them and accept them, but the logistics of getting them out of here is very difficult.”

A contractor uses a forklift to pick up a junked truck at the Fairbanks North Star Borough Solid Waste Facility.

–Dennis Wilfer, Founder, C&R Pipe & Steel

©Sam Friedman | Alaska Business

cardboard, glass, and aluminum at pickup locations around Fairbanks and North Pole.

K&K is owned by Bernie Karl, whose other business, Chena Hot Springs Resort, uses energy generated from the hot springs. At K&K, Karl planned another energy project. Instead of shipping plastic and paper to the Lower 48, he stockpiled it, planning to use it as fuel. It wasn’t successful. Citing big losses, K&K stopped accepting plastics in 2014 and got out of the glass, cardboard, and tin business in 2016. Today, no one processes glass or tin cans for recycling in Fairbanks.

K&K kept what Karl says was the only profitable part of business: metals including aluminum cans and scrap metal. K&K is now exclusively a metal recycling business that, like C&R, will pay customers for non-ferrous metals and will accept ferrous products for recycling without payment.

Like the borough, K&K currently accepts junked vehicles at no charge. That could change if scrap metal prices continue to decline, says Manager Chris Bowen.

“We don’t pay. We can’t pay. But we don’t charge either,” he says. “But if it keeps going down, we might be forced to.”

Some of this metal trash still gets shipped to recyclers thanks to grant funding for village cleanup projects and Alaska businesses that describe their work on rural metal recycling as pro bono community service.

At Wilfer’s office at C&R, a certificate hangs on the wall thanking the business for its help accepting scrap metal from rural villages along the Yukon River.

When he can, Wilfer picks up loads of this scrap metal from a river barge terminal in Nenana or at the Fairbanks International Airport if the scrap comes in by air freight.

“We endeavor to that, if we’re not too

busy doing other stuff. It becomes almost like a service, because there’s certainly no money in it,” he says.

For river barge company Ruby Marine in Nenana, transporting waste back to the company terminal is also more charity than business, says company President Matt Sweetsir. Ruby Marine charges $250 for a vehicle or $10 for a pallet of other backhaul waste.

Sweetsir describes these charges as “nominal” amounts that don’t fully cover the costs associated with handling the freight. Vehicles are a particularly troublesome cargo because they often leak fluids

The End of the Line The economic case for recycling cars and other low-value metals is especially hard to make in rural Alaska villages. Even at Yukon River villages, where barge service makes shipping significantly cheaper than in more remote villages, the cost of recycling a vehicle dwarfs its scrap metal value.

54 | August 2019

A scrap metal baler at K&K Recycling in North Pole. A baler allows a scrap yard operator to compress low value scrap metal, making it more efficient to transport. ©Sam Friedman | Alaska Business

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

©Sam Friedman | Alaska Business

or leave behind broken glass on the decks of Ruby Marine’s barges or at its terminal.

Handling backhaul for villages can also bring the nuisance of holding waste at the terminal in cases where the village doesn’t line up the logistics of getting the scrap moved on to a recycler in Fairbanks.

Backhaul expenses are usually paid by

grants, so billing villages for leaving scrap at the business isn’t usually an effective incentive, Sweetsir says. But a type of peer pressure does work. If one village won’t remove the scrap from his yard, Sweetsir will temporarily stop the entire waste backhaul program.

“The only pressure I can put to bear on

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Alaska Owned & Operated Since 1979 August 2019 | 55

ENVIRONMEN TAL SPECIAL SECTION | STEEL & SCRAP

A pile of “white goods” at the Fairbanks North Star Borough Solid Waste Facility. White goods are appliances like refrigerators and washing machines that have marginal value to metal recyclers in Alaska because they contain a relatively small amount of recyclable metal for their large volumes.

these cleanup fleet people is their counterpart in a different village. What was happening is we’d pick something up, and then that person in the village was all done as far as they were concerned. It was not in their village anymore,” he says.

“Until I could find a way to make sure that it gets the hell out of our yard, it was just sitting here. So basically, everyone is aware that it’s a coordinated effort in the sense that I’m holding Ruby responsible for Galena’s trash.”

From an environmental perspective, it’s most important to remove waste like batteries and used oil from villages that lack the landfills to process these toxic substances and could have their groundwater contaminated by them, Sweetsir says.

It’s also useful to remove bulky metal waste like vehicles because they take up an especially large amount of space.

However, Sweetsir suspects it’s not worth it to haul out the vehicles.

“As for cars and sno-gos, to me that’s just a waste of time and effort. We’re doing them, but it’s not a hazard to the community,” he says. “To me, it’s almost environmentally backward to move that crap around the world to recycle it. It’s just a bit too much of a stretch.”

T R A N S P O R TAT I O N

Cold Cargo Expertise and careful planning are required to keep things exactly cold enough

By Vanessa Orr

E

very day, thousands of items are shipped to and from Alaska, but some of them require a special kind of care. Temperature-controlled items, such as groceries, seafood, and pharmaceuticals, need to reach their destinations without being damaged, which not only requires specialized technology but also an expert understanding of how to best deliver “chill or frozen” cargo.

“Examples of chill freight are products such as dairy, eggs, meats, fruits, and 56 | August 2019

vegetables, which often have a shorter shelf life, so it’s critical the supply chain runs effectively to transport these products to market,” explains Steve Hartmann, vice president of sales and marketing for Lynden Transport. “Frozen items are generally less time-sensitive and include things like ice cream, meats, pizzas, vegetables, and quick meal entrees—everything you’d find in the freezer section at the grocery store.

“Seafood is very important to Alaska

and can be moved as either chill or frozen depending on the destination, packaging, and service level required,” he adds.

Getting Products Where They Need to Be According to Larry Felix, vice president of sales at Carlile Transportation, when it comes to chill or frozen freight, far more of it enters the state than leaves it.

“Approximately 90 percent of our refrigerated services, which includes

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L ynden’s Hercules aircraft flies freshly caught Alaska seafood from King Salmon, Dillingham, and other western Alaska locations to Anchorage for distribution around the world.

Lynden Transport

both freeze and chill, come northbound to Alaska’s consumer market. Of 1,000 shipments in and out of the state, only 100 are headed south,” he says.

“Our northbound shipments remain pretty consistent year-round; while there is a surge during tourist season, the state’s population usually remains around 730,000 people who eat and drink the same amounts every month.”

Major population centers such as Anchorage, Fairbanks, Kenai, and comwww.akbizmag.com

Alaska Business

August 2019 | 57

AFF

fresh fish within the state bemunities in Southeast receive fore it makes its way to marthe bulk of the grocery items. kets down south. “The catches Temperature-controlled freight from Bristol Bay as well as Normoving out of Alaska largely ton Sound are put in fish totes, comes from major seafood which are flown to Anchorage processing points like Dutch and typically picked up by cusHarbor, Naknek, Kodiak, Cortomers like Copper River Seadova, Anchorage, Valdez, and food, Alaska General Seafood, points in Southeast.

E&E Seafood, Ocean Beauty “Most of the food moving Craig Forbes Seafood, Trident Seafood, and into the state is moving for maAFF more,” says Northern Air Carjor grocery distribution centers go General Manager Gideon from the Pacific Northwest,” says Hartmann. “There are some non- Garcia. “From Anchorage, it makes its way food items that move to Alaska; for ex- south by other means.”

Northern Air Cargo does not have chill ample, every spring there are multiple loads of plants and flowers moving to or freeze on the aircraft, though it does the state that require protective tem- have chill and freeze holding capabilities in its Anchorage warehouse. perature control.”

There are advantages and disadvantages to each mode of transportation.

Road, Water, and Air “Shipping vessels depart every WednesShippers have a number of options, including transporting goods by steamship, day and Friday night from Tacoma to barge, road, or air. Time and cost are the Anchorage, but Carlile’s OTR service going most important factors, as is flexibility— either north or south has the capability having access to transportation assets as to depart every day of the week, which offers a lot more flexibility,” says Umatum. needed.

“We offer full load and LTL [less than “When we get fresh fish in from Bristol Bay full load] service for both refrigerated and or Dutch Harbor, we can load the trailer at frozen items from Tacoma to Anchorage, the dock and run down the highway. This with the same southbound return,” says gives us a real competitive advantage.”

Terry Umatum, director of sales and marketing at Carlile. “If it’s traveling on the ocean, it’s usually completely frozen; it can be fresh if delivered by road.”

Over-the-Road (OTR) transportation takes far less time, arriving to its destination approximately two to three days before steamship loads.

In the case of seafood being transported from Alaska, “Price decreases as time increases from the origin to destination because the value of the product coming American Fast Freight runs out of Alaska changes dramatically,” Felix numerous dual temperature says. “It takes fifty-six hours to go from and tri-temperature deliveries in Alaska.

Anchorage to Washington over the road, compared to four and a half days on a American Fast Freight (AFF), a subsidiary steamship.”

Approximately 80 percent of the sea- of Odyssey Logistics & Technology, food that Carlile transports is frozen, with provides services to grocery stores, dispurveyors flash freezing it or delivering it tribution centers, and restaurants, among on ice in totes. “We transport thousands other customers who appreciate knowing of pounds of halibut, pollock, crab, and exactly when a shipment will arrive. “Our salmon, and there’s not enough capacity clients like the predictability of a one-hour in Alaska to take it all fresh,” says Felix. delivery window, knowing that they’ll “It also costs vastly more money to ship receive their shipment every Monday at fresh salmon—it’s at least two times more 1 p.m.,” says Craig Forbes, vice president of operations at AFF for Alaska, who adds that expensive.”

Carlile’s sister company, Northern Air the majority of the cargo is transported Cargo, plays a bigger role in transporting on TOTE Maritime or Matson steamship

Loading temperature-controlled freight bound for Alaska onto a Lynden Transport truck.

Lynden Transport

“As Alaskans know, it can get cold up here.

And during the winter months, sometimes the challenge isn’t keeping products chilled but ensuring that they don’t freeze when they shouldn’t.”

–Steve Hartmann VP of Sales and Marketing, Lynden Transport

58 | August 2019

lines. “This enables our customers to reduce inventory costs.”

Lynden utilizes all modes of transportation to cover Alaska, including barge, ship, plane, and truck. Typically barge and ship services are used for frozen loads that are less time-sensitive, and a combination of ship, truck, or air is used for chill/fresh loads.

“Fresh fish can be flown to markets around the world, maintaining top quality, while products with fewer time restrictions can be moved more cost-effectively on the barge,” says Hartmann.

And while keeping things cold in the summer months requires attentive care, it doesn’t end there. “As Alaskans know, it can get cold up here. And during the winter months, sometimes the challenge isn’t keeping products chilled but ensuring that they don’t freeze when they shouldn’t,” says Hartmann. “This is appropriately called our ‘keep from freezing’ service.”

“Though Lynden moves finished prod-

ucts ready for the grocery store, we also have specialty services for moving bulk commodities such as milk, wine, and fruit juices which have temperature control requirements,” he adds. “The most important thing we do is work closely with our customers to fully understand their products and their businesses, so we can develop and provide transportation solutions that meet or exceed their needs.”

Technology for Temperature Control Lynden’s Standard Freeze services move goods at -10˚F, while Standard Chill Services will move at 34˚F to 36˚F depending on the time of the year. Full truckloads move at temperatures required by the customer.

“Temperatures can vary depending on the specific product; bananas, for example, often move at around 55˚F, warmer than a typical chill load, in order to best maintain product quality,” explains Hartmann, adding that the company typically moves more frozen loads

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Refrigerated containers are carefully stacked on the barge preparing for their voyage.

Lynden Transport

than chilled loads.

These services require tight temperature control with small to minimum variances. Lynden combines its extensive refrigerated equipment fleet with stateof-the-art technology and monitoring tools to ensure exact temperatures are maintained throughout the entire life of the shipment. These standards are important to customers and to regulatory agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration.

“This is one of Lynden’s real strengths, whether it be refrigerated semi-trailer equipment or refrigerated container 60 | August 2019

equipment,” says Hartmann. “We have the equipment that generates the most value for the customer or the biggest bang for the dollars spent.”

Proper packaging is also a very important part of the process. Bags, boxes, and other containers may be used in combination with things like ice, gel packs, and insulation blankets, depending on the product and the shipping mode.

“It’s important that good pallets and proper loading practices are used to help ensure a free flow of air, so the temperature is maintained consistently throughout the entire unit,” Hartmann adds.

Because ship and barge services both require significant electric generation equipment to power the refrigeration units, the vessels are equipped with monitoring technology to ensure proper temperatures are maintained. “Air service typically does not provide any real type of temperature control, so goods needing the speed of air service need to be packaged in a way to self-maintain the needed temperature, such as fresh fish on ice in totes,” adds Hartmann.

Carlile has its own specialized equipment, including customized refrigeration units. “Unlike our dry vans, the refrig-

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

“Price decreases as time increases from the origin to destination because the value of the product A new Lynden dual-temp refrigerated unit stands ready for use.

coming out of Alaska

Lynden Transport

changes dramatically.

It takes fifty-six hours to go from Anchorage to Washington over the road, compared to four and a half days on a steamship.”

–Larry Felix, VP of Sales, Carlile Transportation

erated units have a separate motorized refrigeration system on the nose of the trailer, as well as specialized curtains, skirting, and floors,” says Felix. “These trucks are heavier than dry vans because they require more steel and aluminum to build them to our specifications, which include fully insulated walls designed to handle the rigors of ambient external temperatures.”

Carlile’s multimodal trailers can maintain different temperatures in a single trailer.

“A single temperature trailer can regulate from 0˚F to -20˚F; a single temperature refrigerated trailer keeps products between 34˚F and 44˚F,” says Umatum.

AFF runs numerous dual temperature and tri-temperature deliveries in Alaska, which allows them to deliver chill and frozen freight in a single trip. “We can transport dry, freeze, and chill all in one trailer, separating them with bulkheads and partitions to preserve different temperatures,” says Forbes. “This allows us to deliver items more quickly and places less burden on the customer.” www.akbizmag.com

Alaska Business

August 2019 | 61

An Alaska Marine Lines barge departs Seattle heading for Alaska.

Lynden Transport

Because a consistent temperature is so important, AFF takes an added step.

The company receives chilled and frozen items at its state-of-the-art facility in Fife, Washington, where items are unloaded into a specially designed, temperaturecontrolled environment. When the goods arrive in Anchorage, they are delivered via refrigerated containers to another

T U G

A N D

temperature-controlled facility there.

“The products never leave a temperature-controlled environment, so the cold chain isn’t broken,” says Forbes, adding that AFF is the only freight forwarder in the industry with this capability. “With such a focus on food quality these days, we thought it was important to make this investment in infrastructure

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at our origin and destination points to protect food safety and our customers.”

The Law of Supply and Demand There are many factors that affect shipping costs, ranging from the time of year, to product shipped, to timeline, capacity, and volume.

“If a customer does a lot of volume in a given lane, they may be able to negotiate a discounted rate based on repeat, sustainable business volume,” says Felix, giving the example of a large grocery retailer that moves more than 90 percent of its products from Washington to Alaska.

“For an infrequent shipper, it’s going to be more of a challenge to negotiate a discount because you pay more of a premium for inconsistency.

“The market is also driven by asset utilization; for example, how many trailers there are in the state at any given time,” he adds. “During fishing season when they’re harvesting salmon, it’s a melee going southbound. The sheer volume of product coupled with a lack of transportation assets makes the price go up, and smaller competitors that are not necessarily asset-based sometimes have a hard time controlling services during the surge in summer months.”

Whether going north or south, shippers who take on the challenge of Alaska’s chill and frozen freight make it a priority to provide the fastest, most efficient mode of transport while preserving food safety.

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OIL & GAS

Booming Interest in Nanushuk

Major players explore the formation’s production potential

By Isaac Stone Simonelli

B

oth ConocoPhillips and Oil Search are optimistic about the potential of the Nanushuk Formation on the North Slope following the combined drilling of nine delineation wells over the winter in the Greater Willow and PikkaHorseshoe units.

“Since taking on operatorship of the Alaska assets in early March 2018, we have gone from 3 to over 130 full-time team members and undertaken a two-rig, fourwell exploration appraisal drilling program while continuing to advance the Pikka Development project,” Oil Search Alaska President Keiran Wulff says.

History and USGS Data Although oil was discovered at the formation by the Navy in the 1940s, activity in the Nanushuk Formation has been limited.

Prior to 2015, about 150 exploration wells had penetrated the Nanushuk Formation and Torok Formation (which lies 2,000 to 3,000 feet below the Nanushuk), 64 | August 2019

yet oil production was established in just one oil pool with less than 10 million barrels of recoverable oil in each formation, according to USGS. “There was really nothing of significance found, and I know the oil companies kept tabs on the Nanushuk,” USGS Senior Research Geologist Dave Houseknecht says. “I know a number of companies, when they got 3D seismic data in the NPR-A [National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska], they were mapping amplitudes that are seismic indications that there may be oil or gas saturated rocks there.

“But the leadership of the companies never had enough faith in these anomalies because there had never been economically viable discoveries made in the formation.”

However, when Armstrong and Repsol announced the Pikka discovery following successful exploration during 2014-2015, the industry’s attention returned to the shallow formation. In 2017, the Horseshoe wells extended the pool by more than twenty miles, making it the largest

US onshore conventional oil discovery in thirty years.

Together, the Nanushuk and Torok Formations form a huge wedge of sediment deposited in a deep water basin. While the Torok Formation was deposited on the floor of the deep basin, the younger Nanushuk Formation was deposited in shallow water and includes potential reservoirs in deltaic, shoreface, and fluvial sandstones. The new discoveries in both formations involve oil pools in stratigraphic traps concentrated along ancient shelf margins, according to a USGS release.

Much of the oil within the formation has been missed in the past for two primary reasons beyond the nowoutdated thought within the industry that older rocks are more prospective, says Houseknecht.

One was the industry’s desire to avoid drilling hazards; the Nanushuk Formation is so shallow that it can have permafrost in its upper layers, which commonly traps gas at the base.

To counter this particular formation’s characteristic, and to access the potential

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“The Nanushuk prospect could be a very big boost for investment, employment, and production on the Slope. I think the industry has just scratched the surface in terms of exploration—so we are not close to realizing the full potential.”

–Kara Moriarty, President, AOGA

North Slope tundra.

JonnyNoTrees / iStock

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in deeper formations, companies used drilling mud containing high-density minerals to create a large pressure on the borehole.

“So, because of that, many of the exploration wells—many of those 150 wells that penetrated the formation— really did not have good oil shows when they drilled through the Nanushuk,” Houseknecht says. “In other words, the mud weight in the borehole was so large that it prevented oil that may have been

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present in the formation from getting into the well bore so that well-site geologists could detect it.”

The other factor that led to companies missing the vast oil deposit were attempts to reduce the footprint of exploration—many of the exploration wells over the last several decades have been directionally drilled.

“There are examples of exploration wells that actually drilled beneath the Pikka and Horseshoe discoveries, for

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August 2019 | 65

example,” Houseknecht says. “If those had been vertical exploration wells, chances are the oil accumulations would have been discovered much earlier.”

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Following the expanded discovery in the Pikka-Horseshoe area by Repsol and Armstrong Energy, a new player in the Alaska oil and gas industry, Oil Search, seized the opportunity to gain more than just a toehold on the North Slope.

Oil Search holds a 25.5 percent interest in the Pikka Unit, which is primarily targeting the Nanushuk Formation. Additionally, the company has varying interest in other leases, including Horseshoe at 37.5 percent, that target Nanushuk and other reservoirs.

The mapping of the Nanushuk and satellite reservoirs in the Pikka Unit is based on an extensive grid of 3D seismic data and nineteen well penetrations, according to an Oil Search news release.

“Oil Search assumed operatorship of the assets in March 2018,” says Oil Search Spokesperson Amy Burnett. “Oil Search holds varying percentages in more than 830,000 acres on Alaska’s North Slope, making us the third largest leaseholder in Alaska.”

Oil Search estimated during the acquisition process that the Alaska assets include about 400 million barrels of oil from Nanushuk and about 100 million barrels from Alpine C and other satellites, according to Burnett. The Repsol development plan submitted as part of the Environmental Impact Statement for the project in 2016 estimated 750 million barrels of recoverable resources.

Thus, the objectives of Oil Search’s first winter drilling in Alaska were to confirm reservoir distribution and establish deliverability.

“This program successfully helped further test the boundaries for the productive areas of the formation within our unit boundaries and provided an opportunity to test the well design to help the company better plan its drilling and completions program for Pikka,” Burnett says.

“Oil Search’s inaugural appraisal drilling campaign this past winter in Alaska was successful, with oil encountered in all four well penetrations. Initial data analysis supports the company’s view of a likely material upgrade in contingent resources and indicates deliverability from the Pikka Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

Unit will meet the company’s development plan assumptions.”

Oil Search expects that the initial development will target materially more than 500 million barrels of oil in the Pikka Unit.

First production is set to commence by 2023, with ultimate plateau production rates estimated at about 120,000 barrels gross per day.

“We are planning for an exploration drilling program in the winter of 2019/ 2020. We anticipate drilling at least two wells, but the specific locations are still being evaluated,” Burnett says.

that there is an issue that exists in the North Slope that does not exist in the Lower 48, which is that as you increase distances from existing infrastructure— the pipeline—the economic viability becomes more and more challenging,” Houseknecht says.

“The same applies to going deeper.

There was a lot of hype about the Torok Formation. At any one location, the shallow Nanushuk may be economically viable if a discovery is made of 50 million barrels or 100 million barrels recoverable, but going deeper into the Torok Formation may not be as economically viable, as it

is a tighter formation, and it would take a large threshold to get over the economic viability hurdle.”

ConocoPhillips is the only operation in Alaska producing oil out of the Nanushuk Formation at present.

“We have a substantial acreage position on the Western North Slope to target the Nanushuk Formation. We have been producing oil from the Nanushuk since 2008 with the startup of the Qannik development at Alpine,” Lowman says.

Expanding Potential Because of the large number of wells

ConocoPhillips Like Oil Search, ConocoPhillips is also pushing forward with tapping the potential of the Nanushuk Formation.

In 2016, ConocoPhillips drilled wells Tinmiaq 2 and Tinmiaq 6, which were the discovery wells for Willow—an oil pool separate from those being tapped by Oil Search in the Nanushuk Formation. The discovery of Willow, in the Bear Tooth Unit in the northeast portion of NPR-A, was announced in 2017.

After a successful 2018 exploration and appraisal season in the Greater Willow Area, ConocoPhillips released a resource estimate at a range of 400 million to 750 million barrels of oil equivalent.

“In 2018, we had a six-well winter exploration program with five well tests,” ConocoPhillips Alaska Communications Director Natalie Lowman says. “Five wells were in NPR-A, and one on state acreage in the Colville River Unit. We also shot 250 square miles of seismic in 2018. This past winter we drilled eight wells [one was at Kuparuk] and will perform tests on eight wells.”

The company has 100 percent interest in about 1.2 million acres of exploration and development lands in the NPR-A, including the Willow discovery.

The company estimates that Willow could produce in excess of 100,000 barrels of oil per day. Due to that resource, along with additional potential in the area, ConocoPhillips has proposed a new, stand-alone production facility.

ConocoPhillips estimates first oil production by 2024-2025, with an investment of $2 billion to $3 billion. The cost of supply of the new resource is estimated to be less than $40 per barrel, making it economically viable.

“Obviously, anywhere you drill for oil, market price plays a big role, but beyond www.akbizmag.com

Alaska Business

August 2019 | 67

“Oil Search’s inaugural appraisal drilling campaign this past winter in Alaska was successful, with oil encountered in all four well penetrations.”

–Amy Burnett Oil Search

drilled into the Pikka-Horseshoe trend—as well as the Willow trend—the discoveries in Nanushuk have moved beyond the initial discovery announcement and have been moderately delineated.

“All the information that I’ve seen based on the latest drilling confirms all the optimism companies have expressed,” Houseknecht says, noting that, since many of the wells and associated data is proprietary, he doesn’t have any independent indications with regard to what the companies are estimating.

“Nobody knows for sure how much oil will be produced, and we won’t have a great picture of that until production starts: until the long lateral wells are drilled and fracked and we see how reservoir performance will stand up over many months or many years,” he says.

Nonetheless, Houseknecht points out

that oil fields tend to grow.

The original estimates for Prudhoe Bay—when made at a similar point of exploration as Pikka-Horseshoe—were 7 billion to 9 billion barrels.

“As more wells were drilled, companies encountered additional reservoirs that they were not aware of originally, and so Prudhoe has already produced close to 15 billion barrels—you can see how much larger it has grown through the years.”

The only blemish on the winter drilling season in the Nanushuk Formation was Winx 1. The well, on land leased by Great Bear Petroleum Operating, ended up being evaluated as a dry hole after the operations were farmed out to a consortium of 88Energy, Otto, and Red Emperor.

However, Houseknecht points out that a single dry well drilled this year is nothing to worry about.

The failure of the Winx well is the first time since 2002 that a well that intentionally targeted the Nanushuk was unsuccessful.

“The encouraging thing about this play is that all of the 3D seismic data that I have available to me shows there are many, many, many more seismic anomalies that have not been tested in the Nanushuk Formation,” Houseknecht says. “So, it is a highly prospective, very encouraging trend, and the only downside of it right now is that virtually all of the acreage that is available is already leased.”

The trend is largest in the NPR-A, though a sizable part of it exists on state lands, as well.

As the trend extends farther north and west of Willow, toward Point Barrow, the Nanushuk becomes so shallow that there could be potential issues with the formation being too cold, as well as

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“Obviously, anywhere you drill for oil, market price plays a big role, but beyond that there is an issue that exists in the North Slope that does not exist in the Lower 48, which is that as you increase distances from existing infrastructure—the pipeline—the economic viability becomes more and more challenging.”

–Dave Houseknecht Senior Research Geologist, USGS

potential interference from permafrost in the occurrence of oil accumulations.

“Nevertheless, even before you get that far west, there are probably two dozen or three dozen seismic amplitude anomalies that have not yet been tested in areas that should not be bothered by that cold subsurface influence on the oil,” Houseknecht says.

Much of the seismic for western NPR-A is more than thirty years old—and in 2D— so there is little known about the exploration potential farther west in NPR-A. Nonetheless, Houseknecht says that directly west of Willow, all the way to the

Chukchi Sea coastline, there is prospectivity in the Nanushuk Formation.

“There could well be significant potential offshore for the same Nanushuk play,” Houseknecht says. “If you go due north of where the Pikka discoveries and Willow discoveries were made, there’s not much potential as much of the formation has been eroded many millions of years ago.

But if you go a bit farther west—say the Smith Bay area—if you go offshore there, the Nanushuk Formation drops down across normal faults and becomes thicker and thicker.”

Even with the Nanushuk Formation

having a clear eastern border, not far outside the NPR-A, it has stimulated exploration farther east in younger formations that have similar characteristics. So no matter which way a company looks, there are impacts from the successful exploration of the Nanushuk Formation.

“The Nanushuk prospect could be a very big boost for investment, employment, and production on the Slope,” Alaska Oil and Gas President Kara Moriarty says. “I think the industry has just scratched the surface in terms of exploration—so we are not close to realizing the full potential.”

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Experts in Resource Development and Heavy Civil Construction Cruz Construction | Alaska Interstate Construction Original www.akbizmag.com

Option 1 Alaska Business

Option 2 August 2019 | 69

A G R I C U LT U R E

Tomatoes growing in the main Chena Hot Springs Resort greenhouse. The resort uses hot water both to heat the greenhouse and generate electricity that runs grow lights during the winter. ŠJavier Villasenor-Gaona | Chena Hot Springs Resort

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Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

Growing Green

Alaska’s agriculture industry is ready to bloom

A

By Sam Friedman

lone employee arrived in midFebruary to turn on a furnace and grow lights in one of the northernmost commercial plant nurseries in North America. www.akbizmag.com

Despite winter weather outside, within a few days it would warm to about 75˚F inside the greenhouse—the right temperature for starting begonia bulbs, followed by veggies such as leeks and onions— at The Plant Kingdom Greenhouse & Nursery, north of Fairbanks.

At Plant Kingdom, like other plant nurseries and vegetable farms around Alaska, greenhouses are essential for starting the growing season early to seize the opportunity of the long summer days during the short summer season.

Alaska Business

For farmers lucky enough to have access to it, geothermal energy is a powerful greenhouse heater.

August 2019 | 71

Three and a half months after the first starts went in at Plant Kingdom, the staff ballooned from one to thirty-two to care for the plants that filled the six greenhouses and beyond. The snowy, south-facing hillside had transformed into colorful fields and gardens that the business uses as a wedding venue in addition to a greenhouse store.

Old timers in Fairbanks say that the first week of June is the safe time to put in outdoor plants, but Plant Kingdom founder Cyndie Warbelow says customers are asking for plants earlier. In recent years,

the busiest weekend of the year has often been Mother's Day weekend, a day that’s big in the nursery industry in the Lower 48 but was previously considered too early for Alaska’s Interior.

This year—which saw a particularly warm spring—customers started coming in two months before the start of the traditional gardening season, says current business owner Stephanie Bluekens, who purchased the business from Warbelow a few years ago. But even though climate change has generally made planting early a safer bet, it still has its risks.

Last year, for example, there was frost in the second week of June. Greenhouse operators can protect their plants from frost by bringing them indoors, but it comes at a cost. The business model is based on rotating plants through the greenhouse quickly.

“Things keep growing so you’ve got to be able to move stuff into your own outdoors and into your customers’ yards,” Warbelow says. “Things keep taking up more space, so the sequence needs to keep working in the right direction.”

Even with the chance of a late frost,

Spring sunlight streams into a Plant Kingdom Greenhouse & Nursery greenhouse in April. The business specializes in hanging flower baskets. ©Stephanie Bluekens | Plant Kingdom

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Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

Warbelow says the risks of starting early are worth it to be ready with plants when customers want them.

“I’ve seen killing frost for at least squash every month of the year. Agriculture is a form of gambling, and it pays to gamble,” she says.

“This year it was warming up gradually and I felt you’d be wasting the spring if you didn’t plant. I planted my garden the third week in April.”

Keeping it Warm Greenhouses work by bringing solar light and heat in through transparent ceilings and walls and trapping the warm air inside.

In other climates, solar heat alone is sometimes enough to grow plants that otherwise couldn’t be grown outside.

But sunlight alone isn’t enough to warm a greenhouse to growing temperatures when it’s -20˚F outside. To operate in winter, Alaskan greenhouse owners often add supplemental heat sources and may insulate the greenhouses to prevent heat loss.

At Plant Kingdom, each greenhouse has two oil-fired furnaces: one to be used as a backup if the first one fails.

www.akbizmag.com

The sun pokes over the horizon in March at the Plant Kingdom Greenhouse & Nursery north of Fairbanks. To accommodate an earlier start of the outdoor growing season, the business has started growing some plants in mid-February. ©Stephanie Bluekens | Plant Kingdom

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“Alaska did at one time grow a lot more of its own food, at least between the early colony at Palmer, the individual growers in the Interior, the ‘kitchen’ gardens, the small production plots, and some pretty creative storage solutions combined with a significant subsistence harvest.”

–Craig Gerlach Arctic/Sub-Arctic Food Researcher, University of Alaska

The first greenhouse the company starts up each year doesn’t look like a greenhouse; it’s a blocky, opaque halfbuilding connected to a conventionallooking greenhouse. The business uses this insulated greenhouse for starts because in February transparent walls would cause major heat loss without bringing in much light.

The other greenhouses at Plant Kingdom are a mix of the traditional gableroofed design and rounded Quonsethut-shaped buildings. The Quonset design is especially good for letting in light but can more easily get too hot, Bluekens says. She also worries about strong wind ripping through the polyeth-

Aerial view of the Plant Kingdom Greenhouse & Nursery. ©Stephanie Bluekens | Plant Kingdom

Plant starts grow under an artificial light at Plant Kingdom Greenhouse & Nursery. ©Stephanie Bluekens | Plant Kingdom

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Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

ylene plastic film walls of the Quonsetstyle greenhouses.

Geothermal Greenhouses Elsewhere in Alaska, gardeners warm greenhouses using heat sources other than sunlight, including wood and natural gas. For farmers lucky enough to have access to it, geothermal energy is a powerful greenhouse heater. Hot springs allow for a winter plant oasis in several parts of Alaska, including Pilgrim Hot Springs near Nome and both Manley Hot Springs and Chena Hot Springs near Fairbanks.

Having access to hot springs allows growers to produce fresh vegetables outside their usual range and outside the usual growing season.

John Dart grew up near Manley Hot Springs, where the power of geothermal energy is on display at the greenhouse/ bathhouse previously owned by his aunt and uncle. In the bathhouse, grapes and tropical flowers grow over four tubs of hot water.

Dart’s business, Dart-AM Farms, is down the road from the hot tub greenhouse but uses the same geothermal resource.

A hot water well on his property warms and irrigates the farm’s six greenhouses.

Dart grows vegetables on 7.5 acres at Manley Hot Springs and leases another 10 acres near North Pole. He uses the geothermal-heated greenhouses to start vegetables for both farms.

In the past, Dart has started planting in geothermal-heated greenhouse as early as January 21. But while it’s possible to grow plants that early in a geothermal greenhouse, he now starts in mid-February because of the limited daylight in January. Supplementing the lack of natural light with grow lights is expensive because of high electricity costs at the remote farm.

“What we found is that you could do it,” he says. "But we're not pushing that hard anymore. The cost of electricity in Manley is so expensive that it really dictates what we can do economically."

Closer to Fairbanks, Chena Hot Springs Resort began experimenting with geothermal greenhouses in 2004. At that hot springs, the water is used to produce electricity in addition to warming the greenhouses, which allows them to operate even during the darkest and coldest months. The Chena Hot Springs greenhouses produce vegetables that are served at the resort restaurant. www.akbizmag.com

Going Underground There are no hot springs at the farm of Tim and Lisa Meyers in Bethel, but the family has managed to create a productive vegetable farm in the Bush hub community without spending a fortune on burning fuel to heat greenhouses.

One of the farm’s greenhouses is warmed with a small Toyo stove, but for the most part the farm relies on the insulating power of the earth—both to protect plant starts from frost in the

job we've come to not particularly enjoy.”

Moving the plants is labor intensive, but the system allows him to start tomatoes in March and have them ready to transplant into the ground in May. In the fall, the Meyers Farm loads storable vegetables like cabbage, potatoes, and turnips into a 19,200-cubic-foot root cellar. Like the basement the farm uses for the vegetable starts, the root cellar never dips below freezing, even when it’s well below freezing above ground.

Potatoes in the Meyers Farm root cellar. ©Tim Meyers | Meyers Farm

spring and store thousands of pounds of cabbage and root crops for the winter.

Even without external heat, it’s just above freezing in a basement below one of the greenhouses. During spring, the Meyers put flats of vegetable starts in greenhouses during the daytime when the temperature is above freezing.

To protect against nighttime frost, they carry flats filled with the vulnerable young plants into the basement in the evening.

“It's no fun at 9:30 at night to put things inside,” Tim Meyers says. “It's a part of the Alaska Business

Having this storage space allows the farm to sell vegetables all winter.

The Meyers family began farming in Bethel in 2003, inspired by their initial success at gardening and a National Geographic article that identified the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta as the last fertile region on earth that hasn’t been used for agriculture.

In addition to being in a difficult location for agriculture, the Meyers Farm is in a difficult location for commerce because of the expense of shipping their vegeAugust 2019 | 75

tables by airplane. But they’ve calculated their farm can produce more vegetables than the market in Bethel demands. Bethel has a population of about 6,000. There’s potential in the larger Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region, which has a population of about 25,000.

Last year, the business experienced a breakthrough on the shipping front when the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation agreed to pay the shipping costs of Meyers Farm vegetable boxes to give its clients better, easier access to fresh produce.

"They found that it was way cheaper to feed people well than to buy the drugs to medicate them," Meyers says.

The Meyers Farm shipped 2,000 vegetable boxes in 2018. This year, Meyers says he hopes to double that number.

Off-and-On Growth of ‘Alaska Grown’

Cabbages growing at the Meyers farm in Bethel. ©Tim Meyers | Meyers Farm

76 | August 2019

There’s a political and cultural movement toward eating locally-produced foods nationally and in Alaska. Reasons behind the movement include health, expanding Alaska’s economic base, reducing fossil fuel consumption, and emergency preparedness. Among The Alaska Food Policy Council’s goals is reducing the percentage of food imported to Alaska.

Farmers and greenhouse owners say there’s a perceptible increase in interest in Alaska-grown vegetables. But it’s hard to know how long the current enthusiasm will last. In the short history of Alaska agriculture, this isn’t the first time there’s been a concerted effort to boost Alaska food production. Many past agriculture projects have failed.

Exact figures are hard to calculate, including the widely-used but dubiouslysourced statistic that 95 percent of Alaska food is imported, says Craig Gerlach, a longtime Arctic and sub-Arctic food researcher who works at the University of Alaska and lives in Alberta. But in general it’s safe to say that Alaskans used to produce significantly more of their own food in the early 20th century.

“Alaska did at one time grow a lot more of its own food, at least between the early colony at Palmer, the individual growers in the Interior, the ‘kitchen’ gardens, the small production plots, and some pretty creative storage solutions combined with a significant subsistence harvest,” he says.

Alaska Business Business www.akbizmag.com

Lisa Meyers holding a bunch of carrots from her Bethel farm. ©Tim Meyers | Meyers Farm

Alaska’s Department of Labor and Workplace Development forecasts robust labor market growth for agricultural workers in the next ten years. But that’s largely because of growth in the marijuana industry, not food production, says economist Karinne Wiebold with the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Alaska voters legalized marijuana at a state level in 2014, and the first retail pot shops opened in 2016.

Across Alaska, about 250 people worked with plants for a living in 2016, less than 1 percent of the state workforce, according to state statistics. That number covers a variety of workers, including farm workers, nursery and greenhouse workers, and farm laborers who do work on irrigation, fences, or farm buildings.

The category doesn’t include farmworkers who work with animals, who numbered about 100.

Based on the rate of recent growth, the plant-growing worker category— “farmworkers and laborers, crop, nursery, and greenhouse”—is predicted to nearly double by 2026.

Experience the Digital Edition 49th State Brewing Company

BEST

49statebrewing.com

If it’s beer you’re after, 49th State Brewing Company is the place to be. 49th State enjoys a long tradition of brewing, producing award winning beer. It’s the ideal spot to choose a craft beer on tap and enjoy an appetizer made from freshly sourced Alaska products while relaxing on the rooftop patio overlooking Cook Inlet.

THE BEST OF ALASKA BUSINESS AWARDS 2019

DENALI

The 2019 Best of Alaska Business Awards:

Broken Tooth Brewing brokentoothbrewing.net As Broken Tooth Brewing says, “Variety is the name of the game, and the brewers of Broken Tooth do not disappoint.” In 2016 alone the company made seventy-three different craft beers. The actual brewery is located in the Ship Creek port and has earned two gold and six bronze medals from the Brewers Association’s Great American Beer Festival, as well as silver and bronze medals from the World Beer Cup.

ST. ELIAS

Midnight Sun Brewing Co. midnightsunbrewing.com Midnight Sun Brewing is world renowned for its barrel-aged stouts and barley wines, beers that are appropriate for Alaska’s less-thantemperate climate and long dark winter nights, the company says. Its core brands include IPAs and Belgian ales for the rest of the year when it seems the sun never sets.

FORAKER

R E TA I L

All your votes, dozens of businesses, and tons of local talent

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elcome to the fourth annual Best of Alaska Business Awards! As part of our continuing mission to support Alaska’s business communities, each year we look to you, our readers, to tell us which businesses excel in a range of diverse categories. For the 2019 Best of Alaska Business Awards we presented twenty-three categories: some of them are fan favorites from previous years and several are brand new.

How do we determine the categories you ask?

Good question. Each year the editorial team analyzes survey results from the previous year, looking at which categories connected with our readers and which (if any) were regularly skipped; we combine those results with your feedback and suggestions for new categories, and voila! A Best of Alaska Business Awards series of questions is born. This year we added a number of new categories that saw great response, including Best Grocery Store, Best Gym, and Best Florist, to name a few. And as always we saw amazing engagement for Best to Place to Work, Best Coffee Shop, and Best Brewery.

Beyond great content (thanks again for voting!), an important part of the Best of Alaska Business Awards special section is the artwork. Each year we find

an Alaskan artist and give that person free reign to pursue a design that he or she thinks best represents Alaska, the business community, and the categories you’re voting on that year. This year we are fortunate to feature the work of Jontue Hollingsworth (check out Off the Cuff to learn all about this talented entrepreneur). Hollingsworth’s incredible design skills, combined with the work of local, talented photographers and your participation, made this year’s section one for the books.

We’re thrilled to be given the opportunity to recognize so many new names in 2019 and to celebrate those businesses that have been voted best in their field year after year. One significant and exciting change is to the Corporate Citizen category.

Because there are so many exceptional companies and employees donating their time, money, and hearts to important philanthropic causes, we’ve published all of the companies you voted for in this category with three editor’s picks, in no particular order, that work tirelessly to improve Alaska’s communities in unique ways.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey and congratulations to the 2019 Best of Alaska Business Award winners.

Salmon Sisters co-creators Claire Neaton and Emma Laukitis were inspired to start a company that reflects their experiences as commercial fisherwomen.

Emma Laukitis © Carmin Dengel

‘Hustlin’ My Hoodies’

© O'Hara Shipe

Alaska Business

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How four boutiques sell Alaskan style

By Cheyenne Mathews

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www.akbizmag.com

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laska boutiques have found a fashion niche using images of local flora and fauna to convey the spirit of the state. The summer season is one of the busiest times of year for local boutiques as their style captivates both locals and the surge of tourists looking for that local experience. Alaska Business spoke with four Alaskan artisans who are taking their incredible talent and combining Alaska Business

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it with savvy business sense in a way that adds to the local economy and gives tourists and residents alike the opportunity to buy amazing—wearable—works of art.

The Boutiques Sina Sena is the creative genius behind the designs of Crab Terror Island, which has one brick-and-mortar store in Anchorage and a strong online www.akbizmag.com

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Cooking Dirt Reclamation facilities turn contaminated soil into clean material

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By Vanessa Orr here’s no doubt that cleaning up Alaska’s contaminated soil is good for the environment. But

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perhaps what’s even more interesting is that the process, and the resulting recycled materials, lessen the effects of air and water pollution and contribute to a more pristine state.

While there are many ways in which property in Alaska can become contaminated, according to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the most common include home heating oil tanks; commercial and industrial operations releases including fuel handling and delivery; current and former dry cleaning businesses and other processes that use harsh chemicals; Alaska Business

current and former military bases; contaminants spilled during transportation; and releases from underground and aboveground fuel storage tanks.

While soil that contains hazardous waste must be shipped out of state for treatment, soil that is contaminated with non-hazardous petroleum products can be treated either on-site in Alaska or at specialized treatment facilities.

“No one in Alaska is certified to treat metals or PCBs or more nefarious chemicals that can be found in soils, so those materials are shipped to the Lower 48—usually to landfills in Washington or www.akbizmag.com

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www.akbizmag.com

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Alaska Business

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• Easy to share • Free access through 2019 • No app needed 28 | July 2019

THE BEST OF ALASKA BUSINESS AWARDS 2019

Finger-scrolling, responsive contentBREWERY - No more flipping!

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Alaska Business

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EAT

SHOP

PLAY

STAY

PNW CASINO RESORTS

Play, Relax, Repeat

A

laska doesn’t have any casinos, but for those bit by the gambling bug, casino resorts in the Pacific Northwest are just quick flight away. We have listed below just a few casino resort options in Washington and Oregon.

Washington Clearwater Casino Resort includes a waterfront hotel, full-service spa, and a casino night life with table games, slots, and dedicated keno and poker rooms. Clearwater Casino Resort is owned by the Suquamish Tribe and located on the Kitsap Peninsula, northwest of Seattle and accessible via road or the Washington State Ferry system. “Indoors and out, the breathtaking property captures the rustic natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest,” according to Clearwater. clearwatercasino.com

Little Creek Casino Resort in Shelton, Washington, is owned by the Squaxin Island Tribe. “Whether you're ready to do some serious betting or simply indulge your playful side, you'll find everything you need to get your game on,” the resort states. The par72 championship Salish Cliffs Golf Club course is located on the property and has elevation changes of nearly 600 feet “surrounded by natural beauty and no homes.” little-creek.com Tulalip Resort Casino, located thirty minutes

north of Seattle, is owned by the Tulalip Tribes and blends luxury and excitement.

“Experience impeccable service, unrivaled rewards, and the most cash back of any Washington casino,” the company states. The resort has an onsite spa and award-winning dining options, as well as high end shopping opportunities. tulalipresortcasino.com Quinault Beach Resort and Casino is owned and operated by the Quinault Indian Tribe and is just steps away from the beach, 70 miles from Olympia, Washington. According to the resort, “Quinault Beach Resort is your clear choice for fun, food, and gaming at the beach.” In addition to the indoor pool and Jacuzzi, the resort also has spa services and a multitude of dining options, including several buffets, a bistro, and a lounge. quinaultbeachresort.com

Oregon Spirit Mountain Casino was built to increase economic self-sufficiency opportunities for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, located approximately sixty-five miles southwest of Portland, Oregon. “With 90,000 square feet of gaming space full of blackjack tables, roulette, slot machines, and more, you won’t find a more inclusive, all-around enjoyable casino to visit,” the casino states. spiritmountain.com

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Chinook Winds Casino Resort is owned by the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon and is situated on the beach in Lincoln City, Oregon.

The casino floor has more than 1,100 slot machines and features a nonsmoking section and high stakes lounge. The oceanfront hotel has more than 240 rooms, more than half of which have views of the ocean.

Other features include a whirlpool spa, indoor heated swimming pool, and secondfloor convention center. chinookwindscasino.com Three Rivers Casino Resort has two locations in Oregon: Florence and Coos Bay. The Florence resort is on a 100-acre site on the Oregon coast with the eighteen-hole Ocean Dunes Gold Links (managed by Three Rivers Casino Resort) nearby. The Coos Bay location was built in 2015 and features more than 250 games and Café 1297, a full-service restaurant and bar. threeriverscasino.com Wildhorse Resort & Casino, in Pendleton, Oregon, is owned and operated by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

The resort is currently expanding, including a new golf clubhouse, pro shop, and restaurant at Wildhorse Golf Course; a new twentyfour-lane bowling alley with a bar; and a larger family entertainment center, among other updates. wildhorseresort.com

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

EAT

SHOP ANCHORAGE

AUG Ink Masters 9-11 Tattoo Show The Ink Masters Tattoo show is a gathering for tattoo artists and body piercing experts to demonstrate their skills and provide their services to Alaska. There will be a free tattoo giveaway daily in addition to a plethora of body modification vendors, tattoo contests, and other activities at the Dena’ina Center. inkmasterstattooexpo.com

PLAY

STAY

Feast. cordovafungusfest.com

pie eating contest, and a blueberry creations contest, all at Alyeska Resort. alyeskaresort.com

FAIRBANKS AUG Tanana Valley 2-11 State Fair This year’s theme is “Love Is a Cattle Field.” It will feature Alaska produce and competitive exhibits, as well as commercial, craft, and food vendors in addition to rides, games, and live entertainment, all at the Tanana Valley State Fairgrounds. tvsfa.org

Alaska AUG Anchorage 17-19 RunFest

AUG International 9-18 Senior Games

RunFest started in the ‘90s as Humpy’s Marathon, transitioning into being called Big Wild Life Runs in 2008 until the fall of 2015, when the event adopted the name Anchorage RunFest “to lend more attention to our home site, Anchorage.” RunFest includes the 49K, a marathon, a half marathon, a 5K, the Anchorage Mile, and the Kids’ 2K. anchoragerunfest.org

Alaska International Senior Games is the official Alaska state event of the National Senior Games, a national organization of athletes aged fifty and older. People compete in everything ranging from horseshoes and bocce, track and field, and swimming to mini golf, disc golf, or golf on Fairbanks’ best courses. alaskaisg.org

COFFMAN COVE

AUG Totem Trot 17 This event includes a 1/2 Marathon and 5K running/walking option. Participants of the 5K run or walk along a route that stops at more than a dozen totem poles carved by world famous artists in the Pacific Northwest Coast Native art style. totemtrot.com

HAINES AUG ‘By the Sea’ Arts 9-10 & Seafood Festival The mission of the “By the Sea” Arts & Seafood Festival is to celebrate a marine-based lifestyle and to bring together gifted vendors and performers with local and visiting patrons. Events include the Lucky Ducky race, a lip sync contest, t-shirt design, Fish Poem Slam, fireworks, and lots of live music, good food, and vendors. artsandseafoodfestival.com

CORDOVA AUG-SEPT

Cordova

30-1 Fungus Festival Every fall the community of Cordova welcomes fungus-pluckers, lichenlovers, and friends of the forest and sea for the Cordova Fungus Festival, hosted at the Cordova Center with excursions throughout the surrounding Chugach National Forest.

Attendees will have opportunities to learn more about local mushrooms, participate in art and handcraft workshops, and celebrate mushrooms, salmon, and other wild harvested foods in a Wild Harvest www.akbizmag.com

EVENTS CALENDAR

HOPE

This is the first annual iteration of the Mineshaft Grinder, a run/bike race that celebrates the prospectors who settled Hope and Sunrise. Contestants can run the 4-mile Quartz Grinder or 8-mile Silver Grinder or bike the 11-mile Gold Grinder, after which all are invited to attend the awards party at Creekbend Café. kmtacorridor.org/mineshaft/

AUG Salmonfest 2-4 Every year more than 6,000 people turn the Kenai Peninsula village of Ninilchik into a city as families and friends fill the region with encampments full of music, food, fish, and love. Over the three-day weekend many of Alaska’s top food, crafts, art, and brews are available throughout the Kenai Peninsula Fairgrounds. salmonfestalaska.org AUG Kenai 16-18 Peninsula Fair

KETCHIKAN AUG Blueberry Arts 2-4 Festival

In addition to arts, crafts, and commercial vendors at the Kenai Peninsula Fairgrounds, the fair features a Fair Queen contest, the Backwoods Girl Competition, a photo contest to win a pair of XTRATUF boots, exhibits, live music, fresh produce, food, and more. kenaipeninsulafair.com

Festivities include a pet and doll parade, blueberry dish contest, art exhibits, the annual Gigglefeet Dance Festival, fun runs, the slug race, community art project, beard and moustache contest, handmade

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AUG Denali Blueberry 17-18 Festival The Blueberry Festival takes place at Otto Lake in Healy and includes kids’ games, lake raft rides, a dunk tank, a barbeque, dancing, and music. denalichamber.com

boat race, and poetry slam, as well as vendors and live entertainment. ketchikanarts.org

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Alyeska Resort AUG Blueberry 17-18 Festival A celebration of the lush blueberry season, this family oriented outdoor event features live music, berry picking, local arts and crafts booths, tasty blueberry treats, cooking demos, beer and wine garden, hiking and biking, chair massages,

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INSIDE ALASKA BUSINESS PDC Engineers PDC Engineers expanded its telecom and security design knowledgebase with the addition of its first Registered Communication Distribution Designer (RCDD). PDC’s Bryce Mahn acquired the RCDD certification (offered by Building Industry Consulting Service International), a global information and communications technology certification that demonstrates the holder’s knowledge of the creation, planning, integration, and execution of communications technologies.

pdceng.com

ecoATM Gazelle Alaskans can now sell or recycle electronic devices at convenient kiosks; ecoATM Gazelle introduced the kiosks to Alaska, with initial kiosks to be located at Walmart and Fred Meyer locations in the Anchorage area.

Device pricing is determined by the model, specific condition, memory capacity, and value in the secondhand markets. Each phone is instantly and carefully evaluated using a unique machine vision system, electrical diagnostics, and artificial intelligence system all within the automated ecoATM kiosk.

ecoatm.com

MOA The Anchorage Assembly adopted the Municipality of Anchorage Climate Action Strategy, which identifies municipal-led, high impact, high priority actions from the Anchorage Climate Plan that the city will take in the near term. The administration has launched several actions for 2019: •M unicipal energy efficiency upgrades • Establish financing mechanisms to promote clean energy • Solar panels on the Egan Center, Anchorage Regional Landfill, and Fire Station 10 • Regional electric vehicle charging plan • Electric vehicle pilots • Expanding organics collection program 80 | August 2019

• Expanding landfill gas to energy project • Local Food Mini-Grant Program For more information and to view the plan, visit www.muni.org/ ClimateActionPlan.

to create a registry of hemp farming, manufacturing, and retail operations in the state; and to issue the regulations necessary to implement an industrial hemp pilot program.

plants.alaska.gov

ChemTrack

UA

ChemTrack Alaska was named the Alaska Woman-Owned Business of the Year by the US Small Business Administration’s Alaska District Office.

ChemTrack is an 8(a) and Economically Disadvantaged WomenOwned Small Business specializing in environmental engineering, remediation services, spill management, emergency response, and construction. Owner Carrie Jokiel is a well-known business advocate at both the federal and state levels, championing small businesses and women-owned businesses.

A task force will explore options for the University of Alaska's future structure, considering at least four potential structural options for the system: • Status Quo—Three separately accredited universities with the community college campuses part of their respective regional university.

• Lead Campus—Three separately accredited universities but with more focus on specific academic programs at each single university along with expanded availability of courses across the system via distance delivery.

• One University—A single accredited university for all of Alaska with the community colleges organized as a unit within the university.

• Three independent universities—Three separately accredited universities and associated community colleges with independent administrations and no statewide administration.

The task force will begin meeting this summer with the goal of providing a final report in time for the Board of Regents November meeting.

chemtrack.net

National Park Service A National Park Service report shows that 2,920,250 visitors to national parks in Alaska spent $1.36 billion in the state in 2018. That spending resulted in 17,760 jobs and had a cumulative benefit to the state economy of over $1.98 billion.

The report’s authors also produced an interactive tool that enables users to explore visitor spending, jobs, labor income, value added, and output effects by sector for national, state, and local economies, available at the NPS Social Science Program webpage: nps.

gov/subjects/socialscience/vse.htm

DNR The state Division of Agriculture released proposed regulations implementing state and federal laws authorizing a pilot program for a legal industrial hemp industry in Alaska.

Senate Bill 6, passed by the Alaska Legislature in 2018, directed the division to design and conduct a pilot program.

The division is working to identify what varieties of hemp are best suited to commercial cultivation in Alaska;

alaska.edu/alaska/

Alaska Legacy Partners Alaska Legacy Partners acquired the Mendenhall Business Park, better known locally as the “Mendenhall Mall and Super Bear area.” The twentyseven-acre site, set up as a master land lease structure, represents one of Juneau’s most popular year-round commercial centers. Mendenhall Business Park is comprised of eighteen long-term land leases, Mall Road, and more than 243,000 square feet of buildings. alaskalegacypartners.com.

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

BUSINESS EVENTS AUGUST AUGUST 4-8

KDD 2019 Dena’ina and Egan Centers, Anchorage: The annual KDD conference is the premier interdisciplinary conference bringing together researchers and practitioners from data science, data mining, knowledge discovery, large-scale data analytics, and big data. kdd.org/kdd2019/

brings together APA’s statewide membership for three days of association business, general sessions, speakers, and networking. alaskapower.org

revenue at our annual luncheon.

907-276-4373 | akbizmag.com

SEPTEMBER

Juneau: This is the annual conference of the Alaska Association of Harbormasters & Port Administrators. alaskaharbors.org

SEPTEMBER 23-27

Alaska Fire Conference Ketchikan: The conference includes training, workshops, lectures, and a firefighter competition. alaskafireconference.com

AUGUST 4-10

GSA Penrose Conference Juneau: The meeting will balance invited talks, roundtable discussions, pop-ups, and poster presentations about climatic controls on continental erosion and sediment transport. blogs.egu.eu/divisions/gm/

SEPTEMBER 23-27

IAWP 2019 Conference Dena’ina Center, Anchorage: The theme for the 2019 conference of the International Association of Women Police is “Mentoring the Next Generation.” iawp2019.womenpoliceofalaska.org SEPTEMBER 25-28

AUGUST 13-15

AML Summer Legislative Meeting Soldotna: The Alaska Municipal League is a voluntary, nonprofit, nonpartisan, statewide organization of 162 cities, boroughs, and unified municipalities, representing 97 percent of Alaska’s residents. akml.org AUGUST 18-20

NHA Alaska Regional Meeting Baranof Downtown, Juneau: The National Hydropower Association (NHA) is a nonprofit association dedicated exclusively to promoting the growth of clean, renewable hydropower and marine energy. hydro.org/event/20357-2/ AUGUST 21-23

APA Annual Meeting Centennial Hall, Juneau: The Alaska Power Association’s 68th Annual Meeting and ARECA Insurance Exchange Annual Meeting, hosted by Alaska Electric Light & Power and Inside Passage Electric Cooperative, 82 | August 2019

Museums Alaska Annual Conference Kodiak: This year’s conference theme is “Critical Conversations: Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion,” as “the museum field is currently engaging in critical conversations regarding how our institutions can evolve to become more equitable, inclusive, diverse, and accessible.” museumsalaska.org/Conference

SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 4

AAHPA Annual Conference

OCTOBER OCTOBER 7-10

ATIA Annual Convention & Trade Show Centennial Hall, Juneau: The Alaska Travel Industry Association is the leading nonprofit trade organization for the state’s tourism industry. The theme for this year’s conference is “Legend of Alaska.” alaskatia.org

All Alaska Pediatric Symposium Hotel Captain Cook, Anchorage: The All Alaska Pediatric Partnership supports and links healthcare services between government, healthcare entities, social services, and payers for children and families. a2p2.org OCTOBER 17-19

ASA Fall Conference

AFN

Fairbanks: The Alaska Council of School Administrators’ unifying purpose is to support educational leaders through professional forums, provide a voice that champions possibilities for all students, and purposeful advocacy for public education. alaskaacsa.org

Fairbanks: The Alaska Federation of Natives Convention is the largest representative annual gathering in the United States of any Native peoples. Delegates are elected on a population formula of one representative per twentyfive Native residents in the area, and delegate participation rates at the annual convention typically exceed 95 percent. nativefederation.org

Alaska Business Top 49ers Luncheon Anchorage Marriott Downtown: Come honor the top forty-nine Alaska companies ranked by

OCTOBER 25-27

Alaska Cross Content Conference Anchorage: The mission of the Alaska State Literacy Association is to empower educators, inspire students, and encourage leaders with the resources they need to make literacy accessible for all. akliteracy.org OCTOBER 26-28

Alaska Principals’ Conference Hilton Anchorage: Keynote presenters at this year’s conference are Tom Murray and Lissa Pijanowski. alaskaacsa.org/ information/calendar-of-events/

OCTOBER 11-12

SEPTEMBER 26-28

SEPTEMBER 27

The Lakefront Anchorage: A continuing medical education conference organized by the Alaska Academy of Physicians Assistants, providing up to twenty-five CMEs. akapa.org

OCTOBER 17-20

All-Alaska Medical Conference

OCTOBER 28-30

Alaska Chamber Fall Forum Hotel Alyeska, Girdwood: Open to the public, the Alaska Chamber’s Annual Conference is the state’s premier business conference. The conference draws 200 to 225 attendees and features keynote speakers, panel discussions, and breakout sessions on issues of statewide concern to Alaska business. alaskachamber.com OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 3

Sitka WhaleFest Sitka: Presented by the Sitka Sound Science Center, WhaleFest is a science festival that celebrates marine life. The core of the festival is a unique science symposium blending local knowledge and scientific inquiry concerning the rich marine environment of our northern oceans. sitkawhalefest.org .

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

RIGHT MOVES AOGA  Jason Blackwell joined

the Alaska Oil and Gas Association (AOGA) as an Intern. Blackwell is a 2017 graduate of Soldotna High School. Currently, he Blackwell attends Boise State University, working toward a double major in economics and political science. As AOGA’s intern, Blackwell will conduct legal research, coordinate events, and assist with AOGA’s various initiatives to promote the longterm viability of the oil and gas industry.

ACDA  Anchorage Community Development Authority (ACDA) has named Demetric Tuggle as its new Parking Director. Tuggle, Tuggle who brings more than twenty years of parking experience, will be in charge of managing ACDA’s parking division, EasyPark. Tuggle created and oversaw EasyPark’s Dispatch Center, Safety First, and the Amenities Program and will continue to focus on customer amenities and care.

Cornerstone Macen Kinne and Mack Conn have

joined the Cornerstone team as Project Managers.  Kinne brings twentynine years of experience in construction, including working on both government and private Kinne sector projects. Kinne also owned and operated a residential general contracting business that specialized in remodel, environmental, and demolition work before serving as a superintendent for a large company on many rural Alaska projects.  Conn joins Cornerstone with more than fifteen years in construction.

Conn’s professional career has focused on large, Kinne commercial, multi-family wood-framed facilities in Alaska, www.akbizmag.com

Colorado, North Dakota, and Idaho.

Conn also started out in the trades and owned his own framing company. Prior to joining Cornerstone, Conn served as a superintendent, general superintendent, and construction manager for major subcontractors and developers.

ASTAC  Arctic Slope Telephone Association Cooperative (ASTAC) hired Stacy Marshall as Director of Customer Experience.

Marshall Marshall brings more than twenty years of experience in the telecommunications industry. In her new role, Marshall leads the customer experience, product, and marketing departments and develops processes to deliver meaningful business value, working with the executive team to meet and exceed customer expectations and retention goals across the North Slope.

DOWL  DOWL has added Alaska Aviation Manager Melissa Osborn, AAE, ACE, to its Fairbanks office. She brings extensive FAA and TSA Osborn compliance expertise to the firm and will grow DOWL’s Alaska aviation services including TSA and FAA compliance. Osborn has been in aviation for more than twenty years, having previously held positions at Fairbanks International Airport, the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, Alaska Airlines, Lufthansa, and Cargolux.

Anchorage Downtown Partnership  Amanda Moser has

joined Anchorage Downtown Partnership as the organization’s new Executive Director. Moser’s Moser work experience includes positions at the Office of the Governor and Municipality of Anchorage. She will Alaska Business

lead Anchorage Downtown Partnership and the downtown community forward with vision, leadership, and community building for years to come.

Coffman Engineers In order to best serve its clients, Coffman has reorganized its overall mechanical engineering department into two departments focusing on commercial and industrial clients.  The commercial mechanical department is led by Brent Little, PE, who has more than fifteen years of mechanical design experience and has Little been with Coffman for a decade. Little specializes in engineering for federal, corrections, utilities, education, and healthcare projects. He graduated with a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from Colorado State University.  The industrial mechanical department is led by Trevor Buron, PE. Buron has fourteen years of experience, all Buron of which have been with Coffman, and specializes in industrial facility engineering, pipeline design, and all aspects of implementing in-line inspections, integrity assessments, and repairs of oil and gas pipelines. He graduated with a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from the University of Idaho.

SeaTac Marine Services  SeaTac Marine Services added to its team Kirk Miles, Special Operations Manager. With more than fifteen years of Miles experience in the marine transportation industry, Miles specializes in Alaska movement and supply chain management. He has extensive experience in cargo and terminal operations, environmental compliance, mechanical expertise, and heavy equipment logistics.

August 2019 | 83

Stantec Stantec added three key team members to its Environmental Services group in Alaska.  Victor Ross is a Senior Associate and Senior Regulatory Specialist working from Stantec’s Wasilla office.

He has forty years of experience working for Ross private firms and the US Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Land Management. Ross has been heavily involved in project management, permit evaluation and issuance, wetland delineations, and site compliance. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mining engineering from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.  Steve Reidsma is a Senior Wetland Scientist working from the Fairbanks office. He has more than twenty-five years of Alaska natural resources experience and Reidsma leads teams conducting natural resource baseline and permitting work for small retail developments as well as larger transportation, mining, and pipeline projects. Reidsma is an Army veteran and a professional wetland scientist and earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Alaska Anchorage.  Zach Baer is an environmental scientist and professional wetland scientist with twelve years of experience.

Baer He will work from the Anchorage office. Baer has focused on vegetation mapping, exotic and rare plant surveys and identification, stream characterization and monitoring,

groundwater hydrology monitoring, and GIS analysis throughout his career. He earned bachelor degrees in both biological sciences and natural resources management from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Sitnasuak  Charles Ellanna

joined the Sitnasuak Native Corporation Land Department as the Land Technician at the company’s Nome Ellanna headquarters. He recently worked with Kawerak, Inc. in the Land Management Services Program, which served the Bering Strait region tribes and people with Native allotment land management, natural resource issues, and probate.

DCI Engineers  DCI Engineers promoted Jeff Sizemore to CAD

Manager at its Anchorage office. One of his notable, local projects is the Hyatt Sizemore House, located just south of downtown Anchorage. Sizemore has more than twenty years in residential framing, modular construction, truss design, and wall panel design. Nearly fifteen of those years he’s dedicated to drafting, which have included a variety of project types and markets.

Thrively  Thrively Digital tapped Eric Fullerton

as its new Director of Account Strategy.

Fullerton brings a wealth of experience

to the position, having spent more than twentyfive years in the ski, travel, tourism, and hospitality Fullerton industries with a proven track record in marketing, sales, and technology. Fullerton has an MBA from Phoenix University.

Ahtna Netiye’  Eric McLaurin, PE,

has joined the Ahtna team as the new Vice President of Business Development. McLaurin McLaurin will be responsible for identifying strategic business opportunities and fostering strong industry relationships. He has a military background and brings more than twenty-eight years of federal business development experience to the company. McLaurin holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Southern University and A&M College of Baton Rouge.

United Fishermen of Alaska  United Fishermen of Alaska hired Scott Kelley as its Executive Administrator. Kelley, a Juneau resident, brings vast experience Kelley in commercial fisheries as the former director of Commercial Fisheries for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

SEARHC  Eric Gettis was promoted to Vice

President of Clinics for Southeast Alaska

RIGHT MOVES IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY NORTHERN AIR CARGO

Real Alaskans. Real cargo.

84 | August 2019

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC). Gettis has systemwide responsibility for creating standard operating procedures and uniform Gettis processes to improve access to care at specialty and primary care clinics and ensure alignment of patient and provider satisfaction. Gettis has a master of arts in counseling and guidance and a bachelor of arts in education from Pacific Lutheran University.  Also at SEARHC, Kari Wilson has earned a doctorate of nursing practice. Wilson began the doctorate program approximately three years ago while working as a chief Wilson nursing officer in the Midwest; she received her doctorate from the University of Missouri Sinclair School of Nursing in May. She came to SEARHC in June 2018 with fourteen years of chief nursing officer/COO experience.

Alaska USA  Bryce Deeney has been

selected for the position of Vice President, Payments at Alaska USA Federal Credit Union. Deeney brings Deeney extensive experience to the new position, having previously worked as vice president of integrated payments for a software payments company. At Alaska USA, Deeney will focus on the continued development of the credit union’s money movement platforms, such as credit and debit cards, bill pay, and peer-to-peer payments.

DNR  The Alaska Division of Forestry

has a new wildland fire chief: Norm McDonald was recently named the state’s new Wildland Fire and Aviation Program McDonald Manager. McDonald, who has worked for the Division of Forestry for thirty years, was most recently the fire management officer for the MatSu/Southwest Area, based in Palmer.

McDonald responded to fires throughout Alaska and the Lower 48 as a member of the Alaska Incident Management Team, where he now serves as incident commander.

R&M Consultants  Former intern Felipe Ruiz, EIT, joined R&M

Consultants as a full-time Staff Engineer in the firm’s waterfront and structural engineering groups. As part Ruiz of these groups, Ruiz will be involved with civil and structural design of port and harbor development, airport, and utility projects. Ruiz received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from University of Alaska Anchorage.

He also has a BBA in accounting from the University of Central Florida.

Great Alaskan Holidays  Brenda Sims was hired

as a full-time member of the Great Alaskan Holidays vehicle maintenance technician team. Sims graduated from the Sims University of Alaska Anchorage with an associate degree of applied science in automotive technology. Sims is also ASE certified as

a parts specialist, has passed her exams for ASE certification on electrical and brakes, and is currently underway with her RVDA certification as a registered technician.

UAS  The University of Alaska

Southeast (UAS) appointed Lori Klein as the new Vice Chancellor of Enrollment Management and Student Affairs. She holds a master Klein of science in education with an emphasis on college student personnel from the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse.

In this role, Klein is responsible for implementing the university’s Strategic Enrollment Plan across three campuses in Juneau, Ketchikan, and Sitka; promoting retention and completion; and ensuring quality and continuous improvement in student advising and support services.

UAF  Keith Champagne

has taken on a new role as leader of the Alaska Nanooks intercollegiate athletics program at the University of Alaska Champagne Fairbanks. Champagne has a bachelor’s degree in communications public relations from Loyola University; a master’s degree in communications, training, and development from Clarion University of Pennsylvania; and a doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies from the University of Washington.

Nail guns. Air compressors. Generators. Whatever you need, we deliver.

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Alaska Business

August 2019 | 85

AT A GLANCE What book is on your nightstand?

Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions by John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber. It is the best (and shortest) read on implementing sustainable change in an organization.

What movie do you recommend to everyone?

Any movie with a woman as the super hero! Women do remarkable things every day; it’s nice to see we are playing roles that reflect that.

What’s the first thing you do after work?

Pet my dogs. They hear me coming and meet me at the door every evening.

If you couldn’t live in Alaska, where would you live?

Kauai, Hawaii.

If you could domesticate a wild animal, what animal would it be?

An eagle, but only if it doesn’t bite me [she laughs].

Images @ Kerry Tasker

86 | August 2019

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

OFF THE CUFF

S

Shauna Hegna hauna Hegna has been the president of Koniag, the Alaska Native regional

corporation for the Kodiak Island area, since 2017.

“Koniag realized a record year this year,” explains Hegna. “It’s amazing what can happen when humble, hardworking, and driven people are inspired by a shared vision.”

believed that if you hear an owl hoot it was a signal that someone would die. We would race home whenever we heard an owl. While I no longer race home, it still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end!

AB: What’s your best and worst attribute?

Hegna: Others have said that my best attribute is that I get things done. No excuses, just results. This actually feeds my worst attribute—my lack of patience. I constantly remind myself that patience is a virtue [she laughs].

Alaska Business: What do you do in your free time?

Shauna Hegna: My family loves the outdoors. In the fall you can find us hunting near my village on Kodiak Island, in the winter we ski, and in the summer we fish and raft rivers all over Alaska.

AB: Is there a skill or talent you’ve always wanted to learn or are learning?

Hegna: I have always wanted to make my own snowfalling parka, a traditional Alutiiq ceremonial dress.

One of these days I will sit down and get it done!

AB: What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever done?

Hegna: Going to college was the most daring thing I’ve ever done. Transitioning from a high school where there were five students in my graduating class to a university where there were more students in my first semester history class than my entire village was terrifying. Oh, and perhaps ziplining in Costa Rica [she laughs].

AB: What’s your go-to comfort food?

Hegna: My stepmother’s homemade bread. It’s fattening, but so good!

AB: Other than your current career, if you were a kid today, what would your dream job be?

Hegna: Either a high school teacher or a college professor.

I love mentoring and coaching the next generation.

AB: What is your favorite way to get exercise?

Hegna: Hiking up a mountain on my way to get a deer.

AB: Dead or alive, who would you like to see perform live in concert?

Hegna: Adele. Her vocals are unparalleled.

AB: What are you most superstitious about?

Hegna: Hearing an owl hoot. When I was growing up we www.akbizmag.com

Alaska Business

August 2019 | 87

ALASKA TRENDS

Alaska Agriculture Small Industry, Big Results

Farm Operations

T

850,000

he Land of the Midnight Sun has a reputation for producing massive fruits and vegetables, but over the last few years more and more Alaskans have been looking for local options for every-day-portioned fruits, vegetables, and meats. Alaska’s agriculture industry has fluctuated since its boom during colonization in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, but today is enjoying support from programs such as the $5/Week Challenge issued by the Division of Agriculture’s Alaska Grown Program, which encourages Alaskans to spend just $5 per week from June through October on Alaska produce.

The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service conducts hundreds of surveys every year about the agriculture industry; we’ve selected some of the most up-to-date data about Alaska agriculture to present here.

ACRES OPERATED

1,000

NO. OF OPERATIONS

850 Acres Per Operation

Livestock Inventory

6,800

200

BEEF COWS

MILK COWS

16,000

1,900

CATTLE, INCL CALVES

HOGS

Milk Production

616,000 DOLLARS

2,800,000 POUNDS

9,333 Pounds Per Head

SOURCE: National Agricultural Statistics Service | Quick Stats | July 2019

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ANS Crude Oil Production

Crops

6/25/2019

01/01/2014

Hay

05/01/2011

22,000

29,000

ACRES HARVESTED

TONS PRODUCED

Yield Per Acre 1.3 Tons

Price Per Ton $355

09/01/2008 01/01/2006

09/01/2000

$10,295,000

ANS Production barrel per day 442,346 Jun. 25, 2019

05/01/2003

0

400,000

800,000

1,200,000

SOURCE: Alaska Department of Revenue Tax Division

ANS West Coast Crude Oil Prices

VALUE OF PRODUCTION

6/24/2019

Potatoes

09/01/2012

500

140,000

ACRES HARVESTED

09/01/2008

CWT PRODUCED

Yield Per Acre 280 CWT

Price Per CWT $23.40

ANS West Coast $ per barrel $66.98 Jun. 24, 2019

09/01/2004

09/01/2000

$3,276,000

$0

$20

$40

$60

$80 $100 $120 $140 $160

SOURCE: Alaska Department of Revenue Tax Division

VALUE OF PRODUCTION

Statewide Employment Figures 01/1976—05/2019 Seasonally Adjusted 5/01/2019

Barley

Labor Force 352,910 May 2019 Employment 330,223 May 2019 Unemployment 6.4% May 2019

01/01/2010

4,000

ACRES HARVESTED Yield Per Acre 43 BU

172,000 BU PRODUCED

Price Per BU $5.20

$894,000

05/01/2004 09/01/1998 01/01/1993 05/01/1987 09/01/1981 01/01/1976 0

VALUE OF PRODUCTION

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

SOURCE: Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Research & Analysis Section

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www.penco.org August 2019 | 89

ADVERTISERS INDEX Afognak Leasing LLC......................... 26

Cornerstone Advisors....................... 17

Northern Air Cargo.....................84, 85

alutiiq.com

buildbeyond.com

nac.aero

Afognak Native Corp......................... 65

Cruz Companies................................69

NRC Alaska.......................................... 38

afognak.com

cruzconstruct.com

nrcc.com

Alaska Communications.....................3

Davis Constructors & Engineers Inc...................................... 25

Odyssey Logistics.............................. 63

davisconstructors.com

acsalaska.com

odysseylogistics.com

Dorsey & Whitney LLP...................... 22

Oles Morrison Rinker & Baker LLP............................................. 29

akmergersandacquisitions.com

dorsey.com

oles.com

Alaska Executive Search (AES).........45

Environmental Management Inc. (EMI)..................... 35

Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters......................28

emi-alaska.com

nwcarpenters.org

Fairbanks Memorial Hospital........... 10

Pacific Pile & Marine.......................... 81

foundationhealth.org

pacificpile.com

Alaska Mergers & Acquisitions LLC.................................48

akexec.com Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium............................................. 92 anthc.org

First National Bank Alaska...................5

Parker Smith & Feek.......................... 11

fnbalaska.com

psfinc.com

Global Diving & Salvage Inc............ 23

PCE Pacific.......................................... 67

Alaska Soil Recycling.........................42

gdiving.com

pcepacific.com

anchsand.com/divisions/soil-remediation

Great Northwest Inc.......................... 27

Personnel Plus.................................... 78

Alaska USA Federal Credit Union........................................ 18

grtnw.com

perplus.com

Great Originals Inc.............................68

alaskausa.org

greatoriginals.com

Price Gregory International Inc................................. 29

ALSCO.................................................. 61

ICE Services.........................................66

pricegregory.com

alsco.com

iceservices.net

Princess Lodges................................. 73

Alyeska Resort.................................... 47

Ideal Health......................................... 78

princesslodges.com

alyeskaresort.com

idealhealthak.com

Quality Asphalt Paving (QAP).......... 33

American Heart Association.............. 9

Jim Meinel CPA P.C........................... 25

colaska.com

www.heart.org

meinelcpa.com

Samson Tug & Barge......................... 62

American Marine / PENCO.......88, 89

Logic Geophysics & Analytics LLC.......................................68

samsontug.com

logicgeophysics.com

sgsgroup.us.com

att.com

Lynden Inc...........................................49

Shannon & Wilson............................. 39

C & R Pipe and Steel Inc...................28

lynden.com

shannonwilson.com

Alaska School Activities Association (ASAA)................................ 12 asaa.org

amarinecorp.com

AT&T...................................................... 21

SGS Environmental Services........... 35

crpipeandsteel.com

Matson Inc..............................................7

Span Alaska Transportation LLC.....44

Central Environmental Inc. (CEI)............................................... 51

matson.com

spanalaska.com

Mechanical Contractors of Fairbanks......................................... 35

Stantec..................................................66

cei-alaska.com

Conrad-Houston Insurance Agency.............................. 55

mcfairbanks.com

chialaska.com

microcom.tv

Construction Machinery Industrial (CMI)..................................... 2

Nenana Heating Services Inc..........42

cmiak.com

New Horizons Telecom Inc............. 37

Cook Inlet Regional Advisory Council................................. 48

nhtiusa.com

(CIRAC) www.cirac.org

MICROCOM........................................ 55

stantec.com

Technipress......................................... 53 tpress.net

TOTE Maritime Alaska....................... 91

nhsi@alaska.net

totemaritime.com

Tutka LLC.............................................45 tutkallc.com

Usibelli Coal Mine.............................. 13

Nortech Environmental & Engineering......................................... 43

usibelli.com

nortechengr.com 90 | August 2019

Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com

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