Alaska Business Monthly August 2016

ENERGY & POWER | ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES | CASH FLOW MANAGEMENT

Digital Edition

August 2016

49 State TH

Brewing Reconstruction of an Anchorage Landmark Page 8

August 2016 Digital Edition TA BLE OF CONTENTS

DEPARTMENTS

FROM THE EDITOR BUSINESS EVENTS RIGHT MOVES INSIDE ALASKA BUSINESS EVENTS CALENDAR EAT, SHOP, PLAY, STAY ACCOLADES ALASKA TRENDS AD INDEX

ABOUT THE COVER: Jason Motyka (left) and David McCarthy, owners of 49th State Brewing Company, are happy to show off a bottle of their brew and their new digs in Anchorage, a heavily artisan-infused renovated landmark on Third Avenue in Anchorage. Story by Associate Editor Tasha Anderson begins on page 8.

7 95 96 98 101 102 104 108 111

Cover Photo: © Judy Patrick Photography Cover Design: David Geiger

ENERGY & POWER Special Section

ARTICLES RECONSTRUCTION

EXPANDED IN DIGITAL EDITION

24 | Utilities Collaborate to Form Alaska Railbelt Transco

Working together at behest of Regulatory Commission of Alaska

By Tracy Barbour

30 | Interior Natural Gas Conversion an Empty Pipe Dream for Now State funded and AIDEA financed Interior Energy Project in holding pattern for hook-ups

By Julie Stricker

34 | The Growth of Renewable Energy in Alaska

Opportunities ‘waiting in the wings’

By Rindi White

40 | Construction of Statewide Renewable Projects Heats Up

Reducing fuel oil use, creating efficiencies, and stabilizing energy costs

By Rindi White

ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES Special Section

58 Photo by ABM Staff

Courtesy of Central Recycling Services

8 This caribou antler hostess table was designed and constructed by Grady Keyser for 49th State Brewing Company’s renovated restaurant in Anchorage.

8 | 49th State Brewing Company Renovating and revitalizing an Anchorage landmark

By Tasha Anderson

LEADING ALASKANS 14 | Maver Carey and TKC

‘Continued growth in the future’

By Shehla Anjum

4

Central Recycling Services facility in Anchorage.

58 | Recycling Options for Industry

Central Recycling Services leads the way

By Susan Harrington

60 | Natural Resource Development Litigation “Litigation is, for better or worse, part of the way it works up here”

By Tasha Anderson

MINING

18 | Donlin Gold Project Update

Corps begins work on final EIS

By Heather A. Resz

62 | BLM Report on ANCSA Land Contamination Environmental services needed across Alaska

By Julie Stricker

66 | Alaska Business Monthly’s 2016 Enviromental Services Firms & Recycling Services Directory

FINANCIAL SERVICES

46 | Financial Analysis Facilitates Better Cash Flow Management for Alaska Companies

Indispensable tool that can help businesses

By Tracy Barbour

Alaska Business Monthly | July 2016 www.akbizmag.com

August 2016 Digital Edition TA B L E

O F

C O N T E N T S

ARTICLES FINANCIAL SERVICES

50 | Quick Tips for Small Business Cash Flow Management

VOLUME 32, NUMBER 8 Published by Alaska Business Publishing Co. Anchorage, Alaska

EDITORIAL STAFF

LEGAL SPEAK

Managing Editor Susan Harrington 257-2907 editor@akbizmag.com Associate Editor Tasha Anderson 257-2902 tanderson@akbizmag.com Art Director David Geiger 257-2916 design@akbizmag.com Art Production Linda Shogren 257-2912 production@akbizmag.com Photo Contributor Judy Patrick

By Renea Saade

BUSINESS STAFF

By Michael Branham

52 | Navigating Changes to the Salary Threshold for “Exempt” Employees

TELECOM & TECHNOLOGY 54 | Building Security and Risk Management Made Easier and More Affordable

by Technology

By Tracy Barbour

OIL & GAS

74 | Training for Alaska’s Oilfields

By Will Swagel

OIL & GAS

78 | Securing Contracts in Alaska’s Oil & Gas Industry Timely tips from industry insiders

By Tasha Anderson

VISITOR INDUSTRY

EXPANDED IN DIGITAL EDITION

Photo by ABM Staff

84

The main lobby of the Historic Anchorage Hotel, which was built in 1916.

84 | Historic Anchorage Hotel Celebrates 100 Years

By Tasha Anderson

President Billie Martin VP & General Manager Jason Martin 257-2905 jason@akbizmag.com VP Sales & Marketing Charles Bell 257-2909 cbell@akbizmag.com Senior Account Mgr. Bill Morris 257-2911 b_morris@akbizmag.com Account Mgr. Janis J. Plume 257-2917 janis@akbizmag.com Account Mgr. Holly Parsons 257-2910 hparsons@akbizmag.com Accountant Ana Lavagnino 257-2901 accounts@akbizmag.com Customer Service Representative Emily Olsen 257-2914 emily@akbizmag.com 501 W. Northern Lights Boulevard, Suite 100 Anchorage, Alaska 99503-2577 (907) 276-4373 | Outside Anchorage: 1-800-770-4373 Fax: (907) 279-2900 www.akbizmag.com | Editorial email: editor@akbizmag.com

ALASKA BUSINESS PUBLISHING CO., INC.

ALASKA BUSINESS MONTHLY (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; Fax: (907) 279-2900, ©2016, Alaska Business Publishing Co. All rights reserved. Subscription Rates: $39.95 a year. Single issues of the Power List are $15 each. Single issues of Alaska Business Monthly are $3.95 each; $4.95 for October, and back issues are $5 each. Send subscription orders and address changes to the Circulation Department, Alaska Business Monthly, PO Box 241288, Anchorage, AK 99524. Please supply both old and new addresses and allow six weeks for change, or update online at www.akbizmag.com. Manuscripts: Email query letter to editor@akbizmag.com. Alaska Business Monthly is not responsible for unsolicited materials. Photocopies: Where necessary, permission is granted by the copyright owner for libraries and others registered with Copyright Clearance Center to photocopy any article herein for $1.35 per copy. Send payments to CCC, 27 Congress Street, Salem, MA 01970. Copying done for other than personal or internal reference use without the expressed permission of Alaska Business Publishing Co., Inc. is prohibited. Email specific requests to editor@akbizmag.com. Online: Alaska Business Monthly is available at www.akbizmag.com/Digital-Archives, www.thefreelibrary.com/ Alaska+Business+Monthly-p2643 and from Thomson Gale. Microfilm: Alaska Business Monthly is available on microfilm from University Microfilms International, 300 North Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48106.

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EXPANDED IN DIGITAL EDITION 88 | Touring Alaska’s Backcountry Grand operations in Denali National Park

By Tasha Anderson

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Alaska Business Monthly | July 2016 www.akbizmag.com

FROM THE EDITOR ARCTIC

Infrastructure fuel

Kotzebue

Fairbanks

Galena

Nome

2

2

Tok

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Bethel

Wasilla Anchorage

Palmer Valdez

3

Kenai / Soldotna

3

Homer

Juneau

Dillingham

Kodiak

LF GU

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A L A SK A

Wrangell Sitka

Ketchikan Unalaska / Dutch Harbor

AL EU TI AN

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laska is uniquely and acutely aware of the necessity of understanding and balancing the business needs and environmental values implicit in the energy and environmental sectors of the economy. The state is facing a great deal of adversity in these areas. In August, Alaska Business Monthly presents two special sections: Energy & Power and Environmental Services. These naturally fit together; the responsible development of energy and power in Alaska is heavily reliant on environmental services.

In Alaska, energy is power.

In the Energy & Power special section, we bring readers an update about the six utility companies along the Railbelt and their efforts so far in establishing a regional transmission company, an update on the natural gas conversion related to the Interior Energy Project, and the growth in renewable energy infrastructure throughout the state, including the many projects under construction or soon to be.

In the Environmental Services special section, we take a look at that industry in three articles: Recycling Options for Industry, Natural Resource Development Litigation, the BLM Report on ANCSA Land Contamination—plus the annual Environmental Services Firms & Recycling Services Directory. Work in this sector continues to decline due to the price of oil.

Not a surprise then, that as the price of oil has come down so has the cost of energy, though not necessarily the cost of power. In the July 2016 issue of “Alaska Economic Trends” published by the Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development Research and Analysis Section in “The Cost of Living: Prices didn’t rise as fast in 2015, mostly due to falling energy costs” by Neil Fried, he points out that, “In Anchorage, which is the only place in the state where inflation is measured, energy prices fell by 10.3 percent in 2015, the www.akbizmag.com

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single largest annual decline since 2009. Gasoline prices alone fell nearly 25 percent.”

He continues by explaining how energy prices have a “powerful effect on the overall inflation rate,” including “transportation, which fell by nearly 7 percent.” Transportation is heavily weighted in the Consumer Price Index, which is what is used to measure inflation.

In 2015, “Anchorage’s inflation came out to just half a percent—the lowest in twenty-seven years.” Remember Anchorage in 1989?

However, in Anchorage, power prices did not go down in 2015.

Why? Fried points out that “the drop in energy prices had little effect on the cost of heating most homes in Anchorage because most of them are heated by natural gas, for which prices are regulated by the Alaska Regulatory Commission. Piped gas prices for homes in Anchorage increased by 7 percent in 2015.”

Fuel prices in rural Alaska did go down in 2015. Fried reports that the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development surveyed one hundred communities as they do each year and found that “overall heating fuel and gasoline prices fell 18 percent and 13 percent respectively between January 2015 and January 2016.” Arctic Village, where fuel is flown in, had the highest fuel costs: $12 per gallon for heating fuel #1 residential and $10 per gallon for regular gasoline.

So there is good news in the face of adversity. And there is good news in the August issue of Alaska Business Monthly magazine. The team has put together another really great issue—enjoy!

Susan Harrington, Managing Editor August 2016 | Alaska Business Monthly

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Alaska Energy Infrastructure Map: Alaska Energy Authority, “Renewable Energy Atlas of Alaska”

Energy and Power: Good news in the face of adversity

O C E AN Barrow

RECONSTRUCTION Jason Motyka (left) and David McCarthy own the 49th State Brewing Company, with locations in Healy at Denali National Park and in Anchorage on Third Avenue. Š Judy Patrick Photography

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Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

49th State Brewing Company Photo by ABM staff

Renovating and revitalizing an Anchorage landmark

By Tasha Anderson

T

here are few buildings in Anchorage or Alaska that can boast nearly one hundred years of history. One of those, built in 1918, is located at 717 West Third Avenue in downtown Anchorage and currently occupied by 49th State Brewing Company, a home-grown Alaska business owned by Jason Motyka and David McCarthy.

“This building was originally built as an Elks Lodge,” Motyka explains. “From what I’ve been told, back in the day one in every six Alaskans was an Elk.” The Lodge was a community center, boasting a theater, fitness center, and bowling alley in addition to the bar and restaurant. Most recently it housed the Snow Goose Restaurant and Sleeping Lady Brewery. “When the opportunity came to be a part of this facility we were really excited because those folks that helped shape Alaska’s future utilized this building; it’s kind of passing on the baton to us to do something unique for Alaska’s Mark Wedekind installs shelves on the threehundredbottle whiskey wall during the renovations at 49th State Brewing Company’s new Anchorage location.

Photo by ABM Staff

www.akbizmag.com

The second floor of the 49th State Brewery Company building, with a wall made of barrel staves on the right and the beginning of Abbie Cleek’s chalk mural ahead.

future as well,” Motyka says. “The history is unparalleled.”

Moving forward it will be the home of 49th State Brewing Company’s second location; their origins are in Healy in Denali National Park, where their first brewery and restaurant were born. This second location is an opportunity to expand, but, McCarthy says, “One of the reasons we’re growing is actually to stabilize our business in Denali, which is our foundation.” He says one of their challenges in Denali was being able to produce enough of the beer that their guests love. “In order to produce more we had to expand into an area that was going to help reduce our costs so the beer could be more affordable.” One of the benefits of the Anchorage location is a huge storage area on the bottom/basement floor, allow-

ing the company to ship in raw ingredients in larger quantities and store them in-state.

McCarthy and Motyka are passionate about developing the building in such a way that only builds its status as a community gathering place and iconic Anchorage property. So they invited Alaskan artists to be a part of the renovation and remodeling process. “If you build a place for the people, you just have the people help you build it, right?” McCarthy says.

The Whiskey Wall

One of the installations is behind the mainfloor bar: the whiskey wall by local woodworker Mark Wedekind, who owns Blackstone Design (blackstonedesign.com), a hand-shaped custom furniture business.

He says that normally most of his work is from private commissions, and his clients find him through word of mouth.

In this case, Wedekind has had a long connection with Motyka’s family, as he bought his home from the Motyka’s in 1994.

Wedekind says he designed the wall, a tree motif (made of walnut) with shelves across the wall intended to hold more than three hundred bottles of whisky, with input from Motyka and McCarthy. “Jason had seen enough of my work to have an idea that he wanted some sort of aspect of my work as part of the wall,” Wedekind says.

Tree forms appear in much of his work, so “Jason thought it would be cool to work a tree in there somehow.” Motyka says, “It’s going to look amazing. Mark is one of the most amazing woodworkers that I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Wedekind says that one thing that surprised him on the project is how much time

August 2016 | Alaska Business Monthly

9

The 49th State Brewing Company’s new convection air pizza oven heats from the top and bottom to cook pizzas evenly while producing a crispy crust. The stone facing was done by Mitch Fairweather.

Photo by ABM Staff

he’s put into it, having worked on it for several weeks. He has done other installation pieces, such as staircase railings and fireplace mantels. “So it’s not like this is too far removed, but it is the first whiskey rack I’ve ever done,” he laughs.

The Stone Oven and Entry Mural

Neither McCarthy nor Motyka knew Mitch Fairweather (mdfairweather@msn.com), an Alaskan that does stone and masonry work. They were walking down the sidewalk discussing the need for a tile worker.

“We’re walking by this building, and it’s midnight, and there’s this guy on his hands and knees tiling at midnight. You can’t make this up,” McCarthy laughs. “But the fact that he was working at midnight shows us that that’s the kind of spirit that we need.”

Mitch Fairweather’s artisan stonework for the entry mural at the Anchorage location of the 49th State Brewing Company.

Photo by ABM staff

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The two men knocked and in short time had recruited Fairweather, who in the end completed the front entry floor slate mural (49th State Brewing Company’s logo), refaced the new pizza oven (shipped to Alaska in two weeks via Lynden), did the acid stain on the concrete floors on the first and second floors, installed the natural stone located underneath the staircase (fashioned to look like a mine entrance), and installed tile in the first floor bathrooms.

“I had an excellent experience working with the owners of 49th State Brewing Company,” Fairweather says. “On the pizza oven, I sent them some pictures of stone and then I gave them my idea of doing a mixture of the stones. They said go ahead and do your best. That opens the door for someone that likes to do the work and has done it for a long time and can picture what’s going to stand

out real nice, so I really hit it off with them.”

McCarthy says of the entrance mural, “Some people will just walk over it and not notice it. But nobody that is connected to him and his family will ever walk over that and not notice it.”

The Brewing Mural

Upstairs on the second floor Abbie Cleek (on Facebook as Captured by Cleek), an Alaskan artist, completed a chalk mural that depicts the brewing process from beginning to end, starting with growing hops and ending with a glass of beer. The purpose of the mural is as a visual aid for 49th State Brewing Company staff if guests have questions about brewing. “I didn’t know anything about brewing before this,” Cleek says, continuing that she learned a lot during the course of the project.

Cleek was also connected to the project through Motyka, as she was a friend of the family. Motyka and McCarthy had been considering flying an artist up from the Lower 48 to install the mural when Motyka happened to get a text containing some of Cleek’s work. “We gave her some pictures and said: can you draw this? She said yes, I’m the best charcoal artist I know.”

She says that while this isn’t her first mural, it was her first “big” mural, and as such it was a learning experience. “It wasn’t difficult as far as the sketching part,” she says. “I knew that part was going to be easy because I love working with charcoal; the difficult part was doing it on such a large scale.” She says all told she estimates she spent approximately 120 to 130 hours over six weeks on the mural. “It was kind of hard on my body,

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

my shoulders, sketching on ladders and coming up and down ladders. But it was all totally worth it.” Cleek was working a fulltime job during the day and ended up working on the mural every night after work.

The Front Range Mural

Motyka says that when the original renderings of the building were done, one of the concepts for the space at the top of the stairs was some sort of mountain art installation. Enter Charlie Renfro (charlierenfro.

com), a skiing buddy of Motyka’s, who says, “I take photos of everything; I really like portraiture, but I’m passionate about mountain photography.” As such, he was a natural fit as a photographer.

But the question remained, which mountain(s) should be featured? McCarthy says they asked themselves, “Well, if the wall wasn’t there, what would you see?” The Front Range was the answer.

With that, Renfro began a three-month process to get a photo that would work to

create the fifty-foot by ten-foot mural. “I’d never really done anything like that before, so I figured I’d do my best to create something for them.” One of his first major obstacles was where to take the photo. “I needed a location that would be equidistant from the mountains, and because I wanted the horizon to be flat I wanted to be higher, so I had to shoot it from the top of the building.”

Getting onto any roof of Anchorage’s downtown buildings isn’t as easy as just taking the stairs, and Renfro says he spent weeks

Charlie Renfro, photographer, stands in front of the Front Range mural, as seen from the second floor.

Photo by ABM Staff

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Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

A chalk mural

by Abby Cleek, located on the second floor of the 49th State Brewing Company’s new location in Anchorage.

It’s a visual aid to educate guests about the brewing process.

Photo by ABM Staff

Cleek

on the phone trying to find a building willing to give him access. Eventually he called Alaska USA Federal Credit Union asking for permission. He received a call back from one of Alaska USA’s security personnel who manages the building and whose child, coincidentally, Renfro used to coach in skiing, and Renfro was able to access the roof.

With the location secured, he ran into additional issues trying to find an appropriate large format camera as well as the good luck of shooting when the mountains, the weather, and the light were all cooperating. “I’m really happy with it,” Renfro says of the final picture.

The mural was installed by large-format design and print company GraphicWorks, Inc., owned by Alaskans Victor Alexander and Bonnie Moore. Alexander says the installation took three men approximately ten hours, which doesn’t include the proofing process or any pre-installation work such as the printing, which took about three hours alone.

Charlie Renfro says a friend, Corky Still, installed the wood frame around the mural, “and I’m happy with how the frame turned out. I’m generally just really excited to have something like that visible in a place where hopefully lots of people are coming to see this beautiful space.”

The Antler Hostess Table and Chandeliers McCarthy is the partner who happened to run into Grady Keyser, an artist that creates www.akbizmag.com

furniture and décor pieces out of caribou antlers for his business Antlers of the Far North. McCarthy and his wife were driving down the street in Fairbanks and his wife spotted Keyser in a field surrounded by his furniture. “I slammed the breaks and did a U-turn, and he walks up and has his beaten leather hat, just straight out of some story book,” McCarthy says. The chance meeting resulted in Keyser designing caribou antler chandeliers for the theater as well as a caribou antler hostess table. “I’m a huge fan of using things of nature; a shed from an animal is like a leaf that fell from a tree, it’s a part of nature,” McCarthy says.

Keyser’s wife Jeanie says that Keyser has been making these items for about twenty years; they currently live with their family “in the deep bush” north of Fairbanks.

He builds the furniture out there and then hauls it in a boat to town. She says what antlers he doesn’t find on his own he purchases from Alaska Native villages, flying all over the state to do so.

It was McCarthy’s idea to build the hostess table out of caribou antlers, which he proposed to Keyser. Motyka says, “He drove down from Fairbanks. He parked his trailer that he slept in while he was here in my driveway with his family for three days” while he built the table out of caribou antlers (and wood left over from the renovation) in 49th State Brewing Company’s parking lot. Jeanie says that while he had

never constructed a hostess table before, “He loved it. He enjoys every piece he does.”

Built by Neighbors

And there are others projects, including walls constructed out of barrel staves salvaged from barrels that 49th State Brewing Company actually used and the “mine shaft door” constructed out of spare beams and wood salvaged from an Anchorage deck. “How all those things come together: to me it’s just hard working people with great intentions,” McCarthy says. “We’re making something, taking a raw ingredient and making something out of it that people can all appreciate.”

Motyka adds, “It all comes down to trying to make something that’s great: so we’ve designed aspects of this building to incorporate stories that we can help share with our guests whether they’re tourists or locals.”

McCarthy says, “Jason and I have always felt essentially what we’re bringing in is a community center. Our business and our livelihood is serving people, but we want a place that people are proud to come and call their own. How do you build something that’s iconic? Because the reality is maybe we’re just a restaurant, or maybe it’s really more than that. It depends on who works on it.”

R Tasha Anderson is an Associate Editor for Alaska Business Monthly.

August 2016 | Alaska Business Monthly

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LEADING ALASKANS

Maver Carey and TKC ‘Continued growth in the future’

By Shehla Anjum

14

Courtesy of The Kuskokwim Corporation

W

hen Maver Carey got her first job at The Kuskokwim Corporation (TKC) in 1994 Alaska’s economy was in a periodic decline because of low oil prices and corporations were cutting jobs.

Carey had lost her marketing position with a subsidiary of the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, but was able to find work in the shareholder relations department of TKC, which was also her village corporation. Nine years later, in 2003, she was president and CEO of the corporation.

Raised mostly in Fairbanks and Anchorage, Carey is of Yup’ik, Athabascan, and Caucasian parentage. Her mother belonged to the Hoffman clan of the region, and throughout her childhood Carey spent several weeks every summer at her grandfather’s cabin near Aniak.

Those trips fostered an appreciation for the land and those who lived there permanently.

Carey graduated with a public relations and marketing degree from Gongaza University in Spokane, Washington in 1990, but says she had no specific plans for a career in business. “I started college intending to major in broadcasting and to work in television, preferably as an anchor in the Seattle area, but I later switched my major to marketing.”

The lack of a business background was no barrier. Carey took to her job at TKC and was a quick learner. TKC managers took note and began promoting her. In the nine years before the corporation bestowed its top job on her, Carey had worked in administration management and human resources, served as vice president, and appointed acting president twice. “By the time I became CEO I’d worked in every department,” she says.

For the past thirteen years Carey has provided leadership and guided the corporation through changes and challenges. TKC was created in 1977 when ten small village corporations, located in the middle region of the Kuskokwim River, combined their money and lands into one entity with a single board and staff. The villages realized that the move would reduce operating costs and expenses and would result in larger earnings for shareholders.

The corporation began with 1,100 shareholders in 1977. In 1994 it became one of the

first Native corporation to start enrolling the original shareholders’ descendants. By 2016 the number of shareholders had tripled. “We now have over 3,700 shareholders, and we will keep enrollment open until 2025 when we expect to have 5,000 shareholders. I believe that number is sustainable for us,” Carey says.

Developing Revenue Streams

In 2003, when Carey became CEO, TKC had revenues of $1.2 million. In subsequent years revenues began climbing and peaked at $149 million in 2010, but then declined.

Since 2010, the two lowest revenue years since were 2012 with revenues of $57 million, and $2013 with $36.6 million.

The corporation attributes those two low revenue years to a sluggish US economy resulting in a drop in federal contracting income. However, 2014 saw a sharp increase to $73.1 million, and further gains to $86.4 million in 2015, with a net income of $1.66 million before taxes for that year. This year will be even better: “We are projecting $100 million in revenue for 2016,” Carey says.

The revenue growth that began after Carey became CEO in 2003 was a result of her work with the corporation’s board of directors to change the corporate structure. Prior

to that most of TKC’s revenues derived from earnings on stocks and bonds, real estate, and interest income, but the corporation wanted a leaner and diversified structure.

The board created TKC Development, Inc. in January 2005 in order to “streamline business decisions, protect core assets, and allow TKC to leverage some of our stock and bond portfolio for bonding capacity to grow active companies that generate profit,” Carey says.

The new subsidiary was tasked with moving the corporation away from passive investments and into focusing on new operating entities that could bid for contracts outside Alaska under the 8(a) status, Carey adds.

The US Small Business Administration originally set up the 8(a) Business Development Program to allow small and disadvantaged minority-owned businesses to compete for government contracts. The program was later expanded to include Alaska Native corporations.

TKC’s 8(a) subsidiaries have played a large role in the corporation’s success and in its ability to award dividends. TKC Development’s initial subsidiaries included its only Alaska-based business, Kuskokwim Properties, which owns majority interest in six large apartment complexes in Anchorage operated

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

by its partner American Multiplex; Suulutaaq, Inc., a civil construction company; and TKC Aerospace, which procures and leases aircraft, and provides logistics support and professional staffing for government and commercial aerospace efforts and contracts. Both Suulutaaq and TKC Aerospace have now graduated from the 8(a) program, but continue to provide revenues to the corporation by successfully bidding for commercial government contracts.

The corporate structure was tweaked again in 2010 with the formation of Tumeq. “We established Tumeq as a holding company of TKC Development, Inc. to provide business support and oversight for TKC Aerospace and Suulutaaq, and to diversify our portfolio by adding new businesses” Carey says.

By 2016, Tumeq had increased TKC’s portfolio to eight diverse companies, with three of those added in the last five years. The companies include Green Lighting, which creates customized energy-efficient lighting solutions; Swift River Environmental Services, LLC, which provides environmental services; Charleston Logistics, LLC, which provides logistics support for commercial and government programs, including the U.S. Air Force, Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve; Strategic Initial Outfitting Transition Solutions, LLC, which specializes

in turnkey initial outfitting and transition management for healthcare; and Precision Air, Inc., a repair station that focuses on commercial aircraft composite repair.

Tumeq’s latest acquisition, Precision Heli-Support, was added in April 2016 as result of an unusual event. A lawsuit had been filed against a Phoenix, Arizona company over its intentional theft of TKC Aerospace’s trade secrets. The suit was settled in TKC Aerospace’s favor, and Precision Heli-Support was formed out of the assets recovered.

All of TKC’s current and former subsidiaries that operate outside of Alaska are doing well.

TKC has intentionally diversified so that the main sources for revenue are no longer 8(a) firms. “We derive our income from both commercial and government sources so we now compete in the general economy,” Carey says.

Kuskokwim Properties, the Alaskabased business, has also performed well.

In 2015 its portfolio of six apartment complexes in Anchorage and Soldotna had only a 3 percent vacancy rate and a credit loss of less than 1 percent, the corporation’s 2015 annual report notes. Refinancing of two of the complexes resulted in distribution of $1.72 million to TKC. Since the start of the partnership between TKC Development, Inc. and American Multiplex in 2007, TKC has received $3.7 million in distributions.

Dividend Distributions

Carey is proud of TKC’s performance, its revenue growth, and the consistent dividend payments to shareholders. If payment of dividends is one measure of a company’s success, then TKC has done very well. The corporation created a $2 million Dividend Fund in 1981 and has paid a dividend every year since then.

“We put a third of the profit from our subsidiaries into the Dividend Fund,” Carey says. Those profits combined with other income—from the properties and the earnings of the fund itself—are distributed to shareholders each year.

Since 2011, TKC has distributed more than a million dollars each year, and each dividend was above $3 per share, reaching a high of $3.55 per share, paid out in May 2016. A total of $16.1 million has been paid in dividends from 1981 to 2016, Carey says.

In 2015 a new Elders’ dividend was set up. That dividend pays a lump sum to Elders over sixty-five and is in addition to the regular annual dividend. The 2015 Elders’ dividend was $375; in 2016 it was $348.50.

The Dividend Fund demonstrates TKC’s strong commitment that shareholders will continue to receive dividends in the future, Carey says. “I am confident TKC will continue its strong performance and the pot will keep increasing. We are striving for a

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$1,000 dividend by 2025, the year when the number of our shareholders reaches 5,000.”

The dividends are important to the residents of a region that Carey says is “the poorest in the state, if not the entire United States,” and where employment opportunities are few.

“We have given a dividend every year since 1981, even in the two years [2012 and 2013] when we did not have a positive net income.”

But that is not enough and a dearth of jobs has resulted in many residents leaving the region’s ten villages. “We continue to lose residents. The number of shareholders in TKC villages went down from 50 percent in 1996 to 33 percent in 2015,” Carey says.

There is hope that the future will bring jobs that will help people stay in the region.

That hope is pinned to the possible start of Donlin Gold’s mine operations in 2022. The gold mine is located within the TKC region, and the corporation owns surface rights to those lands, while Calista Corporation owns the mineral, or subsurface, rights.

Carey has worked closely with Donlin Gold for the past twelve years and has formalized several agreements to give TKC a direct involvement in the project. In 2014, the surface use agreement between Donlin Gold and TKC was extended to 2031 and now coincides with the terms of Calista Corporation’s exploration and mining lease to cover the entire projected life of the mine.

Under the terms of the agreement, Donlin Gold would directly compensate TKC through payments for key projects. TKC also negotiated two key contracts. One is to build and operate the port site at Junjuk Creek, downriver from the mine. The second is for the ongoing land reclamation process, which will begin on day one of the mining operations and will last longer than the life of the mine, according to Carey.

The project will change the region economically too. “About 1,500 new jobs, with Donlin, Calista, and TKC, will become available to shareholders in the region,” Carey says.

To prepare for the hoped-for opening of the mine, TKC is teaming with Calista and Donlin Gold to develop a skilled workforce that will be ready for jobs there. The jobs will range from skilled construction labor to professional office staff overseeing key elements of the operations.

Donlin Gold has shown its commitment to training a local workforce, Carey says. It donated $50,000 for the past two years to fund a program for training and educating TKC shareholders for future jobs.

Although she feels strongly that the project will succeed, Carey is disappointed by one recent decision. “I am optimistic that the mine will open. But recently Donlin

had to push back its timeline. I wish it were sooner because our villages need an economic base and they need employment.”

Under the new deadline, Donlin Gold will continue the permitting process between 2016 and 2018. It will make the “go or no-go” decision in late 2018 or early 2019, and will start mine operations in 2022, if the project moves ahead.

Kuspuk Borough Formation

With the Donlin Gold mine project hopefully advancing forward, there is now talk of forming a new borough in the region.

The possible Kuspuk Borough will have the same boundaries as the Kuspuk School District. State law encourages the formation of local governments, Carey says.

“The state has mandated that the entire state would be ‘boroughized.’ Our ten villages have a resource base to tax so they can either form their own borough or let someone else do it. TKC is educating the residents on what that means so they can decide if they want a borough or not,” Carey says. The decision on a borough should proceed in tandem with Donlin Gold’s timeline, according to Carey.

Discussions with residents on forming a borough and drafting a charter package will take place between 2016 and 2018. Discussions would come later on how to tax the mine to provide local services. The petition to the Local Boundary Commission, the charter, and a taxation scheme for the new mine will be finalized when Donlin Gold makes a “go or no-go” decision. The plan is for the new borough to begin functioning when the gold mine begins its operations.

There is now a Kuspuk Borough Steering Committee, which TKC financially supported to assist residents in exploring their options.

TKC’s educational efforts include travels by staff and Carey to villages for discussions on a potential borough. One of the most important points being discussed is the advantage of keeping the new borough small in geographic size so it only covers the Kuspuk region and not the entire Yukon-Kuskokwim delta.

Continued Growth

TKC is somewhat shielded from the Alaska economy because its businesses are mostly out of state. “We haven’t put all of our eggs in one basket. Government contracting has been profitable for us, but it’s not our sole source of revenue, unlike some Native corporations that rely heavily on their 8(a) contracts,” Carey says. “I don’t feel a lot of anxiety about the state’s economic downturn—our subsidiaries continue to perform well and we expect to see continued growth in our future.”

R Shehla Anjum is based in Anchorage.

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

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MINING

Donlin Gold Project Update Corps begins work on final EIS

By Heather A. Resz

18

T

he final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Record of Decision for Donlin Gold LLC’s proposed mine are expected to be released in 2017, according to the US Army Corps of Engineers-Alaska District, the federal agency in charge of preparing the document.

Sheila Newman, chief of the Special Actions Branch for the Regulatory Division for the Alaska Corps of Engineers, says her staff are beginning to review the more than six

hundred comments received on the draft EIS. The extended deadline ended May 31.

Located 277 miles west of Anchorage and 10 miles north of the village of Crooked Creek in remote Southwest Alaska, the proposed Donlin Gold mine has proven and probable gold reserves estimated at 30.4 million ounces—1,040 tons—of gold, according to the draft EIS. Under Donlin’s preferred plan, described as Alternative 2 in the draft EIS, construc-

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

Donlin Gold’s immediate (left) and overall (far left and facing page) project area as presented in the draft Environmental Impact Statement for the project.

SOURCE: US Army Corps of Engineers Donlin Gold Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement

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tion would take three to four years and cost $6.7 billion. The project would employ up to 3,000 people during construction with an annual payroll of $375 million, according to the draft EIS. Donlin Gold says the project would have an annual operating budget of $7.1 million and would employ between 800 and 1,200 people for about 27.5 years.

The ongoing exploration and permitting phases of the project, which began in 1995, have employed as many as 240 people—mostly Alaska Native corporation shareholders. www.akbizmag.com

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August 2016 | Alaska Business Monthly

19

The project has three major components: the mine, transportation infrastructure, and a 315-mile natural gas pipeline to provide fuel for the mine’s power plant, according to the draft EIS. The company says the total acreage of the three is sixteen thousand acres.

At the end of operations, Donlin says, the 2.2 miles long, 1 mile wide, and 1,850foot deep mine pit, its associated 2,350acre tailings storage facility, and a 2,300acre waste rock facility would be reclaimed.

A wastewater plant at the site would operate for an indefinite period after the mine closes to clean contaminated water in the

“It’s their land. It’s their gold, and they are asking us to help them develop it. Donlin Gold is a means to develop their land and have some self-determination for shareholders.”

—Kurt Parkan External Affairs Manager, Donlin Gold

pit lake before its release into the Crooked Creek watershed.

‘It’s their land. It’s their gold’

Residents up and down the river here are shareholders in two Alaska Native corpora-

tions that own the surface and subsurface land rights that contain the proposed Donlin Gold mine—the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1972 transferred the surface and sub-surface rights to The Kuskokwim Corporation and Calista Corporation, respectively. The Donlin prospect is one of the largest discovered and undeveloped gold deposits in the world, Donlin Gold says in its project materials.

Donlin Gold LLC, a joint venture formed

by Barrick Gold North America and NOVAGOLD Resources Alaska, Inc. in 2007, leases the land and mineral rights to the area from the two corporations.

“It’s their land. It’s their gold, and they are asking us to help them develop it,” says Kurt Parkan, Donlin Gold external affairs manager. “Donlin Gold is a means to develop their land and have some self-determination for shareholders.”

The US Army Corps of Engineers-Alaska District is the lead federal agency coordinating with cooperating federal and state agencies and tribal governments to complete the EIS process required by the National Environmental Policy Act. The process was triggered when Donlin Gold applied for permits on July 26, 2012, under Section 10 of the US Rivers and Harbors Act and Section 404 of the US Clean Water Act. “It is a very valuable part of the process,” Parkan says. “It is a better project as a result of the comments.”

The draft EIS document released November 27, 2015, detailed seven alternatives.

Alternative 1 is to maintain the status quo.

Alternative 2 is Donlin’s proposed project plan. And each of the other five alternatives aims to reduce specific impacts and risks in various elements of the plan, Parkan says.

Project Includes Subsistence Review Newman says the Corps of Engineers also is leading a parallel review with its partners to assess compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act as this project relates to the Iditarod National Historic Trail, which the Donlin Gold’s preferred pipeline route would cross in twenty-five places and co-locate or parallel for fifty-eight miles.

Section 810(a) of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act also requires the Bureau of Land Management to 20

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

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SOURCE: US Army Corps of Engineers Donlin Gold Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement

Estimated Annual Ocean and River Barge Traffic Barge

Transporting

From

To

Number of Round Trips per Season

Ocean

Cargo

Seattle, WA or Vancouver, B.C. area

Bethel

16 during construction 12 during operations

Ocean

Fuel

Seattle WA or Vancouver, B.C. area

Dutch Harbor

7

Ocean

Fuel

Dutch Harbor

Bethel

14

River

Pipe and Equipment

Bethel

Kuskokwim Landing

20 during first two years of pipeline construction

Ocean

Pipe and Equipment

Anchorage

Beluga Landing

20 during first year of pipeline construction

River

Cargo

Bethel

Angyaruaq (Jungjuk) Port Site

50 during construction1 64 during operations

River

Fuel

Bethel

Angyaruaq (Jungjuk) Port Site

19 during construction2 58 during operations

Notes: 1 Total would be 200 trips over four years. Exact distribution by year would be determined during final design.

2 Average: actual number would range from 9 to 29 annually.

Source: SRK 2013a.

review proposed projects’ impacts on subsistence uses and needs before any federal determination to withdraw, reserve, lease, or otherwise permit the use, occupancy, or disposition of public lands.

BLM Wildlife Biologist Bruce Seppi prepared the preliminary subsistence project analysis and testified as to “the impacts to subsistence based on the alternatives outlined in the draft EIS,” during the public hearing in Crooked Creek. Seppi said he “evaluated the project in three different components, and that’s the mine site, the transportation infrastructure, and the pipeline.” He did an overview of each component and said, “We found that through all those alternatives, all of them—Alternative 2, 3A, 3B, 4, 5A, and 6 and the cumulative case— that are stated in the Donlin draft EIS may significantly restrict subsistence uses.”

Residents testifying at the hearing in Crooked Creek on January 21 voiced support for the jobs and economic prosperity the mine would bring to the region and asked questions about the impacts permitting the mine could have for subsistence. Public hearings were held in Aniak, Crooked Creek, Anchorage, Bethel, Akiak, Quinhagak, McGrath, Nunapitchuk, Tyonek, Lower Kalskag, Holy Cross, and Chuathbaluk. Presentations were held in each community that held a public hearing and also in Kipnuk, St. Mary’s, Emmonak, Toksook Bay, and Hooper Bay.

Project Would Require Extensive Infrastructure The Donlin Gold project also would require expanded on-site housing to accommodate 638 workers, a new airstrip, expansion 22

of the existing Knik Bethel Yard Dock in Bethel, a new twenty-one-acre port nearer the mine, conveyor systems, a mill, truck shop, labs, wastewater treatment plant, offices, warehouses, access roads, and a buried natural gas pipeline to fuel a 227 megawatt power plant, according to Alternative 2 in the draft EIS. Barges would bring fuel and cargo to the region in the summer from Seattle or Vancouver, BC, areas and Dutch Harbor and transfer loads to shallow draft river barges near Bethel for the 177-mile trip up the Kuskokwim River to the Jungjuk/Angyaruaq Port, where cargo would be moved to the mine over a thirty-mile gravel access road, according to the draft EIS. A detailed table at the top of the page breaks out the ocean and river barge transportation estimates.

Alternative 4 in the draft EIS would move the barge landing downstream seventy river miles to Birch Tree Crossing to reduce the risk of barges becoming stranded in five shallow areas. This option increases the length of the port access road to about seventy-six miles, Donlin says.

Alternative 3-B considers building a diesel pipeline instead of natural gas pipeline to reduce barge traffic on the river.

All of the alternatives detailed in the draft EIS are aimed at mitigating impacts and risks posed by the project, Parkan says.

Natural Gas Pipeline Would Fuel Power Plant The electric motors on the mills in Donlin’s processing plant that would grind the ore into powder would use most of the mine’s base load of about 153 megawatts of electricity, according to the draft EIS.

Donlin Gold reviewed a number of options for powering the project before settling on a buried, fourteen-inch, natural gas pipeline to deliver the 307 million cubic meters of gas to the mine across 315 miles of mostly state and BLM lands, Parkan says.

Donlin’s preferred pipeline route begins near Beluga on the west side of Cook Inlet in the Susitna Flats State Game Refuge, passes through the Alaska Range, across the Castle Mountain and the Denali-Farewell faults, through 7 watersheds, and under 396 streams and 6 major salmon-bearing rivers to reach the mining site.

Alternative 6-A would re-route the pipeline through Dalzell Gorge near Rainy Pass, in part, Donlin says, to minimize overlap with the Iditarod Trail.

Even with the pipeline’s $834 million price tag, Parkan says, it is cheaper and safer than other fuel options considered for the power plant.

Several More Years before Construction Parkan says it will be several more years before construction could begin. It will take at least a year after the final EIS process is complete before all of the one hundred or so permits needed can be finalized, he says.

After that, there is another year of work wrapping up design and engineering details and a final economic analysis to determine if the timing is right to move ahead, Parkan says.

R Heather Resz lives in Wasilla. She’s told Alaska’s stories for nearly twenty years.

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

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SPECIAL SECTION

Energy & Power

Utilities Collaborate to Form Alaska Railbelt Transco Working together at behest of Regulatory Commission of Alaska

By Tracy Barbour Editor’s Note: Longtime Chugach Electric Association CEO Brad Evans was interviewed in June for this story. Evans was set to retire in July, after the August issue’s press date.

A

laska’s Railbelt electric utilities are progressing with plans to form an Alaska Railbelt region electric transmission company—commonly referred to as a Transco—and other efforts meant to control electricity costs, increase reliability, and generally benefit all Railbelt power users.

In June 2015, the Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) directed the Railbelt’s six electric utilities to voluntarily work together to investigate and report the potential costs and benefits of creating a Railbelt Transco. The RCA regulates utilities to pro24

tect consumer interests and promote economic development.

Determining Potential Benefits

The Railbelt utilities have been working together for more than a year to determine the potential benefits of using a Transco in combination with a single “unified” or “independent” system operator (USO or ISO) to improve electric system service and reliability in their own service areas and across the Railbelt. Both a Transco and single system operator would be regulated by the RCA and could improve Railbelt electric service by facilitating system-wide planning and management of genera-

tion and transmission infrastructure. The Transco model could provide infrastructure planning, finance, construction, and management options that are currently not possible for the six individual utilities.

As an important note, the electric utility business has three components: power generation, transmission, and distribution.

Generation produces electricity from energy sources, including natural gas, coal, wind, or flowing water. Transmission entails moving high-voltage power from generators to population centers. And distribution involves delivering power to individual homes and businesses. Not all utility companies engage in all three aspects of the business. A Transco is a utility that only transmits power that is generated and distributed by other entities.

Power transmission is generally a straightforward process of moving electricity from producers to distribution points. Electricity must first be stepped up or transformed to higher voltages, so it can

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

can Transmission Company (ATC), a Wisconsin-based transmission-only utility. ATC has fifteen years of experience forming and operating a Transco in the Midwest. “We’ve been through the experience bringing together many utilities, large and small, including municipalities and cooperatives, to identify, construct, Rowe and operate transmission lines for their mutual benefit,” says Mike Rowe, CEO of ATC. “We look forward to being part of that sort of partnership in Alaska.”

The Railbelt utilities are optimistic about the collaborative process that is already tak-

ing place. “ATC helped us create milestones that could lead to the creation of a Railbelt Transco,” says Mark Johnston, general manager of ML&P. “The utilities have been working toward this goal for a long time. But we were working as six individual utilities,” Johnston says. “Bringing us together and doing it as a group, we have a much better chance of

success.”

The utilities are analyzing everything from the economic benefits of having a Transco to how to divide the associated costs and benefits. Their analysis has evolved with new

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safely and efficiently move relatively long distances across a network of high-voltage transmission lines. It is then reduced to lower voltages at another substation before distribution companies deliver it to consumers’ homes and businesses.

About 80 percent of all Alaskans receive their power from one of the six Railbelt utilities. These utilities—including Golden Valley Electric Association, Matanuska Electric Association (MEA), Chugach Electric Association, Homer Electric Association, Municipal Light and Power of Anchorage (ML&P), and the City of Seward— serve a combined area that extends from the Kenai Peninsula to Fairbanks. Each utility has special challenges associated with its service area’s unique geography.

The utilities have formed working groups to create cost-benefit models for a Transco and single system operator that would manage all power generation to meet the entire Railbelt’s demands. To facilitate their efforts, they have been working with Ameriwww.akbizmag.com

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The 115 KV transmission line connects the Kenai Peninsula and the Bradley Lake Hydroelectric plant to Anchorage and the rest of the Railbelt.

be established, it is intended that these standards would apply uniformly across all transmission assets in the Railbelt.

A Sense of Renewed Collaboration Over the past several decades, there have been a number of studies conducted to determine the savings that could be achieved through improvements to the transmission and generation of electricity in the Railbelt.

But the current research effort is different because all of the utilities are participating in the modeling and validating the inputs.

Their concerted effort and cooperation contradicts accusations that there is a lack of collaboration among the Railbelt utilities. “This Transco process has reinforced the collaborative efforts of the utilities,” Johnston says. “I believe that this process is showing the good things that can happen when the six of us work closely together to achieve something for the benefit of all the Railbelt utilities.”

Tony Izzo, general manager of MEA, agrees. “We all recognize a potential for benefits, and we are working to quantify what they might be and how to achieve them for our members,” Izzo says. “It’s an exciting time. There’s renewed collaboration between the utilities, progress with the modeling effort, and optimism about the future.”

Courtesy of Municipal Light & Power

Cautiously Optimistic

economics, new entrants, and recognition of the benefits already gained through a “loose” power pool.

The Railbelt utilities expect to complete their Transco and single operator system modeling in the third quarter of 2016. The individual utilities will then evaluate the findings to decide if forming and participating in a Transco is in the best interest of their respective customers in terms of reliability and cost. The utilities will then report their decision, along with the supporting analysis, to their governing bodies, 26

the RCA, and other stakeholders.

In terms of progress on the regulatory side, the RCA scheduled public meetings to discuss the Transco in July. It also made plans to discuss reliability standards among the utilities. Currently, the Intertie Management Committee, a consortium of Railbelt stakeholders, has met to reconcile the two existing reliability standards used on the system. Consequently, a common set of reliability standards has been adopted by most of the Railbelt utilities and are under revision at this time. And should a Transco

The utilities are eagerly awaiting the final numbers on the costs and benefits of a Transco. And they are guardedly optimistic about the potential impact this option could have on their customers.

Johnston says he sees tremendous benefit in a Transco. “We have worked very hard to get here, and we know there is still more work to do,” he says.

For example, the utilities are diligently working on the equitable distribution of costs and benefits of managing infrastructure that benefits the Railbelt grid. Currently, each utility manages and pays for its own infrastructure. The utilities are required to manage and operate their systems to maximize benefit for their own customers or members, without considering the impact to other utilities. It may be better, going forward, to have a Transco manage and pay for system-wide assets to optimize planning and equitably allocate the costs and benefits of operating decisions and investments, according to Johnston.

“We have been working collaboratively to avoid cost shifting between utilities and appropriately allocate benefits,” Johnston says.

“Making a particular investment today may not immediately benefit every utility’s customers, but over time the system will im-

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

prove and benefit everybody.”

Ed Jenkin, a senior power systems engineer with MEA, says he is pleased with the utilities’ work to finalize an “economic dispatch” model. “We’re pretty happy with the collaboration of all the utilities to try to get to the answer,” he says. “But our members expect us to do our due dili- Evans gence and see the benefit and cost data before we make a decision.”

Brad Evans, CEO of Chugach Electric, feels that stable, safe, reliable, low-cost energy is a fundamental driver of economic development. “A Railbelt restructured along the lines of a unified system operator and a transmission-only utility is a business model that will see Southcentral residents efficiently and effectively well into the 21st century,” he says.

The utilities, with the help of the RCA, are working diligently and deliberatively to evaluate the costs and benefits associated with restructuring the electric utility business, Evans says. But each entity will decide the merits of this restructuring in terms of its own economics and participation in the governance structure. “However, we remain confident that—after due diligence is complete— most, if not all Railbelt utilities, will find it in

the interests of their members to cated. The existing transmission assets—reparticipate in this new way of do- gardless of ownership—can bring different ing business,” he says. benefits to the utilities, he says. He is conJohn Foutz, electric utility cerned about how those costs will be fairly manager for the City of Seward, aggregated into a single unified rate. “The key says he is very eager to see the is not to create too high of a barrier of entry to Transco model. “The model is any one party,” he says. “If you change from going to be kind of the Van Gogh the status quo and the impact financially or of showing us how much poten- operationally has a greater burden over a diftial savings there are,” he says. ferent utility, I think you will have a utility be The Transco is intended to a little more reluctant to participate.” benefit everyone on the Railbelt, Foutz says.

It’s a matter of looking at the entire picBut his main concern at this point is mak- ture and creating a methodology where eving sure his small utility continues to have erybody comes out better under a unified a voice. “We want to make sure that when system, Janorschke says. The extensive work and if a Transco is formed, we have an op- that has been done will help each of the utiliportunity to be heard,” he says. “If there are ties determine if a Transco is a viable option transmission lines that are serving our cus- for them. “It’s prudent they take the time to tomers, those will need to have equal weight understand the model and see what is in the in operations, repairs, etc.” best interest of their members,” he says.

Brad Janorschke, Homer Electric Association’s general managTransco and USO, er, says he is trying to be as reala Dual Solution istic as possible about a Transco A Transco system is expected system. “Like everything else, to bring efficiency, substantial there will be compromises,” he cost savings, and other benefits says. “But what matters is that, to the Railbelt utilities. Early over time, everybody benefits.” estimates have indicated that a Janorschke has lingering quesTransco could generate savings tions about how the cost of the of $50 million to $100 million transmission system will be allo- Janorschke per year. However, the Railbelt

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August 2016 | Alaska Business Monthly

27

utilities say those assessments are not accurate, because they are out-of-date and do not consider current economic trends and recent utility infrastructure investments.

Some of these projections were made before substantial benefits were achieved by the recent loose power pool, when energy prices were higher and the utilities we were relying on older generation equipment. The cost of generating power has since gone down—along with the anticipated savings.

“We discovered, as soon as we brought all of the utilities into the process, that many previous studies overstated potential cost savings,” Johnston explains. “Their projections missed key factors. The utilities are working together to refine the economic modeling process to more accurately assess Transco-related costs and benefits.”

From a general perspective, Rowe of ATC says, Transcos have two primary advantages. They can look at projects that benefit multiple utilities and multiple stakeholders and they focus on one thing: transmission.

“The benefits come in maintaining and improving reliability and making sure consumers have access to the lowest cost combination of generation,” he explains.

ML&P officials say a Transco could enhance the efficiency, security, and reliability of the Railbelt power system. It could also provide open access to the system to allow others to compete with utilities to sell power.

Say, for example, an independent wind farm wants to sell power to a customer on the grid. The owner would have to pay a fee to the Transco for transmitting the power. “The Transco would create a single transmission rate that would be paid by any power producer moving power across the grid. The same fee would apply to everybody and it wouldn’t matter if power was generated by ML&P or an independent wind farm,” says Johnston. “Everybody would pay the same fee.”

From ML&P’s viewpoint, the Transco model would also provide a new financing mechanism. “As independent governmentor coop-owned utilities, we have varying access to the credit markets, but not to the equity markets,” Johnston says. “We believe that having a Transco could provide access to private finance mechanisms we don’t currently have that we believe will be necessary to enable future infrastructure improvements and additions.”

The Transco also would be very useful for planning, Johnston says. “It would give us a mechanism to prioritize improvements that need to be made for building, maintaining, and operating new equipment,” he says.

The cost-benefit analysis that the Railbelt utilities are working on assumes there is a systems operator to provide for “eco28

nomic dispatch” and a Transco in place.

“The model is evaluating what the potential value of that is to members through reduced electrical costs,” Jenkin says.

Facilitating Economic Dispatch

The USO would facilitate economic dispatch by ensuring the most cost-effective generation option is used whenever power is needed—not necessarily the closest source or the one owned by the local cooperative. “The goal is to be able to dispatch the system as efficiently and low-cost as possible,” Jenkin says.

The USO would sit above all the utilities and facilitate economic dispatch. And the Transco would function like a toll road, allowing for uniform transmission access and costs, as well as transmission upgrades. “The Transco could bring all the utilities together to upgrade that line,” MEA Spokesperson Julie Estey explains.

“The Transco also reduces the hurdles that exist with utilities around wheeling [transmission] rates.”

The Transco forms a means by which transmission assets are paid for without taking in account the power flowing over those lines. Those transmission costs would be paid for—but by some other means. “It essentially moves the transmission costs out of the equation when utilities are making decisions about buying power,” Estey explains. “But the impact of not having the wheeling rates would depend on where the power is moving and over which utility’s system.”

The USO would not only dispatch power more economically but it would also ensure utilities are properly compensated for their power and transmission costs. Being able to eliminate the direct influence of wheeling rates could further lead to better economic dispatch.

A Transco and USO are like a two-sided coin, Foutz says. “There are potential benefits that come with a Transco for some of the utilities and benefits that come with a USO for other utilities,” he says. “You can’t have one side without the other, so it’s an equal opportunity for all the utilities.”

From an energy infrastructure perspective, Evans of Chugach Electric feels the Transco model that is being explored will provide the flexibility and innovation required for the system to operate efficiently.

He believes a USO working in tandem with a transmission-only utility (Transco) will maintain and improve long-term reliability of Railbelt energy delivery, as well as facilitate optimal economic across the Railbelt dispatch. The system will also eliminate transmission congestion and build resiliency into the transmission grid.

Loose Pool Market

Currently, Railbelt utilities voluntarily participate in a “loose pool” power market where they buy and sell power to each other. Instead of a single system operator managing the process, each company considers the economics involved and decides if it makes sense to purchase power or produce their own.

Utilities use different generators that can be more or less efficient for meeting their customer’s electricity demand throughout the day. So it is often less expensive for one utility to pay another utility to supply some of it its power some of the time.

For example, MEA’s Eklutna Generation Station has a unique design with ten small engines that can deliver power in small increments. This gives it the flexibility to meet varying demands more quickly and effectively than more traditional power plants with fewer and larger engines. “It’s the best option for our own membership, but it’s also a need on the Railbelt,” Estey explains. “We sell small increments of power, and that allows Chugach and ML&P not to have to start up a big generator.”

Chugach Electric, ML&P, and Golden Valley have been the key players on the Railbelt. But now with the development of more power plants, there is more incentive to look at how to better coordinate assets. “Purchasing power between the utilities is not new, but the interaction between all the utilities is the thing that has evolved,” Estey says.

Transco Alone not Enough

The Railbelt utilities emphasize that a Transco alone will not deliver the benefits identified in the economic dispatch analysis currently being updated. The greatest rewards of Railbelt collaboration will likely come from economically dispatching all generation resources against all electric loads in a single pool.

The RCA also has instructed the Railbelt utilities to transition from voluntary pooling to tighter pooling and to conduct an assessment of the establishment of a system operator to facilitate economic dispatch. Establishing a tight power pool or USO would ensure delivery of the economic dispatch benefits. Those gains could be amplified by a unified tariff created by the Transco.

Efforts are also underway in other forums to outline the bylaws and charter of a unified system operator. Working drafts of these documents were submitted to the RCA in April.

If all initiatives proceed as planned and prove to be cost-effective, a Transco could be implemented by next spring.

R Freelance writer Tracy Barbour is a former Alaskan.

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

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SPECIAL SECTION

Energy & Power

Interior Natural Gas Conversion an Empty Pipe Dream for Now State funded and AIDEA financed Interior Energy Project in holding pattern for hook-ups

By Julie Stricker

R

esidents in parts of Fairbanks and North Pole will have to wait a bit longer to get hooked up to natural gas.

In 2015, more than seventy-three miles of pipe were installed in North Pole, the first of three anticipated phases of construction to expand natural gas infrastructure in a wide swath around Fairbanks, north to Fox and south to Salcha.

The construction is part of the Interior Energy Project (IEP), created by the Alaska Legislature in 2013 to bring clean, low-cost energy to communities in Alaska’s Interior.

It is financed by AIDEA (Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority) and overseen by a handful of state agencies.

That pipe will remain empty for now, as the Fairbanks North Star Borough and state of Alaska work to answer questions about the project: the source and cost of the gas, how to get it to Fairbanks, and where to store it, as well as what options homeowners will have to tap into it and possible payment options.

And while there are few answers right now, Jomo Stewart, general manager of Interior Gas Utility (IGU), says the project is proceeding on all fronts. Stewart, who was hired in April, is tasked with developing a business plan for IGU and overseeing the conversion process.

“We’re all rolling the ball forward,” Stewart says.

Date Pushed to 2018

Initially, the project was supposed to get off the ground in 2015, but higher costs and missed deadlines have pushed that date to early 2018. In June, Stewart gave the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly an update on the project’s progress.

“I told the assembly, ‘This is becoming realer by the day,’” Stewart says. “It became real on the local level. The distribution system to move gas to almost six thousand people is already in the ground. You would just need to put in service lines. It’s within reach 30

“We’re looking at the LNG [liquid natural gas] capacity to get it here, that’s a big deal and that’s under discussion. We are trying to make sure we move as expeditiously as we can so we don’t back up anybody’s timeline.”

—Jomo Stewart General Manager, Interior Gas Utility

of about 5,600 structures. That’s a big deal.

“The fact that we’re actively under negotiations to get that gas, that’s a big deal.

“We’re looking at the LNG [liquid natural gas] capacity to get it here, that’s a big deal and that’s under discussion,” he says. “We are trying to make sure we move as expeditiously as we can so we don’t back up anybody’s timeline.”

The delays have been frustrating for many, though.

Karl Gohlke and Eric Chase are Interior contractors who are both active members of a task force organized to look into the logistics and implementation of the project.

Five-Part Puzzle

Bringing long-term natural gas supplies to the Interior is a puzzle with five distinct pieces: a contract to supply natural gas; construction of a liquefaction plant (needed for Cook Inlet gas to be shipped north); transportation options; local distribution; and homeowner conversion.

“There’s been a number of things kicked around, but no particular approach has been established,” Chase says. “For one, we’ve got to get the gas. That’s been one of the issues.”

Gohlke agrees.

“Here we sit for another two or three years,” he says. “Everybody was excited when it kicked off, and now it’s been delayed again, delayed again.”

Complicating the picture is AIDEA’s purchase of Pentex, the parent company for Fairbanks Natural Gas and a gas processing plant in Point Mackenzie, as well as two

trucks used to bring the gas to Fairbanks.

Fairbanks Natural Gas serves approximately one thousand customers in Fairbanks’ core, with IGU’s territory surrounding it. Stewart says officials are looking at how to integrate the utilities.

“We do have two utilities in a [community] of one hundred thousand, one under municipal control and one under state control,” Stewart says. “How do you bring them together?”

Low oil and gas prices may also complicate the project. When IEP was approved in 2013, heating oil was running about $4 per gallon. The project set a target price for 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas at $15, roughly equivalent to $2 per gallon oil.

Since then, the price of oil has dropped below that level, giving many homeowners less incentive to switch to natural gas.

No Gas Supplier

So far, though, IGU doesn’t have a gas supplier. The state announced early this year it had chosen to partner with Salix, a subsidiary of Avista Corporation, to build a liquefaction plant for gas in the Cook Inlet region. The Salix deal would deliver gas at an estimated cost of $15.75 per 1,000 cubic feet, but officials were looking at ways to lower the costs. Transportation options include trucking the gas or loading it onto the Alaska Railroad, which is the first railroad in the nation granted permission to ship LNG. The state and IGU are also keeping an eye on potential gas finds in the Nenana Basin.

In May, lawmakers asked Governor Bill Walker to extend “Middle Earth” tax credits

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

for oil and gas exploration in Interior Alaska for another year. Doyon, Limited sank its third well this summer in the Nenana Basin, with high hopes of finding commercial quantities of gas and possibly oil. The tax credits, which were set to expire in July, would reimburse Doyon for 80 percent of its exploratory costs. If natural gas is found in commercial quantities, Fairbanks would be its target market as early as 2019. Lawmakers were concerned an IGU contract with Salix would hinder Doyon’s ability to find a market for any gas it might find.

Stewart doesn’t see that as an issue.

A Doyon strike wouldn’t preclude IGU from also sourcing gas from Cook Inlet, Stewart says.

“From an IGU and an AIDEA perspective, what Doyon has going on in the Nenana basin and what we have in the IEP, we actually see them as complementary,” Stewart says.

“IEP is designed to be a starter project to give the community a hedge against oil if we go up that trail again,” Stewart says.

There’s lots of room to grow.

The current IEP plan calls for about 4.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas, but when the infrastructure buildout is complete, the demand could be 7-plus billion cubic feet, not counting local military bases, he says.

“Either way, the answer is there’s market that is going to be available [for Doyon gas],” he says. “Based on a normal development timeline, if they struck it big even today, it would be a couple of years before they would be able to move that gas out of the basin. We encourage their project. We don’t see them as conflicting, we see them as complementing.”

Despite the delays, Stewart says he’s confident the project is moving forward.

“Plans evolve,” he says. “What’s the military saying—no plan survives first contact with the enemy. These are just the negotiations themselves. These are long-term agreements, so working on them takes time. There are certain milestones to be met and meeting them is what allows you to move to the next one.”

Conversion Process

The other big piece of the puzzle is the process of conversion: getting the gas to the consumer.

IGU’s consumer-side task force has been meeting for months, talking with contractors, boiler manufacturers, building inspectors, banks, and local and state officials about the best process for the conversion.

To tap into the natural gas infrastructure that’s already in place in North Pole, for example, homeowners will need to find someone to run a feeder line from the main line to www.akbizmag.com

August 2016 | Alaska Business Monthly

31

their house and install a meter. That might cost a couple hundred dollars, Gohlke says.

The biggest appliance, and the biggest cost, will be for the homeowner to swap out an oil-burning furnace for a natural gas furnace. That could run between $10,000 and $15,000. In some cases, the stack would need to be modified and some homeowners may opt for separate water heating systems.

“The thing we would not be tackling under this project is, let’s say, putting in a gas burner for a fireplace or putting in a gas clothes dryer,” Chase says. “Those would all be things left up to the homeowner to do independently of the contract.”

The IGU task force has identified a couple of banks that expressed a willingness to provide low-cost loans, Gohlke says. However, the process in which a homeowner would sign up for the swap has not been decided.

Currently, there are two proposals on how to approach the conversion. With the gas lines reaching 5,600 potential customers, there are questions of timing, supply,

“The thing we would not be tackling under this project is, let’s say, putting in a gas burner for a fireplace or putting in a gas clothes dryer.

Those would all be things left up to the homeowner to do independently of the contract.”

—Eric Chase Interior Contractor

expertise, and manpower, Gohlke says.

Swapping out a full boiler system is time-consuming and can only be done during the four or five months temperatures in North Pole stay above freezing.

Ideally, IGU could do two thousand conversions each season, which seems to be the highest number feasible given the limited time-frame and the most cost-efficient for contractors, the utility, and suppliers, Chase says. That number was reached after talking with various sources as well as third-party outfits that have done similar conversions in other parts of the country. “[The utilities] need large numbers of conversions to make it feasible for them to bring that gas in to that area,” he says.

Homeowners would be surveyed about the type of home heating system, the boiler type, and serial number. In many cases, Chase says, they’re finding that only the burner would need to be converted, instead 32

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

“A lot of issues have been addressed that we know are out there, but no decisions have been made on the items that have been addressed.”

—Karl Gohlke Interior Contractor

of the whole boiler system. That lowers the cost significantly, to about $3,000 to $5,000, and could be completed in just few hours.

An Open Question

How to sign up and schedule the conversions is an open question. Stewart envisions a process similar to one set up for a home energy rebate program. The program may offer credits for swapping out the boilers, a program similar to one used to encourage people to install cleaner-burning woodstoves. IGU would open an office staffed with people who could answer questions and help with the paperwork.

The onus would be on the homeowner to go through the process of finding a contractor to do the work.

Gohlke and Chase, both of whom are local contractors, say they don’t think that

www.akbizmag.com

process would work, considering the scale of the conversions.

“IGU is trying to avoid being hands-on,” Chase says. “They want to be a guiding entity and not be directly involved. I told them this would just not be feasible—you’re not going to be able to muster together enough small contracts and make sure it’s all done.”

The task force recommends a block strategy in which IGU would contact all the residents within a certain area, find out what they need in terms of boilers and construction work, and put that block out to bid.

“So the contractors would already be lined up,” Chase says. “They know how many homes they can do, so you can be as efficient as possible.

“These contractors would likely have larger workgroups and the logistical background to handle the project. The feeling was, if you go bid the project early enough, you can be ordering the equipment and staging it in preparation for the warmer weather when you’d be doing this conversion.”

The conversion task force has already spoken with a number of boiler and burner manufacturers, who say they don’t see any problems supplying the necessary equipment. They are working local building inspectors to make sure any new equipment is up to code.

The block concept also makes sense from a safety point, Chase says. “[The larger contractors] are geared up to do those types of magnitude of projects,” he says. “They have safety officers.”

While some people have expressed concern that a block concept might squeeze out smaller contractors, Chase says the project offers plenty of opportunities for everyone.

“But if you don’t engage some of the larger entities, I don’t see how you’re going to pull it off. If it’s going to be successful, it needs to be done in a way that ensures success.

“Do it at the right scale and get it done right.”

Right now, the conversion project is in a holding pattern.

“A lot of issues have been addressed that we know are out there, but no decisions have been made on the items that have been addressed,” Gohlke says.

But the project as a whole is still on target, and the crux of it hasn’t changed, Stewart says.

“It’s about reducing and stabilizing the cost of energy that you use,” IGU’s Stewart says.

“We are ready to play and open for business to try to reach that goal for the community.” R Julie Stricker is a journalist living near Fairbanks.

August 2016 | Alaska Business Monthly

33

SPECIAL SECTION

Energy & Power

Photo © Chip Arnold, Courtesy of Alaska SeaLife Center

Key players in the Seward SeaLife Center’s success with renewable energy are, from left, Andy Baker, Darryl Schaefermeyer, and John Underwood.

The Growth of Renewable Energy in Alaska Opportunities ‘waiting in the wings’

By Rindi White

W

ind. Water. Geothermal. Air. Seawater. The sources of energy for Alaska communities seem to be growing each year. In some ways, Alaska has become a testing ground for new renewable energy projects. In Seward, the Alaska SeaLife Center uses seawater heat from Resurrection Bay and high-efficiency R134a heat pumps to send heat through pipes throughout the building, heating exhibit pavements, offices, conference rooms, and everything in the facility.

Four new transcritical carbon dioxide (CO2) heat pumps were integrated into its seawatersource heat pump system, which provides 98 percent of the heating for the 120,000-square foot aquarium and research center.

34

SeaLife Center Special Projects Director Darryl Schaefermeyer says the updated system means the center is now avoiding 1.2 million pounds of carbon emissions each year.

But the center didn’t start out with a plan to reduce its carbon footprint. Its goal was more economical—to cut what had become $15,000-per-month utility bills. For a nonprofit that runs on donations, grants, and gate fees, utility costs were overwhelming.

The first thing the center did was purchase an electric boiler, which bought them some time to figure out a longer-term solution.

In 2010, the SeaLife Center designed and installed a heat pump system that uses seawater from Resurrection Bay, heats it, and runs it through a heating loop through the building. Integrating the heat pumps helped the center cut out the expensiveto-run oil boilers, but the synthetic-refrigerant heat pumps were unable to heat the water hot enough to provide heat for the center’s offices and labs.

SeaLife Center consultant Andy Baker says the office and lab baseboard heating is designed to run on 160 degrees in the winter; most heat pumps can only heat up to 130 degrees. But at a convention in Vancouver, B.C., Baker learned about smaller, Japanese-made heat pumps that use carbon dioxide as a refrigerant and could heat water to 194 degrees. By incorporating four of the smaller heat pumps, Baker says, the SeaLife Center could offset 98 percent of the conventional oil and electric boiler heat load.

The SeaLife Center applied for and won an Alaska Energy Authority Emerging Energy Technology grant of $550,000 in 2014 and installed the four CO2 heat pump units in December 2015.

“They work really well—we have eliminated the electric boiler for most of the time,” Baker says. And the center, which bought about fifty-seven thousand gallons of heating oil a year, hasn’t bought any since 2012.

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

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“This is the first known integration of these CO2 heat pumps in the United States to offset a large conventional boiler system,” Baker says. “There are only fifteen CO2 heat pump units like this in the United States and the Alaska SeaLife Center now has four of them.” The CO2 heat pumps are designed to heat smaller spaces and are popular in Japan and Europe, where energy prices are higher. Incorporating them was a challenge, he says.

“It wasn’t that you could just put them in there, plug and play. You had to figure out how to design these loops so that they would work properly,” Baker says.

In addition to higher heating, the CO2 heat pumps don’t use synthetic refrigerants, relying instead on twenty pounds of CO2 in each of the four units. The difference is important because, eventually, all synthetic refrigerants leak. “It goes into the atmosphere and persists for a really long time,” Baker says. Synthetic refrigerants are 1,400 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2, he says. CO2 is comparatively minor, and is re-assimilated into the environment.

The system isn’t perfected yet. Schaefermeyer says his crew is re-working the heat loops to take heat from some rooms in the building, such as a freezer room and an IT room, that are unusually warm and redistributing the heat elsewhere.

“That will improve efficiencies, particularly in the summer months,” he says.

The effort to cut energy costs and use renewable energy has been a long sevenyear journey, Schaefermeyer says. “This is a demonstration project for the state of Alaska. We’re being monitored very closely all the time—we’re collecting tremendous amounts of data. All of that data gets emailed at the end of each day to the University of Alaska Center for Energy and Power,” he says.

The SeaLife Center’s success has led to the City of Seward investigating using heat pumps to draw heat from ground loops in the tidal area and pipe it through a district heating system. Schaefermeyer says the city of Seward, where he was once a manager, designed a similar system to the SeaLife Center, using two-hundred-foot vertical ground loops in beach gravel instead, and using heat pumps to provide heat at the city library, library annex building, city hall, and fire hall. It’s about a $750,000 project, he says, and if successful could lead to a larger heating system running through downtown Seward’s commercial district.

“Heating costs in Seward are huge. It’s one of the limiting drawbacks for commercial growth in Seward. Many downtown restaurants and businesses close in winter

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

because they can’t afford the heating cost,” he says. “This would substantially reduce the cost and also demonstrate [the project] for other coastal communities.”

Energy Efficiency Plans

Another project, the Remote Alaskan Communities Energy Efficiency Competition, or RACEE, is nearing the end of a project-planning phase. The competition is a joint effort between the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Indian Energy and the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, with technical assistance from AEA (the Alaska Energy Authority).

Thirteen communities are developing actionable plans that outline how the communities can improve their energy efficiency on a large scale and cut heating and power costs.

“All of the project managers in these thirteen communities are trying to put together projects that have real savings potential, whether that’s building retrofits or powerhouse improvements or residential weatherization,” says Katie Conway, assistant program manager for AEA’s energy efficiency program.

The RACEE competition was developed when President Barack Obama visited Alaska in 2015. He announced a commitment

to spend $4 million in federal funding to improve energy efficiency in rural Alaska communities. AEA and the Renewable Energy Alaska Project, or REAP, along with many other Alaska organizations helped shape the competition, Conway says.

The first round of involvement was open to any community smaller than eight thousand residents. Sixty-four communities participated—essentially signing a pledge form committing to a 15 percent or greater improvement in energy efficiency by 2020.

Those sixty-four communities were then able to compete to receive technical assistance to develop an energy efficiency plan.

Thirteen communities were selected, each paired with an AEA project manager and ultimately, three or four of those communities will be awarded a portion of the $3.4 million in DOE funding to put their plan into action.

The remaining $600,000 was delivered to AEA to provide technical assistance, Conway says.

Short Timeline

The timeline for developing the plans is short—DOE announced the thirteen communities at the Rural Energy conference at the end of April and the deadline for applications is the end of August. Conway says the

three or four selected communities should be announced at the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention in Fairbanks in October.

Conway says about a third of the DOE funding earmarked for AEA’s technical assistance will pay for energy auditors. Another portion will go to energy allies, like Shaina Kilcoyne, energy efficiency director at REAP. Kilcoyne is the regional liaison working with the community of Klawock to help prepare an energy efficiency plan.

Kilcoyne says Klawock is a member of the Sustainable Southeast Partnership Program, a group focused on finding clean, reliable, sustainable, and renewable energy solutions, along with food sustainability and economic self-reliance comprised of the Klawock Cooperative Association, the Klawock Heenya Corporation, the City of Klawock, the Klawock City School District, and the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium clinic in Klawock are all participating.

Kilcoyne says the community has performed several energy audits in the past.

The goal for Klawock is to help the community identify the biggest cost savings and define how to implement those projects.

The community is assessing the performance of the water and wastewater treatment plant, conducting an energy audit at

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37

the school, assessing the value of finishing an LED streetlight replacement project, and analyzing whether using an air-source heat pump might be an option for providing low-cost heat to residential and public buildings in the community of fewer than eight hundred residents.

“Every RACEE community will get a plan, with recommendations on the best way to meet that goal. If it turned out that, for example, heat pumps are a possible solution, then Klawock might decide to include a request for a more lengthy study … in their grant proposal to DOE,” Conway says. “One of the exciting things about Phase 2 and RACEE in general is, it’s giving us an opportunity to explore different ways to achieve energy efficiency.”

AEA hopes to use the competition to help more than just the three or four communities selected for the DOE funding.

“The goal is to have actionable plans— these are actually meaningful, actionable plans that can realize cost savings through reduced energy use,” AEA Energy Efficiency and Outreach Coordinator Emily Ford wrote by email in June.

Demonstrating the cost savings could be the key that helps each community, whether participating in the third round of the RACEE project or not, secure funding for its projects.

“Getting these projects to the bank is important in these times,” Conway says.

Conway says the Energy Efficiency Finance Seminar started this year included an Energy Project Deal Room where three projects were pitched to lenders: one hypothetical and two real projects. No deals were immediately made, but Conway says she hopes the Deal Room will expand next year and translate into real funding opportunities for communities like those participating in the RACEE project.

Wind, Salad, and the State’s Largest Distillery In Delta Junction, Mike Craft is working on a renewable-energy driven retirement project. Craft, a longtime Fairbanks developer, switched gears nearly a decade ago and began building a wind farm, with the help of a couple business partners.

He later moved his wind farm to Delta, expanded it further and, two years ago, began work building a large, turbine-powered greenhouse. Now he’s in the process of setting up what will be the state’s largest distillery, turning potatoes into ethanol for use in making vodka. His primary customer would be Alaska Distillery, the company behind the notorious Smoked Salmon Vodka and several other Alaska-distilled spirits. The company was recently the subject 38

of a reality television show, “Alaska Proof,” which aired on Animal Planet in January and February.

Craft says he plans to begin producing one thousand gallons of ethanol a month for Alaska Distillery sometime this year and hopes the order will increase over time, perhaps up to one hundred thousand gallons a year. He already has two onethousand-gallon wood boilers, plus energy from the wind farm to distill the alcohol.

“The only thing missing now is a onethousand-gallon mash tank now being built in Fairbanks,” Craft says. “It’s the potato cooker. We have to take it up to 150 degrees.”

The still would be the largest in Alaska, and Craft says although Alaska Distillery would be his company’s first and perhaps largest customer, it might not be the only one forever.

“There’s also an incredible resource in barley,” he says. Barley-based ethanol is used to make whiskey, vodka, gin, and rum, he says. He’s confident if he produced Alaska-grown barley ethanol, buyers would want it.

Craft has only been working on the distillery about three months. He and his team, made up mostly of family members, have manufactured their own wood boilers out of one-thousand-gallon oil tanks, with different pH changers built into them.

His other project, which he’s working on with Bill Johnson of Johnson Family Farms in Fairbanks, is a one-hundred-foot by onehundred-foot greenhouse where lettuce and microgreens can be grown year-round. He hopes to harvest twenty-eight crops a year.

The first level of the greenhouse is built, Craft says, and he’s readying trays for growing the plants. Micro-greens and leaf lettuce were selected because that’s what local customers—Fred Meyer, area restaurants, schools and military cafeterias—said they want, Craft says.

Craft says he teamed with Johnson because he has run a hydroponic growing operation in Fairbanks for about ten years.

“He’s never been able to have a lot of success because the utility bills were killing him,” Craft says.

This greenhouse will use about 50 kilowatts in lighting—the first level of the greenhouse is underground; the ground level is not yet built and will include an area with a heavy-duty floor that will allow it to operate as a warehouse or perhaps a bottling plant, Craft says.

The wood boilers that will be used as part of the distillery will also help the greenhouse, he says. The warm compressed air will be run into the greenhouse, where it can be released to create positive air pressure, allowing the air to circulate more eas-

ily. Excess moisture is a common problem for greenhouses, he says. But heat exchangers operate inefficiently because they bring in outside air, which is too chilly for the greenhouse.

“If it’s twenty below outside and you’re bringing air in, it’s only going to be around fifty-five degrees [in the greenhouse],” he says.

The two projects are linked to Craft’s wind farm project, the first commercial wind farm on the Alaska energy grid, which he says provided 4 million kilowatt hours of renewable energy in the last year from his nine turbines. If he can find a way to finally make it turn a profit, he says he has the financing and permits and has dug five foundations to expand his wind farm— an opportunity waiting in the wings to add ten more 2.4-megawatt turbines, adding 24 megawatts to the Railbelt energy grid.

New Money Needed

The state has funded more than $250 million into renewable energy projects since 2008 through its Renewable Energy Fund, as well as investing in rural infrastructure projects. Private funding, community contributions, and federal Denali Commission funding has also gone toward helping Alaska communities reduce their dependence on diesel fuel and cut electrical and home heating costs.

The $5 million Governor Bill Walker initially included for the Round 9 Renewable Energy Fund project list was later removed by an amendment the governor made, and Ford says no new funding was appropriated so far this year. AEA is working with communities to find alternative funding and financing options for their renewable energy projects.

“Since the budget has been in a state of flux, I don’t believe any communities have successfully secured alternative funding yet. We are at the beginning stages of that process,” Ford says.

REAP Founder and Executive Director Chris Rose says Alaska has come a long way in the last ten years. Each year 30 million gallons of diesel fuel are being displaced through fifty projects funded in part by the state’s Renewable Energy Fund.

But without a new financing model that is not reliant on state grants, it will be tough to fund new projects.

“We’re definitely moving toward private financing; we believe these projects can pencil out and pay for themselves,” Rose says.

R Rindi White is a freelance journalist living in Palmer.

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

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Energy & Power

Construction of Statewide Renewable Projects Heats Up Reducing fuel oil use, creating efficiencies, and stabilizing energy costs

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Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

By Rindi White

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he Renewable Energy Fund (REF) helps communities across the state reduce and stabilize the cost of energy. Created by the Legislature in 2008 and extended by ten years in 2012, the fund is managed by the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA). Since 2008, $257 million has been issued to Alaska communities; money that has been matched by millions in funding from local sources.

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the existing Noorvik electrical power plant to the water treatment plant. To provide maximum recovered heat benefit, the piping in the water treatment plant needs to be reconfigured, heat exchangers will be added, and other changes to make everything work together.

The project is expected to reduce the fuel oil usage of the facilities by 18,600 gallons, nearly offsetting the total fuel oil usage. The total project cost is $1,015,580 with $29,580 of in-kind contribution provided by Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) as a match. Construction began this summer.

Hiilangaay Hydro (formerly Reynolds Creek) The grant funds will be used to help build the Hiilangaay Hydroelectric Project near Hydaburg. The project will install a powerhouse, diversion structure, a 3,200-foot penstock with a drop of 750 vertical feet, and twelve miles of 34 kV transmission line to reach Hydaburg. AEA in 2014 approved a $20 million low-interest loan to Haida Energy, Inc. for the project, funding that was supplemented by $8 million in other funding, including a $2 million REF grant to help build the transmission line. The project is expected to be finished in 2018.

Galena Community Wood Heat Project This project will fund the construction of the biomass fueled district heating loop at the Galena Interior Learning Academy, or GILA. The community currently uses a diesel boiler for the GILA campus; this $3.14 million project includes about $3 million in REF money, plus $47,302 in community match funding. The boiler is expected to displace a total of 230,000 gallons per year of fuel oil, using an estimated 2,950 green tons of chips, or chips with 40 percent moisture content, per year. It would cut the community’s cost of providing heat roughly in half. Construction began this summer.

Indian River Hydro

The City of Tenakee Springs, the electric utility provider, will use $2,988,000 from the Round VI Renewable Energy Fund grant, $312,000 of cash matching funds from a legislative grant, and $20,000 of in-kind local matching funds to build a 180 kW runof-river Indian River Hydroelectric Project in Tenakee Springs. Project features include a concrete diversion structure located near a US Forest Service fish passage facility at the head of falls #4 on Indian River, a 1,534 foot long penstock, a powerhouse located below falls #2, and a new transmission line approximately 1 mile in length to connect to the exist42

Projects with construction funding but not yet under construction (not a complete list): Fort Yukon District Wood Heating Project A two-part project to provide district building heat using a biomass boiler that, if finished, would be the first off-grid, first off-road-system biomass combined heat and power, or CHP, system in the world.

Using $9.8 million in funding from various sources, including $2.3 million from the REF, the project aims to offset the roughly $3,500 each resident pays in Fort Yukon each year for heating oil. The wood boiler being installed is rated at 3.2 million BTUs and community leaders hope it will offset as much as 150,000 gallons of diesel heating fuel a year. The project includes construction of a new power plant that will use two new, electronically controlled generators, new switchgear, and several other components. A districtheating loop will provide recovered waste heat to community buildings. Community residents have received training to become forest technicians, field operators, ing electrical distribution system. The project will be developed on state and city land. The project is estimated to meet approximately 90 percent of the electrical demand of Tenakee Springs and save the community about 6,500 gallons of diesel fuel each year. The project has a total cost of $3.6 million, with nearly $3 million coming from the REF, plus additional funding from the City of Tenakee Springs and the federal Denali Commission. Construction began this summer.

New Stuyahok Heat Recovery

This grant consists of $486,000 from REF for design and construction of a heat recovery project to capture the recovered heat from the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative (AVEC) power plant cooling system, which will involve installing heat exchangers at the plant and school boiler module with pumps and controls at both sites and about seven hundred feet of underground piping between the two sites. The total project cost is $548,000 with $62,000 of in-kind contribution provided by Southwest Region School District as a match. Construction began this summer.

Kotzebue Wind Farm Expansion

This project expands the installed wind capacity in Kotzebue from 1.14 MW to 2.95 MW with the addition of two 900 kW turbines.

Secondary loads will be installed at locations within the community to provide heat during

and biomass harvesters.

Construction of the new power plant building and installation of the boiler and district heating pipes is on track for this year, with final operation in late 2016 or early 2017.

Kongiganak Wind Heat Electrical Thermal Storage In 2013, Kongiganak completed construction of a 450 kW high-penetration wind system, with multiple secondary thermal loads in homes and the local school. The electrical thermal storage project will add additional electrical thermal storage, or ETS devices, in thirty residents in the community, bringing the thermal storage unit total to fifty in the community. The twenty homes with existing ETS units have realized reduced fuel use of 30 percent to 50 percent. The project has an REF grant of $311,500 and the units are expected to be installed this year.

R times of excess power. An energy storage device will be installed to provide grid stability and time shift electrical generation. The project is in the process of being commissioned.

Russian Mission Heat Recovery

This project will provide the final design and construction of a heat recovery that will utilize waste heat from the existing AVEC power plant for use at the water treatment plant and three Lower Yukon School District teacherhousing units in Russian Mission. The design will be developed based on recommendations from the Russian Mission, Alaska Heat Recovery study that was completed by Alaska Energy and Engineering, Inc. The construction will include retrofitting the AVEC generators and installing a waste heat transmission line, circulation pumps, heat exchangers, and other system appurtenances. Construction is expected to begin in the winter.

Atka Dispatchable Heat

The city of Atka has requested funding to use excess hydroelectric energy from the Chuniisax Creek project to heat seven community buildings, including the health clinic, water treatment plant, tribal office, community building, post office, city shop, and public safety buildings. Most construction was completed in 2015; the remaining construction will be resumed after the project design is revised to provide excess

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

energy utilization for two buildings that were not included in the initial design, in lieu of buildings planned previously which are smaller and already adequately heated.

Total project costs so far: $135,289.

Waterfall Creek Hydroelectric

Located about five miles north of the city of King Cove and within a half-mile of the existing Delta Creek Hydroelectric Project, built for the city of King Cove in 1995. The Waterfall Creek hydroelectric project would share space in an expansion of the existing Delta Creek powerhouse and also use that project’s transmission line. The project consists of a small diversion dam and intake, a 4,500 HDPE penstock, a sixteen- by forty-foot powerhouse expansion, a Pelton Impulse Turbine, and five thousand feet of access road.

St. Paul Wind Diesel Project

The City of St. Paul installed a wind power project in 2012 and planned to expand it by adding one or two TDX turbines into the city’s grid. Adding additional turbines required upgrades to the city’s facilities and transmission system. According to AEA, the size of the secondary loads and the diesel generators is limiting the amount of wind power being produced. A new generator and additional secondary loads planned should eliminate the bottleneck. The scope of work includes installation of a flywheel, meteorological tower, and additional secondary loads. Pending installation of a second generator by the city, new switchgear will be installed and the project will be complete. The project included $1.9 million from the REF, $200,000 in match funding from the grantee, and another $1.5 million in turbine purchases, $650,000 of which came from the US Department of Energy.

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Brevig Mission Water System Heat Recovery Brevig Mission will use $731,400 in REF grant funding and $21,941 of in-kind match funding to design and build a heat recovery system between the AVEC electrical power plant and two community buildings: the Brevig Mission water treatment plant and washeteria. The new system will capture jacket water heat generated by the AVEC plant, which is currently wasted to the atmosphere by power plant radiators.

Marine manifolds will be installed on the city’s two existing Detroit Diesel generators to increase the amount of heat available for recovery. The recovered heat will be transferred by insulated glycol piping to the buildings and tie into the buildings’ heat systems using heat exchangers, control mechanisms, and any required upgrades to the existing building hydronic systems. www.akbizmag.com

August 2016 | Alaska Business Monthly

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SOURCE: US Department of Agriculture-Rural Development

T

$16 Million for Nine Projects—Pending Review

he US Department of AgricultureRural Development High Energy Cost Grant program may fund nine Alaska projects selected to further advance renewable energy to the tune of $16 million.

Now project applicants must complete an environmental review, which may or may not require environmental assessments or environmental impact statements. According to Karen Larsen with the USDA Policy and Outreach Branch in Washington, DC: “All selected High Energy Cost Grant Projects are reviewed under the National Environmental Policy Act before any final award decision is made. The reviews are carried out under the USDA Rural Development Environmental Regulations by staff of the RUS Water and Environmental Program. The RUS staff work with the applicant to ensure that all federal pre-award environmental reviews and consultations are complete and, depending on the type of project, consult with state and tribal (or Native corporation) officials to meet these responsibilities. These reviews can take anywhere from a few weeks for small projects to as much as two years for larger projects or projects that may pose greater environmental, wildlife, or historic preservation issues. Again, depending on the type of project, the reviews may include published requests for comments. Compliance with the terms of other federal, state, local, and tribal permits is a requirement of each grant agreement.”

Stebbins Heat Recovery Project

Using a $1.3 million REF grant and $21,975 in in-kind contributions from ANTHC, the Stebbins heat recovery project would connect recovered heat from the community power plant to the new water treatment plant, the existing water treatment plant, the washeteria, the Head Start building, the clinic, and the school. The project is estimated to offset fifty-seven thousand gallons of heating fuel, out of an annual sixty-nine thousand gallons used by Stebbins community buildings. AEA anticipated construction this year.

Togiak Waste Heat Recovery Project The city of Togiak, in collaboration with the ANTHC, plans to build a heat recovery system to connect waste heat from AVEC’s generating station to the community’s water 44

 Alaska Power & Telephone Company $3,000,000 To build a 1.8 megawatt twin-turbine wind project, and a 10-mile transmission line to connect the villages of Tok, Tetlin, Dot Lake and Tanacross.

Currently, these communities are 100 percent diesel dependent.  Alaska Village Electric Co-Op $3,000,000 To build a 16.1-mile, threephase overhead power line and upgrade 4 miles of single-phase distribution line.

The overhead power line will connect a yet-to-be- constructed wind farm at Pitka’s Point that will run from Pitka’s Point to St. Mary’s and Mountain Village.  City of Pilot Point $842,900 To pay for shipping, installing, and integrating a 100 kilowatt wind turbine and sixteen electric thermal stoves into the power system in the City of Pilot Point.  City of Grayling $449,808 To build a heat recovery system that will capture waste heat from diesel power plant generators and transfer it through a glycol loop to the hydronic system in the City of Grayling’s water treatment plant. The recovery system is expected to reduce the costs of operating the water treatment plant.

Application submitted by Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium on behalf of the City of Grayling.  Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium $690,388 To install solar photovoltaic arrays to reduce the operating costs of treatment plant, clinic, police station, city offices, and the Old School Community Activity Building. The buildings are within a five hundred-foot radius of the AVEC power plant, offering a good opportunity to capture a maximum amount of waste heat from the plant for hydronic heating. The project is expected to displace 13,700 gallons of diesel each year, according to a 2010 detailed heat recovery analysis. The project was on hold until AVEC obtained funding for a new powerhouse, which AVEC announced was available in January. The city is planning to proceed with final design and construction.

Allison Creek Hydroelectric Project The Allison Creek hydroelectric project is a Copper Valley Electric Association project aimed at displacing 725,000 gallons of

community water treatment facilities in Allakaket, Beaver, Holy Cross, New Stuyahok, Newhalen, Pitkas Point, Russian Mission, and Sleetmute.  NANA Regional Corporation $1,601,943 To install a battery and grid-forming converter in Buckland and Deering. This project will incorporate wind and solar photovoltaics and will build capacity for future additional photovoltaics to both systems.  New Koliganek Village Council $2,208,903 To replace the antiquated and undersized diesel electric generation power plant in the village of Koliganek with three John Deere engines, add modest wind generation, and fund heat recovery improvements to enhance heating for the community center and school.  Asa’carsarmiut Tribe $1,308,104 To rehabilitate and weatherize the Asa’carsarmiut Tribe’s office and connect it to a biomass fuel boiler.  Naterkaq Light Plant $2,937,833 To install three 95 kilowatt wind turbines, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition equipment, a 300 kilowatt load-balancing boiler, 20 electric thermal storage devices and .75 miles of fiber optic upgrades. These systems will be installed in community buildings and residences and connected to the wind turbines via the electric distribution system.

Total Funding

$16,039,879

fuel each year when commissioned. The $49 million project is expected to be complete this fall, with commissioning of the new power plant expected in the fall. The project has received nearly $25 million in state funding, including direct appropriations and a $5.9 million grant from the REF, which was matched by $5.9 million in match funding by Copper Valley Electric. Another REF grant of $2 million was distributed in Round VI of the REF project awards.

The project is a run-of-river hydroelectric project that includes a 130-foot-wide, 16-foothigh diversion structure on Allison Creek, an intake at the spillway conveying flows to the powerhouse, a forty-two-inch to thirtysix-inch diameter buried steel penstock (including a 700-foot-long tunnel section), a powerhouse containing a single turbine/ generator unit with a capacity of 6.5 mega-

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

watts, a 70.5-foot-long tailrace, a 550-foot permanent access road to the powerhouse and a 3.8-mile, 25 kilovolt transmission line connecting to a nearby substation.

Kwinhagak Heat Recovery Project The Kwinhagak heat recovery project will capture recovered heat from the existing AVEC power plant and use it to heat the community washeteria and a combined utility building. The estimated fuel savings is expected to be 14,200 gallons of heating oil each year. The project received a $668,350 grant from the REF for design and construction, with an in-kind contribution of $20,050 from ANTHC for project and program management services. Project representatives anticipate start-up in fall 2016.

Nunam Iqua Heat Recovery Project This project will use recovered heat from the new Nunam Iqua power plant to heat the community water treatment plant, clinic, a motel, the community hall, and a store. The estimated fuel reduction is eighteen thousand gallons per year, saving the community roughly $79,000. Total project costs are expected to be $567,000, of which $450,000 came from the REF and $117,000 from a mix of federal Denali

www.akbizmag.com

Commission funding and a state match. The project was completed in October 2015, with the exception of the installation of BTU meters, which were planned for installation this summer. According to the community, heat recovered from the buildings is adequate to meet the demands of all five buildings, except in extreme cold, at which case the store’s heating system will switch to oil-fired heat.

Kotzebue Electric Heat Recovery Construction This project will recover waste heat from the community’s diesel generator exhaust stacks for an expanded district heating system and a new absorption chiller to make ice for the fishing fleet in Kotzebue. The project was in construction in 2015 and expected to be complete in 2016. Using a $915,627 REF grant, the project will use a GE Clean Cycle heat-to-power generator to turn the diesel exhaust heat into electricity. It’s expected to save the city forty-six thousand gallons of diesel each year. The surplus heat will also supplement the city’s jacket water system, heating the local potable water system.

Sitka Centennial Hall Air Source Heat Pump Using a grant of $232,620 from the REF, the project will install an air-source heat

pump to heat Harrigan Centennial Hall in Sitka as part of a broad building renovation project. The building is an eighteen thousand- square-foot civic and convention center. The City and Borough of Sitka will complete the final design, permitting, construction, and start-up of the air-to-water heat pump system. The pump units will be installed in a louvered enclosure and a variable refrigerant flow system will pipe refrigerant to indoor fan coils to both heat and cool the building. Earlier this year, interior walls were partially framed and the installation of electrical, mechanical, plumbing, and building control infrastructures were in progress. During construction, the Centennial Hall has been closed.

It’s expected to reopen in December 2016.

Venetie Clinic Heat Recovery Project Using a $198,500 REF grant for design and construction, the project will build a jacket heat recovery system to capture recovered heat from the diesel engines in the Venetie Village Electric-owned power plant and send the heat to the newly built clinic in Venetie for space heating. The project is expected to save the community 2,300 gallons of heating fuel each year. Construction is expected to be finished this fall.

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August 2016 | Alaska Business Monthly

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FINANCIAL SERVICES

Financial Analysis Facilitates Better Cash Flow Management for Alaska Companies Indispensable tool that can help businesses

By Tracy Barbour

F

inancial analysis is an indispensable tool that can help businesses better manage their cash flow, minimize financial problems, and capitalize on investment opportunities.

Cash flow analysis and cash management are functions that are typically focused on more by larger, more well-established companies. However, all types and sizes of businesses can—and should—use financial analysis to monitor their cash flow, according to Jim Hasle, managing partner for BDO USA LLP’s Anchorage office.

“Depending on their sophisti- Hasle cation and size, businesses need to be intentional and deliberate about cash management because it really is the most important thing for operating effectively,” Hasle says. “That involves looking at the difference between their cash inflows and anticipating cash outflows that will be needed.”

Cash inflows include the transfer of funds to a company as a result of core operations, investments, or financing. These transfers can involve payments from customers, the sale of property, legal settlements, loans, and other sources. Cash outflows include transmission of funds by a company due to payments to business partners, employees, suppliers, or creditors, as well as the acquisition of assets, purchase of investments, and payment of expenses.

Most Important Business Asset Is Cash In the realm of finance, a common cliché is “cash is king.”

Cash is indeed the most important business asset, which makes cash flow management critical to success, according to Shane Baird, a certified public accountant with Anchorage-based Thomas, Head & Greisen PC. Baird 46

A business has to generate a positive cash flow to survive, which means long-term cash outflows must be less than long-term cash inflows. Without effective cash flow management, a business could experience severe negative consequences, such as not having enough cash to cover operating costs or debt service payments. This could lead to the worst-case scenario: bankruptcy.

But before such an extreme situation occurs, there will be warning signs throughout the cash management process, Baird says. These could include not being able to collect on receivables quickly enough, borrowing on a line of credit to pay employees and vendors, and missing opportunities to invest in capital assets that could pay dividends down the road.

On the positive side, effective cash flow management can have the opposite effect.

It can increase liquidity, generating a surplus of cash. If the excess cash will not be needed in the near future, businesses can make adjustments to make better use of the funds. Hasle explains: “They have to do a risk analysis to see if they want short-term investments, such as CDs; other investments, such as treasury bills, stocks, and bonds; or longer-term investments, such as opening new business lines.”

The key advantage of using financial analysis to facilitate cash management boils down to financial liquidity, Hasle says. “The overall benefit is businesses can maximize the use of their cash toward their strategic objectives within their company,” he says.

Financial consultant Heather Eldred says most companies have a line of credit already established to address normal fluctuations

in cash needs. “With good cash flow forecasting, they will have plenty of time to make proper adjustments to cash shortages,” she says.

Eldred, like Hasle, says companies should review and prepare Eldred business cases to determine where to invest surplus money. Firms can use cash flow surpluses to pay down debt, pay dividends to shareholders, and reinvest in the company through employee training, equipment purchases, and other initiatives that can provide a future return on investment by reducing operational costs and improving efficiency. “They would also analyze ROI [return on investment] for new business lines, new operational areas, or acquisitions,” says Eldred, who provides strategic planning, market analysis, and financial planning.

Importance of Good Financial Analysis The task of analyzing financial statements to forecast cash flow and profits is typically handled in house. In larger companies, the job generally falls to the management team led by the chief financial officer. Mediumsize and small companies often rely on comptrollers, CPAs—in house or outside— and financial consultants.

At Alaska Communications, financial analysis is essential to managing cash flow.

Its chief importance is as a forecasting tool, says Laurie Butcher, senior vice presidentfinance at Alaska Communications. “Proactive analysis gives us greater visibility into the cash needs of the company necessary to meet its operating objectives,” she says.

The data helps the company decide how it can best allocate cash to grow and provide value for customers. For instance, it

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

has opted to allocate cash toward the repurchase of debt. “Over the past four years, we have paid down more than $480 million in debt,” Butcher explains. “Moves like this continuously help make our balance sheet one of the strongest in our industry.”

Financial analysis helps Alaska Communications make big decisions that move the company forward, such as making large purchases. Some examples are when Alaska Communications purchased another company to expand its role in the IT managed service industry or when it procured fiber on the North Slope to strategically expand its footprint.

In addition, Butcher says, financial analysis on known trends and expectations helps the company make everyday decisions that can be equally as important. “It helps us to ensure the daily cash needs of the company are met [such as payroll, payable, and receivable cycles] and remain comfortably within our debt covenants,” she says.

Cash flow can be very difficult to manage because it encompasses so many different elements, Eldred says. Most companies— including small ones—could benefit from using a financial analyst outside their accounting group, Eldred says. “Many accountants have the skill set to perform some analysis, but the monthly grind of

closing and the arduous requirements of internal audits generally leaves them very little time to look forward into the future,” she says. “They essentially spend all their time on the proper recording of the financials, as opposed to analyzing what they mean for the future.”

Therefore, Eldred feels that having a good financial analysis team is essential in managing cash flow. “While the accounting department is responsible for the proper recording of the finances of the company, the financial analyst’s job is to analyze trends and prepare forecasts and budgets that provide an operational view of the future,” she says.

Eldred adds: “A quality analyst can provide the in-depth analysis that can help with better profit and cash flow management, and this can translate into more money for the firm, providing a good ROI on maintaining an analyst,” she says.

The Analysis Process

Just as cash flow management is an ongoing task, so is the process of financial analysis, experts say. How often analyses should be performed depends on the business, industry, and other factors. From Baird’s perspective, the more often a financial analysis takes place the better.

More specifically, Baird says, financial analyses should be completed on a company-by-company case. “It’s got to be a holistic approach that will meet the company’s needs and the needs of the industry,” he explains. “Some companies are very cash intensive, and others may not be. If you are products- or goods-based, you will probably need a lot more cash.”

Eldred agrees, saying the level and frequency of analyses will depend on the firm.

“Some firms are cyclical in nature, and their cash flows are fairly predictable from month to month,” she explains. “The less predictability the firm has and the lower amount of short-term financing available would necessitate more in-depth and frequent analysis.”

Hasle says most businesses look at their cash flow at least on a monthly basis during the process of taking care of payables, debt agreements, and other financial obligations. And regardless of the business, daily internal controls around cash management, such as requiring two signatures on checks, should also be in effect.

A good internal control over the cash management system also includes detailed examination of the banking reconciliation process, financial ratios, and debt agreements.

In addition, a financial analysis includes looking at the overall cash needs of the busi-

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47

ness as well as the relationship between cash inflows and outflows. It also considers how a new project, business line, or other development would affect existing operations.

During the financial analysis process, a number of financial statements can be examined to create an accurate picture of the company’s financial health from a cash perspective. Key financial statements that are scrutinized include the balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement. Financial analysts will review the company’s cash balance to determine what is available in the bank; receivables to see if they are high or low compared to prior periods; and the income statement to determine what the bottom line looks like. “If it looks good, they’ll want to look at EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization],” Baird says.

They’ll want to see what the earning power of the company is. “With effective cash flow you should be collecting on receivables and leveraging the debt you have,” Baird says.

The accounting technique EBITDA is considered to be valuable for analysis because, unlike standard net income calculations that use a simple formula of revenue minus expenses, EBITDA factors in other expenses like taxes and interest. EBITDA allows analysts to generate useful comparisons between

48

companies and project long-term profitability and the ability to pay off future financing.

Financial ratios—which compare relationships between financial statement accounts—are also helpful for indicating how well a business is faring financially. A common ratio used for financial analysis is the current ratio (cur- Klever rent assets divided by current liabilities). It can indicate if a company has enough assets to cover current bills.

Another ratio, the Z score, can show the relationship between two quantities. For instance, it can be used to signify the predictability of bankruptcy.

How Companies Are Leveraging Analysis Yukon Equipment, Inc. is a prime example of a company that uses financial analysis to facilitate cash flow management. “Financial analysis is the new cornerstone of dealership management,” says President Charles Klever. “It is simply not possible to operate an equipment dealership profitably without close attention to what the financial analysis is telling you about your operation. Not using the tools available to manage cash flow can mean reduction in profits, lost

sales opportunities, and possible financial difficulties.”

For Yukon Equipment, the review of cash flow management is an ongoing process, with short, medium, and long-term planning. “We look at our immediate cash needs, the monthly needs as well as budget planning for the following year,” Klever says.

The company employs multiple sources of information to track cash flow and financial results. Beyond the traditional accounts receivable, accounts payable, and bank statements, it uses return on investment, return on asset, and profits margins by department and by branch.

More distinctly, Yukon Equipment relies on reports relating to customers’ unpaid whole good purchases and the amounts owed to manufacturers.

It also tracks the pre-sold list of customer orders and bids in process, expected delivery, and terms associated with the sale.

“This helps us plan on sources and uses of cash,” Klever explains. “In some cases, the manufacturer wants payment before we can invoice and collect payment for the sale. This creates a cash need for the dealership which has to be planned for.”

Klever also values financial analysis as a

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

tool for pinpointing areas that need adjustment before they become larger problems.

Take inventory levels, for example. Parts stocking and department staffing has to be analyzed to balance investment to returns.

Margins must be followed closely to determine the best way to steer the business toward the most profitable course. And any outlay of cash for inventory needs to be reviewed against the expected return for that asset. “In the past, dealers could bring in inventory and invest in other cash outlays without this analysis, but those days are gone,” Klever says. “Dealers who aren’t performing this analysis could be setting themselves up for failure.”

At Alaska Communications, financial analysis takes into account all sources and uses of cash, according to Butcher. Using its operating forecast as a base line, the company projects customer receipts and other sources of cash and then considers known outflows for operating expenses (such as payroll), capital expenditures, and debt service. “Looking at the timing and trends of these inflows and outflows gives us valuable information with which to make decisions,” she says.

Alaska Communications monitors its cash position daily to assist with shortterm business operations and updates its forecast monthly for mid-term business

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decisions. And long-term forecasting helps the company’s strategic decision making process. “All are important,” Butcher says.

“We need to know where we stand daily in order to meet our short-term responsibilities, such as servicing our debt, covering payroll, and other operating expenses, and we forecast into the future to plan and position our company for long-term growth opportunities.”

Butcher adds: “At the end of the day, the analytical tools we have developed allow us to make better business decisions. They provide management quick visibility into operating results and trends that may impact our cash performance and a roadmap to future opportunities to provide our customers with more value.”

Helpful Tips

The bottom line is: if cash flow isn’t properly managed, a business could find itself being profitable—but “cash-poor.” Here are some tips from experts to help companies capitalize on financial analysis to enhance cash flow management: Hasle advises business owners and managers to make sure they are knowledgeable about cash management to minimize the potential of financial mismanagement. “If you’re a small company, make sure you

understand the internal control processes around cash management,” he says. “For larger firms, upper management should understand the controls to be able to safeguard their assets.”

Business owners and managers should also ensure they have skilled and trusted advisors who can educate them about cash management.

Baird has similar thoughts. He encourages businesses to analyze their bank account statements to determine the timing of the ins and outs of their cash flow. Just periodically looking at their bank account is not enough. “You need timely information to make good business decisions,” he says.

Untimely information and bad information are two of the biggest problems with businesses, Baird says. Therefore, he recommends that small business owners have good conversations with their CPAs or financial advisors. “They need to find out what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong,” Baird says. “I think that if they have those conversations and get educated, they will be more likely to succeed.”

R Freelance writer Tracy Barbour is a former Alaskan.

August 2016 | Alaska Business Monthly

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FINANCIAL SERVICES

Quick Tips for Small Business Cash Flow Management

By Michael Branham

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or a small business owner, wearing the CFO “hat” may not be that exciting, but it’s often a necessity. While your core skillset and business focus might not include managing cash flow, it’s a chore that somebody has to accept for your business to operate successfully.

We do extensive planning with clients on personal cash flow management, and many of the same tips can apply to small business owners throughout the growth trajectory of their venture. The strategies are simple—in some cases obvious—and yet we are often surprised at how effective the conversations can be.

Here are some quick tips on how to set up an effective small business cash flow management system:  Choose the appropriate tools: Invest in a bona fide accounting system from the beginning. Developing your own Excel spreadsheet for budgeting and cash flow management may seem like the best (read: cheapest) option, but as your business grows you’ll want the expanded capability that a commercial application provides.

Reporting, invoicing, and planning are all aided by available software programs.

Quickbooks is a recognizable name in this space, but there are other options as well.

A quick Internet search and a little due diligence can yield alternatives.  Develop consistent policies: This can be a critically important step in simplifying your cash flow approach. Defined policies ensure good management habits are formed and can save valuable time instead of analyzing each situation separately.

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Specifically, policies can be incredibly valuable when revenue isn’t received regularly and evenly. For example, a real estate agent who is paid as transactions close should develop policies that immediately parse out the estimated amount for taxes, a retirement plan contribution, money that can be reinvested in the business, and the money needed for personal compensation. If you know how every dollar needs to be divided (because you’ve done the planning already), you can eliminate surprises and ensure all facets of your business are covered. Your policies can then be reviewed periodically and altered as your business changes or grows.  Create the appropriate “buckets”: Once you’ve done the planning, typically on an annual basis with quarterly reviews, it’s often helpful to create “buckets” for each of the aspects of your cash flow plan.

Have an account that receives money set aside for taxes and a separate account for dollars dedicated to marketing, insurance, or personal development. It may seem cumbersome when you initially open these accounts, but having dedicated funds to each of your business needs makes the eventual expenditures easier and less stressful.  Have appropriate reserves: One of the first policies you’ll develop is the amount of cash you’ll want in reserve and how to fund that reserve in short order. Particularly for businesses with variable revenue, having cash on hand to cover you in tight months or to allow for investment into unexpected opportunities (an opportunity fund) is critical.  Automate: With policies developed and buckets in place, automate your approach as much as possible. The less you have to do manually the more time you’ll be able to allocate to actually doing business.

 As you grow—outsource: The reality is you probably didn’t start your business to manage cash flow. Your skills and passion lie elsewhere. As you start out in business it’s important to be versatile, cost conscious, and to wear many hats. But as your business grows and you spend more of your time on business development and customer service, you’ll find yourself with less time to work on the business.

Look for ways to offload some of the extra work, including your CFO functions. Does your CPA firm offer this service? Can you take advantage of the ever expanding menu of virtual CFO options? Whatever your solution, you won’t need to undo the work in place, you just won’t have to spend as much time on the execution.

Running your business doesn’t have to be a complicated affair. In fact, we find most clients benefit by focusing the majority of their time and effort on their core service offering, not playing the role of business owner.

Simplifying your approach, and developing a set of defined policies and procedures, can allow you to ease those CFO burdens. R Michael Branham, CFP is a Senior Financial Planner with The Planning Center, Inc. in Anchorage and the Twin Cities, Minnesota.

Branham provides comprehensive planning services for young professionals and clients in transition and does extensive work with retiring clients on retirement income solutions. Contact him at mike@theplanningcenter.com or by calling 907-276-1400.

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

Commercial Insurance Employee Benefits Personal Insurance Risk Management Surety

Legal Speak

By Renea Saade

Navigating Changes to the Salary Threshold for “Exempt” Employees

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or more than sixty years, the US Department of Labor has held that certain executive, administrative, and professional employees, and other highly compensated individuals performing nonmanual labor are exempt from the minimum wage and overtime pay protections under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Most states, including Alaska, exempt similar workers from local minimum wage and overtime laws as well. Generally, in order for these exemptions to apply, employers have been required to establish that (1) an employee is paid a predetermined, fixed salary that is not subject to reduction because of variations in the quality or quantity of work performed; (2) the salary paid meets a minimum specific amount; and (3) the employee’s job duties primarily involve executive, administrative, professional, or other duties as defined by regulations.

Federal Threshold Doubles

Since 2004, the FLSA salary threshold under the test above has been $455 per week ($23,660 per year). Several states, including Alaska, have higher minimum thresholds.

Currently, to qualify as “exempt” from local minimum and overtime wage laws under Alaska Statute 23.05.055(b), an employee’s weekly salary must be at least twice the amount a person would make working forty hours at minimum wage. Given the current state minimum wage rate of $9.75 per hour (effective as of January 1, 2016), this translates to a minimum of $780 per week ($40,560 per year).

In June 2015, the US Department of Labor proposed a new rule to update the criteria for FLSA exemptions. Industry experts and commentators predicted that by mid2016, the FLSA salary threshold would be increased to more than $50,000 per year.

There was also speculation that the federal minimum wage ($7.75 per hour) would be increased. Since the Alaska minimum wage is based on the federal rate (the law sets Alaska’s 2017 minimum hourly wage at no less than $1.00 more than the federal rate), folks have been waiting with anticipation to see what changes would be adopted.

The Department of Labor issued its final rule in May 2016 and set the new FLSA salary threshold at $913 per week ($47,476 per year) effective December 1, 2016. Although 52

this final figure is slightly lower than expected, it is still more than twice the current federal threshold.

Under the final rule, the FLSA salary threshold will be adjusted every three years and set at a rate that represents the 40th percentile of full-time salaried workers in the lowest-wage US Census region (currently the South). In an apparent effort to help employers meet this new salary threshold, the final rule also provides that up to 10 percent of the new salary level can come from non-discretionary bonuses, incentive payments, and commissions, as long as said amounts are paid to the employee at least quarterly.

The final rule also institutes a higher salary threshold to be eligible for the “highly compensated employee” exemption to FLSA. Currently, if an employee makes $100,000 or more a year and performs at least one of the executive, professional, or administrative exemption duties, the employee is presumed to be exempt. As of December 1, the minimum salary threshold for this exemption will be $134,004 a year. The threshold will be adjusted every three years and set at a rate that represents the 90th percentile of full-time salaried workers on a national level. Alaska’s Department of Wage and Hour Administration appears to recognize this exemption as well, though it has not been expressly adopted by the legislature.

Do Not Delay Preparations

In order to adequately prepare for and address these changes in wage and hour law, Alaska employers should, without delay, determine whether the federal threshold applies to their company and/or their employees currently classified as exempt. Not all employers fall within the authority of the FLSA. For example, nonprofit organizations that generate less than $500,000 in business revenue and do not have any employees engaging in “interstate commerce” have a good chance of falling outside the FLSA’s reach.

If the FLSA does apply, the employer should, among other things, (1) consider the financial impact of compliance with the new threshold and whether changes to the operating plan or budget are necessary; (2) evaluate overall staffing structure and consider alternative options—for example, reclassifying certain positions as “non-ex-

To learn more about the topics discussed, visit the following websites: U.S. Department of Labor, Wage & Hour Division, https://www.dol.gov/whd Final FLSA Rule www.dol.gov/whd/overtime/final2016/index Alaska’s Wage & Hour Department http://labor.state.ak.us/lss/whhome

empt” or reassigning duties to avoid overtime hours; (3) evaluate whether any rates of pay should be changed; (4) determine whether any job descriptions or written policies should be updated; (5) evaluate whether any other benefits and/or non-monetary compensation terms can be changed to balance out changes to schedules or pay rates; (6) consult with payroll providers to ensure any changes occur seamlessly; (7) consult with a workers’ compensation broker to determine whether changing the status of any employees will impact coverage or premium rate; (8) consult with legal counsel to ensure any changes are made in accordance with law and in a way that minimizes legal risk; (9) timely communicate with any potentially or actually affected employees— they may have creative suggestions to help, and keeping an open line of communication can minimize uncertainty, speculation, discontent, and potential claims; and (10) stay informed as additional legislative changes and/or further guidelines may be issued in the coming months—the “Protecting Workplace Advancement & Opportunity Act” was recently introduced in both the US House and Senate (HR 4773/SB 2707) to readjust the FLSA salary threshold and the formula used to set it moving forward. R Renea Saade is a partner with the Anchorage office of Stoel Rives LLP. Saade regularly assists companies with their employment law and commercial business needs.

She may be reached at renea.saade@stoel.com or 907.263.8412. This article is provided for educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for legal counsel.

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

safety driven

SAFETY IS OUR LICENSE TO DO BUSINESS. - TOM HENDRIX, VICE PRESIDENT, OIL & GAS

Safety Driven

TELECOM & TECHNOLOGY

Building Security and Risk Management Made Easier and More Affordable by Technology

By Tracy Barbour

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uilding security is an important area that businesses must address to protect their employees, physical space, and other assets. Alaska’s security services providers offer some of the latest solutions to help companies use technology to secure their premises and manage their risks.

Security measures can encompass everything from the interior and exterior of the building—including the parking lot and any other elements on the premises—to the people and information technology assets that keep the business running. Common threats to security range from theft and vandalism to slip-trip-fall incidents. Higher-risk events involving disgruntled former employees or domestic disputes can also threaten the workplace. So can an active-shooter situation, which is an extreme but growing possibility on corporate and college campuses.

Whatever the potential threat, experts say businesses should have a complete and proactive security program. And, ideally, security measures can be incorporated during a construction or remodeling project to optimize efficiency and cost savings.

High-Tech Solutions

Modern surveillance solutions built around state-of-the art alarms, video camera systems, radar, and radio frequency identification (RFID) are making it easier for businesses to safeguard their property and manage their risk more effectively. Alaska’s security firms offer a plethora of products to facilitate the process.

NMS Security is a prime example. The firm, partly owned by NANA Development Corporation, has decades of experience providing security services to some of the world’s largest and most technologicallyadvanced companies. “We provide just about anything you can think of, from cameras, alarms, and servers to radar and RFID solutions,” says Vice President of Op54

erations Bill Tandeske. “Then, happened,” Tandeske says. when you couple that with the NMS Security also conducts traditional guard services, we “health checks” to ensure camcan create a blended solution.” eras are operating properly. The The company’s “blended” sochecks are performed remotely, lution can incorporate the basic so they can be done no matter security force as appropriate and where the cameras are located. then apply technology to enhance Health checks are critical bethe effect. With ground radar, for cause nonfunctioning cameras instance, businesses can combine Tandeske can undermine a building’s small radar units with a camera overall security. to achieve broad coverage. “You can cover parking lots and larger areas without having Extra Eyes with Advanced Video to put out a lot of cameras,” Tandeske says.

High-resolution video camera systems are Businesses can also pair RFID with increasingly becoming part of corporate high-tech cameras to keep track of employ- security, according to Christopher Meador, ees and their property. RFID is a develop- the owner of Northern Security and Surveiling wireless technology that uses electronic lance, which designs, sells, and installs adtags and readers to monitor inventory and vanced video networks throughout Alaska. other assets. Employed in a wide variety of A video network employs the Internet for applications, RFID is a growing element of connectivity, allowing users to have remote security programs for larger enterprises. viewing capabilities. Video footage captured The specific elements required to meet a by the network’s recorder and cameras is company’s security needs is generally based typically stored on the premises. But it can on the demands of the site involved. Security also be uploaded to the cloud or transmitted solutions, however, are typically provided by to another location, such as a home office. multiple vendors. A facility’s security often “The recordings don’t have to be on site anymay consist of a few guards augmented by more,” Meador says. “So if someone happens a camera system installed by one company to break in or if the building is destroyed by and an access control solution installed by fire, all of that video can be safely archived at another. But businesses should consider us- an alternate off-site location.” ing a single company that can meet all of A video network is the ideal tool to use their security needs under one umbrella, for facial identification and license plate recTandeske says. “It is helpful if you can have ognition. The facial identification feature, one vendor taking care of all your issues,” he for instance, can be used to create profiles says. of anyone who enters or exits the building.

NMS Security is constantly adapting its The applications for facial identification can security services to meet the ever-changing also be very specific. The system can be set to demands of its clients, according to Tandeske. transmit a notification if a particular person The company maintains a full-service cen- returns, such as a fired employee. It can also tral monitoring location that keeps clients’ be used to count the exact number of people alarms and cameras under close observation. entering and exiting the premises. “It’s good It offers round-the-clock monitoring, off-site if you’re tracking the capacity of the buildarchiving, and real-time response to help ing; otherwise, you’ve got to go around clients limit loss, enhance safety, and man- counting heads,” Meador says. age risk. As part of its advanced video surMultiple high-resolution cameras can be veillance service, NMS Security can retrieve placed around a building to effectively caprecorded forensic information from clients’ ture different viewing areas. Essentially, the cameras and servers. The information can video system establishes a virtual “box” or be used to assist clients with law enforcement boundary within the viewing angle of each or liability claims and other issues. “For ex- camera. Whenever motion is detected, the ample, if someone said they tripped and hurt camera will follow and record whatever is themselves and are going to make a claim, moving. Or cameras can be set to automatiyou’ve got it on the video camera to see what cally track people in the viewing angle at a

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

certain time of day or night. Once someone or something breaks the perimeter of the virtual box, the video system sends out a short video clip of the intrusion by email and/or cell phone. The individual who receives the alert can then notify the proper authorities to investigate the incident.

Covert video is another high-tech solution that many businesses are using to secure their property, according to Meador. With this technology, a camera can be concealed inside an ordinary device like a smoke detector, electric air freshener, or iPod docking station. The hidden camera records video to a SD (secure digital) memory card, so that the footage can be viewed on a computer. The system—which can communicate via wireless router—can send an intrusion alert to the business owner, who can log onto the Internet and view the incident. Covert video is an effective way to secure a location beyond a video network because it is inconspicuous. “The covert video systems allow you to put cameras in areas where people are not aware,” Meador says.

“It’s good for gaining evidence from someone or resolving some type of mystery, such as who’s stealing from a supply closet or why the petty cash is coming up missing.”

A video camera system helps business owners manage risks because it allows them to implement better security controls

within their facility. “It’s like they have eyes all over the building,” he says. “If they don’t see something happen at the time it occurs, they can go back and view the video.”

Being Proactive to Minimize Risk

When it comes to building security and risk management, security measures can be broadly categorized in terms of prevention, deterrence, detection, and response.

Preventing and deterring problems is the key because it allows businesses to be proactive, not reactive, Tandeske says.

A security guard can act as a basic deterrent, while cameras and alarms can aid detection. However, businesses need to implement a complete security program that extends beyond having a few guards posted at the front gate or reception area, Tandeske says. And they should implement sensible security practices that their staff will likely follow. “A comprehensive approach with policies, training, repetition and testing makes the best overall security program,” he says.

Tandeske adds that building security, which includes safety, is a mindset-an attitude. And security should be an intrinsic part of the corporate culture. “If you integrate it with your culture, it’s all engrained, and everybody realizes that safety is their responsibility,” he says.

So what determines the kind of security equipment and practices a business should have in place to address their risks? It often depends on the type, usage, and location of the business. For instance, a hospital or pharmacy will have very different considerations than a social service agency or manufacturing facility. Likewise, businesses located in areas prone to crime will likely require more security measures than those in safer locations.

Few companies have the internal expertise to appropriately assess their security risks and needs, Tandeske says. They may have a safety person on staff, but that individual may not necessarily be a security expert. Besides, building security is such a revolving field, especially in terms of technology.

Businesses should get an objective, indepth analysis of their security measures to ensure they are adequate for their facility.

For most facilities, it’s not a huge expense to get a good review of what they have in place and what they need, Tandeske says.

“It’s good to get that outside view, then you can act on it or not act on it,” he says. “But at least you will have a broader perspective.”

Addressing Security during Design and Construction For the most proactive stance, business owners should determine security features

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when constructing or remodeling their building. “If you’re building a new facility, you should be involved with the designer and architects,” Tandeske says. “If you have an existing building that you’re remodeling, that’s also a good time to incorporate in some security features. You can do a lot with walls, plants, and shrubs.”

Robert Posma, PDC Inc. Engineers electrical principal, agrees. He advocates taking a preemptive approach by including security and risk management components during a building’s design and construction phase. Contemplating security on the front end of the process offers the greatest potential benefit. “You get a wellconsidered plan from an operational standpoint by thinking of it at the beginning, with the benefit of lower costs in the end,” says Posma, whose firm has been serving Alaska for more than Posma fifty years.

Being proactive about security also allows facility owners to gain better control of their budget by making cost-saving adjustments in the beginning. For instance, to prepare for the future installation of a security system, they could have a conduit roughed into the outside frame of a door.

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This will make it easier and less costly to get wiring into the door frame later without having to open up the door or wall.

Considering security earlier also positions building owners to make more strategic decisions about equipment, such as door hardware. For example, the University of Alaska Fairbanks Margaret Murie (Life Sciences) Building—for which PDC provided the mechanical, electrical, civil, and structural design—used a combination of cost-effective wired locks for the perimeter of the building and wireless cards for the classrooms and other interior spaces.

“It allows them to be able to lock down the doors quickly if necessary,” Posma says.

There are many considerations business owners can make during the design and building phase to maximize security for their facility, employees, electronic systems, and other assets. Early discussions, Posma says, can focus on using:  The right lighting to avoid creating dark areas or high contrast in light levels, which can diminish visibility  Closed-circuit television (video surveillance) to closely monitor fixed locations like entrances, valuable assets, and loading areas

 A well-placed reception area to help deter potential problems and reduce risk  Access control instead of keys

Capitalize on Technology

Planning building security measures early makes it easier to validate all of the risks that the owner wants to address, Posma says. It can also simplify discussions with security solution providers. “Negotiations with security monitoring agencies can be less subject to modifications due to having a complete security solution that meets the owner’s needs,” he says.

Whether facility owners address risks initially or as an after-thought, they can capitalize on technology to enhance their security program. The days of just offering guard services are declining, and technology is becoming more and more important in the area of building security, Tandeske says.

It’s also becoming more indispensable and affordable. “Technology can not only help you do security better, but it can help reduce staffing levels,” he says. “If you can do that, the technology helps pay for itself.”

R

Freelance writer Tracy Barbour is a former Alaskan.

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

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SPECIAL SECTION

Environmental Services

Recycling for Industry

Central Recycling Services leads the way

By Susan Harrington

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n 1984, Stuart Jacques started Central Environmental, Inc., a construction company, to do asbestos abatement and hazardous materials work. Twenty years ago the company branched into demolition, and the offshoot was recycling, Jacques says, adding: “Better do recycling if you are doing demolition.” They still do both hazmat and demolition as well as a wide range of other construction services —and they are the only company in Alaska with the facilities for doing actual commercial industrial recycling of any kind.

Over the years, recycling provisions became a part of contracts and a certain percentage of materials had to be recycled, starting with federal contracts and followed by state and local governments and the private sector. Those federal recycling provisions weren’t strictly enforced until about ten years ago, and by then some private contracts included up to 96 percent recycling requirements for certain LEED projects.

Recycling Facility

In 2009 Jacques built a recycling plant on a six-acre site across from Ship Creek on Yakatat Street in Anchorage for Central Recycling Services (CRS), which he formed in 58

2008 with his partner Shane Durand. It is the only full-service construction and demolition waste recycling facility in Alaska.

Central Recycling Services takes co-mingled, demolition, renovation debris and land clearing debris; clean wood and lumber; gypsum scrap; clean concrete, bricks, and stone; non-forming hard rubble; scrap metal; asphalt pavement; and loads of other recyclable material, including glass until recently.

Materials are sorted, sifted, shredded, crushed, baled, and otherwise run through the facility and become commercial grade recycled products for sale, including concrete aggregate, asphalt pavement, Type II recycled fill, landscape aggregate, animal bedding, shredded rubber, natural and colored mulch, fire logs, pallets, select scrap metal, salvaged equipment, and dimensional materials. The products are an alternative to shipping new construction materials to Alaska, though it is hard to find engineers at the state or local level willing to allow the recycled materials produced to be used.

As for the products, Jacques says there’s no market for much of it now, although for a few years they took in most of the commercial and construction debris in the Mu-

nicipality of Anchorage. Not now, though, because there is a limited market for the recyclable materials and no cost effective way to dispose of the residual materials. Jacques ticks off how recycling is now a marginal proposition, for the most part... “Plastics market dropped off, China is becoming much more restrictive. Paper—same way— market used to be China. Steel—price down tremendously—barely worth it.”

One product, glass, recycles well and works best for pipe bedding materials, or roadway fill Jacques says. “Crushed it is round, no sharp edges.” It’s just silica, and even that has been very difficult to get approved for use—Muni engineers say no. “It has been a struggle,” Jacques says.

Another product, recycled concrete, can also be hard to get approved to use—the state and Muni won’t allow it as a material in many construction uses.. For recycling to work effectively, “ It must be cheap to produce and have a large scale use,” Jacques says.

When they built the recycling facility a few years ago there was no way of knowing there would be such opposition to selling the products. “We jumped into it with both feet—everybody encouraged and promoted recycling,” Jacques says.

Diversified Operations

Central Environmental, Inc. and Central Recycling Services also work in the oilfields, tak-

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

cent done with gutting it out and have come up with a lot of scrap metal. They’ve demolished the five-story boilers and huge turbines. There’s a lot of work to be done with all the demolition and renovation. Jacques says they plan to keep the industrial look of the building and convert it to different uses.

The bulk of revenue will be coming from the Lower 48 this year. Recycling is not a money maker and it’s slowing down and consolidating nationwide—if they were depending on only recycling they’d really be struggling.

“One thing that helps us—a lot of contractors are looking at the Lower 48—we’ve been there twenty-five years. We don’t have to react and go there, from that regard. We can weather this storm. I was already there—we survived the eighties working in California,” Jacques says. “As far as Alaska goes, we’ll be focused elsewhere in 2017 and 2018.” R Susan Harrington is the Managing Editor for Alaska Business Monthly.

Central Recycling Services facility in Anchorage.

Courtesy of Central Recycling Services

ing surplus materials and used tires and baling them for retaining walls that can be filled.

And they still do a lot of demo work and other construction services. In addition, they provide waste disposal bins and do the recycling for contractors with federal contracts that have recycling provisions so the contractors can meet government contract compliance.

“We’re mainly a construction contractor,” Jacques says. “That started us down the whole recycling path. As a way to handle our waste and be profitable—we started our recycling capability in town.”

They stay busy in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Prudhoe Bay, and the rest of the state. This year they haven’t had much Bush work, though they did finish a project on Kodiak Island where they barged out a baler and excavator to three villages and baled metals for transport and recycle in the Lower 48.

“We’re in a small market,” Jacques says of Alaska—which is why they’ve never just worked in Alaska. The company has always had a diversified list of job sites for its up to two hundred employees. They work up and down the Western United States with work in sixteen to eighteen states, plus in Canada. In February 2015 the company took on another Alaska project that’s keeping them busy here as well as investing in the future of Anchorage. They bought the old Ship Creek Power Plant and are renovating it for mixed industrial use. So far they are about 85 perwww.akbizmag.com

August 2016 | Alaska Business Monthly

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SPECIAL SECTION

Environmental Services

Natural Resource Development Litigation “Litigation is, for better or worse, part of the way it works up here”

By Tasha Anderson

lot of federal agencies, so many or most of the decisions that [projlaska will never lack reect developers] make will trigger sources or opinions on NEPA,” Fjelstad says. He conhow to develop them. It tinues that an EIS may take two is a constant balancing act to alto six years to complete and can low industry to develop in a way range from a couple of hundred that promotes a healthy Alaska pages of information to four or economy while mitigating negafive thousand. “So, lots of money, tive impacts on the environment Fjelstad lots of time.” or even other industry. One way Following NEPA issues would opinions about the development of Alaska’s probably be the Endangered Species Act natural resources are expressed is through (ESA) claims, which he says are centered in litigation. According to attorney Eric Fjel- three areas: the North Slope (polar bears, eistad, a partner at the Anchorage office of ders, seals), Cook Inlet (beluga whales), and law firm Perkins Coie, “People fight because Southwest Alaska and the Aleutians (Steller they’re passionate about the issues,” and that sea lions, otters). Fjelstad says that the convergoes for those who are proposing a new proj- sation about protecting the animals has shiftect or those who may be fighting against it. ed in recent years. “Ten or fifteen years ago there was little if any discussion of climate Environmental Issues change. It just wasn’t a cutting edge issue.”

Fjelstad, who has been practicing law in Alaska Fjelstad says an emerging ESA argument since 1994, says his practice has focused on oil is that an affected species may be unlisted and gas and mining industry project develop- currently, but if certain projections of climate ment. He says what comes up the most in terms change bear out, the species would potentialof litigation are issues related to the National ly be listed as endangered in the future. This Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, a federal issue is further complicated by the fact that law which has been in place since the late ‘60s. there are various models that predict climate This is the law that may require companies to change, and different parties may favor difeither perform an EIS (environmental impact ferent models. Fjelstad says, “You could bring statement) or environmental assessment. one hundred people into a room and they’d “We have a lot of federal land here, and a all have a different view on the models.”

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He says one point of clarity in response to this argument has emerged from the court system: “Say you’re a new power plant in Louisiana, and you’re emitting carbon, and it’s assumed there’s a causal connection [to climate change]… You don’t have to go through an ESA evaluation in New Orleans to determine if you’re going to harm the polar bears in Alaska; it’s just viewed as too attenuated. But it still leaves open the question of what to do in Alaska.”

When Litigation Happens

Fjelstad says that generally litigation will enter the picture after permits have been issued.

Technically when a person or party challenges a permit, they’re actually suing the entity that issued it, in the case of NEPA or ESA permits—the government. “We intervene on behalf of the government, and we jointly defend the permits with the government.” He says it’s unusual for permits for exploration to be challenged, as their impacts are generally minor. “The reality is most exploration, particularly in the minerals industry, does not lead to a project,” Fjelstad says.

The first thing an opponent to a project would typically seek is an injunction, temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, or permanent injunction, all of which fall under the category of “injunctive relief,” Fjelstad says. He says that for the in-

Five Best Practices for Developers

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ric Fjelstad, an attorney with Perkins Coie who manages the company’s Anchorage office, shared the following general advice, in no particular order, for any company developing a natural resource project in Alaska.

Start Early: Reach out to relevant regulators early in the process to understand what needs to be done.

Have Good Environmental Baseline Information: Really understand the area where your project is going to be, what resources are there, and what the potential impacts are.

Have Alternatives: A project developer may have in mind a specific result, but is 60

there a different way to accomplish that result? Fjelstady says, “One of the primary questions regulatory agencies are charged with asking is: ‘What alternatives exist?’” If a company wants a specific result, is there another way to achieve that result with less impact?

Reach Out to Important Stakeholders: Communicating with the community is vital in order to obtain a “social license,” or the

support of the community around a project.

Depending on the project, that community could be a small geographical area or the entire state. “It’s really important to put in the time to understand what people are concerned about and to gain broad support.

It matters. The process agencies are keenly aware whether a project is supported by the community, however that’s defined,” Fjelstad says.

Have a Good Team: A good team of consultants allows a developer to have a good understanding of what the process is and to walk into it with eyes wide open.

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Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

junction to be successful, an opposing party must show 1) a probability of success on the merits (a likelihood to win the lawsuit) and 2) that the balance of harm favors them. In other words, “the harm to the environment or interests they represent outweighs the harm to the developer.” It amounts to a kind of mini-trial, he says, and if the opposing party is successful in enjoining the process, that’s often the end of the case. He says it’s rare a court will indicate that one party is likely to win and then issue a different ruling two or three years later if the case actually goes through. “Typically if a developer is enjoined, they will look at the project, evaluate the decision, and often go back to the drawing board and go into permitting and try to fix whatever the problem is,” Fjelstad says.

A large oil and gas or mining project may require anywhere from sixty to one hundred permits, “everything from food safety to stormwater permits,” Fjelstad says. “Less than half a dozen are significant permits that take a lot of time and typically get appealed.”

But, for a project in Alaska, the good bet is that litigation will spring up at some point.

“For projects of significance, litigation is, for better or worse, part of the way it works up here,” Fjelstad says. Why is that? One reason, he suggests, is that for a project to be viable in Alaska, it has to overcome distance from market, climate, and infrastructure challenges.

“Alaska is a long way from markets; we tend to have national or even international class projects because they need to be big to overcome the distance from market and the costs. You need economies of scale.” Additionally, Alaska is breathtaking, not just to look at but as an experience. “Every place, I’ve found, is a special place to someone,” Fjelstad says. “So there are places that are better places, so to speak, and places that are less advantageous, but there aren’t any places that no one cares about.”

that in addition to state and federal agencies and the developers, regional or village corporations are a vital part of project development.

Fjelstad says one up and coming issue regards the ability of tribal entities to move land into Federal Trust status. Originally legislation about that process said Alaska tribes were exempt from being able to do so, but that’s been challenged. “A group of tribes represented by Native rights lawyers had been litigating that issue and they won in the federal district court in DC,” he says. “The petition process will be coming to Alaska, I don’t think there’s any question about it, and that will create an avenue for Alaska tribes.”

The tribes were not allocated land under ANCSA, but there are methods by which Alaska tribes could acquire land. A unique complication in Alaska is that under ANSCA, in many cases surface and subsurface rights to the same acreage were conveyed to different entities. How would that play out if one entity entered the land into trust?

“It’s a great place to do what I do,” he says.

“The issues are really interesting and there’s things up here you don’t see any place else.” R Tasha Anderson is an Associate Editor for Alaska Business Monthly.

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It’s Different in Alaska

It’s not just the likelihood of litigation that’s unique to Alaska. For example, Instream Flow Reservation, or IFR: “it’s a right that exists under Alaska statute for any person to petition the Department of Natural Resources to keep water in a water body, typically a river or a creek,” Fjelstad says. Water rights typically involve drawing water out for irrigation or other purposes. This is the opposite of that, being a right to “ensure water stays in a stream to protect fish or some other reason,” Fjelstad says. He says that other states have IFR, but Alaska is the only state that allows any person to make the petition; it’s not necessary to be the landowner or even an Alaska resident.

Another unique aspect of Alaska: ANCSA (the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act). “I would say a fair number of resource projects are located on ANCSA lands,” which means www.akbizmag.com

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61

SPECIAL SECTION

Environmental Services

BLM Report on ANCSA Land Contamination Environmental services needed across Alaska

By Julie Stricker

I

n some circles, Alaska’s state flower isn’t the forget-me-not, it’s a different beast entirely: a tundra tulip. A quick glance through a wildflower book won’t find it, though. Tundra tulips are fifty-five-gallon drums used in past decades to transport fuel to remote mining camps or military installations and left behind to flower into rust when the sites were abandoned.

Those sites, such as former DEWLine and White Alice sites, radio towers, tank farms, asbestos-laden buildings, bomb impact areas, legacy wells, mines, and dumps are found throughout Alaska, from the tip of the Aleutians to the top of the North Slope.

Many are a result of World War II and the Cold War, times when environmental controls were less rigid than today.

Many contained toxic materials such as arsenic, solvents, PCBs, asbestos, mercury, mining chemicals, oil and petroleum, and unexploded ordnance. Hundreds of these contaminated sites are now under the ownership of Alaska Native corporations, and the effort to get them cleaned up has been going on for decades.

In the meantime, Native leaders are concerned with the health and safety impacts of the contamination on local populations.

According to the Alaska Native Village Corporation Association, “anecdotally villages report higher rates of cancer and other illnesses linked to hazardous substances.”

Many of the rural contaminated sites are near villages whose residents practice subsistence lifestyles. Only limited research has been done on the contaminants’ impacts to fish, berries, and wildlife in those areas.

A report released in July details the problem and the steps taken to solve it. The “Report to Congress: Hazardous Substance Contamination of Alaska Native Claim Settlement Act Lands in Alaska” is the latest chapter in a long and tangled history between the federal government and Alaska Natives.

In 1959

When Alaska became a state, the federal government owned all but a tiny percentage of the 62

land. However, when oil was found on Alaska’s North Slope, it quickly became clear that a pipeline to carry the oil to market would not be built until the government addressed long-simmering land claims from Alaska Natives, who had lived in the area for thousands of years.

After years of work and debate, President Nixon signed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) in 1971. The sweeping act aimed to provide a fair settlement of aboriginal land claims, providing Alaska Natives with 44 million acres of land, about the size of Oklahoma, and $962.5 million, in exchange for them dropping the claims. The twelve Alaska-based regional corporations created under ANCSA set about selecting the land, mostly in areas traditionally used and occupied by villagers of those regions. The land was withdrawn from the public domain by the secretary of the Interior. The BLM was tapped to administer the selection.

It proved to be a slow process, one that is still not completed today, nearly fortyfive years after ANCSA’s passage. By 1998, about 37.3 million acres of land hand been conveyed. As the process unfolded, however, Alaska Native people began to express concerns about the presence of hazardous materials and abandoned buildings, bunkers, and scrapped equipment on the conveyed lands and the health, safety, and economic impact on residents. Federal officials say they were unaware the land was contaminated before conveyance.

In 1998, the US Department of the Interior delivered the first report titled “Hazardous Substance Contamination of Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in Alaska” to Congress. That report identified the need for a comprehensive solution and outlined six steps to start the process.

Nothing happened.

In 2011

About five years ago, Alaska Native leaders started to press for answers, saying the contamination was an unjust liability. The Alaska Native Village Corporation Association took up the issue. In 2012 and 2015, the Alaska Federation of Natives passed resolutions calling on the federal and Alaska governments to prioritize the cleanup of sites on ANCSAconveyed land and to acknowledge federal government’s liability for the contamination that occurred under its ownership.

Go to blm.gov/ak to read the full report and see the current inventory.

In 2014, Congress asked for an update to the 1998 report, including the identification and status of each site and if any remediation had been done. That is the report that was released in July. Its 106 pages detail the development and status of all documented contaminated sites on ANCSA lands, as well as listing sites whose status is still undetermined. It also provides an update on the recommendations in the 1998 BLM report to Congress, in addition to recommendations for fully cleaning up the contaminated sites conveyed via ANCSA. Since much of the information about contaminated sites was incomplete in 1998, BLM started with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) database of contaminated sites in Alaska. It also included information from the Federal Aviation Administration, US Air Force, and US Army Corps of Engineers Formerly Used Defense Sites (FUDS) program.

Last Fall

As of September 2015, the database showed:  920 contaminated sites were conveyed to an ANCSA landowner. Of those, 328 sites have been cleaned up, 338 sites require additional cleanup, and 242 sites have sufficient land use controls to prevent human exposure. Another 12 sites have no confirmed contamination.  For the 338 sites that still require cleanup, ADEC has identified the agency or organization that controlled the site.

Nearly half, 162 sites, were controlled by the Department of Defense; 51 sites were under the state of Alaska or other state subdivision; and 16 sites under the FAA. Another 20 sites were controlled by ANCSA corporations; 14 by non-ANCSA Native entities; 42 sites under private ownership; and 7 by other federal entities.

In 26 sites, the ownership was unknown.

Through the FAA and military databases multi-meeting review, the BLM also determined which known contaminated sites on ANCSA land were not in a cleanup program. These 94 sites were termed “orphan sites.” Another 104 sites were still under review and could be added to the orphan list.

None of the contaminated sites are known to be on BLM land. Although the agency

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

“conveyed and patented the majority of these lands, it did so while acting solely in a passthrough capacity as the federal government’s ‘real estate agent,’” the report states.

Additionally, BLM has no authority to compel or conduct the cleanup of the contaminated sites. That power is reserved for the ADEC and EPA (Environmental Protection Agency).

The agency in charge of the facility or site when the contamination occurred is responsible for cleanup. For the “orphan sites,” however, the presence of the release of a contaminant needs to be verified at each site. In those cases, stakeholders are asked to provide that information so it can be added to the database.

In some cases, identifying the sites was difficult. Some sites were described simply as “Hill 400,” or in the case of Icehouse Point on Woody Island, the accompanying coordinates placed it somewhere in the Gulf of Alaska. There was no centralized gathering point, which meant stakeholders might report a site to the ADEC, but not the BLM, which was building the database. There was no formal mechanism for the two to exchange information. Other times, a site would be reported twice using different descriptions.

In some cases, even the large sites posed a problem because of their complexity. For example, the Anvil Mountain Radio Relay Station, located about five miles north of Nome, is the last intact White Alice Communications System site and was operational until 1978. It contains multiple points of contamination, such as fuel spills.

But when the BLM tried to obtain descriptions of the complex of buildings and equipment from the Air Force, ADEC, and Corps of Engineers, the agencies all used different terms to describe the site’s features. BLM states, “The currently available spatial data consists of a single point, which does not support estimating the size and shape of each feature. More information is needed to establish the actual location of each feature, and how it may relate to nearby conveyed land.”

Six Steps

The 1998 report outlined six steps necessary to begin the identification and cleanup process: 1. Establish a forum of ANCSA landowners and federal, state, local, and tribal agencies to exchange and discuss information and set priorities.

907.562.3366 www.aecom.com

Create. Enhance. Sustain.

2. Compile a comprehensive inventory of contaminated sites with input from all parties.

3. Apply EPA policies to ANCSA landowners, so they are not held liable for the contamination existing at the time the land was transferred. www.akbizmag.com

August 2016 | Alaska Business Monthly

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4. Analyze the data and report to Congress on sites not covered in existing programs and recommend whether further federal programs or actions are needed.

5. Modify policies, where needed, to address contaminants and structures that may affect public health and safety on ANCSA lands.

6. Continue to develop, under the leadership of the EPA and any other relevant agencies, a process to train and enable local residents to participate in cleanup efforts.

The 2016 report followed up on those recommendations, noting that only the first three had been met. The BLM did create a stakeholder group and conducted extensive outreach to Native corporations. It met with representatives from all twelve regions in Alaska over a period of several weeks.

The BLM also produced a preliminary database of contaminated sites on ANCSA land and also identified sites not part of a cleanup program (orphan sites).

However, the report states, since BLM lacks authority to compel cleanup of contaminated sites on ANCSA lands after they are conveyed, the agency did not take ac-

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tion on the remaining three steps: apply EPA policies to ANCSA landowners; modify policies, where needed, to address contaminants and structures that may affect public health and safety on ANCSA lands; and to develop a process to train local residents to participate in cleanup efforts.

Next Steps

The report does offer recommendations for ADEC, which has authority to address the cleanup of contaminated lands.

First, the report says, ADEC should finalize the database of sites and ownership and start a remedial action process, including identifying the party responsible for cleanup. The ADEC can also provide specific training to residents to assist in cleanup.

A formal contamination lands working group should be created to replace the ad hoc stakeholder group BLM gathered for preliminary work. The group would provide an ongoing forum to share information and create a strategic cleanup plan.

Once the responsible parties are documented by the ADEC, the cleanup itself will be done by the appropriate agency.

Of the 920 sites identified in the preliminary database, cleanup has been completed at 328 sites, mostly by the Department of Defense and given final approval by the ADEC. Final approval means “the sites pose no further threat to human health and safety or to the environment.” They are considered closed sites.

Another 338 are deemed “active,” which means cleanup has not been completed. No contamination was found at another 12 sites.

In addition, 242 sites have had land use controls, such as caps, fences, limits on site use, or warning signs to prevent human exposure to contaminations. Land use controls are used when it is not “technically feasible or is costprohibitive to complete remediation of contaminants to acceptable levels, in such a way that would allow for unrestricted future use.”

Creating a database of “orphan sites,” lands with verified contamination at the time of conveyance not under a cleanup program, was one of the primary goals of BLM’s stakeholder group. That database, consisting of 94 sites, exists within the larger contaminated lands inventory list. Another 104 sites need additional verification before being added to the database or declared closed. In most cases, these sites need to be reviewed to ensure the “no further action finding” given to them by the US Army Corps of Engineers is warranted. In some cases, site investigations were performed decades ago and were limited in scope.

R Julie Stricker is a journalist living near Fairbanks.

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Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

business

P

rofile

NORTECH Environment, Energy, Health & Safety Expanding its professional consulting services in Alaska

Left to right: Nortech partners John Hargesheimer, Jason Ginter and Peter Beardsley.

N

ORTECH’s roots in Fairbanks go back to 1979 with the founding of Hargesheimer Engineering Associates by John Hargesheimer. From a handful of employees in 1992, the firm has seen more than two decades of steady growth in its environmental, industrial hygiene and energy efficiency services.

Today, NORTECH also has offices in Anchorage and Juneau and provides professional consulting services statewide.

The firm has 25 employees, including civil, environmental and mechanical engineers, commissioning agents, project management professionals, certified energy auditors, industrial hygienists and safety professionals. NORTECH offers an array of services encompassing all project phases, from project development, assessment and planning, technical modeling and regulatory compliance through closeout and operation/ maintenance. “NORTECH is more than just the ‘environmental and hazardous materials’ guys,” says Principal Peter Beardsley, PE.

NORTECH serves the diversity of Alaskan industries: oil and gas, mining, construction, fabrication, utilities, health care, education and government. Longterm clients of the firm include Alaska Department of Transportation, Alaska Energy Authority, Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, Alaska Railroad Corporation, BP Alaska, Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, Fairbanks North Star Borough, Kodiak Island Borough, R&M Consultants and University of Alaska. During its 37-year history, NORTECH has completed projects at more than 200 locations across Alaska.

POISED FOR CONTINUED GROWTH Headquartered in Fairbanks, NORTECH has positioned itself for continued growth.

NORTECH has completed energy efficiency upgrades during major remodel projects in all three offices and is expanding in the Anchorage market. The firm has doubled its Anchorage space and plans to add a commissioning agent and other staff in the near future.

NORTECH’s steady pattern of growth is also marked by a new leadership group.

In 2012, Beardsley and Juneau Manager and Principal Jason Ginter, PMP, expanded their stakes as minority owners of the firm.

They will assume full ownership over the next two years and retain Hargesheimer, PE, CIH, CSBA, DEE, as a consultant to leverage his vast institutional knowledge.

“We wanted to do an internal transfer of ownership to build upon the established brand,” Beardsley says.

ENHANCING VALUE FOR CLIENTS NORTECH takes a holistic approach to identifying clients’ needs and developing suitable solutions. The firm strives to match the right professionals to each project. “We will put together a team that meets the project needs of the client,” Beardsley explains.

Even if the scope is narrow, NORTECH views projects from a broad perspective.

The company’s professionals are technically capable of providing guidance in a number of key sustainable disciplines, including energy efficiency, worker safety, indoor air quality, and site and environment concerns.

“We look at ourselves as a developer of sustainable projects across these disciplines,” Beardsley says.

For instance, when hired for a project in any discipline, it will provide input on all disciplines in which it has expertise. In other words, NORTECH will evaluate the details as well as the entire project, which translates into a deeper benefit and better outcome. “We try to provide value to all our clients by looking across the broad spectrum of the project,” Beardsley says.

NORTECH is committed to continue expanding its service to Alaskans. “We are poised to take the institutional knowledge that we have and expand from that foundation,” Beardsley says. “We’re here to facilitate our clients’ success.”

Environmental & Engineering www.nortechengr.com

Fairbanks Peter Beardsley, PE 907-452-5688 I Anchorage 907-222-2445 I Juneau Jason Ginter, PMP 907-586-6813 –

PA I D

A DV E R T I S E M E N T

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ALASKA BUSINESS MONTHLY’S 2016

ENVIROMENTAL SERVICES FIRMS & RECYCLING SERVICES DIRECTORY ENVIROMENTAL SERVICES FIRMS Company

Top Executive

3M Alaska 11151 Calaska Cir. Anchorage, AK 99515 Phone: 907-522-5200 Fax: 907-522-1645

Stephanie Mathers, Reg. Mgr.

ABR, Inc. PO Box 80410 Fairbanks, AK 99708 Phone: 907-455-6777 Fax: 907-455-6781

Stephen Murphy, Pres.

Acuren 600 E. 57th Pl., Suite B Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: 907-569-5000 Fax: 907-569-5005

Frank Noble, Reg. Mgr. AK

AECOM 700 G St., Suite 500 Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-562-3366 Fax: 907-562-1297

Joe Hegna, AK Ops Mgr.

Alaska Aerial Media 7447 Meadow St. Anchorage, AK 99507 Phone: 907-717-9794

Beau Bivins, Co-Founder

Alaska Analytical Laboratory 1956 Richardson Hwy. North Pole, AK 99705 Phone: 907-488-1271 Fax: 907-488-0772

Stefan Mack, PE/Pres.

Alaska Chadux Corporation 2347 Azurite Ct. Anchorage, AK 99507 Phone: 907-348-2365 Fax: 907-348-2330

Matthew Melton, GM

Alaska Clean Seas 4720 Business Park Blvd., Suite G42 Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-743-8989 Fax: 907-743-8988

Barkley Lloyd, GM

APC Services LLC 4241 B St., Suite 100 Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-677-9451 Fax: 907-677-9452

Greg DeBuois, Bus. Mgr.

Arcadis 880 H St., Suite 101 Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-276-8095 Fax: 907-276-8609

Tony Salazar, AK Ops Leader

ARCTOS LLC 130 W. Int'l Airport Rd., Suite R Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: 907-632-1006 Fax: 866-532-3915

Kirsten Ballard, CEO

Arrowhead Environmental Services, Inc. PO Box 872707 Wasilla, AK 99687 Phone: 907-229-9838

Terry Webb, Pres./CEO

ENVIROMENTAL SERVICES FIRMS

COMPANY

66

TOP EXECUTIVE

FOUNDED/ESTAB. AK

innovation.3malaska@mmm.com 3M.com

info@abrinc.com abrinc.com

tdaugherty@acuren.com acuren.com

aecom.com

info@akaerialmedia.com akaerial.media

klovejoy@alaska-analytical.com alaska-analytical.com

info@chadux.com chadux.com

acsgmpres@alaskacleanseas.org alaskacleanseas.org

info@apcservicesllc.com apcservicesllc.com

cynthia.oistad@arcadis.com arcadis.com

info@arctosak.com arctosak.com

info@arrowheadenviro.com arrowheadenviro.com

1972 1972

1976 1976

WORLDWIDE\AK EMPLOYEES

Services

SERVICES

89,000 3M manufactures a wide range of products covering many markets in Alaska. In the area 12 of natural resources, we provide products and services which support the oil/gas and mining industries in worker safety, electrical and communications, welding protection, fire and corrosion protection.

50 50

Environmental research and services, including marine and terrestrial wildlife, fisheries and aquatic science, landscape ecology and vegetation science, wetland mapping and permitting, re-vegetation and ecological restoration, endangered species expertise, NEPA documentation, and GIS services.

1976 2002

5,000 Materials engineering, nondestructive examination and integrity management for the oil 59 and gas, power, mining, transportation and construction industries.

1904 1948

90,000 AECOM Alaska is a team of 200 engineers, scientists, planners & support staff providing ~200 arctic-smart engineering & environmental services for the complete project life-cycle from permitting for air, water, soils & solid waste, to planning, design & construction through production & site closure.

2014 2014

3 3

Alaska Aerial Media is Alaska's premier, fully insured, FAA-exempt aerial media service provider. Provides cutting edge platforms and cameras to achieve a wide range of produced videos, photos and geospatial results.

2008 2008

2 2

ADEC certified environmental testing laboratory. Soil and water analysis for methods 8021B, AK101, AK102, and AK103.

1993 1993

14 14

Alaska Chadux Corporation (Chadux) is a member-funded, 501(c)(4) not-for-profit oil spill response organization headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska.

1979 1979

90 90

We protect the environment by providing response services to the Alaska North Slope crude oil explorers and producers and the first 167 miles of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System in accordance with oil spill response agreements and plans.

2006 2007

6 6

Environmental consulting; environmental assessments; contaminated land evaluation & remediation, geochemistry, baseline environmental studies; mining and exploration services.

1888 1994

28,000 Arcadis is AlaskaÕs leading provider of construction and program management services 22 and a leading global design, project management and consultancy firm.

2007 2007

5 5

ODPCP "C" Plans, full range spill prevention & response planning services, response management & support, project permitting, compliance assistance with state & federal oil pollution regulations. Project engineering, API certified tank, piping & AWS welding inspections, HSE & waste management plans.

1999 1999

6 6

Environmental remediation, asbestos/lead abatement, PCBs, mercury and demolition, civil, renewable energy systems. Notable clients: U.S. Air Force 3rd Contracting, MWH, Roger Hickel Contracting, North Pacific Erectors and CH2MHill.

August 2016 | www.akbizmag.com

Elizabeth Rensch, Business Dev.

B.C. Excavating LLC 2251 Cinnabar Lp. Anchorage, AK 99507 Phone: 907-344-4490 Fax: 907-344-4492

Gordon Bartel, Pres.

BGES, Inc. 1042 E. Sixth Ave. Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-644-2900 Fax: 907-644-2901

Robert Braunstein, Pres.

Blue Skies Solutions LLC 3312 Robin St. Anchorage, AK 99504 Phone: 907-230-4372

Michael Knapp, Principal

CampWater Industries LLC 2550 Hayes St./PO Box 309 Delta Junction, AK 99737 Phone: 907-895-4309

Jon Dufendach, Pres.

Cardno 3150 C St., Suite 240 Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-563-0438 Fax: 907-563-0439

Meg Thornton, Sr. Cons./Offc. Mgr.

CCI Industrial Services LLC 5015 Business Park Blvd., Suite 4000 Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-258-5755 Fax: 907-770-9452

A. Ben Schoffmann, Pres./CEO

Central Environmental, Inc. 311 N. Sitka Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-561-0125 Fax: 907-561-0178

Stuart Jacques, Pres.

CH2M 949 E. 36th Ave., Suite 500 Anchorage, AK 99508 Phone: 907-762-1500 Fax: 907-762-1600

Terry Bailey, Sr. VP/AK Reg. Mgr.

www.akbizmag.com | August 2016

TOP EXECUTIVE

FOUNDED/ESTAB. AK

er@analyticagroup.com amrad.com

admin@bcxllc.net bcxllc.net

bgesinc.com

info2@blueskiessolutions.net blueskiessolutions.net

jondufendach@gmail.com campwater.com

linkedin.com/company/cardno cardno.com

info@cciindustrial.com cciindustrial.com

cei@cei-alaska.com cei-alaska.com

Terry.Bailey@ch2m.com ch2m.com/alaska

WORLDWIDE\AK EMPLOYEES

Services

SERVICES

1991 1991

20 20

Full service state certified analytical laboratory with facilities located in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Wasilla. ARS specializes in drinking water, waste water, general water quality testing, contaminated sites and RCRA waste characterization.

1982 1982

45 45

Remediation services, soil farming, site cleanup for PCB, TCE, diesel/gasoline contamination, UST removal/replacement, contaminated soils hauling and disposal, etc.

2002 2002

7 7

Environmental site assessment, remediation, ground-water monitoring programs, project management and permitting. Lead and asbestos inspections.

2003 2003

2 2

Blue Skies specializes in geographic information systems (GIS) training and consulting.

Our instructor has been Esri Certified Trainer and also a Certified Technical Trainer (CTT+). We work with state, federal, local, non-profit, & private companies; helping them to create & manage their GIS data.

2009 2009

2 2

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.

1984 1984

6,500 Full-service, consulting firm providing specialized technical services in environmental 11 impact assessments (NEPA); environmental planning, permitting and compliance, natural and cultural resources, hazardous materials and hazardous waste, due diligence, and subsurface utility engineering.

1989 1989

258 258

Corrosion-under-insulation refurbishment; asbestos and lead surveys and abatement; specialty coatings; sandblasting; tank and vessel cleaning; fire proofing; demolition and hazardous waste removal; operations, maintenance and construction; oil spill response; heat treat services.

1983 1983

125 70

Provides civil/environmental construction services including: contaminated soils handling, excavation and site restoration, asbestos abatement, lead abatement, hazardous materials abatement, handling, and demolition.

1946 1962

21,707 Premier Alaskan oil & gas contractor with planning, engineering, procurement, logistics, 1,672 sealift/truckable modules fabrication, piping, construction, program & construction management, operations & maintenance, supporting oil, gas, LNG, transportation, environmental, water, mining & government.

ENVIROMENTAL SERVICES FIRMS

Top Executive

ARS Aleut Analytical (formerly Analytica) 4307 Arctic Blvd.

Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-375-8977 Fax: 907-258-6634

ALASKA BUSINESS MONTHLY | 2016 ENVIROMENTAL FIRMS & RECYCLING SERVICES DIRECTORY

Company

COMPANY

67

ENVIROMENTAL SERVICES FIRMS

ALASKA BUSINESS MONTHLY | 2016 ENVIROMENTAL FIRMS & RECYCLING SERVICES DIRECTORY 68

Company

Top Executive

ChemTrack Alaska, Inc. 11711 S. Gambell St. Anchorage, AK 99515 Phone: 907-349-2511 Fax: 907-522-3150

Carrie Lindow, Pres.

Chilkat Environmental LLC 223 Old Hart Box 865 Haines, AK 99827 Phone: 907-303-7899

Elijah Donat, Sr. Project Mgr.

Colville, Inc. Pouch 340012 Prudhoe Bay, AK 99734 Phone: 907-659-3198 Fax: 907-659-3190

Eric Helzer, Pres./CEO

Cook Inlet Spill Prevention & Response 51377 Kenai Spur Hwy. Kenai, AK 99611 Phone: 907-776-5129 Fax: 907-776-2190

Todd Paxton, GM

CRW Engineering Group LLC 3940 Arctic Blvd., Suite 300 Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-562-3252 Fax: 907-561-2273

D. Michael Rabe, Mng. Principal

Cultural Resource Consultants LLC 3504 E. 67th Ave. Anchorage, AK 99507 Phone: 907-349-3445 Fax: 480-772-4185

Linda F. Yarborough, CR Specialist

DOWL 4041 B St. Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-562-2000 Fax: 907-563-3953

Stewart Osgood, Pres./CEO

E3 Environmental 219 E. International Airport Rd., Suite 100 Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: 907-565-4200

Rosetta Alcantra, Pres.

Eco-Land LLC PO Box 1444 Nome, AK 99762 Phone: 907-443-6068 Fax: 907-443-6068

R McClintock, Sr., Pres./Member

EHS-Alaska, Inc. 11901 Business Blvd., Suite 208 Eagle River, AK 99577 Phone: 907-694-1383 Fax: 907-694-1382

Robert French, PE, PIC

Environmental Compliance Consultants 1500 Post Rd. Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-644-0428 Fax: 907-677-9328

Mark Goodwin, CEO

Environmental Management, Inc. 206 E. Fireweed Ln., Suite 201 Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-272-9336 Fax: 907-272-4159

Larry Helgeson, Principal Eng.

ERM Alaska, Inc. 825 W. Eighth Ave. Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-258-4880 Fax: 907-258-4033

Jeffrey Leety, Mng. Partner

Golder Associates, Inc. 2121 Abbott Rd., Suite 100 Anchorage, AK 99507 Phone: 907-344-6001 Fax: 907-344-6011

Mitchells Richard, Mgr. AK Ops

Green Star, Inc. PO Box 212409 Anchorage, AK 99521-2409 Phone: 907-202-9611 Fax: 907-331-0271

Doug Huntman, Program Dir.

HDR 2525 C St., Suite 500 Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-644-2000 Fax: 907-644-2022

Tim Gallagher, AK Area Mgr.

High Tide Exploration 180 E. Hygrade Ln. Wasilla, AK 99654 Phone: 907-354-3132

Chris Hoffman, Owner

HMH Consulting LLC 200 W. 34th Ave., PMB 253 Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-562-8100 Fax: 907-338-0070

Erik Haas, Principal

COMPANY

TOP EXECUTIVE

FOUNDED/ESTAB. AK

info@chemtrack.net chemtrack.net

chilkat@chilkatenvironmental.com chilkatenvironmental.com

info@colvilleinc.com colvilleinc.com

cispri.org

info@crweng.com crweng.com

lfy@crcalaska.com crcalaska.com

jpayne@dowl.com dowl.com

info@e3alaska.com e3alaska.com

nomesurveyor@gmail.com eco-land-llc.com

rfrench@ehs-alaska.com ehs-alaska.com

rod@eccalaska.com eccalaska.com

lhelgeson@emi-alaska.com emi-alaska.com

ermalaska.com

golder.com

dhuntman@akforum.org Facebook

info@hdrinc.com hdrinc.com

Chris@hightidealaska.com hightidealaska.com

erik@hmhconsulting.org hmhconsulting.org

1973 1973

WORLDWIDE\AK EMPLOYEES

Services

SERVICES

10 - 25 Please check out our Statement of Qualifications at chemtrack.net/about_us.htm.

10 - 25

2007 2007

5 5

1981 1981

200 200

Colville's group of oilfield companies provide a full compliment of Arctic Logistics capabilities. Our services include fuel, aviation, waste management, transport, industrial supply and camp services.

1991 1991

~26 ~26

Provides oil-spill response services to member companies in the greater Cook Inlet area.

Registered with the U.S. Coast Guard, (OSRO) and ADEC (PRAC).

1981 1981

65 65

Civil, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, Surveying, Planning, Permitting, and Construction Management.

1975 1975

5 4

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 in complying with their obligations under federal and state laws.

1962 1962

475 180

DOWL is a full-service professional services firm providing environmental and land use development, civil, transportation, water, and geo-construction services.

2012 2012

8 8

Project Management, Stakeholder Engagement, Water Quality Projects & Sampling, Environmental Document Production & Permitting, Scoping & Comment Analysis, Logistics, Community Planning, Site Assessment, NEPA Regulatory Experience, Grant Writing for Project Funding, Accounting & Funding Management.

2005 2005

4 4

Full service land surveying & mapping firm specializing in environmental investigations, remediation & mapping. Featuring 3D laser scanning, coastal/riparian hydrographic surveys and ROV high resolution multi-spectrial aerial -photography as well as full GPS & conventional surveying capability.

1986 1986

6 6

Our staff of engineers and Project Managers are skilled in hazmat design for building remodel and demolition projects. Asbestos, lead, PCB & other hazardous building materials identification. IAQ, Welding Fume, Ventilation studies. MOA 3rd Party Plan Review and ICC & IFC Code Consulting.

1999 1999

Contaminated sites, NEPA, wetlands and permitting, fisheries studies, project management, Tribal environmental services and grant writing.

~100 A full-service environmental company dedicated to providing clients with quality ~60 environmental services. Experienced in the disciplines of hazardous waste, materials management, transportation, environmental consulting, assessment, remediation, demolition, recycling of metals, oils and electronics.

1988 1988

18 18

Environmental & civil engineering, Phase I & Phase II ESAs, wetland delineations & permitting, asbestos mgmt. & design, HUD lead paint activities, UST removals, SWPPPs, SPCCs, GIS mapping, & training. A team of dedicated professionals working to make Alaska cleaner & safer.

1995 1995

35 32

Full environmental consulting services, including: ecological sciences (assessment, permitting, restoration), site remediation (investigation, engineering, closure), air quality, EHS management (systems, compliance, auditing, sustainability) & water resources (engineering, hydrology, wetlands, etc.)

1960 1980

1996 1996

1979 1979

6,500 Arctic and geotechnical engineering, groundwater resource development, environmental 35 sciences and remedial investigation.

1 1

Green Star is a green business certification program that assists, certifies, and recognizes Alaska businesses that are committed to fully integrating resource efficiency and environmental leadership initiatives into their business plans and practices.

10,000 Engineering services cover civil and structural engineering for transportation, water/ 120 wastewater, solid waste, power, federal, and oil & gas infrastructure. Specialty services in design-build. Engineering supported by a full suite of environmental/planning services, and 10,000+ employees nationwide.

2010 2010

2 2

We gather underwater video to depths of 1,000 ft. using our Remotely Operated Vehicle throughout Alaska and locations worldwide. As biologists, we are well suited to describe underwater habitat or can team with engineers to assess the condition of underwater structures.

1997 1997

3 2

Air quality permitting, compliance support; SPCC Plans, emission-control design, professional training, industrial air-quality compliance evaluations. Environmental Management Systems (EMS).

August 2016 | www.akbizmag.com

Kakivik Asset Management LLC 5015 Business Park Blvd., Suite 4000 Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-770-9400 Fax: 907-770-9450

A. Ben Schoffmann, Pres./CEO

Kinnetic Laboratories, Inc. 704 W. Second Ave. Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-276-6178 Fax: 907-278-6881

Mark Savoie, VP

Lifewater Engineering Company 1936 Donald Ave. Fairbanks, AK 99701 Phone: 907-458-7024 Fax: 907-458-7025

Bob Tsigonis, Pres., PE

Meridian Systems, Inc. 200 W. 34th Ave. #969 Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-279-3320 Fax: 907-279-2369

John Fortner, GM

Michael L. Foster & Associates, Inc. 13135 Old Glenn Hwy., Suite 200 Eagle River, AK 99577 Phone: 907-696-6200 Fax: 907-696-6202

Michael Foster, PE/Owner

MWH 1835 S. Bragaw St., Suite 350 Anchorage, AK 99508 Phone: 907-248-8883 Fax: 907-248-8884

Chris Brown, AK Reg. Mgr.

NORTECH, Inc. 2400 College Rd. Fairbanks, AK 99709-3754 Phone: 907-452-5688 Fax: 907-452-5694

John Hargesheimer, Pres.

Northern Ecological Services 211 Morey Ln. Bellingham, WA 98225 Phone: 360-739-7516 Fax: 360-592-4267

John Morsell, Principal/Sr. Biologist

Northern Land Use Research Alaska LLC 234 Front St. Fairbanks, AK 99701 Phone: 907-474-9684 Fax: 907-474-8370

Burr Neely, GM

www.akbizmag.com | August 2016

TOP EXECUTIVE

FOUNDED/ESTAB. AK

info@kakivik.com kakivik.com

kinneticlabs.com

Bob@LifewaterEngineering.com LifewaterEngineering.com

sales@msicontrols.com msicontrols.com

hlm@mlfaalaska.com mlfalaaska.com

chris.brown@mwhglobal.com mwhglobal.com

hargy@nortechengr.com nortechengr.com

jmorsell@northernecological.com

nlur@northernlanduse.com northernlanduse.com

WORLDWIDE\AK EMPLOYEES

Services

SERVICES

1999 1999

200 200

Kakivik is a full service industrial asset integrity management company specializing in Nondestructive Testing (NDT), External and Internal Corrosion Investigations, Quality Program Management, and Field Chemical and Corrosion Management including chemical laboratory and coupon/probe operations.

1972 1979

30 5

Offers environmental consulting and oceanography; marine monitoring for biological, chemical, physical and toxicological parameters; oceanographic and current modeling, including APDES permit & mixing zone applications; storm water evaluations; and sediment monitoring and vibracoring services.

1998 1998

10 10

Manufacturing sewage treatment plants for man camps, homes, and lodges in the most extreme environments and remote places. Manufacturing high performance plastic jet boats and rugged work boats. Custom plastic fabrication.

1997 1997

21 21

We make buildings smarter by providing: Intelligent building systems, energy management & analysis, building commissioning, energy conservation measures, and ENERGYSTAR rating services.

1998 1998

30 30

Environmental planning documents (EA/EIS), environmental remediation, and fullservice A/E firm with design/build, construction management, and general contracting capabilities.

1945 1982

7,000 Water, wastewater, environmental remediation, permitting and power.

25

1979 1979

25 25

A multidisciplined consulting firm with registered engineers and certified industrial hygienists on staff providing environmental, engineering, energy, industrial hygiene, and health and safety professional services throughout Alaska.

1987 1987

1 0

Fish and aquatic habitat surveys for Pogo and Donlin Creek mine projects. Fish research and mitigation planning for Bradley Lake, Mahoney Lake and Cooper Lake hydroelectric projects.

1991 1991

17 17

National Historic Preservation Act Sec. 106 assessments; identification, evaluation, mitigation services-prehistoric/historic archaeology, historic architecture, cultural landscapes, and subsistence investigations; documents to satisfy NEPA and permitting requirements; reg compliance; consultation.

ENVIROMENTAL SERVICES FIRMS

Top Executive

ALASKA BUSINESS MONTHLY | 2016 ENVIROMENTAL FIRMS & RECYCLING SERVICES DIRECTORY

Company

COMPANY

69

ENVIROMENTAL SERVICES FIRMS

ALASKA BUSINESS MONTHLY | 2016 ENVIROMENTAL FIRMS & RECYCLING SERVICES DIRECTORY

Company

Top Executive

COMPANY

TOP EXECUTIVE

NRC Alaska LLC 425 Outer Springer Lp. Palmer, AK 99645 Phone: 907-258-1558 Fax: 907-746-3651

Blake Hillis, Sr. VP NRC Alaska

FOUNDED/ESTAB. AK

O.E.S. 3201 C St., Suite 700 Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-562-8728 Fax: 907-562-8751

Marty Miksch, Pres.

Organic Incineration Technology, Inc. PO Box 55878 North Pole, AK 99705 Phone: 907-488-4899 Fax: 907-488-4823

Mark Sanford, Pres.

Paug-Vik Development Corp.

PO Box 429 Naknek, AK 99633 Phone: 907-258-1345 Fax: 907-222-1188

Maurice Labrecque, GM

PDC, Inc. Engineers 1028 Aurora Dr. Fairbanks, AK 99709 Phone: 907-452-1414 Fax: 907-456-2707

Royce Conlon, Pres./Principal

Quantum Spatial 2014 Merrill Field Dr. Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-272-4495 Fax: 907-274-3265

Adam McCullough, AK Bsns. Dev. Dir.

Restoration Science & Engineering LLC 911 W. Eighth Ave., Suite 100 Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-278-1023 Fax: 907-277-5718

David Nyman, PE/Principal

Shannon & Wilson, Inc. 2355 Hill Rd. Fairbanks, AK 99709-5326 Phone: 907-479-0600 Fax: 907-479-5691

Chris Darrah, FBX Ofc. Mgr.

SLR International Corporation 2700 Gambell St., Suite 200 Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-222-1112 Fax: 907-222-1113

Brian Hoefler, AK Mgr.

PNielsen@nrcc.com nrcc.com

oesinc.org

mark.sanford@oitinc.net oitinc.net

info@pdcnaknek.com pdcnaknek.com

pdceng.com

contact@quantumspatial.com quantumspatial.com

admin@restorsci.com restorsci.com

shannonwilson.com

bhoefler@slrconsulting.com slrconsulting.com

2014 2014

WORLDWIDE\AK EMPLOYEES

Services

SERVICES

1,000 Emergency spill response, hazardous/non-hazardous waste disposal, petroleum product 100 recycling, industrial cleaning services, vacuum truck services, automotive fluids recycling and sales, environmentally friendly cleaners/degreasers, site clean-up and remediation.

Anchorage/Kenai/Prudhoe/Fairbanks.

1997 1997

2 2

A wide range of environmental management, remediation, training and construction services for government and commercial clients. Expert contract management support with experience working in remote regions and challenging environments. O.E.S. is a subsidiary of Olgoonik Corp.

1990 1990

15 15

Soil remediation.

1996 1996

6 6

Rural general contracting and environmental services.

1975 1975

105 104

PDC is a 100% employee-owned multi-disciplined firm with 105+ employees in five office locations. We specialize in designing for the ever changing Arctic environment with expertise in civil, electrical, environmental, mechanical, and structural engineering, as well as land survey and planning.

1960 1960

469 27

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.

1992 1992

10 10

Environmental science and engineering firm specializing in environmental engineering and permitting, environmental remediation and reporting, phase I&II site assessments, waste water engineering, fuel system design and compliance, SPCC plans, SWPPP including CGP and MSGP work, project management.

1954 1974

301 61

Environmental site assessments; soil/water sampling; hazardous materials surveys; regulatory compliance; remediation design; storm water management. Also geotechnical analysis/design; frozen ground engineering; earthquake analysis; AASHTO-accredited testing lab for soils, concrete, asphalt.

2000 2001

1,151 Air permitting and measurements, acoustics, project permitting, environmental 78 compliance, site investigation, remediation, risk assessment and oil spill contingency planning.

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

70

August 2016 | www.akbizmag.com

Soil Processing, Inc. PO Box 211382 Anchorage, AK 99521-1382 Phone: 907-274-3000

Jennie Sharpe, CEO

Spill Shield, Inc. 2000 W. International Airport Rd, #D-2 Anchorage, AK 99502 Phone: 907-561-6033 Fax: 907-561-4504

Lark Christensen

SRK Consulting (US), Inc. 4700 Business Park Blvd., E-12 Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-677-3520 Fax: 907-677-3620

Bill Jeffress, Principal Consultant

Stantec 725 E. Fireweed Ln., Suite 200 Anchorage, AK 99503 Phone: 907-276-4245 Fax: 907-258-4653

Bob Gomes, CEO

TELLUS, Ltd. 2416 Loussac Dr. Anchorage, AK 99517-1148 Phone: 907-248-8055

Scott Erdmann, Pres./Prof. Geologist

Tetra Tech 310 K St., Suite 200 Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-264-6714 Fax: 907-264-6602

Bryan McCulley, Pres. Tetratech MMI

TOP EXECUTIVE

FOUNDED/ESTAB. AK

spialaska@aol.com

spillshield@ak.net spillshield.com

bjeffress@srk.com srk.com

twitter.com/Stantec stantec.com

tellus@acsalaska.net

tim.reeves@tetratech.com tetratech.com

WORLDWIDE\AK EMPLOYEES

Services

SERVICES

1990 1990

10 10

Specializes in the treatment of crude oil, bunker C and diesel-contaminated soil, using an ADEC-approved and -permitted thermal desorption unit.

1992 1992

5 2

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.

1974 2008

1,500 SRK is an internationally recognized consulting firm with 50 offices, on six continents.

7 We have been in business for 40 years. Roughly half of SRKĂ•s staff provides expertise related to environmental science, engineering and construction services.

1954 1972

22,000 The Stantec community unites approximately 22,000 employees working in over 400 88 locations across six continents. Our work includes engineering, architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, surveying, environmental sciences, project management, and project economics.

1997 1997

1966 1966

1 1

Project management, environmental assessment and compliance, corrective action programs.

30,000 Water, energy, environment, infrastructure, and natural resources.

3

Travis/Peterson Environmental Consulting Larry Peterson, Ops Mgr. 3305 Arctic Blvd., Suite 102 Anchorage, AK 99503 mtravis@tpeci.com Phone: 907-522-4337 Fax: 907-522-4313 tpeci.com

1998 1998

10 10

Storm Water Management, Environmental Site Assessments (Phases I and II), LUST remediation, hazardous material management, facility compliance audits, engineering analysis and design, field sampling, surface water/groundwater evaluations, NEPA, and wetlands delineations. Michael Travis, Principal.

Trihydro Corporation 312 Tyee St. Soldotna, AK 99669 Phone: 907-262-2315

1984 2015

395 8

Trihydro specializes in strategic project implementation, air quality & process management, engineering & surveying, environmental, water resources, & IT consulting.

We serve a diverse clientele: petroleum, federal & state, mining & natural resources, industrial & commercial, & infrastructure.

2003 2003

12 10

Portable gas detection, health and safety monitoring, environmental equipment. Rentals, sales, service and supplies. Warranty center. Alaskan owned small business.

Jack Bedessem, Pres./CEO information@trihydro.com trihydro.com

TTT Environmental Instruments & Supplies Deborah Tompkins, Owner 4201 B St. Anchorage, AK 99503 info@tttenviro.com Phone: 907-770-9041 Fax: 907-770-9046 tttenviro.com

We deliver.

Advertisers rely on our print and online visibility to reach as many potential clients as possible statewide.

ENVIROMENTAL SERVICES FIRMS

Top Executive

ALASKA BUSINESS MONTHLY | 2016 ENVIROMENTAL FIRMS & RECYCLING SERVICES DIRECTORY

Company

COMPANY

Bill Morris Advertising Account Manager Office (907) 257-2911 b_morris@akbizmag.com

Call me so we can discuss improving your marketing goals.

(907) 276-4373 • Toll Free (800) 770-4373

akbizmag.com

www.akbizmag.com | August 2016

71

RECYCLING SERVICES

ENVIROMENTAL SERVICES FIRMS

ALASKA BUSINESS MONTHLY | 2016 ENVIROMENTAL FIRMS & RECYCLING SERVICES DIRECTORY 72

Company

Top Executive

Tutka LLC 2485 E. Zak Cir., Suite A Wasilla, AK 99654 Phone: 907-357-2238 Fax: 907-357-2215

Amie Sommer, Member

Unitech of Alaska 7600 King St. Anchorage, AK 99518 Phone: 907-349-5142 Fax: 907-349-2733

Karl "Curly" Arndt, Sales

Waste Management of Alaska, Inc. 1519 Ship Ave. Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-274-0477 Fax: 866-491-2008

Mike Holzschuh, Territory Mgr./N.Am.

Weston Solutions, Inc. 425 G St., Suite 300 Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-276-6610 Fax: 907-276-6694

Rick Farrand, Client Svc. Bus. Mgr.

Wild North Resources LLC PO Box 91223 Anchorage, AK 99509 Phone: 907-952-2121 Fax: 907-952-2121

Melissa Cunningham, Principal

COMPANY

TOP EXECUTIVE

FOUNDED/ESTAB. AK

1999 1999

amie@tutkallc.com tutkallc.com

1985 1985

carndt@unitechofalaska.com unitechofalaska.com

mholzschuh@wm.com wm.com

westonsolutions.com

info@wildnorthresources.com wildnorthresources.com

1971 1971

WORLDWIDE\AK EMPLOYEES

Company

Top Executive

TOP EXECUTIVE

Alaska Car Crushing and Recycling PO Box 875188 Wasilla, AK 99687 Phone: 907-357-5865 Fax: 907-357-2123

Gary Jacobsen, Owner

6 6

Unitech of Alaska offers a wide range of environmental supplies, with extensive experience in oil spill response world-wide, a knowledgeable staff, prompt service and extensive product lines.

41,922 Hazardous and nonhazardous waste disposal, project management, complete logistical 16 oversight, complete US and Canadian manifesting, rail transportation, over-the-road transportation, marine transportation, and turnkey remedial services.

1957 2000

1200 WESTON delivers sustainable environmental, property redevelopment, energy & 36 construction solutions. WESTON Alaska supports oil & gas industry, state & federal project mngmnt. permitting, construction, incident response & environmental remediation.

2009 2009

10-20 WNR provides biological and environmental consulting services and wilderness safety 10-20 specialist support to the public and private sectors. Our expertise includes regulatory compliance, environmental monitoring, permitting, GIS analysis, site assessments, technical writing, and other client support.

Alaska Soil Recycling 1040 O'Malley Rd. Anchorage, AK 99515 Phone: 907-348-6700 Fax: 907-344-2844

Brad Quade, Ops Mgr.

Bin There Dump That PO Box 241311 Anchorage, AK 99524 Phone: 907-947-2844

Greg Green, Owner/Pres.

FOUNDED/ESTAB. AK

akcarcrushing@gmail.com alaskacarcrushing.com

anchsand.com

anchorage@bintheredumpthat.com bintheredumpthat.com

SERVICES

10-30 WBE/DBE, EDWOSB/WOSB, HUBZone, General Contractor (roads, bridges, culverts), 10-30 site work, environmental cleanup and consulting, SWPPPs, NALEMP/IGAP grant management.

RECYCLING SERVICES COMPANY

Services

WORLDWIDE\AK EMPLOYEES

Services

SERVICES

1998 1998

4 4

Recycling of all kinds of scrap metal including appliances, junk vehicles, batteries, copper, aluminum & 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 & insured.

1988 1988

30 30

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.

2013 2013

3 3

Provides waste bins for residential construction, roofing, and other projects. The bins are dropped off and picked up by a uniformed driver, who will even sweep before leaving.

Four bin sizes available to fit the specific project.

August 2016 | www.akbizmag.com

Central Recycling Services, Inc. 2400 Railroad Ave. Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-748-7400 Fax: 907-561-0178

Stuart Jacques, Pres.

Chena Power LLC PO Box 58740 Fairbanks, AK 99711 Phone: 907-488-1505 Fax: 907-488-4058

Bernie Karl, Pres./Owner

Environmental Compliance Consultants 1500 Post Rd. Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907-644-0428 Fax: 907-677-9328

Mark Goodwin, CEO

Green Star of Interior Alaska PO Box 82391 Fairbanks, AK 99708 Phone: 907-452-4152

Becca Brado, Exec. Dir.

NRC Alaska LLC 425 Outer Springer Lp. Palmer, AK 99645 Phone: 907-258-1558 Fax: 907-746-3651

Blake Hillis, Sr. VP NRC Alaska

Recycling Solutions of Alaska PO Box 110015 Anchorage, AK 99516 Phone: 907-242-9587

Sarah Robinson, Owner

Total Reclaim Environmental Services 12050 Industry Way, Unit 10 Anchorage, AK 99515 Phone: 907-561-0544

Larry Zirkle, GM

TOP EXECUTIVE

FOUNDED/ESTAB. AK

crs@crs-alaska.com centralrecyclingservices.com

kayla@chenahotsprings.com chenapower.com

PNielsen@nrcc.com nrcc.com

SERVICES

10 10

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.

1984 1984

25 25

Recycling Centers (Wholesale); Municipal Recycling Programs; Large Facility Recycling Programs.

1998 1998

info@iagreenstar.org iagreenstar.org

Services

2009 2009

1999 1999

rod@eccalaska.com eccalaska.com

WORLDWIDE\AK EMPLOYEES

2014 2014

~100 A full-service environmental company dedicated to providing clients with quality ~60 environmental services. Experienced in the disciplines of hazardous waste, materials management, transportation, environmental consulting, assessment, remediation, demolition, recycling of metals, oils and electronics.

6 6

Green Star hosts monthly electronics recycling collections, 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.

1,000 Emergency spill response, hazardous/non-hazardous waste disposal, petroleum product 100 recycling, industrial cleaning services, vacuum truck services, automotive fluids recycling and sales, environmentally friendly cleaners/degreasers, site clean-up and remediation.

Anchorage/Kenai/Prudhoe/Fairbanks.

2008 2008

2 2

1991 2005

150 5

Recycler for electronics, fluorescent lights, household batteries and refrigerants.

Community resource regarding information on recycling matters. Also Non-Ferrous Metal Buyer.

Valley Community For Recycling Solutions Mollie Boyer, Exec. Dir. PO Box 876464 Wasilla, AK 99687 community@valleyrecycling.org Phone: 907-745-5544 Fax: 907-745-5569 valleyrecycling.org

1998 1998

7 7

VCRS operates a community recycling center receiving & processing material kept out of the landfill into bales/feedstock to make new products. We provide education via field trips, curriculum kits & outreach to our community for people of all ages to learn how recycled resources rise again & again.

W N Salvage Recyclers PO Box 82193 Fairbanks, AK 99708 Phone: 907-488-4582 Fax: 907-488-2694

1985 1985

1 1

Recycling copper and brass.

sarah@rsalaska.net rsalaska.net

Facebook totalreclaim.com

Nancy Castle, Owner wnalaska@mosquitonet.com

GET RESULTS!

We provide office, business, and residential recycling services. Paper, cardboard, aluminum, glass, electronics, and more!

Keeping Alaska’s Industry Connected

Put my many years of marketing experience to work for your company!

Give me a call today to get started.

RECYCLING SERVICES

Top Executive

ALASKA BUSINESS MONTHLY | 2016 ENVIROMENTAL FIRMS & RECYCLING SERVICES DIRECTORY

Company

COMPANY

Providing quality products & service, to get your job done right.

Holly Parsons

Advertising Account Manager (907) 257-2910 hparsons@akbizmag.com

pecialists • Domestic Wire Rope, Chain & Synthetic Sling Fabrication • Hydrostatic Pressur rctic Grade Hose S e Testing & C ertification Industrial & A ilfield Fittings & Accessories • Hydraulic Component Repair • Sheet Rubber, Gasket Mate O • t n e Hydraulic, rial & Adhesi andling Equipm ves Petroleum H

Proud to be Employee Owned.

Alaska Rubber Group

(907) 276-4373 • Toll Free (800) 770-4373

akbizmag.com

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Member of:

Associated Wire Rope Fabricators

Alaska Rubber & RIGGING SUPPLY

ANCHORAGE • FAIRBANKS • KENAI • WASILLA

www.alaskarubber.com

73

OIL & GAS

© BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc.

These Alaska Native Science & Engineering Program (ANSEP) students are completing summer internships with BP, learning about careers in the Alaska oil and gas industry with the help of mentors like Sterling Rearden. From left, Tristan Burkett, Palmer; Steven Glasheen, Bethel; Eugene Peltola, Bethel; Sterling Rearden, BP Engineer and ANSEP mentor; Bryan Jacob, Anchorage; and Daniel Settle, Wasilla.

Training for Alaska’s Oilfields

S

By Will Swagel

terling Rearden is a 29-year-old BP mechanical engineer and project manager, currently managing pipeline construction projects on the North Slope. He has worked for BP since 2010 and as an intern before that. A 2005 graduate of Bethel High School, Rearden was partially inspired to pursue his vocation by an older brother who worked in the oil industry.

Rearden was also inspired and supported 74

by opportunities provided to him through the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program (ANSEP). ANSEP is a twenty-one year old University of Alaska based program, primarily designed to prepare students—Native and non-Native—living in rural Alaska to pursue college degrees in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). ANSEP started as a scholarship program for college students only.

Today, ANSEP reaches as far down as sixth grade to guide students toward the prerequi-

site classes required for degree programs in STEM fields. ANSEP offers various programs to fill in any gaps. Rearden became involved with ANSEP in high school and interned at BP before attending the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). He also interned at other companies and again at BP before joining the company upon receiving his degree in mechanical engineering in 2010.

Now a mentor to other ANSEP participants at BP, Rearden in June welcomed five new ANSEP summer interns who hope to

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

follow his career path. Unfortunately, they may face a steeper climb. Low oil prices have curtailed production and resulted in the loss of thousands of oil company jobs in Alaska and nationwide. Applicant pools for vacant jobs have increased greatly and the competition is stiffer.

Yet Rearden—who gives career presentations at schools throughout the state—remains bullish on oil overall.

“I feel like the gas and oil industry will be here for the long run,” he says. “I still think it’s a great opportunity. And there are plenty of opportunities to come in the next five or ten years.”

Home Grown Talent

Rearden says one thing he tells the interns is that to continue living in Alaska, there is no reason not to be operating the oil fields.

It’s a great opportunity and a very rewarding career.

“This is your state. This is your oil and gas. Take ownership,” he tells students and interns. “And when you really take ownership [of the resource], you care for it and maintain it because you want it to continue.”

BP must recognize that state residents bring more to the company than just a tolerance for cold weather. More than 75 percent of BP’s hires for Alaska facilities

are Alaskans, notes Dawn Patience, a BP spokeswoman.

“BP hires and recruits a lot of Alaskans,” she says.

To keep the supply of Alaskan applicants flowing to BP and other Alaska firms, ANSEP now engages with about “two thousand active students and alumni,” says Michael Bourdukofsky, chief operations officer for ANSEP. Unangan (Aleut) from St. Paul Island, Bourdukofsky was supported

by ANSEP on his path to earn a degree in civil engineering from the University of Alaska Anchorage in 2003.

Would-be scientists and engineers gain generous benefits from ANSEP, which was founded in 1995 with initial funding from Alyeska Pipeline Service Company. Since then, the program has received support from dozens of partners including most major petroleum firms, philanthropic organizations, and state and federal agencies.

Bourdukofsky says there is no cost to students for the program and that students also receive help with travel and other expenses.

Sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students participate in the Middle School Academy, which lasts twelve days on the University of Alaska Anchorage campus.

Under guidance, students build themselves a computer that they are allowed to keep as

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long as they complete Algebra 1 by the end of eighth grade.

Bourdukofsky points out that 77 percent of ANSEP students complete the class by the end of the eighth grade. He says that nationally only 26 percent of eighth graders complete Algebra 1.

In high school, students may join ANSEP’s Acceleration Academy, which involves five weeks on campus taking college level math and science courses for college credit. Many of these students complete the math required for a Bachelor of Science degree while they are still in high school.

They may even graduate from high school a year early, he says.

“They’re getting the experience of college living, taking classes, and doing real-life hands-on projects, which gives them career visioning,” says Bourdukofsky. “They are also developing team-working and networking opportunities with other students, many of whom will find themselves later in the same degree programs.”

ANSEP supports their college students through the University Success component, providing mentoring and advising, setting up weekly study groups, hosting weekly meetings with industry professionals, and offering field trips. ANSEP participants are well-suited to obtain coveted internships.

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“There is a lot of power in students connecting with students who have a common interest,” says Bourdukofsky.

Some students who fulfill all aspects of the program may receive financial aid, he says.

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The track for prospective petroleum engineers at UAF is a rigorous one, says Dr. Abhijit Dandekar, the chairman of the petroleum engineering department at UAF and a professor of petroleum engineering.

Students seeking a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering find their schedule allows for few electives, he says.

Students are expected to study topics broken down into three areas: drilling engineering, reservoir engineering, and production engineering, which, together, cover all aspects of the drilling and extraction process. Students should come to the program strong in mathematics and will need to grasp the fundamentals of other sciences, like chemistry and physics.

“Civil engineering or chemical engineering or mechanical or electrical engineering— those are established, specific, `to the point’ engineering disciplines,” Dandekar says. “As opposed to petroleum engineering. We are a hybrid—a concoction, if you will. Our students and faculty have to know not just the petroleum part, but fluid mechanics, which comes from civil engineering. We have something on thermodynamics, from the domain of mechanical or chemical engineering, and we have to know a little bit about electrical properties, from electrical engineering. That’s where the rigor comes from.”

UAF also offers a master’s degree in petroleum engineering and a doctorate in engineering, with tracks possible for specialties, including oil and gas.

Dandekar says that students must also master the “soft,” or social, skills that will allow them to collaborate successfully with other engineers, managers, and workers.

“Petroleum engineering is a team-based industry,” he says. “You cannot be sitting in your own cubicle, locking yourself away and doing your own thing. That’s not the way the petroleum industry works.”

For those seeking employment, the ability to network may make the difference between success and failure. The UAF program receives major support from the Alaska oil industry in the form of scholarships and internships, along with donations.

Students have a chance to meet and hear from professionals already in the field.

Dandekar says both hiring and offers of internships have slowed with the downturn in the industry, but the students remaining in his petroleum engineering program are the most serious.

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

“They are very dedicated and motivated students, and they are prepared to face this condition of lack of employment,” he says.

“They are genuinely interested in doing petroleum engineering. And they are still interested. Otherwise they would have left the program by now.”

Dandekar says he tries to help students cope by reminding visiting speakers from the oil and gas industry to describe the events they have endured over the years.

“Some of the speakers have weathered this kind of low oil price environment maybe two or three times in their career,” he says. “So they have words of wisdom for our students.”

Rising Through the Ranks

Most workers on the North Slope are not engineers, but are subject to rigorous training and testing nonetheless. Many are involved in operating machinery or facilitating the extraction of oil and its transport to tankers at the Marine Terminal in Valdez.

Others hold the kind of jobs that might be found in any town or small city.

“Most people think of North Slope workers only as the people working directly on a drilling rig,” says Mark Hylen, vice president of Beacon Occupational Health and Safety Services. “But it’s also a security guard, a camp caterer, safety officer, or

medical provider. You probably don’t think of those kinds of folks, but support services are a big part of operations running smoothly and safely on the Slope. Everyone in the oil field needs to have a certain set of skills, and, depending on their licensure, they may require continuing education.”

For the oil companies, Beacon OHSS operates small medical clinics throughout the North Slope, but also provides oil company employees with different kinds of training, much of it focusing on health, safety, and environmental concerns.

Like others in the industry, Hylen has seen a downturn in hiring. Now that competition for jobs has stiffened, he receives calls from some applicants wishing to buff up their training and certification resumes to make them more attractive candidates.

Tom Betz is the learning, development, and HR systems manager for the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company. Alyeska uses a computer system to track the training that is required or requested for its approximately eight hundred employees and many of its contractors.

Alyeska maintains a robust library of online courses, as well as conducting or contracting for more traditional instructor-led courses.

“Providing the right training, just in time, for the right people is very important to us,” Betz says.

“When a technician first starts at Alyeska, they are given a robust training experience,” says Betz, “a multiple-week process where they attend technical training and are introduced to Alyeska’s people, processes, and culture. They’ll travel as a cohort up and down the pipeline and meet people and see how things are done throughout the entire system. Then they’re given their job at a pipeline or terminal location.”

From there, the technicians move up the ranks, perfecting their skills by doing, by learning from their mentors and other coworkers, by taking training, and by demonstrating their proficiency in a rigorous verification program.

After years, they might become a lead tech—a Level 6.

“They are now helping other new technicians coming in and they are giving out assignments and work orders and having to close out on preventative maintenance tasks, on and on and on,” says Betz. “Senior level technicians are subject matter experts on whatever system they focused on. People come to them for answers.”

R

Alaskan author and journalist Will Swagel writes from Sitka.

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OIL & GAS

Securing Contracts in Alaska’s Oil & Gas Industry Timely tips from industry insiders

By Tasha Anderson

O

n May 25 AOGA (Alaska Oil and Gas Association) held its 50th Anniversary Celebration & Conference, celebrating both AOGA’s history and the history of the oil and gas industry in Alaska. The conference featured several excellent panels, including “Tips for Success in this Low Price Environment: Procurement’s View,” moderated by AOGA President and CEO Kara Moriarty.

This panel was comprised of JP Connelly, Regional Director of Alaska Procurement, BP Alaska; Stan Golis, Operations Manager for Cook Inlet, Hilcorp; Dan Flodin, Supply Chain Management Director, Alyeska Pipeline Service Company; and Larry Burgess, HSE Manager, BlueCrest Energy. Below are excerpts from the panel.

Moriarty: Share with us a “procurement horror story,” i.e., what not to do when trying to secure a contract.

Connelly: Unfortunately there’s a pretty wide array of options to talk about. What came to mind may seem obvious, but it’s worth discussing, and the advice would be: “Don’t try to buy the work.” When I say that, it has multiple meanings. I was thinking specifically about a project I was working in West Africa where we were getting ready to construct a new warehouse and we were bidding out to market. I was out one evening with friends and I ran into a gentleman I recognized and I knew he was with one of the big contractors in town. He approached me and we had a conversation that he quickly steered to the tender we were going to be sending out. He said there’s a way we can make this real easy for you and for me and save a lot of time and effort, and we could actually end up with an extra 20 percent for you. I knew what he was saying but I kind of didn’t want to believe it. The short of it is he had this elaborate plan to kick back money to me and the company if we awarded this work to him. The next day I made sure this is a company we would never work with again and keep away from our doors.

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The other part of that “don’t buy the work advice” is companies, in a [low price] environment where people are desperate, they start to think in desperate terms and how can they win business [although] they don’t have the capability, they don’t have the know-how, but they would literally try to bid lower than anybody else and effectively buy the work. That’s a very bad answer. It’s a losing proposition for both the companies and the contractors, and it ultimately will end up costing everybody more money, ultimately end up costing everybody lost time as well. The contractors, in the effort to do the right thing and ultimately win more business, they kind of go down a path that’s not good for anyone.

issue early on with personnel, it needs to be brought to our attention very quickly.

Golis: My example really deals with a multi-year contract. It involved an electrical component we were using. It’s fairly expensive, probably the average cost was $250,000 per component. This was done at the more centralized level where we had our operations engineers involved in selecting qualified contractors. We were looking at the vendor base and we had one contractor that had demonstrated they could go out and they could install it and we had good run times and everything was working very well. Unfortunately, they had they had one technical expert that was key to their process, that contract. He did the QC [quality control], he was out there on every job that component was run, he made sure the installation went perfectly. The problem was, before the first job, that employee got cross-wise with the vendor and left. [The vendor] did not have adequate resources to basically service that contract. Quite frankly it was a debacle. We had a lot of early failures of that equipment. I guess my point is, if there is an issue we need to recognize that it’s people that make things happen. Good people make good results. Here was a classic example that they didn’t have that individual that was key to their success, and we paid the price for it as an operator.

It cost us a lot of money, it cost them a lot of money. At the end of the day it cost them a lot of business. My issue is, if you do see an

Burgess: The biggest nightmare that I’ve experienced is taking the contracting ability away from the Alaska team and someone else handling it from the Lower 48, and unfortunately they waited until the last week until we needed that contract before they signed the bottom line. Guess what happens when you do that? You lose. It didn’t turn out quite as well as we anticipated, much to the shock of no one. The lesson learned from that was do not wait until the last week until you absolutely have to have a contractor.

Flodin: More than 80 percent of our spend is with the contracting community. Any given day two thirds of the people in our facilities are contractors, so our success and the operation of TAPS is highly dependent on the partnerships we have with the contracting community. For us, having a safety issue with people would be our biggest, horrific story, instead of appropriations we have people that get hurt.

That’s a huge focus of what we do. Our focus is on safety, and keeping our people safe and productive is a huge part of our agreements that we set up and expectation that we have.

Moriarty: Share an example of a contract or a project that went really well: ask yourself, “What did that contractor do or demonstrate that would make you crawl over glass to work with them again.”

Golis: Honestly, there’s probably nothing that would make me crawl over glass for a contractor. But there are things that I really appreciate and value in a contractor.

The best example in my mind is what has occurred over the last eighteen months with the price of oil collapse. We sat down and we met and visited with our contractors along the [Kenai] Peninsula and we talked to them frankly about where pricing was, and what we need to do is we need to reduce

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our cost structure significantly. And what I appreciated is they were responsive.

They listened to us, we had an excellent dialogue back and forth, and we understood each other’s perspectives and we made appropriate adjustments. Even when the price of oil was in the sub thirty dollar range not too long ago we were making money and hopefully they were making money.

I want somebody who will listen to my needs and will understand what I’m trying to achieve. It may take us a while to work through it, but we’ll come up with a better solution as to what they can provide and what I require. What I don’t want is someone just focused on trying to sell me something and invoice me. They need to understand my business. I’m looking for a longer term relationship. Be willing to make it right. If you make a mistake, admit it.

Come to me up front and tell me this is what happened and this is what we’re going to do to make it right. Don’t wait for me to come to you because, quite frankly, you’re not going to like the decision.

Flodin: At the start of the first quarter of 2015 under the direction of Admiral Barrett’s leadership we set up several efficiency teams on supply chain side.

We worked with several of our largest partners and opened up several dozen agreements and worked on it together; we didn’t compromise safety or environmental performance. Basically, a partner that works with us when times are tough without sacrificing core value will be a company to help us get through tough times, and that was a very rewarding process that we went through last year and it worked very well.

Burgess: My example of a contractor I’d almost crawl over glass for: We awarded a contract to do our man camp to a contractor here in Anchorage. We had many options— existing camps in the Lower 48, could build it in Canada—and we decided to go with the local contractor, and that has by far been the best decision that we made on that. It’s a brand new camp, and anything that’s brand new is going to have problems, although they were minor with this [man camp], they were very responsive. That’s a lot more difficult to get when the contractor’s in the Lower 48 or in Canada. They have responded to every need we’ve had. We were part of the design process, but as we set the camp up we found out we needed a few things here and there, and quite frankly, they have been very responsive and I couldn’t ask for better performance. So, keeping it local.

Connelly: We really have to acknowledge our suppliers in terms of helping us to get 80

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

through this downturn, and I think if we’re going to come out on the other side as a stronger company, it’s going to be in large part because of our suppliers. In terms of specifics, it’s becoming increasingly easy to see from an early point in the process which contractors are going to be those contractors and those suppliers that are really going to work with you. They work early on to instill confidence. It means a lot when you see a supplier giving you their “A team” the first time around. We’ve worked with a lot of suppliers that will show us up front that they want their absolute best people working projects for BP, and that right away puts us in a place to say they’re serious about the work. Also, seeing that they’ve done their homework—that they’ve really taken the time and made the effort to really understand not only our business but the specific work that we have and also the culture of safety that we insist upon in our industry. Those things up front will instill a level of confidence that makes you want to continue to work with them and deepen the relationship.

Another bit of advice I’d give would be to stick with the script. In this environment we frequently ask for innovation, for our suppliers to look at new and innovative ways to do the work and do it more efficiently, but we want most of all to see them come with an answer and a solution to the problems we’ve described within our tenders and our requests for proposals. A lot of times, in an effort to become innovative, suppliers will skip past what we’ve requested and go after something very, very different. We want to see that innovation, but I’d also say we want to work up to it. We frequently will get proposals back and sometimes, with big suppliers that are internationally established and have a great track record, they sometimes skip past the essentials. We certainly don’t know everything and often look to our suppliers to help us around various complex scopes of work, but it’s important that they have the basics right first.

Finally, safety is the most important thing in our industry. If you’re safe you’re stronger, both as individuals and as companies, and so we look for suppliers that value safety really as part of what they do as opposed to something else they just have to tick the box for.

Moriarty: What is one of your company’s must-have criteria; how can a company secure a winning contract with your company?

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hesitate, very much so, to bring somebody new to our business. We want to see proven experience. Quality goods, of course: we want something that’s going to last and doesn’t break. But more important, and certainly more important to me, is the quality of the personnel that are performing the work. It doesn’t matter how good your material is or your equipment or your pump or whatever it may be, if you’ve got somebody out there that either doesn’t care or doesn’t understand the product, it’s a disaster. So knowing the local contractors is very important because we understand the quality of personnel they provide, and it goes in line with what I just said.

Reasonable rates are important, especially with the small company that I currently work for. It’s critical that we have reasonable rates. The bigger you get you look at other factors differently. The rates impact things, but they may not be as critical to the success.

But to us they are; we operate on a very tight budget, so it is important.

The last three things that have to be in place are: integrity, which goes along with personnel and integrity at the top as well; honesty, for those people on the ground as well as at management levels, if that’s not there all credibility is gone and as far as I’m concerned they can pack up and go; [and]

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last is their safety performance. The last company I worked for I wrote in some pretty tight restriction on safety performance, and many of the contractors that were tendered were disqualified from even bidding, and I got slammed pretty hard in the paper for that because the local contractors weren’t even able to bid, they were disqualified. But when you turn in an OHSA recordable rate of 13.5, you’re not on our list, you’re done— 2.0 and lower is what we like to look at, that’s when you’re acceptable, that’s the green light moving forward. If any of those things are not present, your chances of winning that contract are very limited.

Flodin: We start with safety, and our only advice is to compete for goods and services. But to get to the table to play, you have to meet the core values of safety and environmental performance. We do an RFI [Request for Information], if somebody is not even at the threshold of our core values, then that’s where that stops. People have to be safe, we have to protect the environment where we work— it’s all very critical to what we value.

Golis: We also look at safety and environmental performance. We don’t really have a cut off, but if there’s any question we’ll take a look at that company’s safety program, what are they doing, how do they approach the business. The way that people differentiate themselves in the marketplace, quite frankly, is through competitive pricing. We are a low-cost operator. It’s critical for us to generate cash flow because that’s how we fund our work activity here in Cook Inlet and also on the North Slope.

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Connelly: More than ever in this environment with restricted resources and dwindling size of teams around the industry, we’re not really blessed with the luxury of being able to sort through the sales pitch. So the advice I would give would be to leave the sales pitch out. Some of the traditional paradigms of how you negotiate and bring in something that you can work down from, I think we’re in an environment where you need to come with your best offer first. And I think you need to come in a very transparent manner. It doesn’t behoove us to have a supplier losing money, it doesn’t behoove the industry to do that, so we want to be able to look at your cost build ups and understand your rate structures. We advise all the suppliers to come with a very open attitude and kind of a transparent approach where we can help one another to understand where we might be able to find some efficiencies, where we might be able to find some gains in areas where maybe you yourselves haven’t looked before. I think ultimately this is about sustainability. We’re looking for efficient but sustainable solutions. We are in a cash constrained environment, so certainly we’ll want to get some quick wins if we can get them without doing that at the expense of a longer term sustainability for the company, but we should be looking at longer horizons. I think the lower for longer scenario that we’re in has taught us that we have to think not only a year or two ahead but several years ahead.

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fuel costs, that should be passed on by your vendors that you’re using to bring goods and services up here.

You have to understand our business: maybe you’re supplying us with a product that is more value than what we really need. You need to be able to understand that and come up with a more economical solution. What we don’t want to hear is, “Well this is the way we’ve always done it.”

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Historic Anchorage Hotel Celebrates 100 Years

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Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

By Tasha Anderson

L

ast year Anchorage celebrated its Centennial, marking one hundred years since the historic lot sale in 1915 when Anchorage was comprised more of tents than actual infrastructure. Just one year later the Historic Anchorage Hotel celebrated its 100th birthday, having opened in 1916 and housing Alaska’s locals and guests ever since.

Owner Bob Neumann purchased the hotel in 1988, though at the time he wasn’t actually interested in entering the hotel business. Neumann is the owner of Grizzly’s Gifts, located at the corner of E Street and Fourth Avenue. At the time, he had been leasing space in the building that contained both the hotel and the gift shop. Anchorage was going through an economic downturn as oil prices had crashed, but similarly to today tourism was on the rise.

The Historic Anchorage Hotel as seen in 2016 and a crop of the framed photograph of it from the 1940s that hangs in the hotel today.

Transitions

He says there was a transition as many businesses left downtown and the malls were becoming popular, “So there I was and I had a valuable location and the owner of this particular building at the time saw that and found a few glitches in my lease and was going to take me over.”

Photos by ABM Staff

Located at the corner of Fourth Avenue and E Street, The Historic Anchorage Hotel offers twenty-six rooms and suites, which offer views of bustling Downtown Anchorage and modern amenities, including free Wi-Fi. www.akbizmag.com

August 2016 | Alaska Business Monthly

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Neumann proposed instead to buy the entire building, including the Historic Anchorage Hotel, although he had no interest in running it at the time. He says, “A hotel, are you kidding? I just wanted my gift shop.

I was interested in saving my store and I’d just deal with whatever was up here.”

And what he found horrified him: there was linoleum nailed to the walls in place of wallpaper, wires for cable television were just hanging in the hallway, the floors in every room were crooked having never been fixed after the ’64 quake, it was infested with mice and roaches, and the old kitchenettes hadn’t been cleaned since the 1930s.

“It was just solid grease and roaches, we’d pull things out and they’d just scatter.”

The first day that he owned the hotel, in February, a woman checked into a room that had no heat. She had filled the tub with hot water in an attempt to create some warmth in the room for her children traveling with her. “I shut the place down the next day,” Neumann says.

“What a shame it was, and what a bad face to put on Anchorage and Alaska to a tourist.”

Renovations

For the next three months, Neumann did much of the work himself to make the hotel a livable, comfortable space, having a grand

Photo by ABM Staff

The Historic Anchorage Hotel’s E Street main lobby entrance, beneath the white canopy.

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Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

The Historic Anchorage Hotel’s bar and lounge area, which can also be booked as an event space.

Photos by ABM Staff

opening the same year in June. It was during that grand opening that Neumann realized the significance of the hotel that had been run almost to the ground. Story after story emerged of how the Historic Anchorage Hotel was the Anchorage gathering place almost until 1960, a time when much of the city as we know it today was coming together. “Everybody that was anybody was here. You’d look at the crowd and think: That’s a who’s who of the history of Anchorage. They were all so thrilled that someone was trying to save the building.”

Neumann says that since 1988 he’s put approximately $2 million into the building, adding new electrical and plumbing, replacing the elevator, addressing issue with the floors, installing new windows, etc., to bring the old building back to life. “It was originally built with real lumber, Sitka spruce cut here on the job. You can see the huge beams throughout, and the wood still looks brand new. This place isn’t going anywhere for a long time.”

National Register

In 1999 the Historic Anchorage Hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places; Neumann says that in order to stay on the Register, he can’t modify the exterior façade without approval. However, the interior can be and has been remodeled to keep the property current and comfortable. “We keep updating www.akbizmag.com

and changing with the times. We don’t want to see another hotel become a better place to stay because you can get Wi-Fi or something.”

Neumann says a part of the Historic Anchorage Hotel’s success is that it attracts guests in the shoulder and off seasons. One of the hotel’s attractions is that it’s purported to be haunted. There’s a ghost log kept in the lobby in which guests are welcome to record any of their experiences. Additionally fueling the idea is the fact that Anchorage’s first police chief, John J. Sturgus, was murdered in the alley behind the hotel, and his murderer was never apprehended.

Terri Russi, the Historic Anchorage Hotel’s general manager, says this makes the hotel a popular venue in October for Halloween.

“They want to stay in a haunted hotel; they think that’s the only time we’re haunted…

We keep a ghost log, and people are intrigued with it. They will ask for an ‘active’ room.”

Another group they have visit in the offseason are “repeat government officials and convention people,” Russi says. “They don’t want to stay where everyone is at; they want to stay where it’s a little bit quieter, they don’t want the rush and hustle and bustle.”

History

Beyond the supernatural, the building has gathered a lot of history over one hundred

years. In its early days, the hotel catered to guests traveling by dog sled by creating a kennel in the building’s basement near the boiler, which would keep them warm. It was capable of holding up to one hundred sled dogs. While the space is now used for offices and storage, Russi says one of her guests remembers staying in the Historic Anchorage Hotel with chickens in tow, which were allowed to overnight in the basement as well.

The hotel survived the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake as well as the many booms and busts of Alaska’s economy.

Russi says guests like the small, quaint nature of the hotel and its history. “When you walk through the hallways, you can see the history of Anchorage,” she says. Photos ranging from 1916 to 1960 are on display in the hall, showing how the hotel and Anchorage have changed over the years.

Neumann says, “There’s a lot of history here.

People love that. I think that’s why we’re still here and doing well. And it’s not just the building. It’s the idea of a hotel being operated as a hotel and still operating as a hotel one hundred years later. It’s rare to have a small hotel in a downtown area like this that’s still here.” R Tasha Anderson is an Associate Editor for Alaska Business Monthly.

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VISITOR INDUSTRY

Š Patrick J Endres / www.alaskaphotographics.com / Courtesy of Holland America Line

The McKinley Chalet Resort Main Lodge serves as a hub for the resort and houses a gift shop, the tour desk, and the Nenana View Bar and Grill. Dining and activity shuttles stop here for guests to embark and depart.

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A panoramic view of Denali Square, located at McKinley Chalet Resort. Karsten’s, the square’s new restaurant, is the two-story building just left of center.

Photo courtesy of Holland America Line

Touring Alaska’s Backcountry Grand operations in Denali National Park

By Tasha Anderson

Photo courtesy of Holland America Line

W

A Park Ranger addresses guests at the central amphitheater located in Denali Square, which will also serve as a venue for live music and entertainment. www.akbizmag.com

hen I was invited to the June 3 Grand Opening of Denali Square, I jumped at the opportunity to drive north to Denali National Park into Alaska’s backcountry. It was at about Mile 220 on the Parks Highway, when I had been sitting in the car for a few hours, blissfully taking in the scenery, that I realized I really had no idea where I was going. I knew I was driving to the McKinley Chalet Resort, operated by Holland America Line, and that it was somewhere on the Parks; as an Alaskan I had unthinkingly determined to enact my tried and true “There’s only one road, I’m sure I can’t miss it,” planning strategy.

It was raining lightly, and in the slightly reduced visibility I ended up taking several short tours of neighboring resort properties before I pulled into the McKinley Chalet parking lot. I stepped out of the car and thought immediately: “Oh, wait, what now?” I figured inside was better than out, walked into the resort lobby, and in-

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Š Patrick J Endres / www.alaskaphotographics.com / Courtesy of Holland America Line

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troduced myself to the first staff member I saw. It was immediately apparent that while I may not have planned my trip beyond an exuberant, “Yay, going to Denali,” the efficient team at McKinley Chalet Resort knew who I was, where I needed to be, and had everything well in hand.

McKinley Chalet Resort is a sprawling sixty acre property that provides accommodations for guests on Holland America Line’s “Land+Sea Journeys,” a combination of a cruise to Alaska and overland tour to Denali National Park. Holland, through its subsidiary Holland America-Princess Alaska, purchased the resort property from Aramark Sports and Entertainment Services in 2013. At the time of the purchase, there were 480 rooms total on the property.

Denali Square

Tracy Smith, McKinley Chalet Resort’s general manager, said at the Denali Square Ribbon cutting, “Over the past two and a half years we’ve moved more than ninety buildings [and] we’ve renovated more than a third of our guest rooms, including add-

McKinley Chalet Resort Main Lodge as seen from the Nenana River (opposite) and an aerial rendering of Denali Square (above).

Aerial Rendering: Courtesy of Holland America Line

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Photo courtesy of Holland America Line

Artwork around the property was selected to help out-of-state guests become immersed in the Alaska experience.

ing five additional guest rooms this past winter.” The crowning jewel of several years of property improvement is the new Denali Square, which the company describes as “a new gathering area to relax, shop, dine, and enjoy music and entertainment.”

Denali Square is anchored by its largest building: Karstens, a 7,000-square foot, twostory restaurant named after Henry Peter “Harry” Karstens, the first Denali National Park superintendent. Karstens faces a large deck, equipped with seating and fire pits.

Boardwalks lead from both ends of the deck to several smaller buildings housing retail shops, including a gift shop for the Alaska Railroad; the artist-in-residence cabin that displays the work of Alaska Native and local artists; and the Gold Nugget Saloon, home to the Music of Denali Dinner Theater. All of this surrounds a central amphitheater with a covered platform stage and bench seating that is available for live music, local shows, and ranger talks and demonstrations.

Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival Corporation, said at the ribbon cutting that Denali Square “represents Carnival Corporation’s most recent investment in Alaska, which we 92

believe will help us continue to exceed our guests’ expectations.” He said that cruising and Alaska go hand in hand; during the summer season, nearly half of all Holland and Princess cruise lines are dedicated to Alaska. He continued that nearly 10 percent of the company’s total business is in the state, and “our ships post almost 60 percent of all the cruises that come to Alaska.” In short, “Our commitment to Alaska is stronger than ever,” he said.

Positive Partnerships

Smith said the property showcases Holland’s partnership with Denali National Park, the Alaska Railroad, and local vendors.

During the ribbon cutting ceremony, Superintendent of Denali National Park Don Striker said, “This is a perfect example of partnership.” He continued that by creating the national parks, “We entrusted our favorite places to all of us, and with that trust comes a great deal of responsibility on all our parts to make sure we protect these special places.” He said Alaskans in particular feel that responsibility, as more than 50 percent of the total acreage of the National Park System is in Alaska.

That responsibility is also a boon, as the national parks are an opportunity for Alaska to show itself off. According to “Economic Impact of Alaska’s Visitor Industry October 2014-September 2015” as prepared for the Alaska Division of Economic Development by the McDowell Group, Inc., tourism in Alaska had a $4.17 billion impact and the 2.07 million visitors that came to Alaska during that time spent $1.94 billion.

According to Striker, “Alaska tourism [in Denali] represents about half of that. As some people are fond of saying, ‘Denali is the gateway drug to tourism here.’”

Striker said the National Park Service has had a long history of working with transportation to capitalize on the benefits of the tourism industry, allowing locals and tourists access to the “transformative experiences” that a place like Denali can provide. He said he likes to remind his staff: “Service is our last name in the National Park Service.”

McKinley Chalet Resort

The McKinley Chalet Resort is bordered by the Nenana River, and no matter where one looks from the property, Alaska’s beautiful

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

Photo courtesy of Holland America Line

Guests enjoy one of Denali Square’s outdoor fire pits; behind the guests is Karstens Public House, Denali Square’s new restaurant.

Be inspired by the light of the Aurora Borealis. Renew your energy under the Midnight Sun. Experience the warmth of Fairbanks—Alaska’s Golden Heart—and the gateway to Denali, Interior and Arctic Alaska.

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mountains loom nearby. The property is divided into two sections, an uplands and lowlands. The uplands include the main lodge, which houses the tour desk, the gift shop, the Nenana View Bar and Grill, the Grizzly Grind, and stops for the dinner shuttle and the Denali National Park entrance area shuttle, in addition to guest rooms and several places to sit or take photos. The lowlands are comprised of Canyon Lodge, Denali Square, and guest accommodations. Amenities such as guest laundry, computers, phone, and luggage storage are also available.

This division means that, before Denali Square, visitors lodged in the lowlands, approximately two thirds of the resort’s guests, were a long distance from various amenities, such as dining. According to Holland, one impetus for Denali Square was to resolve that issue. The remodeling of the property also included moving several buildings, in the case of the Gold Nugget Saloon, literally lifting the building off the ground to move it to its present location in the square.

The first phase of renovations to the property involved adjusting how certain parts of the property were being utilized. For example, buildings directly on the Nenana River were previously used for back of house. Realizing that the waterfront was some of the most valuable real estate at the resort, it’s now used as guest accommodations.

A significant benefit of purchasing the property is that it’s directly adjacent to the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge. Princess and Holland are sister companies, and thus work closely to provide guests with the best experience possible. For instance, the dining shuttle travels to both properties, allowing guests more dining options. If a particular vendor for one property is unable to provide schedule services, a vendor at the other property may be able to step in, ensuring that even with unfortunate circumstances, guests have the experience they want to have.

Which was, in fact, what happened during my visit. I had been scheduled to take a whitewater rafting trip on the Nenana. The group I had been scheduled with was unable to get on the river, which I was informed of within an hour in person by hotel staff (another logistical feat). At the tour desk, one staff member was determined to find an excursion for me “on the water,” as I’d requested, and reached out to a Princess rafting vendor.

A few hours later I happily sat with numb hands, completely soaked, on a raft floating down the Nenana River. Denali really is the experience of a lifetime.

R

Where smiles and the ocean greet you at the door!

To book your special event, call Mike Dye at 907-399-8118 94

Tasha Anderson is an Associate Editor for Alaska Business Monthly.

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

Business Events AUGUST

AUG

11th Annual Renewable Energy Fair

Chena Hot Springs Resort: The Renewable Energy Fair is designed to educate the public on topics related to renewable energy and sustainability. This year’s theme, “Thinking Green and Keeping It Clean!” will be centered around a land-fill free environment. chenahotsprings.com

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AUG

ICETECH 16

Hotel Captain Cook, Anchorage: The Arctic Section of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers together with Alaska’s Institute of the North is now well on the way to staging the premiere international conference on ships and structures in ice. icetech16.org

15-18

AUG

Aleutian Life Forum

Grand Aleutian Hotel, Unalaska: Aleutian Life Forum is a conference gathering of national, state, and regional scientists; industry stakeholders; community leaders; and local knowledge to promote resilient coastal communities. aleutianlifeforum.com

16-20 AUG

16-19

AML Annual Summer Legislative Conference

Wasilla: The Alaska Municipal League is a voluntary, nonprofit, nonpartisan, statewide organization of more than 160 cities, boroughs, and unified municipalities, representing over 98 percent of Alaska’s municipalities. akml.org

AUG

21-23

NTCA Northwest Regional Conference

Hilton Hotel, Anchorage: NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association is the premier association representing nearly nine hundred independent, community-based telecommunications companies that are leading innovation in rural and small-town America. ntca.org

AUG

23-25

2016 Alaska Chapter of ASA Annual Conference

Alaska Pacific University, Anchorage: The meeting features a workshop on “Bayesian Inference in Stan” by Daniel Lee, a research scientist from Columbia University. community.amstat.org/alaskachapter

SEPTEMBER Association SEPT Alaska of REALTORS Convention

14-17

Centennial Hall, Juneau: The annual convention includes keynote and guest speakers and opportunities for ECE credits. alaskarealtors.com

Recreation & Park SEPT Alaska Association Conference

15-16

Petersburg: This year’s theme is “Rising Together” and the keynote speaker is Greg Morton, a corporate strategy and growth development specialist. alaskarpa.org www.akbizmag.com

Compiled by Tasha Anderson Fire Conference SEPT Alaska Fairbanks: Includes training, work-

OCT

19-24

shops, lectures, and a firefighter competition. The 2016 theme is “Leading the Way.” alaskafireconference.com

Oil & Gas Congress SEPT Alaska Anchorage: The Congress includes

critical market assessments, the latest information from key industry players, and information on key issues impacting Alaska’s energy future. alaskaoilandgascongress.com

SEPT

22-24

Alaska Superintendents Association Fall Conference

Wasilla: The pre-conference takes place September 21. alaskaacsa.org

Alaska Annual Conference SEPT Museums Juneau: This year’s conference theme is

22-24

“Mission Possible: Creating Opportunity.” museumsalaska.org

23 & 27

BP Energy Center: Two full days of breakouts, keynotes, and panels, plus optional intensives, manuscript reviews, a juried illustrator portfolio display, and a Saturday children’s literature rack in association with the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. alaskawritersguild.com

Annual Conference SEPT AAHPA Unalaska/Dutch Harbor: This is

the annual conference of the Alaska Association of Harbormasters & Port Administrators. alaskaharbors.org

Alaska Snow Symposium

OCT

Alaska Chamber Fall Forum

Challenger Learning Center of Alaska, Kenai: Open to the public, the state’s premier annual business conference.

Traditionally held in the fall, the Conference draws 200-225 attendees and features keynote speakers, panel discussions, and breakout sessions on issues of statewide concern to Alaska business. alaskachamber.com

11-13

OCT

Alaska Federation of Natives Annual Convention

Fairbanks: Annual gathering of Alaska Native peoples to discuss current news and events on a state, national, and international level. This year’s theme is “50 Years: Reflect, Refresh, Renew.” nativefederation.org

NOVEMBER

NOV

9-12

Associated General Contractors of Alaska Annual Conference

NOV

AASB Annual Conference

NOV

AAMC Conference

10-16

27

one-day trade show for the snow and ice management industry brought to Alaska by the Snowfighters Institute. alaskasnowsymposium.com

Business Monthly’s SEPT Alaska Top 49ers Luncheon

28

Dena’ina Center, Anchorage: Come honor the Top 49 Alaska companies ranked by gross revenue at our annual luncheon. Contact: Emily Olsen 907-276-4373, emily@akbizmag.com, tickets available online at akbizmag.com.

OCTOBER ATIA Annual Convention & Trade Show

Anchorage: The Alaska Travel Industry Association is the leading nonprofit trade organization for the state’s tourism industry. alaskatia.org

3-6

4-5

Anchorage: Events include keynote speakers and training sessions. alaskahousing-homeless.org/conference

Anchorage Hilton: The mission of the Association of Alaska School Boards is to advocate for children and youth by assisting school boards in providing quality public education, focused on student achievement, through effective local governance. aasb.org

SEPT Dena’ina Center, Anchorage: A

OCT

Alaska Coalition on Housing and Homelessness Conference

AGC of Alaska is a nonprofit construction trade association dedicated to improving the professional standards of the construction industry. agcak.org

26-30

Arctic Ambitions V International Conference and Trade Show

11-12

20-22

Writers Guild/ SEPT Alaska SCBIW Annual Conference

OCT

Wedgewood Resort, Fairbanks: A continuing medical education conference put on by the Alaska Academy of Physicians Assistants, providing up to 25 CMEs. akapa.org

6-8

OCT

20-21

All-Alaska Medical Conference

Sheraton Anchorage Hotel: This annual event uniquely focuses on business and investment opportunities flowing from developments in the Arctic. wtcak.org

Hotel Captain Cook, Anchorage: The Alaska Association of Municipal Clerks is an organization that focuses on providing educational training and mentoring and professional growth opportunities. alaskaclerks.org

13-15 NOV

14-18

Annual Local Government Conference

Anchorage: The Alaska Municipal League is a voluntary, nonprofit, nonpartisan, statewide organization of 162 cities, boroughs, and unified municipalities, representing over 97 percent of Alaska’s residents. akml.org

NOV

16-17

RDC Annual Conference: Alaska Resources

Timely updates on projects and prospects, addresses key issues and challenges, consider the implications of state and federal policies on oil and gas, mining and other Alaskan resource development. akrdc.org R

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RIGHT MOVES Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot

Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot announced that Jennifer C. Alexander and Adam W. Cook have become shareholders and Mara E. Michaletz has become a member.

Alexander is a fourth-generation Alaskan and has been associated with the firm since 2000.

Alexander is a member of BHBC’s employment and municipal law groups and her practice includes representation of union and non-union employers in all areas of labor and employment law.

Cook joined the firm in 2007. Cook’s litigation practice includes construction law, federal contracting, contract disputes, bid protests, municipal law, and general litigation. He has also worked in appellate matters before the Alaska Supreme Court.

Michaletz joined the firm in 2013. Michaletz serves the firm’s clients in a wide variety of fields including commercial litigation, construction law, personal injury, and administrative law. In addition, she counsels clients on compliance with state and federal health care law.

WHPacific

WHPacific announced Kevin Eischens, PLS, CFedS, joined WHPacific’s Anchorage office as a Professional Land Surveyor.

Eischens comes to WHPacific with more than twenty years Eischens of experience in surveying. His projects have ranged from water treatment facilities and fire station design to aerial and topographic surveys. Eischens is a licensed Professional Land Surveyor in Alaska, and he has a Bachelor of Science degree in surveying and mapping from the University of Alaska Anchorage.

McCool Carlson Green

McCool Carlson Green announced the appointment of Melissa Grieve, NCIDQ, ASID, CDT, as an Interior Designer to expand the firm’s interior design department. Grieve has eight years of professional interior Grieve design experience and is driven to create, which has led her to a career focused on the way in which the interior environment interacts

with its individuals. She is currently working on renovations at Alaska Regional Hospital.

R&M Consultants, Inc.

J ea n Cum l at j oin e d R&M Consultants as a Staff Engineer in t h e f irm’s En gin e erin g Department in April 2016. Cumlat is part of R&M’s Waterfront Cumlat Engineering Group. As a part of this group, she will be involved with civil and structural design of port and harbor development projects, including docks, wharfs, marina float systems, boat launch and barge loading ramps, breakwaters, and erosion control projects.

Cumlat’s responsibilities include civil and structural analysis, coastal modeling, dredging design, corrosion protection, water and sewer utilities, and other upland site development associated with these projects.

Alaskan Brewing Company

Alaskan Brewing Company’s long-time Chief Operations Officer, Linda Thomas, has been named the new CEO. In Thomas’ twenty-two years with Alaskan Brewing, she has been instrumental in developing a financially sound company. She led the development of the brewery’s Employee Stock Ownership Program, or ESOP, and has fostered a talented and highly dedicated crew that is poised to build on the strong foundation for this remote craft brewery based in Alaska.

Office of the Governor

Governor Bill Walker announced the appointment of Susan M. Carney of Fairbanks to the Alaska Supreme Court. Carney earned her bachelor’s degree in History & Literature at Harvard-Radcliffe Carney College and graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School. She also studied at Harvard Divinity School. She began practicing law in Alaska twenty-seven years ago, when she clerked for Supreme Court Justice Jay Rabinowitz.

Alaska Heart & Vascular Institute

The Alaska Heart & Vascular Institute recently expanded its team with the addition of David

Chambers, MD, to its Soldotna office. Chambers joins the Alaska Heart & Vascular Institute team from Tennessee with more than thirty years of experience practicing cardiology and internal medicine.

Chambers received his undergraduate degree in chemistry from Austin Peay State University in 1978 and went on to earn his doctorate in physiology as well as his doctor of medicine from the University of South Alabama shortly after.

Stantec

Michael Burrell, PE, has joined Stantec’s mechanical engineering team in its Anchorage office. He has more than a dozen years of instate industry experience. Burrell’s Burrell experience includes design and construction support throughout Alaska, primarily focused on oil and gas production and transportation. Burrell is a graduate of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, with bachelor’s degrees in both mechanical and electrical engineering.

DOWL

DOWL is pleased to announce the addition of Elizabeth (Leyla) Arsan to its environmental staff. She joined DOWL as a Senior Biologist based in the Anchorage office. Arsan Arsan’s technical focus includes fisheries, aquatic biology, and permitting. She has more than twelve years of experience in aquatic science, including aquatic resource assessments and habitat mapping, biological monitoring (fish, algae, and aquatic invertebrates), fish passage assessment, Endangered Species Act Section 7 consultations, and Magnuson-Stevens Act essential fish habitat assessments.

Alaska USA Federal Credit Union

Alaska USA Federal Credit union has appointed six individuals to fill executive positions within the organization.

Brian Wolf has been promoted to Chief Operations Officer. Wolf has more than eighteen years of financial institution experience, with the last three years at Alaska USA. He most recently held the position of executive director, Retail Financial Services.

Real Alaskans. Real cargo.

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Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

Cha

Compiled by Tasha Anderson experience in business management and sports and holds an MBA from Westminster College.

AECOM

Wolf

Meadows

Tod Miller

Chad Meadows has been selected for Executive Director, Retail Financial Services.

Meadows has more than twelve years of financial institution experience, most recently as vice president, Retail Delivery and Sales, for Seattle Metropolitan Credit Union.

Tod Miller has been promoted to the new position of Senior Vice President, Indirect Lending. Miller has been with Alaska USA for twenty-six years, most recently as vice president, Indirect Lending.

Phenie Miller

Thompson

Wilder

Phenie Miller has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Branch Administration. Miller has been with Alaska USA for thirty years and was most recently area vice president, Mat-Su Valley Area.

Bob Thompson has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Corporate Properties and Supply.

Thompson has twenty-six years of facilities management experience, with the last eight at Alaska USA. He was previously vice president, Corporate Properties and Supply.

Chris Wilder has been selected for the position of Vice President, Operations. Wilder has been with Alaska USA for thirteen years, most recently as vice president, Branch Administration, Alaska Region.

Arctic Winter Games Team Alaska

Arctic Winter Games Team Alaska welcomes Sarah Frampton as the President of the Board of Directors.

Frampton has been a member of the Team Alaska Board of Directors Frampton since 2010. Frampton brings over a decade of

AECOM announced several leadership changes within its Alaska operations.

Laura Young assumed the role of Technical Services Manager. In this new role, Young will oversee engineering, geographic information system, and computeraided drafting disciplines. Young will also continue to serve as the Young federal business development lead for Alaska. Young joined AECOM, through legacy Dames & Moore, in 1995.

Elizabeth Bella, PhD, was named Planning Group Manager.

In this new position, Bella will continue to manage projects and will also serve as strategic and business development lead for the planning group. Bella has fifteen years of Bella applied ecology and regulatory experience and she joined AECOM in 2015.

Joy Wakefield-Gonzalez was named Business Manager. In this new role, Wakefield-Gonzalez will be responsible for project management improvement, business management, and financial planning. Wakefield-Gonzalez Wakefieldjoined AECOM, through legacy Gonzalez firm Tryck Nyman Hayes, in 2008.

Ukpeaġvik Iñupiat Corporation

Shelly Tuttle joins Ukpeaġvik Iñupiat Corporation as it s Benefits Accounting Manager.

She graduated from University Alaska Anchorage in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in Accounting.

Tuttle has previously worked for Tuttle the Aleut Corporation and NANA Management Services in accounting roles.

and Reeves will serve four-year terms. Reeves is an attorney and Dougherty is a retired health program manager for the State of Alaska.

MUSE

MUSE Restaurant at the Anchorage Museum welcomed Brad Harris to its kitchen as Executive Chef. Harris was formally trained in traditional French cuisine at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Harris Park, New York, and specializes in modern American and Italian cuisines. Harris’s experience spans sixteen years of preparing food professionally. Most recently, Harris served as executive chef at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge, where he designed menus featuring locally sourced farm products in a fine-dining atmosphere.

Alaska Commercial Fishing and Agriculture Bank

The Alaska Commercial Fishing and Agriculture Bank welcomed two new additions to their staff.

Zac Hays, a lifelong Alaskan with more than fifteen years of commercial lending experience in Alaska, joined CFAB’s staff as a Vice President Commercial Loan Officer. Hays Aliesha Richards was appointed Assistant Vice President and will be responsible for managing Accounting and Human Resources. Richards recently spent fifteen years in similar positions in various departments within Richards the Municipality of Anchorage.

Architects Alaska

Chugach Electric Association

Chugach Electric Association members reelected Bruce Dougherty and Susan Reeves to the utility’s Board of Directors. Dougherty

Architects Alaska is proud to welcome Melissa Morse, AIA, to the firm as a Project Architect.

Morse will be focusing on design for healthcare facilities to provide operational efficiency and improve Morse the patient experience. Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, she moved to Anchorage in 2009. Morse has seven years of experience in the industry and is a licensed architect in both Alaska and Michigan. R

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August 2016 | Alaska Business Monthly

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Inside

Alaska Business August 2016 ALASKA FEDERATION OF NATIVES he Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN), the state’s largest statewide Native organization, enthusiastically applauds US Department of the Interior for issuing final regulations that will strengthen implementation of the Indian Child Welfare Act and ensure a more consistent interpretation regardless of the child welfare worker, judge, or state involved.

AFN appreciates the many Alaska Native leaders and organizations who submitted testimony and helped document the need for these final regulations. In particular, AFN would like to thank the Alaska regional tribal consortiums, federally recognized tribes, BBNC, CIRI, and Alaska Legal Services for their technical and policy support. nativefederation.org

T

ALASKA DEPARTMENT OF LABOR & WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT Alaska Population Overview: 2014 Estimates” is available online with data about the state’s 735,601 residents. The publication provides estimates of the state’s population in 2014 by sex, age (including voting age population and dependency ratios), race and ethnicity, migration, births and

“

Compiled by Tasha Anderson deaths, population centers, households, and group quarters. It also includes the number of active military and dependents in each borough and census area, information that is not available anywhere else. live.laborstats.alaska.gov/pop/popestpub.cfm UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA he University of Alaska Board of Regents voted 11-0 to authorize the university’s Chief Financial Officer to make arrangements and prepare the documents necessary to issue debt, not to exceed $37.5 million, to complete the University of Alaska Fairbanks Engineering Facility.

The financing plan will be presented to the regents at the September meeting. June’s vote authorizes only the process to commence. alaska.edu

T

GCI n Palmer, GCI held a Grand Opening celebration for its brand new retail store at 125 W. Evergreen Street, Suite 104. The store opened after a number of enhanced GCI services were recently made available in the Matanuska Valley, including 1 GIG red Internet service and expanded 4G LTE coverage.

In Fairbanks, GCI launched 1 GIG red Internet service. Approximately 100 times

I

faster than average internet speeds in the United States, this 1-gigabit service is the speediest Internet service available to Alaska consumers.

In Kodiak, GCI launched 4G LTE data speeds and celebrated with a customer appreciation BBQ at the Kodiak Harbor Convention Center catered by the Best Western Kodiak Inn. GCI customers in Kodiak will now be able to enjoy 4G LTE speeds and improved coverage. This upgrade is part of GCI’s ongoing commitment to provide Alaskans with the best and fastest communication technology available. gci.com ALASKA TRIBES he US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit rejected the State of Alaska’s attempt to block the US Department of the Interior from taking land into trust to safeguard it for Alaska Tribes. In Akiachak Native Community, et al. v. Department of Interior, et al., the court held 2-1 that the Department of Interior’s revision of its land into trust regulations rendered the case moot. The decision will allow Alaska Tribes to begin petitioning the secretary of Interior to have their tribally-owned fee lands placed into trust status. With such status, Alaska’s tribal governments will have the opportunity to enhance their ability to

T

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Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

regulate alcohol and generally protect the health, safety, and welfare of tribal members. narf.org OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR overnor Bill Walker signed into law SB9, which will improve the integrity of Alaska’s voter registration lists and further define what a political party may submit in the state’s Official Election Pamphlet. Additionally, the bill limits the use of “attack ads” to ensure the publicly funded election pamphlet remains a source of free, unbiased information about current officials, candidates, issues, and initiatives. gov.alaska.gov

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FOSS MARITIME he second of three state-of-the-art Arctic Class tugs, the Denise Foss, was christened June 1 at the Foss Waterway Seaport in Tacoma, Washington. The tug has a bollard pull of 221,000 pounds. Built at the Foss Rainier, Oregon, Shipyard, the Denise is designed to operate in the extreme conditions of the far north and will enter service this summer. foss.com

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THE ROOFTOP n top of the Fifth Avenue Parking Garage, The Rooftop at 5th Avenue and B Street opened June 9; it features half-court basketball, two concrete ping pong tables, a concrete chess table, and lots of benches to sit on to enjoy a lunch break or take in the beautiful mountain scenery. For those that just want to get their walking time in, walking six times around the rooftop is equal to one mile or two thousand steps.

The Rooftop is available for use Monday through Sunday 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. acda.net

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NEVER ALONE GAME he first-of-its-kind atmospheric puzzle-platform video game, Never Alone (Kisima Inŋitchuŋa), became mobile-ac-

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cessible on June 10 for a newly expanded audience of game enthusiasts with the global launch of Never Alone: Ki Edition, a worldwide App Store Editors’ Choice for iPhone and iPad. The Android release on Google Play followed on June 23. The Ki Edition also includes the original unlockable cultural insight video vignettes featuring members of the Alaska Native community who collaborated to make the game by sharing stories and wisdom about their culture, values, and Arctic Alaska. neveralonegame.com CHRIS LINFORD CONSULTING ENGINEER new mechanical engineering practice has opened in South Anchorage. The company, Chris Linford Consulting Engineer, provides consultation and design services of commercial HVAC/Plumbing mechanical systems throughout Alaska, California, and Washington. Principle Chris Linford, PE, a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, has been a registered Professional Engineer since 1978. chrislinfordconsultingengineer.com

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VERTICAL HARVEST HYDROPONICS laska-based Vertical Harvest Hydroponics recently commissioned its very first Generation IV CGS (containerized growing system) in Dillingham, marking a new chapter of scalable farming practices in harsh climates. CGS is a hydroponic fresh vegetable production system housed inside a customized 40-foot insulated shipping container. Measuring only 320 square feet in size, each CGS can supply more than twenty-three thousand pieces of produce annually, which typically requires one full acre of land when grown conventionally. Furthermore, growing in a controlled CGS unit provides the perfect environment to produce safe, clean, pesticide free, non-

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GMO food. Vegetable options currently include over 150 varieties of nutrient rich, high fiber leafy greens. verticalharvesthydroponics.com EXPLORE TOURS xplore Tours announced the birth of a new relationship with Nome based Nome Discovery Tours. Nome Discovery Tours is now under new, but familiar, ownership. In conjunction with the ownership transition, Explore Tours has established an exclusive partnership for the promotion and sales of the new, finely tuned Nome Discovery Tours product line. Three standard Nome tours will be offered to visitors during the 2016 season, with the anticipation of additional tour itineraries and opportunities moving into 2017. exploretours.com

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TRAVEL JUNEAU ravel Juneau revealed its new brand, signaling a fresh perspective and new direction on promoting Juneau as a destination for business, adventure, and leisure travelers.

The destination marketing organization teamed up with local Juneau designer Pixel & Plume to conceptualize the new logo, with the goal of the rebrand to present Travel Juneau as a modern, multi-faceted organization through the process. The design pulls from the topography of Mount Juneau, the flow and colors of the Mendenhall Ice Caves, and the waves of the inside passage waters.

Travel Juneau will also be launching a new app later this summer that will be useful to residents and visitors alike, as well as a revamped website in the spring of 2017. traveljuneau.com

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US COAST GUARD he Alaska Army National Guard turned over its aviation operations facility in Kotzebue to the US Coast Guard June 25.

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Your Project, Our Responsibility. 24/7 Service

Pacific Pile & Marine has a robust fleet of marine equipment including our recent addition of a 600-Ton 4600 Ringer.

www.pacificpile.com I (907) 276-3878 276-3873 www.akbizmag.com www.akbizmag.com

From critical lifts to platform support, PPM is sufficiently resourced to deliver a wide range of construction services.

620B East Whitney Road I Anchorage, AK 99501 August August 2016 2016 || Alaska Alaska Business Business Monthly Monthly

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The Kotzebue hangar represents the Coast Guard’s first long-term lease of an operating post north of the Arctic Circle. The five-year lease agreement with the State of Alaska will allow the US Coast Guard to perform operations in the Arctic region. uscg.mil

ter resources infrastructure while gaining presence in key geographies, including the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South and Central America, Europe, and the Middle East. The acquisition closed pursuant to the agreement announced by both firms in March. stantec.com

TESORO CORPORATION esoro Corporation and Tesoro Logistics LP (TLLP) announced that subsidiaries of Tesoro executed a $444 million agreement for the sale of storage and terminalling assets in Alaska to TLLP. Assets which closed July 1 include storage: crude oil, feedstock and refined product storage tanks with combined capacity of approximately 3.5 million barrels in Kenai, Alaska, with connectivity with TLLP’s Tesoro Alaska Pipeline and Nikiski Products Terminal and Tesoro’s Kenai Refinery. Assets to close later include terminals: refined product terminals in Anchorage and Fairbanks with combined storage capacity of over 600,000 barrels, expected throughput of 10,400 barrels per day, and rail loading of 7,000 barrels per day.

The acquisition of the Anchorage and Fairbanks terminals is expected to close later in the third quarter once the Consent Decree with the State of Alaska becomes effective. This agreement is related to Tesoro’s acquisition of the Flint Hills Resources assets, which closed on June 20. tsocorp.com

VOLKSWAGEN he Alaska Department of Law joined thirty-seven states in a settlement requiring Volkswagen to pay more than $570 million for marketing, selling, and leasing diesel vehicles equipped with illegal software to beat emissions tests. Alaska will receive $2.5 million under the settlement, based on the number of vehicles sold in the state: 1,245 affected Volkswagen and Audi 2.0-liter diesel vehicles.

Under separate class action and federal settlements, Volkswagen is on the hook for up to $10 billion to consumers. Volkswagen is required to implement a restitution and recall program for more than 475,000 owners and lessees of 2.0 liter diesel vehicles with model years 2009 through 2015.

Once the consumer restitution program has court approval, consumers who purchased or leased the affected vehicles will receive a restitution payment of at least $5,100. Purchasers will have the option of either selling the vehicle back to Volkswagen or having it fixed, and lessees can either terminate the lease with no penalty or have it fixed.

VWCourtSettlement.com ftc.gov/VWSettlement

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STANTEC tantec Inc. announced that it has completed the acquisition of Broomfield, Colorado-based MWH Global, Inc., a 6,800-person engineering, consulting, and construction management firm focused on water and natural resources for built infrastructure and the environment.

With award-winning project work and 187 offices distributed across 26 countries, the acquisition of MWH Global expands Stantec’s position as a global leader in wa-

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ASRC rctic Slope Regional Corporation announced the acquisition of Builders Choice, Inc. by its wholly-owned subsidiary ASRC Construction Holding Company, LLC. Headquartered in Anchorage, Builders Choice was founded twenty years ago and is now Alaska’s leading provider of customized modular solutions and serves a diverse group of customers, including

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state, local, and federal government agencies; oil and gas producers and service providers; mining companies; and residential real estate developers. In addition to its facility in Anchorage, Builders Choice operates a manufacturing plant in Vermillion, South Dakota, and in 2013 began selling building materials and engineered roof trusses from stores in Anchorage, Wasilla, and Soldotna. Members of the Builders Choice management team, including Mark and Sandi Larson, will maintain their respective roles post-acquisition. In his role as president and CEO, Mark Larson will report to Doug Smith, president and CEO of ASRC Construction Holding Company, LLC. asrcconstruction.com SHOCKWAVE TRAMPOLINE PARK hockWave Trampoline Parks LLC announced their innovative brand of family fun and fitness was set to launch in Anchorage at the end of July. The build-out was well underway in June. Shockwave’s twenty-five-thousand-square-foot family entertainment center will anchor the Northway Mall at 3101 Penland Parkway. A Job Fair was announced in July for ShockWave to hire and train thirty to forty full- and parttime employees.

Shockwave includes five rock climbing walls, two ninja cources, a trampoline volleybar court, a 3-D lazer maze, freestyle and dodgeball courts, super-size stung bag lanes, and slamdunk basketball hoops.

Little jumpers can safely work out their wiggles in ShockWave’s kids jump area where no big kids are allowed.

Included in the ShockWave experience, an arcade with the latest in gaming, theShockWave Café for snacks and refreshments and a lounge with large screen TVs allowing parents to relax while their kids burn off energy. shockwaveparks.com R

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• General Contracting • Marine Infrastructure • Design Build

Dutch Harbor - Unalaska, Alaska

www.pacificpile.com I (907) 276-3873 100

620B East Whitney Road I Anchorage, AK 99501

Alaska Business Monthly | February August 2016 www.akbizmag.com 2016 www.akbizmag.com

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Girdwood

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RunFest Health

Fitness Expo 20-21 and This expo features more than twenty vendors ranging among chiropractic services to running gear to souvenirs, as well various free clinics.

Dena’ina Center. threadalaska.org

Anchorage Salmon Daze

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This festival celebrates one of Alaska’s most valuable resources, wild salmon, as well as local artists and galleries. Anchorage Museum. anchoragemuseum.org

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Book Party in the Park

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Thread celebrates early literacy by giving away thousands of books to local children.

There are also free activities like a cardboard box construction zone, face painting, door prizes, story time, crafts, food, and live music. threadalaska.org

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Alaska Salsa Festival

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This is a weekend of dancing, workshops, showcases, banquets, and more. Get fit, find friends, and have fun. Dance champions from around the world will be in Anchorage presenting instruction and entertainment in Salsa, Bachata, Kizomba, and ChaCha dancing.

Sheraton Anchorage Hotel & Spa. alaskasalsafestival.com

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a national organization of athletes aged 50 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 AUG

Tanana Valley Sandhill Crane Festival

26-28 Each August as thousands of Sandhill Cranes begin their southward progress from Alaska, the Tanana Valley rings with gathering calls. The festival includes talks, bird watching, nature walks, workshops, and many other activities with ample opportunities for observing Sandhill Cranes and other fall migrants. creamersfield.org Girdwood

‘By the Sea’ Arts & Seafood Festival

12-13 The mission of the “By the Sea” Arts & Seafood Festival is to celebrate our 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. ccalaska.com/events/artsfestival

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Tanana Valley State Fair

This year’s theme is “Family, Fun & Fair.” It will feature Alaska produce and competitive exhibits, as well as commercial, craft, and food vendors on site in addition to rides, games, and live entertainment.

Tanana Valley State Fairgrounds. tananavalleyfair.org AUG

Alaska International

Games 12-21 Senior Alaska International Senior Games is the official Alaska state event of the National Senior Games, www.akbizmag.com

Girdwood Fungus Fair

26-28 Local fungi experts and guest speakers will conduct lectures and mushroom forays.

The fair also features other workshops and activities, such as the Fungus Fair Formal. fungusfair.com

STAY Ketchikan

Alyeska Resort Blueberry Festival

20-21 A celebration of the lush blueberry season, this family oriented outdoors event features live music including headliners Great American Taxi, berry picking, local arts and crafts booths, tasty blueberry treats, cooking demos, beer and wine garden, hiking and biking, chair massages, pie eating contest, and a blueberry creations contest. Alyeska Resort. alyeskaresort. com Ninilchik AUG

Kenai Peninsula Fair

2016 fair theme is 19-21 The “Party ‘til the Pigs Come

Home.” In addition to arts, crafts, and commercial vendors, 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 and food, and more. Kenai Peninsula Fairgrounds. kenaipeninsulafair.com

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Alaska State Fair

The heart of the Alaska State Fair still centers on the things the original colonists started with— agriculture, produce, lots of food, flowers, friends and family, and an oldfashioned good time that includes a concert series. alaskastatefair.org

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5-7 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 boat race, poetry slam, as well as vendors and live entertainment. ketchikanarts.org fisheries scholarships for graduating high school students. seward.com

Seward Silver Salmon Derby

13-21 The Seward Silver Salmon Derby is one of the oldest and largest fishing derbies in the State. Seward’s Derby is equally popular with locals, other Alaska residents, and visiting anglers from around the nation and world. Anglers vie for the largest Coho (Silver) Salmon and try to catch tagged fish worth prizes. Anglers turn their fish in daily, which are sold to raise funds for fish enhancement efforts and

Blueberry Arts Festival

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Women’s Silver Salmon Derby

12-13 The Valdez Women’s Silver Salmon Derby is the only women’s fish derby in Alaska and has been going on for twelve years. The Silver Salmon Sisterhood opening celebration takes place August 12, and the derby and awards party are on August 13.

Weigh in hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. valdezfishderbies.com/womens-derby

Valdez AUG

Gold Rush Days

The theme for this year’s event is “Take Me Out to the Gold Fields,” which celebrates baseball in Valdez.

Gold Rush Days includes an open air market, which features crafts, art, food, live music, and the Gold Rush store; a dutch oven demonstration; a parade; children’s pioneer games and stories; the Golden Rock Awards, a gardening contest; the Copper Valley Telecom Duathlon; and more. valdezgoldrushdays.org

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EVENTS CALENDAR AUGUST 2016

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ne of Alaska’s great assets is its water; it’s a source of food, it’s a means of travel, it’s a venue for recreation, and Alaska’s lakes, rivers, and coastline are simply stunning. Here are a few hotels from around the state conveniently located right on the waterfront.

 The Lakefront Anchorage, a Millennium Hotel, is located on the shore of Lake Spenard next to Lake Hood and features flightseeing and fishing pickups from its dock.  Best Western Lake Lucille Inn is located on Lake Lucille in Wasilla. Guests can dock their own float plane or take flightseeing trips from the Inn’s docks or enjoy fishing and jet skiing on the lake.  Land’s End is located at the end of the Homer Spit in Homer overlooking Kachemak Bay. Guests can enjoy halibut and salmon fishing, kayaking, or cruises on the water, including excursions into nearby Halibut Cove.  Pikes Waterfront Lodge in Fairbanks is on the Chena River. The Lodge features riverside decks and cabin suits that overlook the river.

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 Top of the World Hotel is located in Alaska’s northernmost city, Barrow, where it overlooks the Arctic Ocean.

Arctic Ocean tours are available to view beluga and bowhead whales, walrus, bearded seals, and other artic marine mammals.

By Tasha Anderson  The Reluctant Fisherman Inn is in Cordova on the shore of the Cordova Boat Harbor overlooking Orca Inlet and gives guests quick access to world-class wild Copper River salmon.  Glacier Bay Lodge is located in Bartlett Cove, ten miles from Gustavus, which one can access through daily air taxis from Juneau.

Daily boat tours, fishing, and kayaking are available to guests.

 Harbor 360 Hotel in Seward is located directly on the waterfront of the Seward Small Boat Harbor with views of Resurrection Bay. Granting easy access to Kenai Fjords National Park, water activities include glacier and wildlife cruises, kayaking, and fishing.

 The Grand Aleutian is located in Unalaska/Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands, offering view of Margaret Bay and Unalaska Bay. Unalaska/Dutch Harbor is a top commercial fishing port and offers world-class sport fishing opportunities.

 Kenai River Lodge sits on the edge of the Kenai River in Soldotna.

The Lodge boasts four hundred feet of private fishing and provides cleaning tables. All of the rooms have river views.

 The Nullaġvik Hotel is located in Kotzebue and overlooks Kotzebue Sound. Guests have access to LaVonne’s Fish camp as well as rafting and kayaking on the Kobuk, Noatak, and Selawik rivers.

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

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R E S E R V E YO U R TA B L E O R S E AT T O D AY F O R T H E AWARDS LUNCHEON (Event will sell out early for tables)

Table of 10 - $490 Individual Seat - $49

Make reservations and choose your table at akbizmag.com/Top49ersTickets or call 907-257-2901 Awards Luncheon: Wed., Sept. 28, 2016 11:30 am – 1:00 pm Dena’ina Civic & Convention Center, Anchorage www.akbizmag.com

4800 Spenard Road, Anchorage, Alaska 1-800-544-0553 • millenniumhotels.com/anchorage August 2016 | Alaska Business Monthly

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Photo courtesy of ConocoPhilips

Accolades

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onam Construction was recently recognized by ConocoPhillips as part of its 2015 Supplier Recognition Award program. Awards were given in the areas of safety, focus on execution, and doing business better, with Conam receiving the “Focus on Execution” award.

South High School Teacher Larissa Wright-Elson was named a 2016 PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovator. PBS LearningMedia, the free media on-demand service that offers more than 120,000 digital resources for teachers, honored educators from across the country who exemplified excellence in using technology and digital media to support student learning.

World Trade Center Anchorage received recognition from the Anchorage School District for hosting a student in the Gifted Mentorship Program. For the past six years, World Trade Center Anchorage has participated in the program and this year was honored to host Ciera Stafford, a senior at Eagle River High School. Stafford is a dynamic young woman with a bright future ahead of her. She intends to study international relations when she enters college.

Granite Construction Incorporated announced it has been named

by Forbes as one of America’s Best Mid-Size Employers. Forbes conducted an anonymous survey of more than thirty-thousand US employees working for large and mid-size US firms, divisions of international companies, or institutions (including hospitals and government agencies) to compile the list. Respondents were asked to rate thirty work-related attributes grouped in terms of atmosphere, compensation, and diversity.

Washington Alliance for Gender Equality. In addition Mad Dog won three Gold awards and three Honorable Mentions.

Mad Dog also won nine Gold and Silver honors in the 2016 Muse Creative Awards. An annual report for Anchorage Project Access, holiday ornament cards created for The Salmon Project, and the 2014–15 concert season poster series for Alaska Youth Orchestras were all awarded Gold. Annual reports for The Alaska Community Foundation, Food Bank of Alaska, and OTZ Telephone Cooperative all won Silver, as did Mad Dog logos created for Carlton Smith Commercial in Juneau and InQuisit in Seattle and a Christmas card designed for Pyramid Printing.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks honored two students with the Marion Frances Boswell Memorial Award and the Joel Wiegert Award, which celebrate the outstanding graduating senior woman and outstanding graduating senior man, respectively. Ingrid Dye, of Anchorage, received the 2016 Marion Frances Boswell Memorial Award. She is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in music performance. Eli Ward, who was born and raised on the Kenai Peninsula, received the 2016 Joel Wiegert Award. He is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in geological engineering.

Alaska USA Foundation donated $10,000 to the Children’s Miracle Network. Alaska USA’s donation will support research and training, equipment purchases, and uncompensated care in Children’s Miracle Network hospitals. These hospitals facilitate 32 million patient visits for 10 million kids every year.

RIM Architects is very proud to announce its founder and President/ CEO, Larry S. Cash, was elected to fellowship by the 2016 College of Fellows Jury of The American Institute of Architects (AIA). Each year, the Jury of Fellows elevates a select number of AIA members to its prestigious College of Fellows. The AIA Fellowship program elevates architects with proven significant contribution to architecture, society, and standard of excellence in the profession.

Mad Dog Graphx received eight honors in the recent 2016 Hermes Creative Awards, including winning Platinum for an annual report designed last year for OTZ Telephone Cooperative of Kotzebue and for a logo the firm created for the Seattle-based nonprofit

First Lady Donna Walker announced the recipients of the 2016 First Lady’s Volunteer of the Year Awards: Linda Gilson, president of the First City Council on Cancer; David Musgrave and Mark Stigar of the Mat-Su Junior Nordics Program; Trevor Storrs of the Anchorage

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First National Bank Alaska pledged $75,000 over the next five years to Blood Bank of Alaska (BBA) for their capital campaign to construct a new headquarters in Anchorage.

The BBA’s 57,000-square foot stateof-the-art laboratory and collection facility offers an enhanced donor experience and increased laboratory space, allowing some patients to receive service in Anchorage which previously required travel to Seattle. BBA Photo courtesy of First National Bank of Alaska serves hospitals and medical centers throughout Alaska and is a strategic part of the state’s emergency response infrastructure. The expanded BBA will grow to serve an ever-increasing client base and will better serve the state during emergencies.

Coalition to End Homelessness; Jamie Marunde of Northway; Michelle Stuart Morgan, founder of the grassroots organization Juneau—Stop Heroin, Start Talking; Denny Mehner of Fairbanks; Tessa Salazar, founder of Kids’ Cookies for a Cause; Kathy Lopeman of W.O.W—Way Out Women Snow Machine Event; Sheila Barrett, who helped start the “Kids Don’t Float” program; Mark Ahosoak of Barrow; Amelia McAlpin, founder of the Narcotics Anonymous Parents Group in Ketchikan; and Nicholes Hanson of Unalakleet.

Alaska Avalanche Information Center, a not-for-profit organization operated by a small staff and a team of dedicated volunteers, was recognized with a Special Achievement Award at the 2016 Alaska Governor’s Safety and Health conference for their dedication to Snow Safety. The AAIC is comprised of a network of six snow observation and education centers across the state in highly accessed use areas including Anchorage, Cordova, Eastern Alaska Range (Fairbanks), Haines, Hatcher Pass, Juneau, and Thompson Pass (Valdez).

Alaska Airlines ranked highest in airline customer satisfaction among traditional carriers for the ninth consecutive year in the J.D. Power 2016 North America Airline Satisfaction Study. The organization also announced that travelers ranked the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan highest in overall customer satisfaction for the third consecutive year in its Airline Loyalty/Rewards Program Satisfaction Report.

National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced this year’s National Merit $2,500 Scholarship winners. The 2,500 Merit Scholar www.akbizmag.com

designees were chosen from a talent pool of more than fifteen thousand outstanding Finalists in the 2016 National Merit Scholarship Program.

Alaska winners were Ina C. Flood of Anchorage; Jack A. Sexauer of Anchorage; Laura Joy Erb of Chugiak; Clare B. Cook of Eagle River; Hayley K. Zacheis of Fairbanks; and Katie Theodora Powers of Ketchikan.

The Division of Forestry is pleased to announce that eight Alaska communities, three electric utilities, and one university have been recognized by the Arbor Day Foundation for their efforts to protect and enhance community forests. Anchorage, Juneau, Sitka, Wasilla, the Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Joint Base ElmendorfRichardson, Fort Wainwright, and Eielson Air Force Base have been recertified as Tree City USA; University of Alaska Anchorage has been recertified as Tree Campus USA; and the utilities recertified as Tree Line USA are Chugach Electric Association, Golden Valley Electric Association, and Matanuska Electric Association.

Three ASD employees are recipients of the Denali Award, a biannual recognition program that honors employees who have shown outstanding achievement, service, and dedication in ensuring every student has the opportunity to achieve his or her potential: Donna Gum, English Language Learner tutor; Gail Patarini, administrative assistant; and Julie Patotzka, sixth-grade teacher.

Stoel Rives is proud to announce that James E. Torgerson, firm managing partner, has been honored with the Jay Rabinowitz Public Service Award, presented by the Alaska Bar Foundation for his commitment to public service. Given each year since 2003, the award August 2016 | Alaska Business Monthly

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Accolades

is bestowed by the board of trustees of the Alaska Bar Foundation to an individual whose life’s work has demonstrated a dedication to public service in Alaska.

David Robbins, a mechanical engineer in WHPacific’s Anchorage office, has just earned his Professional Engineer (PE) license in the state of Alaska. Robbins already has a PE license in Colorado and, having grown up in northern Alaska, can now proudly add Alaska to his list. He has worked for WHPacific for the last six years mainly on North Slope Borough as a project manager and mechanical engineer.

WHPacific is looking forward to seeing what else Robbins can bring to clients now that he can expand his services.

Tana Smith, a mechanical EIT and NANA shareholder in WHPacific’s Anchorage office, has passed the American Petroleum Institute’s (API) 570 Piping Inspector Exam. This exam is provided by the API through their Individual Certification Programs, which have provided the petroleum and petrochemical industry with a solid way to evaluate the knowledge of inspection personnel. The certifications provided by API are seen as some of the most demanded credentials in the industry.

quarter. This rating, the highest available for strength and stability, means the bank excels in areas of capital, loan quality, profitability, and more. The five-star rating is based on an evaluation of financial data provided by First National to federal regulators.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks, College of Rural and Community Development, received a $250,000 contribution from ExxonMobil Corporation to launch the Northern Alaska Indigenous Leadership Academy. This program is designed to foster wellness, leadership, and community sustainability among Alaska Native leaders. An initial twenty-five applicants will be part of a peer network connecting them with educational opportunities fostering personal and professional growth. After graduating, students will have the skills to implement sustainable community development initiatives and assume leadership roles in their region.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) recently awarded the Anchorage Museum a $25,000 grant to support the “At the Edges: Curated Conversations” exhibition, opening September 2016.

The museum’s award is part of the $82 million in awards recently announced by NEA. This particular award in the NEA’s Art Works category supports the creation of work and presentation of both new and existing work, lifelong learning in the arts, and public engagement with the arts through thirteen arts disciplines or fields.

Photo courtesy of Alaska USA Foundation

First National Bank Alaska has been named among the country’s safest, most-reliable financial institutions. BauerFinancial, Inc. recently awarded First National a five-star rating for the 16th straight

Compiled by Tasha Anderson

Alaska USA Foundation has also donated $15,000 to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Alaska to support the Operation Bigs program. The program provides mentors for children of military families, as well as volunteer opportunities for military members. Operation Bigs was launched in 2010 and currently fosters over 150 mentorship matches in Alaska.

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Three new Alaska Sea Grant state fellows will gain a year of professional experience in marine policy beginning this summer. This year’s fellows—Sarah Apsens, Jane Sullivan, and Jennifer Marsh— are all graduate students in the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. The fellowship, launched in 2015, is geared toward graduate students interested in planning and implementing marine and coastal policies in Alaska. The program matches fellows with hosts in state or federal agencies in Alaska for a twelve-month professional experience.

AAA Alaska announced four Alaska properties have earned coveted AAA Four and Five Diamond Awards: Pearson’s Pond Luxury Inn & Adventure Spa in Juneau, Crow’s Next Restaurant and Marx Bros.

Café in Anchorage, and Seven Glaciers Restaurant in Girdwood.

GCI announced that two of its longtime leaders have been named to the Cablefax 100 list of top players and influencers in the cable industry. Robert Ormberg, vice president of content and product management for GCI, and Tina Pidgeon, chief compliance officer and senior vice president of GCI’s governmental affairs, were included in the 2016 list of the top 100 cable industry power players.

In addition, GCI announced that it won four gold awards and one silver award in the Network Products Guide Information Technology World Awards competition. GCI’s 1 GIG red service received particular acclaim by being named IT Project of the Year, winning a gold medal in the Products and Services for USA category and winning a silver award in the Innovations in IT category.

The International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners and International Lactation Consultant Association have recognized The Children’s Hospital at Providence for excellence in lactation care. The hospital has received the IBCLC Care Award in recognition for staffing professionals who hold the prestigious International Board Certified Lactation Consultant certification and providing a lactation program for breastfeeding families.In addition, the facility demonstrated that it has completed activities that help protect, promote, and support breastfeeding.

Arctic Information Technology has been recognized as the top managed services provider in Alaska and ranked number 196 in Penton Technology’s ninth-annual MSPmentor 501 Global Edition — a distinguished report identifying the world’s top 501 managed service providers. The complete 501 list is currently available on the MSPmentor website.

GuideStar, the world’s largest source for information on nonprofit organizations, has recognized United Way of Anchorage with its Platinum Seal of Transparency. The GuideStar Platinum Seal of Transparency moves beyond traditional financial ratios to reflect the

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health of a nonprofit organization and to present the progress being made by the organization towards accomplishing its goals and overall mission.

Kenai Fjords Tours today announced that it has received a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence. Now in its sixth year, the achievement celebrates hospitality businesses that have earned great traveler reviews on TripAdvisor over the past year. Certificate of Excellence recipients include accommodations, eateries, and attractions located all over the world that have continually delivered a quality customer experience.

Eight inventors from the University of Alaska Fairbanks community won awards in the 2016 Invent Alaska Competition held by the UAF Office of Intellectual Property and Commercialization:  Robert Coker, faculty member in the Department of Biology and Wildlife and Institute of Arctic Biology, was recognized for research leading to commercialization of Myo-Canine. MyoCanine is a food product that maintains skeletal muscle while reducing fat in obese animals.  Mindy Courter, student in the School of Education, won a student innovation award in social science for her app, “Time of Need,” that is targeted to assist homeless people locate food, shelter, and other local resources.  Simon Filhol, student in the Department of Geosciences and at the International Arctic Research Center. He won a student innovation award in environmental science for his app, “Data Cache,” which allows researchers to collect real-time data from data loggers.  Rajive Ganguli and Tathagata Ghosh, faculty members in the Department of Geological and Mining Engineering, won a faculty innovation award in industrial processes and workforce development for their work on the Dynamic Mill Simulator. It simulates mining operations for managing mines and training mine operators.  James Long, staff member at the International Arctic Research Center, won a staff innovation award for extending open-source software for high-performance computers. The SLURM plug-in improves efficiency of cluster computer systems by managing library resources locally in the cluster.  Rob Rember, faculty member at the International Arctic Research Center, won a faculty innovation award in scientific instrumentation for his work on the Sea Ice Corer. The Sea Ice Corer is designed to take ice samples without contamination, allowing accurate testing of ice for trace elements.  Heidi Rader, staff member with the Cooperative Extension Service, won a staff innovation award in citizen science for her app, “Grow and Tell,” which allows gardeners and farmers to share crop selection and yield information.

R

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August 2016 | Alaska Business Monthly

107

ALASKA TRENDS

By Nolan Klouda

Alaska Energy Statistics Alaska Electricity Generation Source: Energy Information Agency eia.gov

Hydroelectric

30%

12%

Petroleum-Fired

Natural Gas

43%

11%

Coal

A

s this month’s issue explores a variety of topics related to energy, it’s worth exploring some statistics on Alaska’s energy use from the US Energy Information Agency.

As of March 2016 Alaska generated the largest share of its electricity from natural gas, at about 43 percent of total generation, followed by hydroelectric (30 percent), petroleum-fired (12 percent), coal-fired (11 percent), and other renewables at 4 percent (predominantly wind).

Although wind capacity has steadily increased over the years as more turbines have been installed, it is still a relatively small piece of the pie as the state’s power generation profile has changed relatively little.

How does this compare to the Lower 48? Overall, Alaska generates a greater share of its power from natural gas than the US total of 34 percent, but a smaller share from coal, which generates about a quarter of the nation’s power. The state outperforms the national total in hydroelectric, which produces about 9 percent of the power for the United States as a whole. Alaska has no nuclear power, but nationally this source contributes over 20 percent of the power

4%

Other Renewables

generation. The “other renewables” category, which is mostly composed of wind generation, accounted for 21 percent of the US total.

When looking only at renewables, Alaska produces about 34 percent of its total generation from renewable sources (mostly hydroelectric), which is significantly more than the US total of about 19 percent.

And how about electric prices? As of April, residential customers in Alaska paid about $0.21 per kilowatt-hour versus a national average of $0.12. Only the states of Connecticut and Hawaii were more expensive, and while the national average price actually fell slightly from April 2015 to April 2016 (likely due to falling commodity prices), it increased in Alaska by about a cent.

R Alaska Trends, an outline of significant statewide statistics, is provided by the University of Alaska Center for Economic Development.

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Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

ALASKA TRENDS

Indicator

By Nolan Klouda

Units

Period

GENERAL Per Capita Personal Income—Alaska US $ 1stQ16 Per Capita Personal Income—United States US $ 1stQ16 Consumer Prices—Anchorage 1982-1984 = 100 2ndH15 Consumer Prices—United States 1982-1984 = 100 2ndH15 Bankruptcies Alaska Total Number Filed May Anchorage Total Number Filed Fairbanks Total Number Filed Labor Force in Alaska Thousands May Unemployment Rate Alaska Percent May United States Percent May Employment Alaska Thousands May Anchorage/Mat-Su Region Thousands May Anchorage, Municipality Thousands May Interior Region Thousands May Fairbanks North Star Borough Thousands May Southeast Thousands May Juneau, City and Borough Thousands May Northern Region Thousands May Gulf Coast Thousands May Southwest Region Thousands May Sectorial Distribution—Alaska Total Nonfarm Thousands May Goods-Producing Thousands May Mining and Logging Thousands May Mining Thousands May Oil & Gas Thousands May Construction Thousands May Manufacturing Thousands May Seafood Processing Thousands May Service-Providing Thousands May Trade, Transportation, Utilities Thousands May Wholesale Trade Thousands May Retail Trade Thousands May Food & Beverage Stores Thousands May General Merchandise Stores Thousands May Trans/Warehouse/Utilities Thousands May Air Transportation Thousands May Information Thousands May Telecommunications Thousands May Financial Activities Thousands May Professional & Business Svcs Thousands May Educational & Health Services Thousands May Health Care Thousands May Leisure & Hospitality Thousands May Accommodation Thousands May Food Svcs & Drinking Places Thousands May Other Services Thousands May Government Thousands May Federal Government Thousands May State Government Thousands May State Education Thousands May Local Government Thousands May Local Education Thousands May Tribal Government Thousands May PETROLEUM/MINING Crude Oil Production—Alaska www.akbizmag.com

Millions of Barrels

May

Latest Report Period

Previous Report Period (revised)

Year Ago Period

Year Over Year Change

56,269.0 48,707.0 216.7 237.7

55,934.0 48,322.0 217.1 236.3

55,889 46,998 216.8 237.1

0.7% 3.6% -0.0% 0.3%

35.0 26.0 7.0 360.5

47.0 33.0 13.0 355.9

36 28 6 364.9

-2.8% -7.1% 16.7% -1.2%

6.7 4.7

6.9 5.0

6.8 5.5

-1.5% -14.5%

336.6 190.4 149.3 50.2 43.9 35.7 16.7 9.5 35.7 15.0

355.9 188.8 148.0 48.1 42.9 33.1 16.0 9.5 34.4 17.2

364.9 191.8 150.3 51.3 45.0 36.6 17.1 10.2 36.6 15.2

-7.8% -0.7% -0.7% -2.1% -2.4% -2.5% -2.3% -6.9% -2.5% -1.3%

343.4 44.0 15.4 15.3 12.2 17.3 11.3 7.7 299.4 68.9 6.7 39.1 6.2 10.9 23.1 6.1 6.2 4.2 12.2 28.5 49.4 36.1 37.6 10.2 22.0 11.5 85.1 16.2 24.8 7.2 44.1 25.2 4.1

330.7 43.1 15.4 15.3 12.4 15.4 12.3 9.1 287.6 64.9 6.4 37.8 6.0 10.7 20.7 5.7 6.1 4.1 12.1 28.4 49.2 36.0 31.8 7.2 20.3 11.5 83.6 15.1 25.6 8.2 42.9 24.3 3.7

345.4 47.7 17.6 17.3 14.3 18.5 11.6 7.5 297.7 67.7 6.6 37.8 5.9 10.5 23.3 6.2 6.3 4.2 12.1 30.8 47.3 34.5 37.6 9.8 22.4 12.0 83.9 15.2 26.0 7.5 42.7 24.2 3.8

-0.6% -7.8% -12.5% -11.6% -14.7% -6.5% -2.6% 2.7% 0.6% 1.8% 1.5% 3.4% 5.1% 3.8% -0.9% -1.6% -1.6% 0.0% 0.8% -7.5% 4.4% 4.6% 0.0% 4.1% -1.8% -4.2% 1.4% 6.6% -4.6% -4.0% 3.3% 4.1% 7.9%

15.7

14.6

14.6

7.5%

August 2016 | Alaska Business Monthly

109

ALASKA TRENDS

By Nolan Klouda

Indicator

Units

Period

Natural Gas Field Production—Alaska ANS West Coast Average Spot Price Hughes Rig Count Alaska United States Gold Prices Silver Prices Zinc Prices

Billions of Cubic Ft. $ per Barrel

May May

REAL ESTATE Anchorage Building Permit Valuations Total Residential Commercial Government Average Loan in Housing Market Statewide Single-Family Condominium Multi-Family Refinance Average Loan Statewide Single-Family Condominium New Housing Built Statewide Single-Family Mobile Home Multi-Family VISITOR INDUSTRY Total Air Passenger Traffic—Anchorage Total Air Passenger Traffic—Fairbanks

Latest Report Period

Previous Report Period (revised)

Year Ago Period

7.1 46.6

7.4 41.7

8.4 64.3

-15.5% -27.5%

Active Rigs May Active Rigs May $ Per Troy Oz. May $ Per Troy Oz. $ Per tonn May

5.0 404.0 1,211.3 16.1 1,923.8

7.0 420.0 1,280.1 17.9 1,855.4

10.0 875.0 1192.20 16.5 2,281.8

-50.0% -53.8% 1.6% -2.7% -15.7%

Millions of $ May Millions of $ Millions of $ Millions of $

116.5 32.2 80.6 3.7

30.1 11.4 16.3 2.3

54.8 18.5 18.7 17.4

112.6% 74.1% 331.0% -78.7%

Dollars 1stQ16 Dollars Dollars

290,179.0 184,481.0 572,364.0

277,338.0 188,235.0 697,162.0

281,494.0 180,214.0 442,343.0

3.1% 2.4% 29.4%

Dollars Dollars

228,377.0 160,394.0

230,430.0 163,119.0

241,092.0 167,354.0

-5.3% -4.2%

Units Units Units

89.0 4.0 43.0

134.0 7.0 203.0

110.0 1.0 192.0

-19.1% 300.0% -77.6%

Thousands May Thousands

473.06 94.1

357.7 72.1

472.50 92.2

0.1% 2.0%

ALASKA PERMANENT FUND Equity Millions of $ May Assets Millions of $ Net Income Millions of $ Net Income—Year to Date Millions of $ Marketable Debt Securities Millions of $ Real Estate Investments Millions of $ Preferred and Common Stock Millions of $

53,383.2 53,161.3 54,638.0 54,289.3 53,999.6 55,433.0 173.6 194.7 324.2 191.5 672.2 327.8 -66.8 79.5 -75.5 120.5 121.1 -8.2 -117.7 317.9 (49.7)

BANKING (excludes interstate branches) Total Bank Assets—Alaska Cash & Balances Due Securities Net Loans and Leases Other Real Estate Owned Total Liabilities Total Bank Deposits—Alaska Noninterest-bearing deposits Interest- bearing deposits

6,281.1 323.6 146.6 3,014.6 21.0 5,439.0 4,701.6 2,014.1 2,687.4

Millions of $ 1stQ16 Millions of $ Millions of $ Millions of $ Millions of $ Millions of $ Millions of $ Millions of $ Millions of $

6,240.2 230.2 145.1 3,024.5 22.5 5,420.3 4,275.3 1,895.6 2,379.7

5,913.90 222.57 151.28 2,866.23 19.95 5,109.57 4,334.37 1,779.18 2,555.19

FOREIGN TRADE Value of the Dollar In Japanese Yen Yen May 108.7 110.0 120.67 In Canadian Dollars Canadian $ 1.3 1.3 1.22 In British Pounds Pounds May 0.7 0.7 0.65 In European Monetary Unit Euro 0.9 0.9 0.90 In Chinese Yuan Yuan 6.5 6.5 6.1 Notes: 1. Banking data has been updated to include Alaska State Banks and Alaska’s sole federally chartered, Alaska-based bank, First National Bank Alaska.

2. Information oh housing is retrieved from AHFC website.

110

Year Over Year Change

-2.3% -2.1% -46.5% -41.6% 11.5% 1569.5% -136.8% 6.2% 45.4% -3.1% 5.2% 5.3% 6.4% 8.5% 13.2% 5.2%

-9.9% 6.6% 4.6% -2.2% 6.6%

Alaska Business Monthly | August 2016 www.akbizmag.com

ADVERTISERS INDEX 673rd Force Support Squadron...........................................................43 AE Solutions Alaska LLC.......................................................................... 76 AECOM.............................................................................................................63 Alaska Communications (ACS).............................................................57 Alaska Directional LLC.............................................................................20 Alaska Forum................................................................................................59 Alaska Mergers & Acquisition LLC......................................................82 Alaska Rubber..............................................................................................73 AK Procurement Technical Assistance Center.............................36 Alaska Soil Recycling................................................................................70 Alaska USA Federal Credit Union........................................................15 Alaska USA Insurance Brokers............................................................. 37 American Marine / Penco....................................................................108 ARCADIS.........................................................................................................27 Arctic Catering & Support Services....................................................19 Arctic Office Products.............................................................................56 AT&T..................................................................................................................23 Avis Rent-A-Car........................................................................................102 BDO...................................................................................................................47 BP .....................................................................................................................25 C & R Pipe and Steel Inc..........................................................................43 Calista Corp. / E3........................................................................................61 Calista Corp. / STG....................................................................................64 Carlile Transportation Systems...........................................................53

Construction Machinery Industrial.......................................................2 Cornerstone Advisors..............................................................................35 Explore Fairbanks.......................................................................................93 First National Bank Alaska.........................................................................5 GCI.........................................................................................................76, 112 Global Services Inc....................................................................................81 Great Originals Inc....................................................................................72 Judy Patrick Photography...................................................................111 Land’s End Resort......................................................................................94 Lynden Inc.....................................................................................................39 Matanuska Electric Assoc. (MEA)........................................................32 MFCP / Motion & Flow Control Products Inc................................81 Microcom.......................................................................................................48 Millenium Hotels / The Lakefront...................................................103 Municipal Light & Power (ML&P).........................................................32 N C Machinery..............................................................................................11 New Horizons Telecom Inc.......................................................................3 Nortec Environmental & Engineering..............................................65 Northern Air Cargo.........................................................................96, 97 Novagold Resources Inc.........................................................................21 NPC Energy Services................................................................................29 NRC Alaska....................................................................................................69 Olgoonik Corp.............................................................................................67 Pacific Pile & Marine..........................................................98, 99, 100

Pacific Tugboat Service...........................................................................16 Paragon Interior Construction............................................................36 Parker Smith & Feek...................................................................................51 PenAir..............................................................................................................55 Personnel Plus..........................................................................................103 Petrotechnical Resources Alaska (PRA)..........................................79 Ravn Alaska....................................................................................................31 Ritchie Brothers Auctioneers............................................................... 77 Seward CVB & Chamber of Commerce............................................75 Span Alaska Transportation Inc..........................................................49 Stellar Designs Inc..................................................................................103 Think Office..................................................................................................80 Tundra Tours................................................................................................94 Tutka LLC.........................................................................................................71 UIC Arctic Response Services..............................................................83 UIC Commercial Services.......................................................................33 University of Alaska Southeast (UAS)...............................................80 Washington Crane & Hoist.....................................................................45 Waste Management..................................................................................63 Wells Fargo Bank Alaska..........................................................................17 West-Mark Service Center.....................................................................82 Yukon Equipment Inc................................................................................41

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August 2016 | Alaska Business Monthly

111