Abm august 2013 4 web

August2013 $3.95

Is Oil Tax Reform enough to boost production?Page 94

A Barrel A Barrel A Barrel A Barrel A Barrel A Barrel of Monies?of Monies?of Monies?of Monies?of Monies?of Monies?

SPECIALSECTIONS:BUILDINGALASKASPECIALSECTIONS:BUILDINGALASKASPECIALSECTIONS:BUILDINGALASKA��ENVIRONMENTALSERVICESENVIRONMENTALSERVICESENVIRONMENTALSERVICES

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4 Alaska Business Monthly | August 2013 www.akbizmag.com

From the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Inside Alaska Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Agenda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48Right Moves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104Alaska This Month . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106Events Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109Market Squares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110Alaska Trends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Ad Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

ABOUT THE COVERA Barrel of Monies? Is Oil Tax Reform enough to boost production? See what you think, read “Getting More Oil in the Pipeline: New production, new revenues, new hope” by Mike Bradner (Page 94). Cover design by David Geiger

Au g u s t 2 0 1 3

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

ARTICLES

DEPARTMENTS

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Accupoint, Inc.Compiled by Mari Gallion

EDUCATION14 | Alaska’s College Savings Program

A Jewel in the Crown of the University of Alaska

By James F. Lynch & Ashok K. Roy

NATIVE CORPORATIONS18 | Culture-Based Investments Pay Off

Filling a need for visitors and corporationsBy Julie Stricker

INSURANCE ESSENTIALS32 | Workers’ Compensation Insurance Solutions

Joining a reciprocal insurance companyBy Paul Houston & Mike Dennis

FINANCIAL SERVICES34 | Lines of Credit Offer Flexible Financing

Making it possible to keep up with demandBy Tracy Barbour

VISITOR INDUSTRY22 | Why Leave When You Can Stay?

Alaskans can stay in state to playBy Dimitra Lavrakas

FISHERIES26 | Seward Waits for Sikuliaq

Arctic research ship first of its kindBy Zaz Hollander

View of the Chukchi Sea from LaVonne’s Fish Camp.

Photo courtesy of LaVonne’s Fish Camp

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Huna Totem Corporation Interpretive Services members and visitors.

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Sue Welton NMLS# 685936

Loan Officer andPalmer Branch Manager

Jess HallHall Quality Homes

The building industry in Alaska faces challenges like no other in the country. From extreme weather to daunting logistics, it takes a special kind of focus, commitment and drive to build in the Last Frontier. ¶ When you’re on the go 16 hours a day, seven days a week, it’s easy to overlook details like cash ow, payroll, working capital and nancing. And that’s where First National Bank Alaska can make a real difference. ¶ From a complete array of cash management tools and expertise, to fast, local decisions on loans, our friendly, experienced Alaska business specialists can help you activate a successful business strategy.

SStop by one of our convenient local branches, or simply visit FNBAlaska.com.

�nancial blueprint for your BUSINESS

Maybe it’s time to think about a

ARTICLES

TELECOM & TECHNOLOGY38 | Cyber Security and Disaster Recovery

By Nicole A. Bonham Colby

TRANSPORTATION42 | Long Haul Trucking

Alaska operators thriveBy Nicole A. Bonham Colby

ENERGY88 | Going deep:

Alaska’s coal gasification pioneersBy Zaz Hollander

OIL & GAS94 | Getting More Oil in the Pipeline

New production, new revenues, new hope

By Mike Bradner

OIL, GAS & FISCAL POLICY OP-ED98 | Is This Generation of Alaskans Failing the Next?

By Bradford G. Keithley

OIL & GAS100 | Natural Gas Pipelines Update

Two projects in the mix, will either fly? By Rindi White


Au g u s t 2 0 1 3

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

special section

Environmental Services

special section

Building Alaska

49 | Port of Anchorage UpdateReviewing options before proceeding

50 | Fabricated ConstructionBuilding with modules

By Margaret Sharpe

54 | Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design at the New Remodeled Facility

All Alaskans benefit from all-inclusive accessBy Nichelle Seely

58 | Construction Spending Forecast

It’s federal, it’s state, it’s public, it’s private, it’s over $8 billion dollars, what is it going to build?

By Rindi White

62 | Storyknife Writers’ Retreat

Alaskan author plans to double oppor-tunity for women writers

By Mari Gallion

66 | Northern Energy Efficiencies, Design & Architecture

By Gail West

72 | Minimizing WasteChena Power plant to produce energy from old paper and cardboard

By Vanessa Orr

74 | Good for the SoilMaking sure the ‘dirt don’t hurt’

By Mari Gallion

78 | Recycling Programs in Alaska

Starting locally at the individual levelBy Susan Sommer

81 | Alaska Business Monthly’s 2013 Environmental Services Directory

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Alaska Business Monthly | August 2013 www.akbizmag.com

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CorrectionsIn the June issue, a Commercial Real Estate Financing article on page 38 incorrectly listed $25 million as the per-transaction limit for the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority’s loan participation program. The limit is $20 million.

www.akbizmag.com August 2013 | Alaska Business Monthly 7

Volume 29, Number 8Published by

Alaska Business Publishing Co.Anchorage, Alaska

Vern C. McCorkle, Publisher1991~2009

EDITORIAL STAFF Managing Editor Susan Harrington Associate Editor Mari Gallion Editorial Assistant Tasha Anderson Art Director David Geiger Art Production Linda Shogren Photo Consultant Chris Arend Photo Contributor Judy Patrick

BUSINESS STAFF President Jim Martin VP Sales & Mktg. Charles Bell Senior Account Mgr. Anne Campbell Account Mgr. Bill Morris Survey Administrator Tasha Anderson Accountant & Melinda Schwab Circulation

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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, ©2013, 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: Send query letter to the Editor. 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. Address requests for specifi c permission to Managing Editor, Alaska Business Publishing. Online: Alaska Business Monthly is available at www.akbizmag.com/archives, www.thefreelibrary.com/Alaska+Business+Monthly-p2643 and from £ omson Gale. Microfi lm: Alaska Business Monthly is available on microfi lm from University Microfi lms International, 300 North Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48106.

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We’ve had a lot of extra summer arrivals this year, and not just mosquitoes, either. People are fl owing into Alaska from the rest of the United States, and the world, for that matter, like

it is the place to be.

One has to wonder just how many people were in Anchorage the early summer weekend when nearly every store in town ran out of bug dope. I don’t believe it is solely attributed to an extra abundant crop of the pesky little creatures, although they are vicious this year. I think there were a lot more people in addition to a lot more mosquitoes, and that’s what happened to all the bug dope in town. There is no shortage of souvenirs. The shippers coming north quickly replenished the shelves with bug dope as well as the rest of the summer goods we take for granted. No empty shelves here.

This summer, there are more tourists arriving in and passing through Anchorage: visitors from other lands, foreign and domestic. Because of the price of fuel, more people are fl ying or cruising to Alaska than driving up through Canada. Many rent cars or RVs once in Anchorage, or take the train. Alaska Airlines and other year-round carriers are discounting fl ights. Seasonal carriers like JetBlue and Virgin America are bringing extra people to Alaska extra cheap. This is a more affordable summer to fl y to Alaska. While lodging has kept pace with the steady and growing stream of people this summer, rental transportation was getting scarce by July.

Traffi c is busy and constant, and there’s so much building going on all over it tends to slow things down a bit while speeding up progress. It’s evident the economy is trending up, bringing extra work and extra workers. Some of the construction going on is being built by Outside fi rms, with Outside crews—extra construction workers, extra equipment operators, extra contractors, extra noise, extra materials, extra everything. Yet, we still have mega projects to build—the bridge, the port, the pipeline. Alaska will not run out of projects.

I see license plates from other states—Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, New York, Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, even Texas—and I know those out of state plates aren’t all attributed to the military in Alaska, or tourists. Many are job seekers—people coming north from the rest of the United States looking for work or other opportunities, adding to the already constant infl ux of people arriving from points west and southwest. It’s a thriving place, Alaska, and quickly becoming the destination of choice.

Something else choice is the August issue of Alaska Business Monthly. The team has produced another really great magazine. Enjoy!

—Susan Harrington, Managing Editor

FROMTHEEDITOR

Summer ArrivalsSummer ArrivalsSummer ArrivalsSummer ArrivalsSummer ArrivalsSummer ArrivalsSummer ArrivalsSummer ArrivalsSummer ArrivalsSummer ArrivalsSummer ArrivalsSummer ArrivalsSummer ArrivalsSummer ArrivalsSummer ArrivalsSummer ArrivalsSummer ArrivalsExtras abound this year

INSIDEALASKABUSINESS Compiled by Mari Gallion


Carlile Transportation

Carlile Transportation Systems, one of the largest trucking and logistics

companies in Alaska, has been acquired by Saltchuk Resources, a Seattle-based family of diversifi ed transportation and petroleum distribution companies. Car-lile will remain a stand alone company headquartered in Anchorage. Carlile’s 700 employees will join Saltchuk’s nation-al team of 5,500 persons. Other Saltchuk Alaskan companies include Totem Ocean Trailer Express, Delta Western, Northern Air Cargo, Inlet Petroleum, and Cook In-let Tug & Barge. Carlile will become a part of Tote Logistics, signifi cantly increasing Saltchuk’s presence in cargo consolida-tion, warehousing, trucking, and other logistics in North America.

Shoreside Petroleum

Shoreside Petroleum announces the opening of its latest Essential One

station in Wasilla. Essential One off ers a wide array of fuels, including avgas, heating fuel, propane, regular and su-preme gasoline, ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel, and biodiesel. Th e new station is located at 2858 E. Palmer-Wasilla High-way, near the North Bowl bowling alley. Fuel will be available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

Th e facility is unique in that it is designed to serve both the retail cus-tomer as well as the commercial mar-ket. Essential One sits on a spacious four-acre lot which has excellent in-gress and egress and suffi cient area to turn around anything from a small passenger car to the largest diesel rigs on the road. For those customers with large diesel rigs, there are numerous

high-fl ow pumps on site for rapid fuel transfer allowing them to get back on the road in less time. Shoreside Pe-troleum operates seven Essential One service locations: two in Anchorage as well as stations in Bird Creek, Cordova, Seward, Wasilla, and Whittier.

Era Alaska

Era Alaska unveiled the fi rst Univer-sity of Alaska themed commercial

airplane in the world. One side of the aircraft is painted with a University of Alaska Fairbanks Nanook and school colors, the other side with a University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolf and school colors. Th e plane underscores the strong partnership between Era and the Uni-versities, highlighted by the campuses’ aviation degree programs. Th e plane is a Bombardier Dash 8 model, which seats thirty-seven people and off ers full in-fl ight service. Era Alaska is the largest regional airline based in the state, off er-ing daily passenger and cargo services to nearly one hundred communities across Alaska. All fl ights are operated on Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft and fea-ture full in-fl ight cabin service.

Kotzebue Electric Association

GE and the Kotzebue Electric Asso-ciation, an electric cooperative that

focuses on supplying electricity to the remote city of Kotzebue and other rural areas of Alaska, have launched a joint project to increase the energy effi ciency and extend the fuel supply of several diesel engines powering Kotzebue. For the initiative, GE will provide a Clean

Cycle heat-to-power generator that will use the diesel engines’ exhaust heat to produce electricity for the local grid.

Kotzebue’s isolated location north of the Arctic Circle means that it faces high fuel costs and major logistical challenges associated with providing reliable elec-tricity and heat. Th e city, which is home to an estimated 3,200 residents, is de-pendent upon a single, annual shipment of diesel fuel that occurs in the summer when the ocean is ice-free and vessels can navigate the available shipping lanes. Local offi cials have made it a top priority to extend the life of the diesel fuel supply and reduce the costs associated with op-erating a diesel-fueled generating system.

GE’s innovative technology will en-able Kotzebue to boost its fuel effi ciency by utilizing a previously unused energy source—recovered exhaust heat from any one of the city’s three diesel en-gines. In total, the project will result in a savings of more than 46,000 gallons of diesel fuel per year and reduce the city’s energy costs. Th e new Clean Cycle unit is scheduled to begin operating in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Alaska Litho

Alaska Litho, Inc. has released Post-cards From Alaska, a free mobile

app that makes mailing a print post-card as easy as sending a text message. A small team in Alaska Litho’s Media Services department built the app. Th e idea came from watching summer visi-tors try to juggle everything they want-ed to do during a short stay. Th e mobile app was designed to help visitors share their own travel photos without taking time out of their experience to fi nd a store, a stamp, and a mailbox.

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Th e app accesses photos from the de-vice’s photo gallery or lets the user snap a new photo for the front of the postcard. It also comes stocked with a professional photo gallery of Alaska images for more traditional postcards. Th e back of the card has a space for a personalized message, custom photo caption, and the recipient’s address, which can be pulled from the de-vice’s contacts or typed in and saved.

Alaska Litho is an employee-owned print shop in Juneau that opened in 1948.

SEARHC Kasaan Clinic

The Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium in conjunc-

tion with the Denali Commission an-nounce the grand opening of the new SEARHC Kasaan Clinic on Prince of Wales Island. Th e new clinic is a proto-type “micro clinic” designed for com-munities with a full-time population of fewer than one hundred residents. Th e clinic construction totaled more than $1.86 million dollars through the eff orts of combined funding from the Denali Commission, Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium, the Orga-nized Village of Kasaan, and the Indian Health Service Tribal Equipment Fund.

Th e clinic design includes two exam rooms, one of which is fully equipped for dental care, a locked lab and phar-macy space, a provider offi ce, and a covered ambulance bay. Th e new clinic can also accommodate gurneys and stretchers and is equipped for telemedi-cine. Th e clinic was built with extreme energy effi ciency in mind, utilizing air-to-air geothermal heat exchange which minimizes heating fuel costs and incor-porates passive solar features and sky-lights for natural lighting.

Ketchikan Story Project

The Ketchikan Story Project was the recipient of three Northwest

Regional Emmy statuettes during the 50th Anniversary ceremony in Seattle.

Th e project received nominations in four categories and won two of them.

Director Kyle Aramburo won an Emmy for his post-production work on Ketchikan: Our Native Legacy, which also won for best Historical/Cultural pro-gram or special, earning two more Emmy Awards for Deby Santos, producer, and Laurel Lindahl, editor and producer.

Several members of the production crew were in attendance at the 50th an-niversary ceremony at the Paramount Th eatre. In addition to Santos, Lindahl, and Aramburo, cameraman Richard Cooper, production assistant Lacey Simpson, and Sara Lawson, who served as story supervisor for Ketchikan: the Artists, also attended the event.

Th e 2012 fi lms were the fi rst of the project entered into any awards pro-grams. Th e Ketchikan Story Project also won six Telly Awards earlier this year.

Eklutna, Inc.

Eklutna, Inc. has teamed with Davis Constructors to supply the local mar-

ket with competitively priced aggregate products. Davis Constructors recently formed a subsidiary called Mass Excava-tion, Inc., which will operate the Eklutna Gravel Site. Eklutna, Inc. owns a subsid-iary, Eklutna Services, LLC, which was set up to become the development and management arm of the corporation.

Both organizations are working to supply the local market with competi-tively priced aggregate products.

Th e gravel site is situated on forty-three acres of land located southwest of the Eklutna Interchange on the Glenn Highway. Th e forty-three-acre site is di-vided into areas for aggregate process-ing, asphalt sales, pit run gravel, and clean material disposal. Mass Excava-tion, Inc. plans to include an on-site scale house and credit card processing. Summer site operations will remain open through October 15.

Upper One Games, LLC

Cook Inlet Tribal Council, along with development and publishing partner

E-Line Media, announce the launch of the fi rst indigenous-owned video game company in the United States—Upper One Games, LLC—during the 10th An-nual Games For Change Festival.

Th rough Upper One Games, Cook Inlet Tribal Council is embracing tech-nology and new media to preserve and share Alaska Native culture, giving new meaning to the oral tradition of story-telling, and off ering exciting new ways to engage and motivate youth through-out the world.

Th e drive for sustainability and em-powerment of Alaska Native youth are at the core of what led Cook Inlet Tribal Council to invest in video games.

In this unique partnership with E-Line Media, Upper One Games will co-develop and publish a variety of in-novative, impact-focused commercial games that cross both the formal and informal learning channels. Th e part-nership includes mutual investments to help ensure both companies are aligned across their impact and fi nancial goals.

Projects currently in development in-clude a groundbreaking game for the

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consumer market based on traditional Alaskan stories, which will introduce a new approach to game-based cultural storytelling; a game-infused history cur-riculum slated for middle school stu-dents; and a new game-infused strategy for delivery of social services at Cook Inlet Tribal Council, which could have a broad infl uence on non-profi t organizations and their service delivery nationwide.

Alaska Marine Highway System

Design Alaska, a Fairbanks-based architecture, engineering, and

surveying fi rm, and Art Anderson As-sociates, its naval architecture sub-con-sultant, were recently awarded a con-tract for the Alaska Marine Highway System to investigate potential energy effi ciency improvements. Th e contract, driven by new International Maritime Organization regulations, requires de-velopment of Ship Energy Effi ciency Management Plans for three Alaska Marine Highway System vessels.

Th e new International Maritime Or-ganization standards require vessels traveling internationally to obtain Inter-national Energy Effi ciency Certifi cates demonstrating that vessel owners and operators have developed energy effi -ciency plans for their travel routes and vessel operating systems. Ship Energy Effi ciency Management Plans provide a mechanism for identifying best prac-tices for energy effi ciency improvement and include items like improved voyage planning, implementation of measure-ment tools and systems, and the use of various systems and technologies that reduce emissions and fuel consumption.

Because of their involvement in interna-tional voyages, the vessels included in the scope of the project are the M/V Taku, M/V Matanuska, and M/V Kennicott.

Northrim Bank

Northrim Bank’s Referral Program has a new incentive for customers

who refer individuals resulting in new relationships with the bank. Existing Northrim customers will receive a certif-icate for Alaska Airlines miles for refer-ring a new customer to open an account at Northrim. Th e more friends custom-ers refer, the more miles they earn, up to twenty thousand in a calendar year.

Customers will also be eligible to join a new Loyalty Club checking account when they make four qualifi ed referrals. Th e Loyalty Club off ers benefi ts such as no monthly minimum balance require-ments or monthly service charge, free ac-cess to online banking with mobile and text banking access, and an annual gift .

Anchorage Senior Friendly Project

Anchorage is joining many other cit-ies across the nation in establish-

ing a Senior Friendly Project aimed at improving the shopping experience of older citizens.

Th is Project will involve mystery shoppers who will evaluate businesses, clinics, restaurants, and other establish-ments as “Senior Friendly.” Training will be provided and a Senior Friendly decal issued for display. Business names will also be publicized in local media and throughout the senior network.

Th e Anchorage Senior Friendly Proj-

ect has been developed through the co-sponsorship of the Municipality of Anchorage Senior Citizen’s Advisory Commission and the Older Persons Ac-tion Group, with assistance from stu-dents of the University of Alaska An-chorage Human Services Department, Adulthood and Aging Class.

Th rough collaborative eff orts the campaign will assist the community and businesses to move towards a positive future of understanding the needs of an aging population and increase profi ts for businesses and the community as well. Th e intention of this campaign is to cre-ate a community that will maintain the dignity, independence, and standard of living for all senior citizens. Th e goals are to provide benefi ts of opportunity to improve customer service and ac-cess through specifi c recommendations, business with a marketing advantage, increase business visibility to older visi-tors and tourists, and establish a positive reputation among older consumers.

Sephora

Sephora, a nationwide beauty franchise, has opened its own new 5,553-square-

foot shop on the second fl oor of Anchor-age’s 5th Avenue Mall. Sephora provides more than thirteen thousand products from more than two hundred brands, including Sephora’s own collection of makeup, skincare, tools, and accessories.

Sephora was the fi rst beauty retailer to employ the unique open-sell philoso-phy, allowing clients to shop a myriad of brands and encouraging them to try, test, and play with everything from lip glosses to blushes and skincare to fragrance.

Sephora also off ers makeovers, beauty consultations, and rewards programs.

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• General Contracting• Marine Infrastructure• Design Build

ViewfromtheTop Compiled by Mari Gallion

James Staengel, Vice Presidentand CEOAccupoint, Inc.

FOUNDATIONFROMFAMILY:In our family, fi nanc-es and investing were talked about freely. Late in the eve-ning while driving home from the job, I would be asked and made to think about diff erent scenarios of what would happen if I invested this way or that. I was made to think about how to use money as a tool. I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but it trained my mind to be able to have forward thinking.

STARTITUP:Jim Gregory had an amazing talent at servic-ing survey equipment. He and his wife had worked in the fi eld starting in their preteen years. It was a specialized fi eld. No one in the state at the time had my partner’s talents and certifi cations. We thought our combined talents would allow us to bring to the customer a unique option for product and service in Alaska. I was asked to help for the business side and that started us on the journey.

We started our business post-pipeline; banks went under and neighborhoods emptied—so our business was forged in the fi re of tough times.

SUCCESS SECRETS:Th e foundation to our success rests upon having good standards, morals, and ethics. Everything in life builds from these. Besides this foundation, the top three qualities would include good judgment, tenacity, and gaining wisdom from others.

Good judgment is important because much of success in business comes from being able to look at decisions from all angles: weigh-in on past experience, consider all the imme-diate ramifi cations, and anticipate future consequences and opportunities. If you can think multi-dimensionally it expo-

nentially increases your chances at success. Tenacity is also important: Once a course has been chosen—lock your jaws and grind down every obstacle to the goal. I seek out wisdom from others and really appreciate when someone will share it. As Mary Catherine Bateson said, “We are not what we know, but what we are willing to learn.” Most important to keep in mind is that not all success is measured by a dollar fi gure.

EVOLUTIONOFACOMPANY:At fi rst we started as a sur-vey equipment repair facility, then we started selling the sup-plies and equipment for surveyor’s use.

Now, keeping up with the changes in technology and deal-ing with rapid growth create new challenges. Customers are now looking for a company and product set that all work to-gether in a connected community. Th is includes all precise positioning equipment (survey mapping and construction), machine control, and asset management.

WHEREYOUWANTTOGO: When starting a business, imagine it at the apex of success. Does that vision meet the goals you have fi nancially and personally in life? If not, fi nd a venture that fi ts. You can invest ten, twenty, or thirty years in a business faster than you can anticipate. Make sure it’s going to take you where you want to go.

James Staengel, Vice PresidentJames Staengel, Vice President

In our family, fi nanc-es and investing were talked about freely. Late in the eve-ning while driving home from the job, I would be asked and made to think about diff erent scenarios of what would happen if I invested this way or that. I was made to think about how to use money as a tool. I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but

Originally from Los Gatos, California, James Staengel was taught at an early age that hard work and self-respect go hand

in hand. In high school he was in a program that offered school credits for working, so senior year he went to school half day then worked in the family construction business the other half.

Right after high school, Staengel’s brother-in-law asked if he would come to Alaska for three months to help him build a spec house. A day later, Staengel packed his bags and was headed north, believing that Alaska, with an average age of twenty-six, was the land of opportunity for young people.

It was while in Anchorage that he met Jim Gregory, a survey equipment repairman, and in 1986 they combined their complimentary talents to form Accupoint, Inc.

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Celebrating 25 Years in Alaska


EDUCATION

Alaska’s College Savings ProgramAlaska’s College Savings Alaska’s College Savings Alaska’s College Savings Alaska’s College Savings Alaska’s College Savings Alaska’s College Savings Alaska’s College Savings Alaska’s College Savings Alaska’s College Savings Alaska’s College Savings Alaska’s College Savings Alaska’s College Savings Alaska’s College Savings Alaska’s College Savings Alaska’s College Savings Alaska’s College Savings Alaska’s College Savings Alaska’s College Savings Alaska’s College Savings Alaska’s College Savings Alaska’s College Savings Alaska’s College Savings Alaska’s College Savings Alaska’s College Savings Alaska’s College Savings Alaska’s College Savings Alaska’s College Savings Alaska’s College Savings ProgramProgramProgramProgramProgramProgramProgramProgramProgramProgramProgramProgramProgramProgramProgramProgramProgramProgramProgramProgramProgramProgramProgramProgramProgramProgramProgramProgram

“� e mind that has conceived a plan of living must never lose sight of the chaos against which that pattern was conceived.”

—Ralph Ellison

A $5 billion plus college savings program portfolio giving one of the best long-term performances

in the nation resides in the University of Alaska (UA). What manner of program is this? How did it come about?

Th e story of the genesis and success of the college savings program at UA has an uncommon arc with bold intentions, hap-penstance, and social forces all playing a role in resolving how far we have come. It magnifi es the range of good public policy possibility on display. Th e story is fasci-nating like dancing on thresholds mov-ing to a realm of public good. Th e sweep, trajectory, and extraordinary reach of this transformational program make it a veri-table jewel for UA. Here is a shower of rain where every drop has caught a gleam.

EducationTrustofAlaskaFew people are aware that UA houses one of the largest college savings pro-grams in the country, the Education Trust of Alaska. According to the Morn-ingstar 2013 529 College Savings Plans Industry survey, at approximately $5 billion, it ranked eighth of forty-seven state college savings programs off ered as of December 31, 2012, and houses what is generally recognized as one of the top college savings plans in the country. UA partnered with T. Rowe Price to develop a plan which is marketed nationally un-der the T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan name. Th is plan has gained nation-al recognition as one of the best in the country based on a number of factors, including long-term performance, cost,

customer service, and governance. Th e T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan has consistently been ranked by Morning-star as one of the top fi ve plans in the country and was recently reported by Morningstar to be one of the top three plans based on risk adjusted returns. In 2012, it was one of only four college savings plans in the nation to receive Morningstar’s Gold rating.

A version of the T. Rowe Price plan is marketed in Alaska as Th e University of Alaska College Savings Plan. It off ers the same investment options as the T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan plus a very low cost option that includes a Tuition-Value Guarantee: a guarantee that the earn-ings will keep pace with tuition infl ation if used for tuition at UA. Eff ectively, a participant can purchase tuition credits at today’s prices and redeem those cred-its anytime in the future at the then cur-rent upper division tuition rate for tu-ition at any UA campus. If the earnings in the account have not kept pace with tuition infl ation, the Trust will make up the diff erence by making a supplemental deposit to the participant’s account. If the funds in the account are used for any other purpose, the actual earnings of the portfolio will be available for whatever purpose the account owner chooses. In addition, the Education Trust of Alaska also houses the sixth largest advisor sold college savings plan, the John Hancock Freedom 529, which is a multi-managed plan consisting of funds managed by a number of top ranked managers and of-fers four investment strategies.

CollegeSavingsPlansHistoryState sponsored college savings pro-grams came onto the scene in the mid- to late 1980s, when a few visionary state legislators recognized that, with the

rapidly rising cost of education and the accelerating increase in the use of stu-dent loans to fi nance those costs, the middle class would get squeezed out of access to higher education. Th ese legislators established prepaid tuition programs in their states. Th e state of Michigan led the way and several states followed soon aft er. In Alaska, former state senators Jay Kerttula and Tim Kelly were two of those visionary leg-islators who saw the student debt crisis coming. In 1990, under their leadership and with the concurrence of then Gov-ernor Hickel, Alaska became the sixth state to adopt such a program when the Legislature directed Th e University of Alaska Board of Regents to administer what was then Alaska’s Advance Col-lege Tuition (ACT) Plan. Th e Legislature also recognized that the Alaska Perma-nent Fund Dividend (PFD) was an ideal vehicle for residents to fund a child’s education and provided a PFD Check-Off allowing residents to direct half of their dividend to be deposited directly into the college savings program for the benefi t of a named benefi ciary. Th is year approximately thirteen thousand Alas-kans are participating in the program through the PFD Check-Off .

As UA was launching its prepaid tu-ition program, the state of Michigan fi led suit against the IRS because it denied Michigan’s request for an exemption and required it to pay federal income tax on the investment earning of the fund se-curing the prepaid tuition liability. Th e court struggle between Michigan and the IRS went on for fi ve years and was even-tually resolved in the state of Michigan’s favor, but the IRS did not acquiesce.

At the same time as Michigan fi led suit, representatives from each of the state programs and several of the states

A Jewel in the Crown of the University of Alaska

By James F. Lynch & Ashok K. Roy

� e opinions expressed herein are those of the authors alone and not of the University of Alaska.


that were planning on establishing pre-paid tuition programs were forming a national organization, the College Sav-ings Plan Network (CSPN) under the auspices of the National Association of State Treasurers. UA was one of the founding members. Th e purpose of the network was to assist other states in initiating similar programs and help resolve the tax issues raised by the IRS.

Section529PassesBy 1996 CSPN and the interested states had garnered enough infl uence in Con-gress to get Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code passed into law, which ef-fectively quieted the objections of the IRS and its argument that the programs were subject to federal income tax on invest-ment income. In addition to authoriz-ing exemption to prepaid tuition plans, which function like defi ned benefi t plans, Section 529 also authorized exemption for savings programs, which function like defi ned contribution plans. Unlike prepaid tuition plans, savings plans do not carry the potential liability for paying out a defi ned benefi t even if the planned investment income does not materialize.

Aft er Section 529 passed, nearly ev-ery state in the union adopted a sav-ings program. Current US Senator Lisa Murkowski and former state senator Tim Kelly led the eff ort to create the current savings program, and former Governor Tony Knowles signed the bill into law. Alaska and Pennsylvania chose a unique approach and converted their prepaid plans to savings plans. Th e ACT Portfolio, the savings program succes-sor to the ACT Prepaid Tuition Plan, functions like a prepaid plan if used for tuition at UA and like a savings plan if used for anything else. Th e participant can determine which best fi ts his or her needs at the time the benefi ciary attends college or a qualifi ed trade or technical school. Th is duality of the ACT Portfolio makes it an attractive option that is not off ered in any other state plan.

MakingHigherEducationMoreAccessible

Recognizing that Alaska’s small popu-lation, with only 88,000 households with children under eighteen years old, could not support a cost-eff ective sav-ings program or even attract a respon-sible investment fi rm to promote such a

BringingAlaskansAlaskansAlaskansBringingAlaskansBringingAlaskansTogetherAlaskansTogetherAlaskansTogetherAlaskansAlaskansTogetherAlaskansTogetherAlaskansTogether

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program, the university set out to create a high quality, self-supporting, national program that could be brought directly to Alaskans and also foster the national goal of making higher education more accessible all across the country. At that time, there were only a handful of in-dividuals that had expertise in the col-lege savings arena. UA was fortunate enough to have had that expertise on staff , and proceeded to locate a partner that had the resources and ability to put together such a program. UA chose T. Rowe Price as that partner. In fact, it was a mutual selection process. T. Rowe Price was looking for a state partner that shared the company’s values and would work as a partner to develop a quality program rather than dictating every decision. Although it was obvious that T. Rowe Price was a good invest-ment manager with a long track record, good investment performance, and an outstanding reputation for quality, it was selected primarily due to emphasis put on customer service and the value placed on customers.

Even before the T. Rowe Price and UA plans were launched, it was clear that ad-visor-sold plans were growing at a much faster pace than direct sold plans like the T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan. Th e decision-making process for partici-pants that self-manage their investments is quite slow relative to those who use an investment advisor. When an invest-ment advisor makes a recommendation and assists the client tocomplete the pa-perwork, the participant has minimal apprehension about deciding if it is a good idea or if it’s the right plan. Based on the relationship UA had developed with T. Rowe Price on the direct-sold plans, T. Rowe Price introduced UA rep-resentatives to Manulife Financial (now known as John Hancock in the United States), which was interested in devel-oping and distributing an advisor sold college savings plan. Manulife’s forte was in selecting outstanding managers and constructing high quality multi-managed portfolios. Th e three partners then worked together to develop and im-plement what is now the John Hancock Freedom 529. Th e underlying invest-ments for the John Hancock Freedom 529 are managed by a host of world class managers, such as American Funds, Ro-beco, PIMCO, Franklin Templeton, Jen-

nison, Oppenheimer, Dimensional, and T. Rowe Price.

PerformanceandRankingsInvestment performance was consid-ered in the Morningstar rankings; however, performance was not the primary component. Th e Morningstar ratings also consider plan features, customer service, portfolio construc-tion, management’s experience and stability, and oversight by the state. Al-though performance ranking can vary dramatically from period to period, in general, the Alaska plans’ performance rankings have been quite good. For the T. Rowe Price and UA plans, eleven of the twelve Morningstar rated portfolios in the plan are rated at four stars and the twelft h is rated at three stars. For the John Hancock Plan, fourteen of the twenty Morningstar rated portfolios are rated three stars or better.

Th e College Savings Plans Perfor-mance Rankings table shows the lat-est performance rankings by Saving-forcollege.com, as of December 31, 2012 (rankings are reported as rank of the number of plans included in the analy-sis for the period).

ProgramSuccessIn summary, UA has built a self-sup-porting college savings program that can serve Alaska’s residents as well as any in the country. Th e program to date has been a success in that it has helped thousands of Alaskans minimize their student debt burden and hopefully be-come productive members of our com-munities. However, a major component of the program’s value has yet to be re-alized: the ability to recruit potential students not just from Alaska, but from all across the country who have a high probability of being successful. Th is process will promote the development of a better diversifi ed pool of students

and a cadre of workers educated in Alaska and capable of fi lling positions in undersubscribed employment areas. When this occurs, the college savings program at UA will come full circle.

James F. Lynch currently serves as Associate Vice President for Finance & Chief Treasury Offi cer for the University System of

Alaska and as Treasurer for UA Foundation. He was the principal architect of Alaska’s Section 529 College Savings Program and one of the founding board members of the College Savings Plan Network. He earned a BA from Northern Illinois University and certifi cations as a Certifi ed Public Accountant and a Certifi ed Government Financial Manager.

Dr. Ashok K. Roy is the Vice President for Finance & Administration/Chief Financial Offi cer for the University System of Alaska

and Associate Professor of Business Administration at UAF. Dr. Roy has signifi cant experience, at senior management levels, at three other large universities, local government, and in the private sector. Dr. Roy holds six university degrees and fi ve professional certifi cations and has authored seventy-one publications in academic and trade journals.

James F. Lynch currently serves as Associate Vice President for Finance & Chief Treasury Offi cer for the University System of

Dr. Ashok K. Roy is the Vice President for Finance & Administration/Chief Financial Offi cer for the University System of Alaska

CollegeSavingsPlansPerformanceRankings

1-Year 3-Year 5-Year 10-Year

TRP Plan 6 of 49 4 of 43 12 of 42 1 of 9

UA Plan 9 of 49 5 of 43 8 of 42 2 of 9

JH Plan 2 of 30 6 of 26 5 of 21 1 of 7

Note: Performance and rating data are not intended for use of the investing public. Past performance cannot be used to guarantee future results.


NATIVE CORPORATIONS

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By Julie Stricker

It’s a sunny, warm day in the Gulf of Alaska. A tour boat leaves a gen-tly spreading wake in the pristine

waters, swelling around countless ice-bergs, many capped with harbor seals. An eagle screeches from the thick for-est on the near shore and colorful puf-fi ns skim along the surface of the wa-ter, their wings seemingly too short to lift their stocky bodies beyond the pull of gravity.

In the distance, ice booms as it calves off a massive blue-shadowed glacier at the head of the fj ord, and tiers of moun-tains reach their snow-capped peaks toward the blue sky. Lucky watchers may see a sea otter fl oating on its back snacking on shellfi sh, a black bear sniff -

ing along shore, or a humpback whale or pod of orcas surfacing in the distance.

It’s a daytrip for most visitors to Alas-ka, but for Alaska Natives, it’s home, a place they have lived for thousands of years. In recent years, many Alaska Na-tive groups have realized that while vis-itors to Alaska want to see mountains, glaciers, and wildlife, they are also fascinated by life in the 49th state and want to learn more about the people who live here.

A‘SenseofPlace’“People want to feel like they’re a part of a place when they travel,” says Mark McKernan, director of Alaska Native Voices. “Th ey want to imagine what it’s

going to be like, just for a short while, to be a part of the place. I think in the Interior, Southeast, Southcentral, any part of Alaska, any part of the world, the same principles apply with the same sense of place, the same sense of welcome. It’s universal.”

A good starting point is the Alaska Native Heritage Center. Th e nonprofi t, located on twenty-six acres in Anchor-age, tells the stories of all of Alaska’s Na-tive peoples, according to Melissa Saun-ders, director of sales and marketing.

“We call ourselves a living cultural center—an in-front-of-the-glass in-stead of behind-the-glass experience,” Saunders says. Th e center pulls together eleven diff erent cultures from fi ve dif-

Huna Totem Corporation’s Interpretive Services program is a way for shareholders to share their Tlingit heritage with visitors at Glacier Bay and Huna Totem Corporation’s Icy Strait Point in Southeast Alaska. A member of Huna Totem Cor-poration’s Interpretive Services program shows a bentwood box to a visitor.

Photo courtesy of Huna Totem Corporation


ferent regions of Alaska, with more than twenty languages and seventy dialects.

“People are surprised at the diver-sity,” Saunders says. “People come in with the perception that there’s one group and they live in igloos.” Th e cen-ter gives visitors a better sense of the scale of Alaska, which, if laid on top of a map of the Lower 48, reaches from the north to south borders and across the breadth of the country, she says.

Th e most-frequently asked questions are: “How do you get through the win-

ters; how do you heat your house; how do you stay warm?” Saunders says. Th e center showcases the various styles of traditional homes found throughout Alaska, such as the semi-subterranean dwellings in the Aleutian and Arctic regions, clan homes built of wood in Southeast Alaska, and structures made of brush and animal hides in some parts of the Interior. Not an igloo in sight.

In the off -season, the center also hosts many educational and language pro-grams, which help youth living in Alaska’s largest city connect with their cultures through dance, art, and the Native games.

Native dancing and games are a high-light for visitors, Saunders says. Th ey can watch athletes perform feats such as the stick pull, knuckle hop, Alaskan high kick, and ear pull, among oth-ers. Th ey learn about the history of the games, which are rooted in the skills needed to survive in the brutal subarc-tic and arctic regions, such as strength, dexterity, endurance, and focus.

Alaska Native artists are on hand making ulus, weaving baskets, and making carvings. Visitors can also meet dogs from the kennel of Iditarod

Trail Sled Dog Race champion John Baker, an Inupiat from Kotzebue, and learn how sled dogs played roles in tra-ditional life as well as today.

“Th ey not only hear about how out in the villages they lived and utilized re-sources in the past, [also] they learn how things are the same today, even as the people are modernizing,” Saunders says. “Th e values such as honoring elders are always staying the same, although their lives are changing and modernizing.”

Culture-BasedTourismStaying true to those values is an impor-tant part of any plan to develop culture-based tourism, according McKernan. Alaska Native Voices is a consulting group focused on developing cultural tourism programs. Huna Totem Corporation, the Alaska Native village corporation for Hoonah in Southeast Alaska, launched Alaska Native Voices this spring as a way to help other Native cultures create mean-ingful tourism strategies.

Tourism is a way to strengthen cul-tures through sharing language, art, dance, and stories. It can provide jobs in parts of the state with few other em-

Visitors and a member of Huna Totem Corporation’s Interpretive Services look at a map of Glacier Bay.

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ployment opportunities.Hoonah is one example of how a suc-

cessful tourism operation can turn around a community and revitalize tra-ditional cultures. Hoonah, a village of fewer than one thousand people of most-ly Tlingit heritage, was hard hit as the logging and fi shing industries dried up. Th e village is located just south of Gla-cier Bay, and leaders realized there were opportunities in the tourism industry.

Huna Totem, the Alaska Native corpo-ration for the village, had been providing cultural guides on cruise ships touring Glacier Bay for several years when leaders embarked on a an ambitious project to renovate a long-abandoned cannery and turn it into a thriving tourism complex. Th ey opened Icy Strait Point in 2004.

Visitors are treated to dances and sto-ries of the villagers’ Tlingit heritage, as well as whale-watching, nature walks, fi shing, tram rides and a mile-long zip-line, shopping, and dining. It’s the cultural portions that have really reso-nated with visitors, McKernan says. “Travelers were looking for something more meaningful and more authentic.”

Th e interpretive programs also have continued and are in their thirteenth year. Interpretive guides are scheduled to be on 199 cruise ships, large and small, this season. Th ey also hold oral history and educational presentations at Glacier Bay Lodge.

Icy Strait Point has brought hundreds of thousands of tourists into the area, providing more than 130 jobs annually and energizing the economy of the en-tire community.

Over the past decade, it has also pro-vided Huna Totem with substantial ex-pertise in running a tourism operation.

“Th ere was an opportunity and we believe, a demand, out there,” McKer-nan says. “Th ere are not a lot of success-ful models of asking those questions and getting it right,” he says.

“We want to take the lessons we’ve learned and the experience we’ve got and turn that into a consulting organi-zation that we can use to help people answer the questions they haven’t even thought to ask yet.”

FulfillingaNeedAnother success story is just across the Gulf of Alaska, where CIRI Alaska Tourism Corporation (CATC) has been

operating tours of the Kenai Fjords for more than fi ft een years.

CATC operates twelve vessels in its Kenai Fjords operation, taking tour-ists for day trips or overnights in their newly refurbished Kenai Fjords Wil-derness Lodge on Fox Island. Th e com-pany, a subsidiary of Anchorage-based Cook Inlet Regional, Inc., the Alaska Native regional corporation for much of Southcentral Alaska, also operates lodges in Seward and Talkeetna.

Tourism is booming in the Last Fron-tier, says Paul Landis, president and chief operating offi cer of CATC.

“We’re doing pretty good and I think a number of other tour operators would tell you the same,” Landis says. New air carriers such as JetBlue and Virgin America are beginning seasonal fl ights to Anchorage, bringing hundreds of ad-ditional visitors daily.

“We’re seeing a lot of the independent travelers in addition to fairly strong bookings on the cruise ships,” he adds. “We’re here to fulfi ll a need rather than create one.”

At peak season, CATC employs up-wards of 430 workers, who come from around the world. Th ey encourage shareholders to apply for jobs and Lan-dis notes that most of the core group of permanent employees are shareholders.

Th e company continues to invest in Alaska’s tourism infrastructure, Lan-dis says. CATC recently tore down the

Kenai Fjords Wilderness Lodge and re-built it from scratch. Th e 3,300-square-foot lodge was reopened in late May. A state-of-the-art, 150-passenger catama-ran is on order to join the fl eet of twelve vessels doing tours of the Kenai Fjords.

CATC also operates a vacation package and planning business, Alaska Heritage Tours, matching customer’s travel wish-es, such as fi shing, fl ightseeing, wildlife viewing, and learning about Alaska Na-tive culture, through its holdings and partnerships with other organizations.

“We listen to the customer, talk to the client, and fi nd out what is going to make their trip a once in a lifetime trip,” says Dee Buchanan, CATC direc-tor of marketing.

Each trip is individually tailored. “For some people coming to Alaska, a diehard goal may be to see a puffi n or maybe to see Denali,” Buchanan says. “Or maybe to be immersed in the cul-ture of Native Alaskans.”

FindingOpportunitiesMany visitors who seek to learn about Alaska Native cultures are directed to-ward the Alaska Native Heritage Center, which is supported by CIRI and the other Alaska Native groups around the state.

Across the state, Alaska Native groups and communities are fi nding opportunities in tourism.

In Interior Alaska, Doyon, Limited, has teamed up with ARAMARK to

A visitor learns about Tlingit heritage from a member of Huna Totem Corpora-tion’s Interpretive Services.

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provide bus tours and activities in and around Denali National Park and Pre-serve. Doyon also owns Denali River Cabins, located near the entrance to the park, as well as Kantishna Lodge, ninety miles away at the end of the park road. Kantishna Wilderness Trips of-fers day trips to the Kantishna mining district in the heart of the park.

To the north, the tiny village of Anak-tuvuk Pass sits at the edge of what is now Gates of the Arctic National Park, where people today still hunt caribou as they have for thousands of years. Th ere are no accommodations in the village, so most visitors fl y in for an aft ernoon to get a taste of what life is like in Alaska’s Arctic.

In Southeast Alaska, Sitka Tribal Tours off ers a glimpse into a culture that’s ten thousand years old that goes beyond the area’s iconic totem poles. Th e Sitka Tribe of Alaska has been of-fering the tours since the mid-1990s.

Th ey note that their “history is a liv-ing thread from the past to the present” and incorporate traditional dances, uses of various herbs, and wood-carving demonstrations, as well as stories of the unsuccessful 1804 battle with the Rus-

sians to retain their ancient homeland.In southwest Alaska, Bristol Bay Na-

tive Corporation is looking at opportuni-ties for tourism within its region as sport fi shing continues to grow. Bird watchers fl ock to the Aleutians and the Pribilofs.

What these regions all have in common are vast areas of land and vibrant Native cultures. Th ere are no high-rises, no outlet malls, and no casinos—and that is their draw. Some could serve as gateways to na-tional parks or other travel destinations.

Th rough Alaska Native Voices, McK-ernan, a certifi ed interpretive guide and trainer, hopes to help people in these areas develop a thriving, mean-ingful foothold in Alaska’s tourism in-dustry. Huna Totem has years of experi-ence creating partnerships with federal agencies and private businesses.

For the past several years, confer-ences have been held around the state on ways to boost cultural tourism. It is a trend that is making waves not only in Alaska but across the nation.

In the course of exploring cultural tourism, McKernan says he also sees a rebound of interest in the people ex-ploring their own cultures more deeply.

“In talking about cultural tourism and cultural interpretation, the more people I talk to, the more I realize people are ex-cited about exploring cultural tourism,” McKernan says. “Th ey want to take the path to do what is right for their commu-nity, what is right for their culture. Th ey want to make sure the voices are coming from the right place.”

A Huna interpreter shares Tlingit cul-ture with visitors.

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Julie Stricker is a writer living near Fairbanks.


VISITOR INDUSTRY

Why Leave When You Can Stay? Alaskans can stay in state to play

By Dimitra Lavrakas

Longtime Alaskans oft en feel like they’ve gone everywhere and seen it all, or they have their favorites

spots that they visit time and time again. But there are millions of those that aren’t blessed to live in the Last Frontier that save and budget to visit the 49th state. Luckily for those that do reside year-round, tour packages are developed for the guests that anyone can take advan-tage of, and while making travel plans for the year, consider a few of the fol-lowing complete packages that provide unique views of the Alaska wilderness.

NotYourGrandmother’sCruiseLine

Un-Cruise Adventures, formerly In-nerSea Discoveries and American Sa-fari Cruises, is a company based in Seattle that takes tours in a new direc-tion. Th eirs is soundly not your typical cruise experience: no giant buff ets and bars, no casinos, no huge dining rooms. Intimate and remote, you’ll see the Alaska that’s off the charts.

“Un-Cruise Adventures fi lls a distinct niche in water-borne travel: guests explore remote areas by luxury yachts, small expe-dition vessels, or a replica Victorian-style steamer with just twenty-two to eighty-eight like-minded adventurers,” says Sarah Scoltock, the company’s director of communications. “Th ey have up-close encounters with nature while discovering wildlife-rich seas and shores. Th ey en-counter spectacular wilderness: towering glaciers, scenic rivers, remote islands.

“In sum, they have unrushed, un-crowded, truly uncommon experienc-es. Un-Cruise Adventures off ers explo-rations of exceptional quality, based on many years of experience.”

Un-Cruise Adventures bought the intimate ships Spirit of Discover, now Wilderness Discoverer; Spirit of Endea-vour, now Safari Endeavour; and Spirit of ‘98, which will launch this month

as the S.S. Legacy, from Cruise West, which went out of business in 2010.

“Several have been overhauled and upscaled,” Scotlock says. “We have ren-ovated all the vessels before joining our fl eet. And we have also lowered the guest capacity of the vessels to suit our style of travel—more space for upscale ameni-ties, public space for guests, and storage for all our adventure equipment.”

Kids aboard an Un-Cruise Adventures tour go up close to a waterfall in Southeast.

Photo courtesy of Un-Cruise Adventures

Why Leave Why Leave Why Leave Why Leave Why Leave Why Leave Why Leave Why Leave Why Leave Why Leave Why Leave Why Leave Why Leave Why Leave When You When You When You When You When You When You When You When You When You When You When You When You When You When You Can Stay? Can Stay? Can Stay? Can Stay? Can Stay? Can Stay? Can Stay? Can Stay? Can Stay? Can Stay? Can Stay? Can Stay? Can Stay? Can Stay? Can Stay? Can Stay? Can Stay? Can Stay? Can Stay? Can Stay? Can Stay? Can Stay? Can Stay? Can Stay? Can Stay? Can Stay? Can Stay? Can Stay?


Offering family friendly tours, as well as adult voyages, the company has a bundle of tours that explore the areas it can cruise into, getting much closer than a large cruise ship.

“We have an expedition team on board each vessel—one expedition lead-er and multiple expedition guides—that lead excursions on land and sea while providing interpretation,” Scotlock says.

Tours kick off in Seattle, Sitka, or Ketchikan and vary from seven to twenty-one nights, with prices rang-ing from $5,595 to $11,395. Pricey, but it is a once-in-a-lifetime trip or maybe a memorable family reunion or wedding.

“[I] just finished a week long cruise on the Wilderness Adventurer from Ketchikan to Juneau with fifteen of my friends and family. Not only did the incredible staff put up with our group, but they embraced us with open arms. ‘Thank you’ does not cover our appre-ciation to this incredible company and group of people,” wrote Christine H. from Avon, Colorado, who sailed on the Wilderness Adventurer.

ForThoseWhoLiketoRoughIt...

If you eschew luxury, then perhaps a rough-it vacation in the wilds of North-west Alaska, thirty miles above the Arctic Circle, might be suitable.

First fly into Kotzebue from Anchor-age and wait for a ride from LaVonne’s Fish Camp at the airport. Part of the thrill might be traveling in the bed of a truck, says LaVonne Hendricks. Yes, pick up and return is included in the price.

Since 1975, when Hendricks accepted a friend’s offer to set up a fish camp on an Alaska Native allotment near Sadie Creek, about five miles south of Kotzebue on the shores of the Chuckchi Sea, Hen-dricks has run the camp for independent travelers as well as educational groups.

“Traditional subsistence salmon drying racks share the beach with a ‘smoker,’ fish processing sheds, crew quarters, and a salmon net,” details the website. “Immediately in front is a con-

tinuous gravel beach that runs around the entire Baldwin Peninsula and the shallow Chukchi Sea. The sea runs 162 unobstructed miles to Eastern Sibe-ria. Behind the camp is a 250-foot clay bluff, a slim ribbon that connects the beach and the open tundra that seems

to go forever with a 360-degree view.”For those who have never been out

on the tundra, expect to experience the exhilarating freedom of unobstructed vision and possibility of travel.

LaVonne’s Fish Camp is also a special place for local young people. It’s a sum-

“It takes a special kind of person to jump off the beaten path and enjoy the surprises Bush Alaska has to offer, for sure. This is not a theme park and our accommodations are not the Holiday Inn.”

—LaVonne Hendricks LaVonne’s Fish Camp


mer youth program that began in the mid-1980s for Iñupiat youngsters eight to eighteen years of age. Th e camp also serves as the Culture Camp for NANA Regional Corporation’s Tour Arctic Pro-gram to teach Iñupiat youth about their culture with the aim of building self-con-fi dence and a preventative approach to suicide. Th e camp is a nonprofi t operated by Arctic Circle Educational Adventures.

Visitors haul fi sh nets in together, help hang fi sh to dry, and walk on the tundra to pick Labrador herb to make Eskimo tea. Th ere’s even a pile of beluga whale bones that campers can test their sense of sea mammal anatomy by lay-ing them out in the sand.

Hendricks cautions that the camp ex-perience may not be to everyone’s taste.

“It takes a special kind of person to jump off the beaten path and enjoy the surprises Bush Alaska has to off er, for sure,” she says. “Th is is not a theme park and our ac-commodations are not the Holiday Inn.”

Off the beaten path, Hendricks says local folks stop oft en for coff ee and to chat on their way to hunt, fi sh, and pick berries and greens on the tundra.

With twenty-four hours of daylight during the summer, it’s possible to fi ll every one with activities while hang-ing out with fellow campers and locals, who oft en use the camp for subsistence activities.

Th e cost is $150 a day per person and is all inclusive: cabin, three meals, and visiting and participating with local folks in subsistence food gathering and preparation. Activities are weather de-pendent, of course, and airport pick up and return is included.

Group rates vary depending on size and which Iñupiaq elder is leading the group activity, Hendricks says. For ex-ample, making medicinals from the plants, making beach art, or working on salmon all have diff erent prices.

“Our groups usually are fi ve- to sev-

en-day stays and price is $200 per per-son per day,” she says.

Hendricks is retiring this year aft er serving twenty-six villages for forty-three years in the Kotzebue and Nome region as a public health nurse, but she will contin-ue to operate the camp. Aft er all, it started with her desire to fi ll her summers with sunlight, the outdoors, and good compa-ny. Th en she shared it with everyone.

BunkingwiththeBearsTh e Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge is 1.9 million acres and is home to one the densest populations of brown bears in the world.

Nestled in the midst of the refuge is the Kodiak Brown Bear Center, built on an island in the middle of Karluk Lake, the largest freshwater body on Kodiak island at twelve miles long and one mile wide.

“Th is place is really unique for two reasons,” explains Kodiak Brown Bear Center General Manager Edward Ward,

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Un-Cruise Adventures offers its clients intimate coves to explore by kayak.


“one, no one will be at our bear view-ing areas since we have exclusive access to these areas on the lake; two, it pro-vides our guests the opportunity to be immersed in the bear’s natural habitat and view their natural behavior.”

Th ere is only access to the Center by fl oat plane, he says. Travel packages to the center, which range from three to seven nights, are all inclusive, includ-ing airfare to and from Kodiak.

“Th e accommodations are amazing,” Ward says. “Th e cabins have all the amenities; they have twenty-four hour power, tiled showers, toilet, queen beds, bamboo fl oors, wireless internet, etc.” Meals, guided bear viewing excursions, fi shing, and boating are all opportuni-ties that come with the package.

Once travelers are there, they may not have to wait for a boat excursion to

see bears and other wildlife. “We had a nice three year old [brown bear], come to visit us this morning. Th e bears like to swim across the lake and visit us from time to time.”

Th is is just one of the bears’ natural behaviors that travelers probably won’t see at other destinations. “Because the Center is located on a thirty-six-square-mile lake, you’ll see the bears swim-ming, snorkeling [underwater fi shing], and diving for fi sh,” Ward says. Th e is-land is also home to deer, foxes, and a myriad of Alaska birds and waterfowl.

Ward says that various fi lm and TV crews have come to the Center, including those for the popular Planet Earth series and shows for the Discovery Channel.

Th is particular experience isn’t cheap, as it starts at $3,499 for an indi-vidual for four days and three nights,

but it is absolutely worth it: none of the Kodiak Brown Bear Center’s clients have left without seeing a bear.

One of the great things about Alaska is its expanse—there is always something more to see: another plateau or peak, another river or lake, another person to meet or culture to enjoy. Th en again, that is also one of Alaska’s great challenges. A tour package can ease the logisti-cal nightmare that traveling in Alaska can be when one is forced to consider whether they have enough gas to make it to the next fi lling station, whether they can fi nd acceptable accommoda-tions, whether they should eat now or wait for the next opportunity, or what to pack. If such uncertainties encour-age travelers to revisit only well-known, favorite spots, consider reaching out for a new Alaska experience through a tour package. Travelers have the opportunity to just enjoy the state, and let the profes-sionals work out the details.

Long-time Alaskan journalist Dimitra Lavrakas writes from the East Coast and Alaska.

“The accommodations are amazing. The cabins have all the amenities; they have twenty-four hour power, tiled showers, toilet, queen beds, bamboo floors, wireless internet, etc.”

—Edward WardGeneral Manager, Kodiak Brown Bear Center

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FISHERIES

Seward Waits for SikuliaqSeward Waits for SikuliaqSeward Waits for Sikuliaq

Usually, the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Seward Marine Center bustles with scientifi c in-

quiry into oceangoing topics like red tide, salmon survival, or crab reproduction.

But the subject of intense study at the center these days is a 261-foot, Arctic-ready marvel of steel known as the R/V Sikuliaq.

Th e research vessel will be the fi rst large, ice-capable research vessel owned by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and a valuable addition to the US Academic Re-

search Fleet as the scientifi c community probes the consequences of receding ice brought on by climate change.

Th e Sikuliaq, built in a Marinette, Wisconsin, shipyard, is scheduled to get underway for Alaska this fall, traveling up the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Atlantic Ocean, and then south through the Panama Canal and the Pa-cifi c Ocean to the Bering Sea. Along the way, the ship’s crew of twenty licensed mariners and two marine technicians will put her through sea and ice tests.

UAF will operate the vessel, which should arrive in Seward by next summer.

Th e Sikuliaq is uniquely equipped for operating in ice-choked waters, ac-cording to the university. A reinforced double hull, two rotating thrusters, and scalloped propeller blades will enable the ship to break through ice up to two and a half feet thick.

Th e ship is designed to work safely in moderate seasonal fi rst-year ice, oper-ating over a longer period than former-ly possible in the North Pacifi c, Gulf of

The R/V Sikuliaq launches in October 2012 at the Marinette Marine Corporation shipyard in Wisconsin. The ice-capa-ble vessel, intended for Arctic research, will be operated by the University of Alaska Fairbanks for the National Science Foundation.

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Arctic research ship fi rst of its kind

By Zaz Hollander


Alaska, and the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort seas.

Sikuliaq will enable researchers to study all things climate change—ocean acidifi cation, future traffi c routes in an ice-reduced north, and new migration routes from crabs and other bottom-dwellers showing up farther north than ever.

“And a fair amount of basic explora-tion of the Arctic as it starts to open up more and more,” says Daniel Oliver, UAF’s director and project manager at the university’s Seward Marine Center. “It really is an area that’s not as well un-derstood ... as say, the other areas in the world’s oceans.”

BusyinSewardAt the Seward Marine Center, Oliver spent a sunny June day busy fi nalizing hiring contracts for a chief mate and an electrician. He chipped away at a cou-ple of periodic reports that were due to the NSF.

Th e Seward Marine Center serves as the primary coastal facility of the UAF School of Fisheries and Ocean Scienc-es. Th e center is the only university-owned marine station in Alaska and the northernmost university marine station in the United States. It pro-vides access to saltwater laboratories and the coastal environment as well as a four-plex apartment unit for visiting scientists.

Next year, the Sikuliaq will join the center’s research facilities.

Oliver got the director job specifi cally to oversee the Sikuliaq project.

A retired US Coast Guard captain and naval engineer, Oliver spent twen-ty-eight years on active duty. Among his achievements: technical support during the run-up to the construc-tion of a new polar icebreaker for the Coast Guard, a project that led to the Healy, the icebreaker that helped escort fuel to Nome in 2012. He served as the Healy’s commanding offi cer from 2003 to 2006.

Oliver retired from the Coast Guard in 2007. He was hired by UAF that same year to oversee construction of the Sikuliaq.

“I was fi guring my break would last longer,” Oliver jokes.

UAF will operate the ship on behalf of the NSF. In early summer, the university

Licensed – Bonded – InsuredLicensed – Bonded – Insured

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TopRemodelers


had six employees and contractors at the Wisconsin shipyard conducting inspec-tions and interacting with the shipyard.

Drawings by Th e Glosten Associates, Guido Perla and Associates, and the Marinette Marine Corporation show multiple ship levels that house a hospital, gym, and laundry room as well as eight thousand cubic feet of science storage, thousands of square feet of lab space, and over-the-side sample collection systems.

Th e ship is built for forty-fi ve-day re-search trips. Th e Sikuliaq holds berths for twenty-two crew and technicians and twenty-four scientists. Its design features an anti-roll tank to help damp-en out ship motions in unruly seas. To meet a zero-discharge goal, the ship will incinerate trash or compact and store it for disposal in port.

‘Verysignificanticecapabilities’

Th e Sikuliaq is the fi rst vessel built for the NSF in three decades.

Th e Foundation is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 “to promote the progress of sci-ence; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense.” It funds some 20 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted by the nation’s col-leges and universities.

Th e ship is “a big piece of the puzzle” with regards to upgrading the academ-ic research fl eet in the United States, says Matthew Hawkins, the NSF’s pro-gram manager for ship acquisition and upgrade.

Th e ship is categorized as a global-class vessel, designed for Arctic work but also for research in the open Atlan-tic or Pacifi c or even Antarctica.

“It’s very signifi cant,” Hawkins says. “Sikuliaq is a very, very big part of NSF’s contribution to fl eet modernization. It’s a very specialized ship for a very impor-tant area in the world’s oceans.”

Ongoing climate change, he con-tinues, is creating scientifi c questions that are fundamental to understanding the impact on humans and everything from biodiversity to changing microcli-mates to coastal ecosystems. Th e Arc-tic’s sea ice is decreasing at a rate of 7 percent every decade.

“Th e eff ects are profound,” Hawkins says. “Many of the changes we’re begin-ning to see start in the Arctic.”

Funding:PerfectTimingTh e Sikuliaq will replace the more than forty-year old R/V Alpha Helix, now retired.

Her voyage from inspiration to con-struction has been long. Th e need for a more capable ship to operate in the

coastal and open ocean waters of the Alaska region was fi rst recognized by marine scientists in the United States in 1973.

In 2001, Congress appropriated $1 million for a design study. But the proj-ect languished for several years, despite a design fi nalized by the NSF in 2004. NSF shelved the project for lack of fund-ing. Th e Foundation issued a request for proposals to revamp the design in 2006, and UAF was awarded the bid.

Th e timing was right in 2009. A ma-jor, job-generating shipbuilding project with research ramifi cations fi t right into the mission of the Obama Admin-istration’s stimulus package, the Amer-ican Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Th e program provided $148 million of the $199.5 million total project cost of the Sikuliaq.

Th e Sikuliaq is the fi rst research ves-sel built for the NSF since 1981 and will be the only ship in the US Academic Fleet rated for year-round operations in fi rst-year ice, according to a UAF press release when the ship was launched into Wisconsin’s Menominee River in October 2012. Th e vessel’s name, Si-kuliaq, is an Iñupiaq word meaning “young sea ice.”

Th e name was chosen to refl ect both the university’s focus on Arctic research and Alaska heritage.

Two UAF emeriti served as co-spon-sors for the Sikuliaq: Vera Alexander, dean emerita of the School of Fisher-ies and Ocean Sciences and Robert El-sner, professor emeritus. Both scientists spent decades lobbying for a research vessel designed for science operations in the Arctic.

APlaceintheFleetTh ere are other ice-capable research ships out there. Th e Coast Guard oper-ates the Healy and the Polar SeaStar, which the NSF has “relied heavily on” in the past for science, Oliver says.

But as far as Arctic operations are concerned , the Sikuliaq is the fi rst ship built for the NSF as an asset specifi cally intended for northern waters, he says.

Th e Sikuliaq joins twenty other vessels in the nation’s Academic Fleet, which are generally funded by NSF, the Offi ce of Naval Research, and the National Oce-anic and Atmospheric Administration. Th e University-National Oceanographic

A computer rendition of the fi nished R/V Sikuliaq, the new federal research ves-sel that will arrive in summer 2014 at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Seward Marine Center.

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Laboratory System (unols.org) serves as a coordinator for the vessels, which are based at sixteen diff erent operating in-stitutions around the country.

Th e roster of all federally-owned oceanographic survey and research ships is larger—forty-seven—and in-cludes those vessels in the Academic Fleet. Th e federal fl eet generally con-ducts surveys and data collection spe-cifi c to the agency’s mission as opposed to fundamental research.

Th e list includes ships owned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-

ministration, the US Coast Guard, and the US Environmental Protection Agen-cy. Vessels on the list place sensors that help with tsunami or hurricane warn-ings, aid with navigational mapping, and conduct marine-based biomedical research to accelerate the discovery of new pharmaceuticals and therapies, ac-cording to the Federal Oceanographic Fleet Status Report.

CruisingNorthTh e Sikuliaq’s 2014 scientifi c research season is already shaping up.

UAF expects funded science expedi-tions to begin in 2014. Th e fi rst sched-uled trip is a productivity cruise north of Alaska in the Alaska-Canada border area, Oliver says. Scientists will study what critters are living and feeding on each other in the water, as well as the impact of the freshwater fl owing from the MacKenzie River.

Several other trips are also planned. By winter of next year, the Sikuliaq

will head south, working in the warmer waters of the mid-Pacifi c. Th e ship does have some ice-breaking capabilities, but not to the point where it will be able to operate past St. Lawrence Island in winter, Oliver says.

Th e ship will return to Alaska by spring of 2015. Th ere are about a dozen requests for ship time already fi led.

Sikuliaq will cost an average of $40,000 a day to operate.

NSF generally contributes three-quarters of operational costs for the sci-ence missions it supports based on the daily rate, Hawkins says.

But while funding for construction fl owed from the federal government, future money for research missions and operations across the research fl eet remains an open question.

Federal agency budgets have not kept pace with a dramatic increase in the cost of operating research ships, ac-cording to the National Ocean Council, charged with implementing the White House ocean policy.

Fuel costs have risen 400 percent since 2003, personnel costs and safety, security, and environmental require-ments have grown, and maintenance takes longer and is more expensive for an aging fl eet, the council states. Conventional budgeting practices also make it diffi cult to plan for repairs and fl eet updates in advance.

Still, Hawkins sounds optimistic about the newest addition to the fl eet.

“Where Sikuliaq goes is really de-pendent on what science is funded,” he said. “She’ll go where she needs to go when she needs to go there. Other than chartered vessels and the US Coast Guard, she’s the only truly ice-capable ship we have.”

Zaz Hollander is a journalist living in Palmer.

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INSURANCE ESSENTIALS

Workers’ Workers’ Workers’ Workers’ Workers’ Workers’ Compensation Compensation Compensation

Insurance Insurance Insurance SolutionsSolutionsSolutions

Joining a reciprocal insurance company

By Paul Houston & Mike Dennis

The Alaska Timber Insurance Exchange (ATIE) is a unique workers’ compensation solution

designed to save money for Alaska busi-nesses that traditionally have higher than average workers’ compensation rates and are committed to employee safety. Some examples of these types of high-hazard industries would be min-ing, logging, and construction.

Th e ATIE was started by the Alaska Loggers Association in 1980 with a goal of providing an aff ordable source of workers’ compensation insurance for its members. As the logging industry diminished, the ATIE opened its mem-bership to other industries facing simi-lar high-hazard workplace exposures.

Th e ATIE is a reciprocal insurance ex-change which is owned by its policyhold-ers. As a licensed insurance company, ATIE is subject to all of the insurance laws of the State of Alaska, which pro-vides safety to its membership. In addi-tion, the company pays dividends to its policyholders. As owners of the compa-ny, they share in the investment and op-erating profi ts of the operation. Th e ATIE has paid out dividends of more than $13 million to its members in the last ten years—$1.6 million was paid on March 6 this year. While the dividends are not

guaranteed, they have been consistently paid over the life of the program.

Conrad Houston Insurance began working with ATIE in 2010 as a result of our search for cost saving workers’ compensation insurance solutions for our clients. While the program has been around for a while, we discovered it was highly underutilized. We suspect that might be in part due to the lower com-mission paid by the company to brokers, which are, on average, 50 percent less than the industry norm. Of course the lower commission is just another part of the cost saving eff orts of the company.

In discussions with of our clients and prospective clients, we have heard many of the same complaints over the years:

� “I rarely, if ever, have any claims. It seems like I should get some money back!”

� “I feel like I am totally out of the loop on claims administration.”

� “I feel like I am working with this huge mega company. I want to talk to someone in charge.”

It appeared to us that the ATIE had an answer for many of these complaints. In the ATIE program, if you have few or no claims, you get to share in that suc-cess fi nancially. Some members have received dividends of more than 60 per-cent. In fact the average dividend over the last ten years has been 30 percent. Th ese are signifi cant rewards for busi-ness owners who do things right.

In addition, ATIE works closely with business owners when a claim does oc-cur. “Rather than being just a number, ATIE’s low policy count means that each member receives personalized attention,” says ATIE President Michael Hinchen.

Geotek Alaska workers in the

fi eld.

Photo courtesy of Geotek Alaska


Stephen Helms, president of Greer Tank and Welding, Inc., has appreciated the hands-on claims management by ATIE. “An immediate phone call from the adjuster when there is an accident not only helps keep the cost of the claim down but gets the injured employee back to work quickly,” Helms says.

Perhaps best of all, if a business own-er wants to talk to Hinchen, the presi-dent, he is just a phone call away. You just don’t get that kind of direct person-al involvement in the normal insurance company scenario.

Th e brokers at Conrad Houston In-surance have had tremendous success in placing high hazard clients in the ATIE program. All of those clients have either saved money or received a divi-dend. Th e key is getting the word out. Hinchen agrees. “Th e Alaska Timber Exchange appreciates the eff orts of Conrad Houston Insurance to inform Alaska employers of the advantages of an employer owned workers’ compen-sation insurance solution,” he says.

ATIE isn’t the answer for every Alas-ka business, but it is a great solution for those companies that fi t the ATIE un-

derwriting guidelines and are willing to step outside the box.

Geotek Alaska is another great ex-ample of a company that required a unique solution to meet its insurance needs. Geotek specializes in the ac-quisition of subsurface data for both the environmental and geotechnical professional communities. Subsurface drilling is one of its primary class codes and most traditional insurance com-panies shied away. As a result, Geotek had been in the workers’ compensa-tion assigned risk program for several years. Aft er meeting with their broker at Conrad Houston Insurance, Geotek offi cials submitted an application to ATIE and the company was accepted into the program. Not only did Geotek save money on the front end by get-ting out of the assigned risk pool, but the company also received a signifi cant dividend. Geotek owners Chris Nettles, Scott Vojita, and Katherine Smith are very happy with their decision to link up with ATIE.

Much like the product off ered by the timber industry, what started as a seed-ling has transformed into something

that is useful to much more than the industry that started it all: a good sys-tem that addresses the needs of many employers and employees alike.

Paul Houston is Owner and President of Conrad Houston Insurance. He works with a diverse group of clients providing insurance and

risk management advice. Contact him at 907-276-7667 or [email protected]

Mike Dennis is Vice President of Conrad Houston Insurance. He has more than twenty-three years of experience working with

Alaska businesses to provide innovative insurance solutions.

Paul Houston is Owner and President of Conrad Houston Insurance. He works with a diverse group of clients providing insurance and

Mike Dennis is Vice President of Conrad Houston Insurance. He has more than twenty-three years of experience working with


FINANCIAL SERVICES

Making it possible to keep up with demand

By Tracy Barbour

As a full-service retail dealer of amphibious all-terrain vehicles, All Seasons Argo and Equip-

ment sells what some people consider to be the Cadillac of ATVs. Argos, as the six-passenger rigs are called, can car-ry about 1,200 pounds and tow 1,800 pounds. Th ey can travel across almost anything—dry land, water, swamps, and thick mud. Th is makes them a ve-hicle of choice for many hunters, an-glers, and outdoor enthusiasts.

Anchorage-based All Seasons Argo and Equipment is used to the vehicles being a hot item during the spring/

summer season. But this year was dif-ferent. Early shoppers and sales pro-motions accelerated the company’s in-ventory fl ow way beyond normal. “My vehicles were going out the door faster than I could get them here,” says owner Debbie Bontems. “I pushed my June or-der up three times and ended up ship-ping it May 30.”

Th anks to a $250,000 “fl ooring” cred-it line from First National Bank Alaska, Bontems was able to keep up with the demand. She accessed funds from the line to increase orders, and maintained adequate cash fl ow until the rigs could

be shipped in from Canada—a four-week process—and sold.

While the fl ooring line came in handy for ramping up orders this year, Bontems initially opened the line in 2005 to reduce shipping costs by order-ing Argos in larger quantities. Shipping just one of the fi ve-foot-by-ten-foot ve-hicles runs about $1,700, compared to $1,200 each for twelve of them. Now the company orders twelve Argos at a time instead of eight, which translates into lower costs for customers. “Th anks to fi nancing, we retail our Argo products at the same MSRP as any dealer in the

Debbie Bontemps, the owner of All Seasons Argo and Equipment, and Chad Steadman, a vice president with First Na-tional Bank Alaska.

© Chris Arend Photography

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Lower 48, who pays less than half in freight cost compared to us here,” Bon-tems explains.

Bontems maintains the credit line from year-to-year, regardless of wheth-er or not she uses it. She appreciates having access to the backup capital and a positive relationship with the bank. “We have been very appreciative of First National’s personable approach to a professional relationship; it’s a rare trait these days,” she says. “It is also noteworthy that they have willingly negotiated terms to be more accommo-dating. In short, they listen and value customer loyalty.”

FlexibleFinancingAll Seasons Argo is among a signifi cant number of businesses that are using a line of credit to maintain and grow op-erations. Credit lines are a common and convenient alternative to term loans, which diff er signifi cantly. With a term loan, all of the funds are dispersed up front, the interest rate is normally fi xed, and the borrower makes a set number of monthly principle and interest pay-ments. With a credit line, the borrower has immediate access to cash among a number of other advantages, according to Chad Steadman, a vice president with First National Bank Alaska.

“A line of credit allows you to get mon-ey advanced as you need it. You make interest-only payments on the principle. It’s revolving,” Steadman explains.

Revolving credit gives businesses the fl exibility to pay a fee to access a cer-tain amount of cash and reborrow the funds once they have been repaid. It’s like renting money.

Credit lines are oft en used to fund short-term working capital needs from making payroll to ordering supplies. “It can help with short-term purchases if borrowers don’t have the capital or cash fl ow on hand,” Steadman says. “It can also help while borrowers are waiting for customers to pay them.”

Th at was exactly the situation with Hawk Consultants, which provides con-tract engineers and other professionals primarily to oil companies. Th e Anchor-age fi rm opened a KeyBank credit line for approximately $500,000 in 1990 to carry payroll while it waited for clients to sub-mit payments. Its contractors had to be paid bi-weekly, while the company had

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to wait for months to receive checks from some of its custom-ers. Having the credit line was critical back then, according to Managing Member Maynard Tapp. Without it, the company could have failed to survive and grow. “Th e relationship that we’ve established with KeyBank has allowed us to grow as fast as we possibly can,” Tapp says.

Th e credit line has steadily risen over the past twenty-plus years, but now Hawk Consultants has ample cash fl ow and no longer needs to use it. Regard-less, he values his company’s working relationship with KeyBank, saying: “Th e fact that we’ve stayed with them all these years speaks for itself.”

QualifyingFactorsTraditional lines of credit are typically secured by “soft ” collateral like ac-counts receivable and inventory. With lines that are backed by accounts re-ceivable, the amount of the fi nancing is determined by the value of the accounts receivable, accounts payable, and other factors. “We’ll look at the accounts re-ceivable to make sure it’s good quality,” Steadman says. “We’ll analyze who your customers are. We may believe in the borrower’s ability to repay, but it also comes down to their customers’ ability to pay them.”

Th e age of the accounts receivable and inventory is also a major area of consideration. At Wells Fargo bank, for example, fi nancing generally isn’t off ered for accounts receivables more than ninety days old. “Th e more stale the accounts receivable and inventory the less likely it will turn into cash,” says Wells Fargo’s Anchorage Business Banking Manager Bond Stewart.

Financial institutions fi nance accounts receivables and inventory at diff erent per-centages. Northrim Bank, for instance, off ers fi nancing on a signifi cantly higher portion of earned and billed accounts re-ceivables than on inventory. “We might only fi nance 50 percent of your inven-tory turn, but 75 to 80 percent of your ac-counts receivable turn,” says Commercial Loan Unit Manager and Bank Economist Mark Edwards. “It can be more if you’re well established and have a history of turning inventory over.”

On an accounts receivable line,

Northrim also analyzes the borrower’s collection history, bad debt write-off s, industry, and concentration of cus-tomers. Is there just one big customer needing to pay or multiple customers? “All of those things can aff ect how ag-gressive we can be on the percentage of the amount you can borrow,” Edwards says.

Qualifying for a line of credit also is aff ected by the Five Cs of credit: con-ditions, capacity, character, collateral, and capital. Th ese are the same factors that apply to any fi nancing situation, according to KeyBank President Brian Nerland.

Businesses without an established track record in these areas could con-sider the Small Business Administra-tion’s CAPLines program. Th e guar-anteed line of credit ties repayment to the business’s cash cycle, rather than an arbitrary time schedule. “It’s a great resource for companies that are looking to expand,” Nerland says.

Under CAPLines, borrowers need adequately secured accounts receivable and/or inventory in to qualify. Th e pro-gram off ers a variety of lines of credit, including a revolving line of credit, a fi xed line of credit, a seasonal line of credit, and a longer-term straight line of credit with a one to fi ve-year maturity.

Stewart points out that while it can be more diffi cult for newly established business to qualify for a line of credit, it doesn’t automatically preclude them from getting a credit line. Th at is, if the fundamentals are in place.

Credit lines vary in amount, ranging from thousands to hundreds of thou-sands of dollars. In general, there is no set limit for credit lines. Th e extent of the line weighs heavily on the strength of the company, its fi nancials, and the collateral involved, according to Stewart.

Some fi nancial institutions off er credit lines that are outside the tradi-tional cash advance model. KeyBank’s

Business Cash Reserve credit line, for instance, transfers funds directly into a busi-ness checking account. With a limit of $10,000, the line is designed to provide overdraft protection against unexpect-ed cash fl ow shortages. “It’s very popular for small busi-nesses,” Nerland says.

WordsofAdviceMost banks renew credit lines annu-ally, and adjust the amount, according to the economic condition of the busi-ness. “We typically like to have the lines renew, so that we look them over every year to make sure nothing adverse has happened to the business,” Stewart says.

Stewart also prefers to see credit lines rest. He explains, “Th is shows that you can manage your fi nances by collecting your receivables and paying down the line.”

Nerland has similar feelings. He says companies can get into diffi culty if they employ a short-term line of credit for a long-term use. Th erefore, they should be paying down their line, instead of al-ways advancing it, he says. “Generally, the bank likes to see the line of credit revolve because it shows the business has the ability to repay it,” he adds.

Steadman of First National also cau-tions companies to not let their line go stale. Translation: Don’t run it up to the maximum and leave it there. “It should fl uctuate with your accounts receiv-able,” he explains.

He also advises businesses not to wait until they need a line of credit. “If you’re actively managing your business, you should have a line,” he says.

You should also hire a professional to handle your accounting and bookkeep-ing, says Edwards of Northrim Bank. A good certifi ed public accountant can off er valuable advice that can help busi-nesses better understand their profi t margins, save money by not using cred-it cards, and better position themselves to secure a credit line. “We do lines of credit for people who don’t work with CPAs, but it is much easier to qualify if you have good historical fi nancial re-cordkeeping,” Edwards says.

Former Alaskan Tracy Barbour writes from Tennessee.

StewartStewart NerlandNerland EdwardsEdwards


Cyber Security and Disaster Recovery

Cyber Security and Disaster Recovery

TELECOM & TECHNOLOGY

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When an island-wide, three-plus-hour fl uctuating black-out struck Ketchikan and

vicinity in June, business owners and residents alike got a fi rst-hand reminder about the need for adequate data-pro-tection and disaster-recovery measures.

Such protections, along with ad-equate cyber security measures, are a must-have for any business these days, regardless of its size. Th e value of a company’s data has become, in many cases, its greatest asset—whether it be email history, electronic client records, or accounting systems. A damaged hard drive or hacked corporate email account can take on the signifi cance today of the business fi re of yesteryear.

BackupsforBlackoutsWhen routine maintenance work un-derway at the Swan Lake hydroelectric dam in Southeast Alaska inexplicably triggered an avalanche of energy loss across the Ketchikan grid on the morn-ing of June 18, business owners citywide were left largely inoperable—except for those who had planned ahead for such an event and had adequate physical-plant and electronic-data protection measures in place.

Th e initial breaker that popped open that day carried 9 megawatts of power from Tyee dam. Th e event triggered a load-shed eff ect so signifi cant that the

entire island eventually experienced a widespread outage. Businesses catering to thousands of cruise ship tourists in town that day went dark. Some restau-rants shut their doors. Electronic bank-ing functions ceased. Workers citywide who were, moments earlier, busily typ-ing away on their computers saw their offi ce lights go off and any unprotected desktop machines grind to a halt.

Th at said, for others—those who worked at companies that had the fore-thought to invest in adequate data pro-tection systems—the rhythmic “beep, beep, beep” of battery backup systems and Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems indicated that business could continue almost uninterrupted

for the time necessary to shut down critical systems and prevent damage from power bumps. For others, the ad-ditional protection of a diesel generator ensured business as usual.

DisasterRecoveryInformation security experts are fre-quently heard to say that the best di-saster recovery program is one where any disaster is visualized and planned for beforehand, minimizing the need for subsequent “recovery.” Such “disas-ters” may include the threat of physi-cal impact, such as the power outage experienced recently in Ketchikan, or more mundane and routine threats, such as simple user error. For example,

Anchorage-based Network Business Systems Solution Architect Brandon Gi-roux (left) and Kale Blankenship, the company’s senior network engineer and solutions architect, work in the company’s server room.

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inadequate for the types of power-relat-ed damage that occurs in Southeast. “Up here, it’s more about brownouts,” he says. Also, many historic buildings that have been converted to offi ce space suff er from inadequate grounding.

“If you are on the dock, some of the buildings don’t have good grounds. So it’s good to have protection,” he says. “Th e grounds will come and go; and that gives you a fl oating voltage on your AC.” In lay person terms, “you don’t have a return ground on your AC voltage,” he says. “It causes problems. If you have bad power, you want something to fi lter that.”

CyberThreats:MinimumMeasures

While high-profi le cyber attacks make for hot headlines, few small businesses are specifi cally targeted by cyber at-tackers, according to Blankenship and Giroux. It is more common that data loss occurs from broad attacks against a large number of businesses and individ-uals. In the experience of the two secu-rity specialists, the best prevention mea-sures include educating staff not to open attachments or click links in unknown

emails, to never give out login informa-tion, and to use strong passwords.

Particularly for small business, it may be diffi cult to determine what level of scope and eff ort should be dedicated to data protection, such as cyber secu-rity and disaster recovery measures. Naturally a small business that has only one desktop computer that runs one program, perhaps QuickBooks, is less threat-prone than a large, multi-site company with hundreds of employees all able to access the Internet on their workstations. Furthermore, a large fi rm may be less or more risk averse than a small, operating-on-a shoestring mom-and-pop operation.

FirewallsandAnti-VirusSoftware

“In a smaller business, the main thing is that they have a good anti-virus soft ware and that they are behind a fi rewall. Of-ten, that is all they can aff ord,” says Ren-ninger, who recommends the antivirus program Avira for clients. “It uses very little processing power. It can be scan-ning your computer and you can still use your computer,” he says. Also, “it can

some of the most frequent workplace data disasters occur when an employee inadvertently or unknowingly deletes critical data without suffi cient backup protections in place.

Th ere is a multitude of ways to lose data, according to Anchorage-based Network Business Systems’ Kale Blan-kenship, senior network engineer and solutions architect, and Brandon Gi-roux, also a solutions architect. Th e Alaskan-owned-and -operated compa-ny has corporate offi ces in Anchorage and North Dakota employs thirty-eight people and serves clients in all industry sectors, recently expanding to North Dakota to provide IT services to the oil and gas industry and related sectors.

Blankenship and Giroux say the most common threat of IT-related disaster for businesses is the inadvertent deletion of data by staff . Beyond the additional risk of natural disasters, the two men say businesses should consider the environ-ment where servers and data are being stored. “High temperatures and power surges can cause premature failure of hardware and I don’t know how many times I’ve seen equipment installed di-rectly below a water sprinkler head,” says Blankenship. “I can tell you from experi-ence that water and servers do not mix.”

PowerSystemsProtectionsSoft ware engineer Robert Renninger, owner of Ketchikan-based Soft ware Engineering of Alaska, considers bat-tery backup or UPS systems as critical safeguards for any business to prevent power-related damage. “People need that in Alaska because we have prob-lems with brownouts and high voltage,” he says. “Th at can stop your hard drive from working and cause data loss.”

Renninger, who has worked in the in-dustry for thirty-four years—eighteen years of it in Alaska—suggests that, over time, local business owners have become more savvy to the concept of valuing and protecting their electronic data as a vital company asset. As an example, although the recent power outage did aff ect many businesses in Ketchikan, the impact was not what it would have been years ago, he says. “Evidently the town has learned,” he says. Historically, residents used simple surge protectors, or surge strips, to pro-tect their computers. However, those are

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be used on older machines.” Th e criti-cal concern is that business equipment not be connected directly to the Inter-net, he says. “If you don’t have a router, you want to have a fi rewall on your ma-chine,” Renninger says. “If you have a router, you can use the router fi rewall.”

Blankenship and Giroux suggest that business size is less important than the potential cost to the business in the event of data loss, data leak, or down time. At the minimal level, companies of all sizes should run anti-virus on their comput-ers, apply soft ware updates in a timely manner, enforce strong passwords, and not allow staff to log in to their worksta-tions with administrative permissions. Additionally, if a business allows remote access to the computer network, the fi rewall should be confi gured to allow only the necessary services. Setting ap-propriate permissions so that staff may only access the data they need is also important, as is the physical security of servers, Blankenship and Giroux say.

Plus, any company should, at mini-mum, perform onsite backups and store interval copies of the backups off site at a secure location. Options for backup stor-

age include: tapes, portable hard drives, or a backup provider in the “cloud.” Th e two men suggest that companies with multiple locations may opt to replicate data between sites. For further protection, they recommend automating the process to remove the risk of human error.

DataBackUpRenninger, Blankenship, and Giroux all agree it is equally important for a com-pany to identify exactly what it will take to get operations back up and running in the event of a disaster.

Th ey say the basic measures described are adequate for companies able to sur-vive while new equipment is ordered and data restored from such backups. For companies needing immediate access, additional measures are necessary, such as having a mirrored image of opera-tions systems available and ready to go.

Finally, the network security special-ists suggest to document, document, document. Th e fi nal steps in a sound disaster recovery plan are to record how the data will be restored, to fully docu-ment the procedure, and to conduct regular tests of the restoration process.

CloudConfidentialityFor operators concerned with confi den-tiality, what assurances are there that confi dential data can be stored in the cloud and remain confi dential?

Blankenship and Giroux say it is pos-sible to securely store confi dential data in the cloud; however, the business operator cannot simply trust that the cloud provider will address the confi -dentiality on their end. Th e process to ensure confi dential data starts at the business operator level. Th e best and most secure method is to ensure that any cloud backup solution encrypts the data at the business operator’s location with a strong password provided and controlled by the business operator. Th at occurs well before any transmis-sion to the cloud for data storage, they say. Modern encryption combined with a long, complex password is very secure, according to Blankenship and Giroux.

“Any of the good cloud-based [solutions] are highly encrypted,” Renninger says.

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TRANSPORTATION

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With the economy and in-creased driver shortage again making the list of top

critical issues of concern facing the North American trucking industry, Alaska operators echo the two infl u-ences as worrisome but nonetheless continue to thrive, blanketing the state with a network of complex cargo trans-port options.

Whether transporting industrial mining equipment from the Northwest to a Juneau-area mine or freight from ship offl oad in Anchorage to a Fair-banks shop, Alaska’s network of truck-ing companies specialize in conquering

Alaska operators thrive


A Carlile trucker wipes snow off tail lights.

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the transiting challenging geography and distances to ensure on-time, con-sistent delivery options for Alaska’s business and residential community. Th e freight hauled also provides a useful snapshot as to the health and diversity of the state’s economy at any one time.

MarriageMadeinLogisticsPerhaps one of the biggest headlines of the Alaska transport industry this year was the May announcement that Seattle-based Saltchuk Resources had acquired Carlile Transportation Sys-

tems, one of Alaska’s largest and most high-profi le trucking and logistics companies, for an undisclosed price. Both family-owned operations, each company seemingly fi lls a gap for the other. Saltchuk Resources is parent to several transportation and petroleum distribution companies, including its shipping and logistics operation TOTE, Inc. Within the TOTE, Inc. structure of companies (which includes the sepa-rate Totem Ocean Trailer Express that is familiar to many coastal Alaskans), Carlile is part of TOTE Logistics.

Safety record, entrepreneurial spirit, and strength in the Alaska logistics mar-ket are among the reasons that Saltchuk Resources was attracted to Carlile Trans-portation Systems, says TOTE Logistics President James Armstrong.

“Carlile has an excellent safety record...Th at was certainly a huge plus,” says Armstrong. “It’s a very customer-driven organization. TOTE can provide a lot of the foundational expertise from an oper-ational, fi nance, and systems standpoint that allows an entrepreneurial company to continue to grow.” Th e Carlile acquisi-

Span Alaska hauling cargo on the Seward Highway, south of Anchorage.

Photo courtesy of Span Alaska Trucking Inc.


tion rounds out the Saltchuk Resources portfolio regarding logistics services to, from, and within Alaska. “It was a big gap that we had in Alaska – the logistics piece,” says Armstrong. “You take the entrepreneurial spirit [of Carlile] and put a sophisticated engine [of infrastructure support and peripheral services] behind that. It’s going to be phenomenal.”

“Carlile is a solutions company,” Armstrong says. “Th ey were already doing a lot of business with Saltchuk. Th ey value strong partnerships. We want to continue those partnerships.”

With seven hundred employees in-volved in the company’s service to Alas-ka, it provides 350 tractors and 1,600

A large generator is being loaded onto a Carlile rig at the Port of Anchorage.

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“Carlile is a solutions company,” Armstrong says. “They were al-ready doing a lot of business with Saltchuk. They value strong part-nerships. We want to continue those partnerships.”

—James Armstrong President, TOTE Logistics

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pieces of trailer equipment. Th e company has terminal offi ces in Anchorage, Fair-banks, Prudhoe Bay, Seward, Kenai, and Kodiak, from which it provides transport and logistics services across the state. When asked what sector constitutes the company’s primary customer base, Armstrong replied that the company’s breadth covers a multitude of industries and sectors and in some fashion serves as an indicator of the strengths and weak-nesses of Alaska’s economy.

“We [cover] a pretty big cross section of industry in Alaska. It pretty much mirrors Alaska’s economy,” Armstrong says. “We’re doing construction, oil and gas, military, and retail—we’re doing, really, everything. If one of those areas is growing, we’re growing in that area. Every time there is development in oil and gas or a new project or major mili-tary—all those things impact our busi-ness. It’s really a cross section of what’s happening in Alaska.”

Regarding the challenges of doing business in the 49th State, Armstrong says that it comes down to the people and their experience. “Th ere are chal-lenges everywhere,” he says. “We also do business into other markets. Frankly Alaska has some of the most challeng-ing conditions. But our safety record in Alaska is probably best in our network. It all has to do with the experience you hire and how you train your employees.”

Th e Alaska wild card does play a role in the method of transport necessary to get goods from one point to another. Th at, and the customer’s specifi c need, are factors that go into determining the best solution for timely delivery. “It’s geography. It’s the lead time the cus-tomers have, the commodity they are shipping...Th ere is a diff erent solution for each,” he says. “Th ere could be ten diff erent handoff s in the supply chain and we handle it all the way through.”

SpanningAlaskaWith the slogan “Dependable freight transportation to and from Alaska,” Span Alaska Transportation, Inc. knows the 49th state inside and out and was start-ed more than three decades ago by Ray Landry, already a transport industry vet-eran at that time. Landry passed away this year in June at age eighty-three but lived to see his legacy continue. Span Alaska Transportation, Inc. remains family

Pacifi c Alaska Freightways readying for a long haul.

Photo courtesy of PAF

Contact us at 1.800.426.3113northlandservices.com

Northland Services:Consider it done.

Since 1977, Northland has provided reliable freight transportation between

Seattle, Alaska and Hawaii. With more than 140 sailings annually, Northland

delivers cargo to more destinations in the 49th and 50th states than any

other marine carrier. Heavy equipment, construction materials, seafood

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owned and is operated today by Landry’s children, moving freight from the Lower 48 to all points in Alaska, says Span Alas-ka’s Vice President of Sales Kathy Lorec, who started with the company in 1982 as its sixth employee. “We are a private, family-owned and -operated company with many long-term employees who have a great deal of expertise in this mar-ket and who care,” she says. “We off er ex-cellent service at a competitive price.” Th e company employs 150 people at its offi ces in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Kenai, Wasilla, and Auburn, Washington, and operates 35 trucks and more than 250 pieces of rolling equipment.

In describing the company’s services, Lorec says, “Th e majority of our freight moves to the Railbelt of Alaska via ship and barge—although we move a sig-nifi cant amount of freight to Southeast Alaska, as well. We have a diversifi ed account base and move all types of freight other than that which requires refrigeration and household goods. We serve the wholesale and retail markets of almost every type of business in Alaska.” Because much of Alaska is off the road system, companies like Span Alaska utilize a broad base of multi-modal solutions to get their goods from point A to B. For customers in South-east, Bristol Bay, and western Alaska, that means using barge service. “Th e challenge is to get the freight to the cus-tomer in good shape, in time, and at a reasonable cost,” she says.

‘WorkHardandEnjoyWhatWeDo’

Based in Fife, Washington, and serving Alaska customers since 1961, Pacifi c Alaska Freightways (PAF) hauls “gen-eral freight of every kind” to, from, and throughout Alaska, says Curt Dorn, of PAF’s National Sales and Marketing. “Mainly business-to-business or to-job site,” he says. “We work with seafood processors and canneries for supplies but do not ship fi sh. Construction is a core competency of PAF’s. Our clients depend on PAF for solutions that are customized to meet and exceed their expectations.”

With the company for more than six years, Dorn says that PAF is an easy company with which to do business. “We work hard and enjoy what we do,” he says. “PAF has the unique ability to

provide a vast array of services and genu-inely establish long-lasting solutions for those clients in need of reliable freight service. It is rewarding to be able to help folks out, be a part of their business suc-cess, and turn negative experiences they may have had in the past elsewhere into a positive PAF experience.”

Pacifi c Alaska Freightways staff s four offi ces in Alaska at Anchorage, Fairbanks, Soldotna, and Kodiak. Th e company em-ploys 127 workers and operates sixty-fi ve trucks overall, with fi ft y of them in Alaska. Last year, the company realized a strong increase in 2012 cargo movement. “We moved several ocean containers, fl at beds, and drop decks serving the entire state of Alaska,” says Dorn. “Total weight in 2012 was 245,921,137 pounds, or 122,961 tons; while in 2011, the amounts were 241,008,799 pounds, or 120,505 tons.” Th e company highlights that it takes pride in ensuring the best value to Alaska customers through custom pack-aging its services to best meet the need of the specifi c client and freight, whether it’s over-height or –length or requiring a special hands-on approach. Beyond its commercial clients, the company off ers a household services component as a trans-port alternative to traditional movers.

What makes operating in Alaska un-usual? Dorn cites the three T’s. “Tides, turbulence and toil...the weather, schedules, unique client requirements, and communication and remoteness of

some locations,” he says. “Did I say the weather?”

In the geography category is South-east Alaska, largely cut off from tradi-tional roadway transport due to its is-land archipelago makeup. Th at’s not a problem for Pacifi c Alaska Freightways, he says. “We receive freight for South-east Alaska at our Tacoma and Chicago terminals, consolidate for a single sail-ing when requested, and partner with a barge service for last mile delivery in Southeast Alaska.”

DriverShortageandOtherIssues

Each year, the American Transportation Research Institute produces a report, commissioned by the American Truck-ing Associations, to identify top issues of concern across the nation’s fl eet of small and large trucking companies. Released in the fall and compiled from an annual survey of four thousand-plus trucking executives, the report for 2012 identifi ed that operators considered the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Compliance, Safety and Accountability factor as their top concern. Hours-of-service regulation ranked second, with the economy as the third issue of most concern to trucking operators. While driver shortage ranked fourth nation-wide, it is a concern that has gained extra traction in Alaska where local op-erators have watched their workforce of

A Carlile rig with a steel girder destined for a long haul to a bridge project.

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trained drivers increasingly leave Alas-ka for the lure of the booming oil and gas fi elds of North Dakota.

“You have to stay on top of it,” says Span Alaska’s Lorec. “You treat your em-ployees well; that’s one of the big things” to employee retention. Th e economy is always a concern, she says, and forecast-ing such ebbs and fl ows is a challenge to business operators who wish to run an eff ective business without becoming reactionary. “Our concentration is the freight that comes from the Lower 48 to Alaska. We feel like we take the pulse of the economy every week by how much freight we have. Th e Anchorage econo-my is doing very well. Of course every-one is very concerned with what will happen in 2014 with sequestration and how that will aff ect the military.”

While Pacifi c Alaska Freightways’ Dorn echoes that each of the concerns

identifi ed by the national survey is also of importance to his company, more so are the impending changes to roll down in employee healthcare and its impact on the business operator. He lists “the uncertainties and potential negative ef-fect of the Aff ordable Care Act” as a top concern. “We simply do not know how this will aff ect us as our government has done an inadequate job with communi-cations and implementation,” Dorn says.

At TOTE Logistics, recruitment as it relates to growth management consti-tutes a top concern. Th e topic speaks to the driver shortage issue identifi ed by executives in the national survey as key to the industry’s ongoing success.

“Our bigger concern is growth. We’ve been growing 15 percent a year,” says TOTE Logistics’s Armstrong. Th e com-pany is analyzing how best to “accom-modate the growth and add incremen-

tal drivers. We have some ideas how to address that. It’s more of a recruiting is-sue...Recruiting is the challenge. Th ere is a limited pool in Alaska that you’re pulling from. We have to be very cre-ative in how we can recruit drivers.”

Armstrong’s experience is that train-ing plays a role in subsequent retention of the employee once they are part of the organization. “We take our drivers through sort of a progression in train-ing. We try to train our drivers at the same level, very high standards. Th ere’s a rite of passage.

“We haven’t had a tremendous amount of turnover...it’s more that they leave for family reasons or other rea-sons,” Armstrong says. “We try to build in a lot of fl exibility.” For example, the company trains drivers to be qualifi ed and suffi ciently experienced to work throughout its geographic network. “We train all the drivers to do everything,” he says. “Th ey are always learning and very engaged in the business.”

Nicole A. Bonham Colby writes from Ketchikan.

“You have to stay on top of it. You treat your employees well; that’s one of the big things.”

— Kathy LorecVice President of Sales, Span Alaska

.....

SPAN ALASKA’S SERVICEmeans we all sleep easy.

Span has a great attitude toward taking care of us. They make it their personal business to follow through on everything and make sure we get what we need when we need it. Obviously, we’re very customer service oriented here at the Cook – and so are they.

– Glenn Specking, Chief Building Engineer, Hotel Captain Cook

Glenn Specking, Chief Building Engineer, Hotel Captain Cook

promises made, promises delivered

SHIPPING TO ALASKA? CALL.1.800.257.7726

www.spanalaska.com

August

� InstituteoftheNorth’s WeekoftheArcticAugust 12-18—Th e Institute has been convening Week of the Arctic since 2011 to help Alaskans understand the critical challenges and issues at stake in the Arctic. It culminates with the Robert O. Anderson Sustainable Arctic Award, which recognizes and individual or organization for long-time achievement in balancing development of Arctic resources with respect for the envi-ronment and local benefi t. institutenorth.org, 907-786-6324

September

� AlaskaOilandGasCongressSeptember 17-18—Anchorage Marriott Downtown, Anchorage: Th e Annual Alaska Oil and Gas Congress brings together oil and gas professionals from across the US, Canada, and abroad and is dedicated to updates on projects, policy, opportunities, and challenges in the oil and gas industry in Alaska.alaskaoilandgascongress.com

� Arctic/ColdRegions OilPipelineConferenceSeptember 17-19—Dena’ina Civic & Con-vention Center, Anchorage: Th is conference will consist of presentations addressing the unique challenges associated with the construction and operation of pipelines in the Alaska Arctic/Cold Regions. shannonwilson.com

� AARConventionSeptember 17-21—Hotel Captain Cook, An-chorage: Th e Alaska Association of Realtors 2013 Convention theme is “No Excuses” and will be hosted by the Valley Board of Realtors. alaskarealtors.com/2011-convention/

� AlaskaFireConferenceSeptember 23-28—Anchorage Mar-riott Downtown, Anchorage: Th e theme is “Today’s Vision, Tomorrow’s Reality” includes training, workshops, lectures, and a fi refi ghter competition. facebook.com/AlaskaFireConference

� ArcticScienceConferenceSeptember 26-28—Kodiak Harbor Conven-tion Center, Kodiak: Th is year’s theme is, “Fisheries and Watersheds: Food Security, Education and Sustainability.” Th e confer-ence features a variety of sessions focusing on marine science, sustainability, circumpo-lar health, and interdisciplinary education. Contact: Brian [email protected], arcticaaas.org

October

� AlaskaCHARRConventionOctober 1-3—Kodiak Harbor Convention Center, Kodiak: Annual convention of the Alaska Cabaret, Hotel, Restaurant & Re-tailer’s association. Th is year’s them is “Strut Your Style on the Emerald Isle.” alaskacharr.com

� AlaskaBusinessMonthly’s Top49ersLuncheonOctober 2—Dena’ina Civic & Convention Center, Anchorage: Come honor the top Alas-kan-owned and -operated companies ranked by gross revenue at our annual luncheon.Contact: Tasha Anderson, [email protected], akbizmag.com

� All-AlaskaMedicalConferenceOctober 7-9—Westmark Hotel and Confer-ence Center, Fairbanks: A continuing medical education conference put on by the Alaska Academy of Physicians Assistants, providing up to 25 CMEs. akapa.org

� AmericanFisheriesSocietyAlaskaChapterAnnualMeetingOctober 7-11—Princess Lodge, Fairbanks: Th is year’s theme is “Th e Practice of Fisheries: Celebrating all who work toward sustainable fi sheries in Alaska.”afs-alaska.org

� AlaskaTravelIndustryAssociationConvention&TradeShowOctober 8-10—Sheldon Jackson Campus, Sitka: Gathering for Alaska’s tourism industry leaders with delegates from tour operators, wholesalers, Alaska vendors, destination marketing organizations, and elected offi cials. Registration required.alaskatia.org

� AlaskaCoalitiononHousingandHomelessnessConferenceOctober 9-11—Anchorage Marriott Downtown, Anchorage: Events include keynote speakers and training sessions. Registration required.alaskahousing-homeless.org

� AlaskaStatewidePayrollConference:TheGreatLandofPayrollOctober 18—Th e Alaska Native Heritage Cen-ter, Anchorage: Payroll training and network-ing event; payroll and fi nance vendor fair. alaskaapaconference.org

� NativeKnowledge:Respecting andOwningourLivingCultureOctober 21-23—Carlson Center, Fairbanks: Sponsored by the First Alaskans Institute, the Elders & Youth Conference stimu-lates dialogue between young people and Elders, and encourages the maintenance of traditional Native values and practices in a modern world. Registration required.fi rstalaskans.org, info@fi rstalaskans.org907-677-1700

� AlaskaCommunityTransit/DOTConferenceOctober 21-24—Centennial Hall Conven-tion Center, Juneauact-dot.com

� AlaskaFederationofNativesAnnualConventionOctober 24-26—Carlson Center, Fairbanks: Annual gathering of Alaska Native peoples to discuss current news and events on a state, national and international level. Th is year’s theme is “Traditional Family Values,” with keynote speaker Nelson Angapak.907-263-1307, [email protected].

� ALASBOAnnualConferenceOctober 25-28—Hotel Captain Cook, Anchorage: Annual conference of the Alaska Association of School Business Offi cials.alasbo.org

� NWPPA/APAAlaska ElectricUtilityConferenceOctober 28-30—Dena’ina Civic & Conven-tion Center, Anchorage: Largest conference and trade show for public power utilities in Alaska, held every other year. Learn about the latest practices, innovations, and technology in the electric utility industry through education sessions, a trade show, and networking.Contact: Gail Patterson 360-816-1450 [email protected]

November

� AlaskaMinersAssociationAnnualConventionandTradeShowDate TBA—Sheraton Hotel, Anchorage: Includes luncheons, banquets, keynote speakers, and short courses. Registration required.alaskaminers.org

� AssociatedGeneralContractors ofAlaskaAnnualConferenceNovember 13-16—Anchorage: AGC of Alaska is a nonprofi t construction trade association edicated to improving the professional standards of the construction industry. agcak.org

� AnnualLocalGovernmentConferenceNovember 18-22—Anchorageakml.org

� RDCAnnualConference:AlaskaResourcesNovember 20-21—Timely updates on projects and prospects, addresses key issues and challenges, and considers the implica-tions of state and federal policies on Alaska oil and gas, mining, and other resource development sectors.akrdc.org

� BilingualMulticulturalEducation/EquityConferenceNovember 20-22—Sheraton, Anchorage: BMEEC is the largest gathering of educators in Alaska every year, sharing strategies and practices that increase the expertise of all educators in an environment of collegial exchange. bmeec.net

December

� AlaskaYoungFishermen’sSummitDecember 10-12—Marriott Hotel Down-town, Anchorage: Created by the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program, this sum-mit is designed to provide information and opportunities for fi shermen under forty and/or in the business for less than fi ve years.seagrant.uaf.edu/map/workshops/2013/ayfs

AGENDA Compiled By Tasha Anderson



special sectionBuilding Alaska

Port of Anchorage UpdatePort of Anchorage UpdatePort of Anchorage UpdateReviewing options before proceeding

The Port of Anchorage is a busy place in the summer. Ships come in to deliver goods that

are distributed to all points within the state: building materials, cement ships, cruise vessels, and regular shipments of household items. In May of this year, the fi rst ever US Navy ship commis-sioning ceremony took place on the docks of the port in a historical event.

In recent years at the Port, the vision for an expanded and improved infra-structure has been paused due to severe delays in construction.

Mayor Dan Sullivan commented: “In 2009 I was briefed during my transi-tion from Assemblyman to Mayor that the construction project was not going smoothly. It immediately became a pri-ority of my Administration to fi nd out what went wrong and what it was going to take to fi x it. My offi ce has been dili-gent with investigating the issues of the project and how to avoid problems in the future. We’ve increased communi-cation with all parties involved. At the end of the day, this project is too vital to fail and the responsibility to fi x it lies within the city leadership.”

SuitabilityStudyIn September of 2011, the US Army Corps of Engineers Alaska District con-tracted with CH2M Hill on behalf of the Municipality of Anchorage to conduct an independent Suitability Study of the Open Cell Sheet Pile foundation sys-tem designed and partially constructed to support the Intermodal Expansion Project. On November 9, 2012, the An-chorage Assembly and the Geotechni-cal Advisory Committee were briefed on the Draft Suitability Study fi ndings, and the fi nal Suitability Study Report was delivered on February 14 this year. Th e suitability study determined that the Open Cell Sheet Pile system, as de-signed for the Port of Anchorage, did not meet design criteria for static and seismic stability.

DesignCharretteBased on the draft fi ndings of the Suit-ability Study Report, we again contract-ed with CH2M Hill to develop a repair/improvement strategy for constructing a new dock at the North End of the Port of Anchorage Terminal and to stabilize and remove the areas that were deemed not successfully constructed and those that had major defects.

In November 2012, a value-based de-sign charrette was held to obtain public and private stakeholder input on the de-velopment of three concept designs. Over the course of three days, representatives from the US Maritime Administration, the Municipality of Anchorage, the Port of Anchorage, Totem Ocean Trailer Express, Horizon Lines, Cook Inlet Tug & Barge, the South West Alaska Pilots Association, the US Army Corps of Engineers Alaska District, and the CH2M Hill design team worked to achieve four objectives:

1. Obtain public and private stake-holder input on the development of up to three concepts to an approximate 15 percent design level for presentation to the Executive Committee;

2. Optimize a solution for expanding the Port of Anchorage with safe berths;

3. Reach consensus on project con-straints and factors for evaluating options;

4. Partner with private entities, ten-ants, and various agencies involved in the Port of Anchorage.

ConceptDesignStudyAft er the charrette, CH2M Hill was direct-ed to proceed to 15 percent design on three concept options. In February of this year, CH2M Hill completed the Port of Anchor-age Intermodal Expansion Project Con-cept Design Study, unveiling three concept design alternatives developed and evaluat-ed on the project goals, the fi ndings of the Suitability Study, and the outcomes of the design charrette. An overview of the con-cept alternatives, the evaluation criteria used to select a recommended alternative, and the estimated investment costs were

presented to the Anchorage Assembly on March 8 and to the Geotechnical Advisory Committee on March 19.

Th e Municipality of Anchorage is cur-rently reviewing the information from both the Suitability Study and the Concept Design Study to determine the most ap-propriate path forward for the Port of An-chorage Intermodal Expansion Project.

Th e project goals as articulated in the Concept Design Study:

a. Provide adequate facilities to sup-port transportation needs of the Port for state and local commerce as well as the national strategic military trans-port mission for years to come;

b. Provide a modern, safe, and effi cient regional port that stimulates economic development and the movement of goods into and out of Southcentral Alaska;

c. Expand and maintain expositing property, facilities, and equipment to meet growth in established marine trade;

d. Encourage natural resource ex-ports and create employment opportu-nities by attracting new industry and new cargo movement.

For more information call the main number 907-343-6200, the Port sum-mer tour hotline at 907-343-6230, or visit www.portofalaska.com.

SOURCE: Offi ce of Mayor Dan Sullivan, Municipality of Anchorage

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special section Building Alaska

Fabricated ConstructionFabricated ConstructionFabricated ConstructionBuilding with modules

By Margaret Sharpe

Project fl oor at the NANA Construction, LCC Big Lake facility.

© 2013 Chris Arend Photography

The fabricated construction con-cept is not unfamiliar to Alaska companies. Projects in the state

have used modules since the late 1950s. “Most of the fi rst constructed modular units were remnants from WWII—us-ing the Quonset hut,” says Richard Tisch, business development manager for Sol-stenXP. As a project management and contracting service company, SolstenXP works with modules on their infrastruc-ture and facilities construction jobs.

“Th ere is a certain amount of waste when you have to ship materials up here for construction, with scrap resulting from everything you fi t. In essence, you’ve paid to ship scrap up here,” says Tisch. “It is easier to have the module manufactured off site, and you end up

with a partially completed building block, like Legos; that way, you don’t pay for that excess [waste] product.”

Operation costs and constructions costs are high in Alaska because of weather and remote logistics. Th e time crunch applies to both the summer construction season and the winter ice road season. “Time is money; using prefab modules takes some of that risk out of projects for us,” says Tisch. “With modules, you are off and running—it works really well in Alaska.”

MarshCreek,LLCIn answer to the winter season, Marsh Creek, LLC, which is jointly owned by Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation and Sol-stenXP, has their patented Artic Pac to

keep equipment well insulated in arctic conditions. Developed over the years, the module is self-climatized and has been brutally tested in locations like Northern Siberia, where conditions are “as bad as it gets,” says John Cameron, General Manager for Marsh Creek’s En-ergy Systems division. Th e Arctic Pac is a pre-packaged generator set housed in an insulated and acclimatized portable prefabricated building.

Randy Eledge, VP of Business De-velopment for Marsh Creek, points out the benefi ts of building in a controlled environment and then transporting the completed structure to the project site. “Building on the Slope, you have to con-sidered that you’re going to have to be billeted somewhere on the Slope close


to the jobsite. That is very expensive. You have to have the camps, and all the catering, transportation to and from the job site,” says Eledge.

Marsh Creek builds their own spe-cialized modules, but they also use other local builders. “Most of the mod-ules we do are steel built, not wood,” says Eledge. “We have used Builders Choice for modules for an Eni project, a water and wastewater system that Eni purchased and asked us to outfit for them, but we don’t do wood.” Eledge points out that Marsh Creek modules are built to house the equipment, and Builders Choice modules are more of-ten for personnel.

BuildersChoice,Inc.Builders Choice, Inc. (BCI) is owned by Mark and Sandi Larson. “We build mod-ular dormitories, schools, offices, court houses—a real variety of things,” says Mark Larson, President. “A lot of [our modular] units are used in the oil and gas industry. Our niche is successfully building arctic-grade construction.”

“We just finished up a project at Exx-on Point Thomson where we built the permanent living facility, permanent of-fices, and the dining facility. We did all the modular build,” says Larson. “The field installation started in June. All modules have been set, and then the in-terstitial work will begin, connecting up the mechanical, electrical, and plumb-ing to make it a complete facility.”

Larson says the modular units are typically finished, from 80 to 95 per-cent complete, when they leave their Anchorage facility.

BCI is currently working on a hotel in Barrow. “They are working now on site work, on the foundation now,” says Larson. With the short building season, BCI is simultaneously constructing the finished product. “By the time we get up there, set the project, we actually can find the timeframe to complete has some-times reduced by as much as 50 percent. So by constraining that time, you auto-matically saved yourself quite a bit of money.” The hotel will ship in August, barging from Anchorage to Barrow.

Labor costs are greatly reduced for remote-site projects. “By building here, we lower the cost of the labor, because we’re not feeding, housing and trans-porting [it],” says Larson. By the same

token, BCI is extending the construc-tion season considerably for local la-borers, who are now able to work year-round indoors at their fixed site.

The BCI facility also allows for better quality control opportunities over a site build. “Being able to do the QC at ground level on everything in a multi-level complex—it pushes your quality up im-mensely,” says Larson. “You have to do a lot of pre-planning. Making changes later in the process, you are basically remodel-ing a finished building, tearing down dry wall finishes and moving things.”

AlaskaDreams,Inc.Alaska Dreams, Inc., has been in the business of making advanced fabric-covered steel buildings and pre-engi-neered metal buildings for 30 years. “We design, construct and install fabric covered structures,” says Meini Huser, President and CEO. He cited the same cost-saving benefits, such as shorter construction time and cost; but with his product, foundation requirements are less compared to conventional con-struction. “After a project is complete, you can basically disassemble the entire structure and move it to a new location without losing anything.”

“It started out being cold storage or shelters,” says Huser, “we developed in-sulation packages for them, and now we have fully functional shops, warehouses, airplane hangars—just about anything you can imagine can be housed inside one of those buildings.” Several struc-tures have combined retail/office space and manufacturing. “A good example for it is our custom fabric shop that we have here in our yard in Fairbanks.”

“We are currently working on some buildings going to Point Thomson for that project. So construction on those will start in August,” says Huser. Some of the smaller structures are manu-factured in Fairbanks, but for bigger structures, they do the design work and have them manufactured elsewhere. “The structure comes disassembled by truck or barge to Anchorage, and then trucked and finally assembled [by us] at the project site,” he says.

From tent to permanent structure, the evolution of their product is amaz-ing. “We developed and engineered the structures so they would pass permitted applications,” says Huser. The Munici-


pality of Anchorage is one of the tough-er places to get a structural permit. “We are probably the only ones who actually built fully permitted fabric structures in Anchorage. Th at was quite a process to learn all that.” Th e challenge is fi nd-ing a fabric that will hold up in the cold and the heat. “Th e wind is one of our big constants, especially on the North Slope,” he says.

Structures by Alaska Dreams that can be seen in Anchorage are the ware-house for Graybar Electric, off of Pot-ter and C Street; the Port of Anchorage also has some of their buildings; and Anchorage Sand and Gravel has a 72 by 120 foot building. All of these are fully permitted structures.

NANAConstruction,LLCNANA Construction, LLC (NCC) formed fi ve years ago in answer to the increase in need for Alaska-based module fabrication, construction, and operations and maintenance services. NANA staff , on the other hand, have pioneered building truckable industrial modules in Alaska. Led by the company President R.F. (Mac) McKee, who has

been in construction management for over four decades, NCC is poised to be on the leading edge of providing modu-lar units to the oil and gas industry.

“Basically, we service the oil and gas and mining industries and oil fi eld related projects—construction of all types,” says McKee. “We do fabrication and truckable module assembly in our facilities in Big Lake.”

Th e fabrication facility at Big Lake represents the footprint of a true manu-facturing facility. NCC had the oppor-tunity to design the facility around the

philosophy of being a high production, effi cient manufacturing plant. “We are capable of running two shift s out of the facility... we can handle well over 200 workers at Big Lake without a problem.”

NCC has three distinct business lines of modular manufacturing. Th e fi rst be-ing the fabrication and assembly of pro-cess modules. Th e second is the manu-facturing of Blast Resistant Modules (BRM). Th e third business line is light infrastructure modular construction.

NCC is the only Alaska company building BRMs suitable for arctic envi-ronments. “We have completed exten-sive research and development, as well as fi eld-testing multiple wall and panel assemblies,” says Sagen Juliussen, VP of Business Development.

BRMs protect personnel from a po-tential blast source. Typically used as temporary offi ces, they are also being considered as an option for control rooms and living quarters located in areas of a potential blast.

Th e light infrastructure modules are typically wood-framed and produced in an assembly line. Examples are camps, offi ces, break shacks, guard shacks, and bath/wash rooms. Th ese units can be stand alone or multiple unit complexes up to four stories high.

“We bring a unique perspective to the light modular construction in Alaska by providing a true turnkey solution to our clients’ needs,” says Juliussen.

AcsysAcsys President Werner Nennecker has invented a modular construction product that is “extremely thermally ef-fi cient–35 to 40 percent better than the best conventional stick and wall frame you can build,” he says.

NANA’s Big Lake manufac-turing plant can employ at least 200 people.

© 2013 Josh Lonas

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Martha Schoenthal, Senior Project ManagerJohn Conway, Senior Project ManagerDoug Cobb, Project Manager

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Stressed skin urethane core panels successfully used for years in arctic conditions as components for foundations, walls, floors and roof structural panels.


Today, Acsys is the sole producer of the tekR Series, a structural thermal envelope system, for the last three years.

Th ermal effi ciency can go a long way in Alaska, but the tekR Series has an-other attribute: speed of construction. “Th ermal performance is key in your [Alaska] environment and the fact that we go up fast” says Nennecker. “You have a short construction period, so you want to get your building dried in very quickly.” On the Norton Sound Regional Hospital in Nome, Nennecker worked with the architect fi rm Mc-Cool, Carlson, Green in Anchorage. Neeser did the construction and was able to close the building in a very short amount of time, basically extending the construction season.

Th e panels are a light gauge galva-nized, corrugated steel core. “Like a ridged potato chip on the inside,” says Nennecker. “Th ose ridges form the struc-tural capability of the panel.” Th ere are no toxic materials, just galvanized steel and expanded polystyrene foam, which are both recycled and reused in the fac-tory. “Nothing leaves our plant that is not fi nal product for the job site,” he says.

Working with architects Bezek Durst Seiser, Acsys provided their panels for the Ayagina’ar Elitnaurvik school in Kongiganak. Because of the preplanned design and packaging, the panels were installed using all local labor. “Th ere are fi ve steps you need to know to in-stall the panels; typical training is under two hours,” says Nennecker. “It goes that well because of the time and energy put into the planning—and the detail work with the architect and engi-neer before any metal is actually cut... If the design is right and the panels are produced to that spec, it basically goes in like a Lego set: it’s assembled rather than constructed.”

CornerstoneConstructionJoe Jolley, Cornerstone VP, explains how the idea of modularization or prefabri-cation is a subset of Lean Construction, a nationwide and worldwide move-ment toward eliminating waste and maximizing effi ciency. Th e pre-fab ap-proach allows for off site assembly line manufacturing in a controlled environ-ment versus having to basically set up a “factory” at the construction site for

each and every construction project in an uncontrolled environment, where weather and seasonal/access delays can aff ect the project timeline.

“We have a fascinating project go-ing on right now with the State where we are building a dorm for the AVTEC campus in Seward,” says Jolley.

“Th is is an exciting project,” Jolley adds. “Reducing disruptions to AVTEC’s academic calendar has been paramount, and the modular approach is allowing our team to build the new dorm in less than nine months.”

But building with modules is not for every construction project, explains Mike Selhay, Project Manager for the dorm project. “Th e effi ciency stems from repetition, which is common in hotels, mancamps, dorms, and any construction where you are building 40 or more of the same thing over and over again. Th en modular fabrication really makes sense.”

Margaret Sharpe writes from Palmer.

Architecture • Planning • Roof Technology

Your Vision; Our MissionDesign for Everyone


Access Alaska’s new building fully embraces the Universal Design seamless accessibility philosophy.

Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design at the New Remodeled Facility

Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design Access Alaska Celebrates Universal Design at the New Remodeled Facilityat the New Remodeled Facilityat the New Remodeled Facilityat the New Remodeled Facilityat the New Remodeled Facilityat the New Remodeled Facilityat the New Remodeled Facilityat the New Remodeled Facilityat the New Remodeled Facilityat the New Remodeled Facilityat the New Remodeled Facilityat the New Remodeled Facilityat the New Remodeled Facilityat the New Remodeled Facility

All Alaskans benefi t from all-inclusive access

By Nichelle Seely

I’m standing in the sundrenched lobby of Access Alaska, talking to Simon Marelas Jr. about what this

agency has done for him. I can faintly smell the fresh paint, and the light is gleaming soft ly from the new polished concrete fl oor and wood panels.

“Everything. Th ey do everything. Help me get a place to live, help me get a fresh start,” Marelas says.

His voice is slightly slurred because Marelas is partially deaf, and although his hearing aids are helpful, he still has diffi culty distinguishing the con-

versation if there’s a lot of background noise—which in this case there is. Ac-cess Alaska is preparing for an open house, welcoming the public and local media to examine the beautiful new premises.

MaximizingUniversalDesignTh e organization’s tagline is “Opening Doors to Independence;” its goal is to provide independent living services to seniors and anyone who experiences a disability. Th e overall mission is nothing less than to encourage and promote the

complete integration of disabled individ-uals within society and the greater com-munity of their choice, and they walk their talk. Over 51 percent of the staff are disabled in some fashion: hearing or vi-sion impairment, mobility impairment (Jim Beck, the executive director, has a disability, and another staff member is in a wheelchair), or traumatic brain in-jury. When it came time to design a new facility, this forward-thinking organiza-tion wanted to do more than incorporate the accessibility minimums required by the building code. Access Alaska want-


Photo by Mark Meyer


ed to go all the way and utilize what is known as Universal Design to its full and logical extent.

Everyone is familiar with the sight of wheelchair ramps on public buildings. It’s generally off to the side, an aft er-thought tacked on to meet the code re-quirement. Th e underlying philosophy of Universal Design is that good design should be seamlessly accessible to ev-eryone, everywhere, in the same place at the same time; all-inclusive and all-pur-pose but without an institutional feel.

Th e new location has been in the works for a while. Access Alaska had been leasing, but the board decided that it was more sustainable in the end to design a facility—that way, money invested in the property would be an actual asset for the organization, which would have site control and be able to drive the fi nished product to meet any unique needs. It took time to fi nd a suit-able building in an appropriate location that the nonprofi t organization could aff ord. A promising site in Anchorage’s Fairview neighborhood, the old An-chorage Neighborhood Health Clinic, was fi nally selected. Th e building was aff ordable and the location ideal—the bus route goes right by and many of Access Alaska’s clientele already live in Fairview.

Th e downside was that the existing building wasn’t anything close to what it needed to be.

WinningConceptTo fi nd a qualifi ed design team, Access Alaska held a contest asking for concept designs. Th e winning team of Bezek Durst Seiser Architects (BDS) and Cri-terion General, Inc. became the organi-zation’s partners in design.

BDS and Criterion have collaborated on many projects, several of which cater to clients with special needs. Se-nior housing, low income housing, and independent living facilities all have specialized code requirements. In ad-dition, BDS has an extensive portfolio of schools and university projects. Th e team’s combined experience along with its winning proposal made this team fi rst choice, and Access Alaska soon re-alized they had made a good decision.

“Th ey really got inside our heads,” Ac-cess Alaska Executive Director Jim Beck notes. “Th ey listened to us, they knew


what we wanted, and they kept coming back until they had it exactly right.”

At first glance, the old clinic wasn’t much to look at. It had a clerestory and an old glass trombe wall from the seventies, but neither element was be-ing utilized to its full extent. The clere-story followed a narrow institutional hallway from which small exam rooms protruded. The trombe wall, meant to absorb solar energy and release it to the interior at night, didn’t really work well in the Alaska climate and was walled off from the rest of the structure. The building had been remodeled several times, and the result was a hodgepodge of tiny, interlocking spaces, many of which had no access to daylight.

“We couldn’t imagine how to make it work, but the architects could really see beyond what was here,” says Kellie Miller, Access Alaska executive assis-tant, who has been part of the process since the beginning. Seeing the build-ing completed is the realization of not only a dream, but a long slogging pro-cess. She loves the new facility, especial-ly the lighting. “We had to fight so hard to maintain the lighting design; there was a lot of pressure to downgrade—but we stuck to our guns and it’s beau-tiful. When someone commented on how good it looked, I nearly cried—the process has been so hard and nonprof-its don’t have a lot of money.”

TrulyIntegratedLed by BDS principal Eric Spangler, the design team worked to develop a truly integrated design. The build-ing was gutted, exposing the structure and maximizing the opportunities for daylight. A series of individual pods or meeting rooms was conceived, each one geared for a particular disability. One room has a private video phone for the hearing impaired. One room is large enough to accommodate an oversize motorized wheelchair and has a play area so a client with small children can come without needing to find child-care. Thick sound-rated dividing walls and acoustic panels ensure the privacy of consultations and also the acoustic modulating effect needed for those with hearing impairments. Translucent pan-els allow for natural lighting and also a modicum of supervision from outside the pods so that the safety of clients and providers is never in question.

Each room has sliding barn doors with full-length windows rather than normal swing doors. This keeps them from en-croaching on the hallway space which might impinge the progress of a disabled person. The hallways themselves are ex-tra wide, wide enough that someone in a wheelchair can proceed next to some-one walking beside them and still leave room for a person coming the other way. There’s even a common video phone room where hearing impaired individu-

als can simply walk in and take advan-tage of the equipment and a computer center where clients can put together resumes or access online services.

Part of the services provided by Access Alaska includes peer counseling. For ex-ample, someone recovering from a trau-matic brain injury will be shepherded through the process by a staff member who has themselves experienced such an injury. A deaf client will be assigned to a provider who is also hearing im-paired. Such collaboration ensures that the client has all their needs addressed by someone who actively shares and can anticipate those needs and who knows what the client is experiencing, even if the client has difficulty articulating in-dividual requirements.

MoreThanaSafeHavenThe built environment is designed to be more than a safe haven, it’s meant to be quietly empowering and not only for the clients. The job performed by the dedicated staff at Access Alaska is stressful and demanding. The back-of-house area set aside for offices and workrooms is based on other contem-porary models to promote a creative, collaborative work environment. The open office plan is not only more acces-sible, it is inherently more welcoming, and daylight from the clerestory and the glass trombe wall (now open to the workspace) reaches into every corner.

Above: Access Alaska employee office area. Right: Hallways are extra wide for people and wheelchairs to pass without having to turn sideways or scrunch up against the wall.

Photo courtesy of Access Alaska

Photo by Mark Meyer


Open nooks with tables and bench seat-ing allow for impromptu meetings or gatherings for staff —in fact, the large, internal conference room is rarely used. As Miller says, everyone wants to be where the light is and where the other people are. Th e room also features walls painted with “writeable” paint that can be written over with markers and then erased so that no idea is ever lost for lack of a piece of paper.

Transparency, collaboration, em-powerment—these are the watchwords of Access Alaska, and the organiza-tion now has a building that supports it throughout every nook and cranny. One of the core services off ered is the lending of durable medical equipment. Th is includes used wheelchairs, physi-cal therapy machines, and prosthetics. One room in the building is devoted to the sanitation of donated equipment.

“Th ink how much stuff Medicaid pays for, which is then discarded when someone dies or regains their mobility,” says Beck. “It’s built to last for decades, and we can clean it up, repair it, and get it back out to people who need it. We’d love to become the depot for durable used medical equipment.” He pauses. “Society has a lower expectation of the disabled. Th ey don’t expect them to be productive citizens. We believe diff er-ently. We know that disabled people can be just as valuable through work or volunteer activities as a normal person, they just need a little bit of help.”

Back in the lobby, I continue my con-versation with Marelas. He used to be homeless; he used to pull his belong-ings in a cart behind his bicycle. Now he has a place to live and a place to come to continue his transition.

“Th ey’ve helped me so much,” says Marelas. “Helped me to get back into life, with language and everything. I want to know all about the world, about the city; where the taxes are going, why we’re at war, what the government is do-ing. I’m part Mexican, but when people ask me where I’m from, now I just say I’m from Earth, I’m a person, I’m just like everyone else.”

Indeed. All it takes is willingness, a helping hand, and a place to be.

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From exploratory drilling in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alas-ka to a new power plant for the

Mat-Su to drilling and site work at Don-lin Creek, Livengood, and Pebble mines, workers will be busy all over the state. About 16,500 workers, in fact; that’s about how many people work in the construction industry. Th at’s about the same number of employees who worked in the industry last year.

Total construction spending is ex-pected to be up about 8 percent this year.

Work in the oil and gas sector is expect-ed to be up a whopping 13 percent, while health care and federal defense spending are both down considerably—by 17 per-cent in the health care fi eld and 55 per-cent in national defense construction.

Th at’s according to the yearly As-sociation of General Contractors of Alaska (AGC) construction forecast, an outlook AGC has compiled with Scott Goldsmith at the University of Alaska Anchorage’s Institute of Social and Economic Research every year for the

last decade. Th e Construction Industry Progress Fund pays for the forecast.

Whyisaforecastneeded?John MacKinnon, executive director of AGC, says the general contractors in the organization’s membership count on the yearly construction forecast to help them prepare for the coming con-struction season.

“Our members have to go to banks and bonding companies and get money for [the coming season]. Th ey have to

Education projects like the UAF Life Sciences Building completed this year and named after naturalist Margaret “Mardy” Murie, the University of Alaska’s fi rst female graduate (Class of 1924), help boost construction spending, which is ex-pected to be nearly half a billion dollars this year.

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It’s federal, it’s state, it’s public, it’s private, it’s over$8 billion dollars, what is it going to build?

By Rindi White

Construction Spending Forecast

Construction Construction Construction Construction Construction Construction Construction Construction Construction Construction Construction Construction Construction Construction Spending ForecastSpending ForecastSpending ForecastSpending ForecastSpending ForecastSpending ForecastSpending ForecastSpending ForecastSpending ForecastSpending ForecastSpending ForecastSpending ForecastSpending ForecastSpending Forecast


show there’s an outlook, and that it’s favorable,” he says.

MacKinnon says readers shouldn’t make too much of the fact that one sec-tor is up and another is down. Work in each fi eld varies from year to year, he says. While hospital and health care construction is projected to be down this year, it’s been up in recent years as local health care providers have added or expanded on their campuses or moved into new locations.

Additionally, he says, federal defense spending might be down this year, but indications are that it will be back up.

“We’ve heard it’s a hiccup in the funding stream,” MacKinnon says. “Indications are it will rebound. But you never know what’s going to come out of Washington.”

Construction related to the Alaska Railroad is also down signifi cantly—57 percent, according to the forecast—but Goldsmith and Alaska Railroad offi cials say they hope the dip will be temporary. Major users, such as Usibelli Coal Mine in Healy and fuel from Flint Hills, have scaled back operations and are moving less freight. Th e railroad is continuing work on a major bridge project across

the Tanana at Salcha and is partnering with the Mat-Su Borough on the Port MacKenzie rail extension, but most of its capital spending this year will be de-voted to instituting positive train con-trol, or PTC, a federally mandated train collision avoidance system.

OilPatchSpendingTh e oil and gas sector accounts for $3.6 billion in construction spending; nearly half the $8.38 billion projected haul. Construction is expected to be up by 13 percent over last year, growth that Goldsmith says is driven by “the continuing high prices of oil and gas,

the increase in the cost of inputs to all phases of oil and gas operations, the growing need to maintain the aging in-frastructure and facilities on the North Slope and in Cook Inlet, and last but not least, the tax credits available to com-panies as part of ACES [Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share] production tax.”

So much of the increase is related to doing business in Alaska’s political and physical climate. But major producers will also be spending on development and to increase production. ExxonMobil, he says, will be focusing on Point Th omson fi eld development while ConocoPhillips is the only major producer planning to do

The Murie Building is more than one hundred thousand gross square feet.

© 2013 Ken Graham Photography.com

Cornerstone General Contractors, Inc. 5050 Cordova Street, Anchorage, AK 99503

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exploratory drilling in the National Petro-leum Reserve-Alaska, on the Bear Tooth and Moose’s Tooth prospects. Conoco is also preparing to drill in the Beaufort Sea, on the Outer Continental Shelf, next year, Goldsmith writes. Shell, he says, plans to return to the Beaufort and Chukchi seas to complete wells that were begun last year. But those plans are on hold while its rigs are repaired in Asia, he notes.

Other producers—Eni, Pioneer, and Savant, will be drilling, evaluating potential sites, or in development, he notes. Brooks Range Petroleum, Rep-sol, and Linc Petroleum are doing ex-ploratory drilling, and Great Bear will evaluate the results of south Prudhoe Bay shale oil investigations and “may move forward with a development plan this summer,” Goldsmith writes.

Cook Inlet will be home to a consid-erable amount of work as well, Gold-smith says. Hilcorp, the company that purchased the assets of Chevron and Unocal, will focus on new development within its holdings and on “refurbish-ing old assets,” Goldsmith writes. Two jack-up rigs are also expected to be in operation in Cook Inlet this summer: Buccaneer with its Endeavor and Furie, which will use another rig to explore. Apache will be drilling its fi rst well on the west side of Cook Inlet, he writes.

TheOtherHalfIn the mining sector, Goldsmith projects about $330 million in construction spend-ing, down 4 percent from last year. He says investment is on track to increase, at Greens Creek to extend the life of the mine, while drilling and site work will continue on the Donlin Creek, Livengood, and Peb-ble mines, as well as several smaller mines.

Utility spending, Goldsmith says, will likely be slightly higher than last year—$830 million, up 5 percent

from last year. Some major projects account for that spending—Chugach Electric Association and Municipal Light and Power are wrapping up work on the Southcentral Power Project, a 183-megawatt shared power project lo-cated in Anchorage. Matanuska Electric Association is building a 171-megawatt power plant near Eklutna, and Munici-pal Light & Power is building a replace-ment plant for its existing facility in northeast Anchorage. Smaller projects are also being built around the state, including some hydroelectric projects.

Health Care and hospital construction may be down, but not counted out en-tirely. Goldsmith projects $229 million will be spent this year around the state. Much of that will be in smaller facilities across Alaska, such as an expansion at Central Peninsula Hospital in Kenai. A replacement hospital in Wrangell may begin this year, he says, and a new hospi-tal is being developed in Ketchikan.

A large chunk of spending—$440 million—will be done in residential home construction. Alaska has had few diffi culties related to the national hous-ing market crash. Last year saw a slight uptick in new residential building per-mits in Anchorage, Goldsmith writes. He projects that more housing units will be built this year and that values will continue to rise due to low interest rates.

National defense spending is being slashed; a fact Goldsmith says is due to MILCON, or military construction spending, dropping from $300 million to $50 million.

“New fi ring ranges and utility up-grades are the only projects currently scheduled,” he writes.

Other aspects of national defense spending, from Formerly Used Defense Site cleanup to dredging at the Anchorage port, are expected to be similar to last year.

The Murie Building is a state-of-the

arctic research, teaching, and

learning facility at UAF.

© 2013 Ken Graham Photography.com


Highway spending makes up a sig-nifi cant chunk of the overall construc-tion spending forecast: $824 million, up 41 percent over last year. Th e growth stems from state spending—transpor-tation bond packages and state capital investment. Th e federal transporta-tion act MAP21, passed last year, also appropriated $460 million for Alaska projects, Goldsmith writes.

State spending is largely allocated to match the federal investment, as well as some budget categories geared toward specifi c programs, such as the Roads to Resources program. Th e state also passed a $453 million bond package that includ-ed $227 million for highways, $37 million for bridges, and $200 million for ports.

Th e other major public spending cat-egory is education, which Goldsmith projects will see $497 million in con-struction spending this year.

Th at investment is “driven up by a large University of Alaska budget, the funding of two rural schools, and some locally funded schools fi nally under construction,” Goldsmith writes.

Th e University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolf Arena project, named the Alas-ka Airlines Center, accounts for a large amount of the education spending. Th e $109 million building is expected to be complete in fall 2014.

Goldsmith says construction on two new engineering buildings—one at the University of Alaska Anchorage and a second for the University of Alaska Fairbanks—is expected to begin this year. Neither project is fully funded. Other university education spending includes a career and tech center and dormitory in Kenai, Goldsmith writes, and deferred maintenance projects.

Th e state is also funding two new schools in western Alaska at Emmonak and Koliganek. Th e schools are part of the settlement of Willie and Sophie Ka-sayulie, et al versus the State of Alaska regarding funding for rural schools.

New schools are also slated for con-struction in Valdez, Kodiak, and the Mat-Su Borough, funded by local bonds with state reimbursement. Upgrades and reno-vation projects are also planned at other school facilities around the state.

Rindi White is a freelance journalist living in Palmer.

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Storyknife Writers’ RetreatStoryknife Writers’ RetreatStoryknife Writers’ RetreatStoryknife Writers’ RetreatStoryknife Writers’ RetreatStoryknife Writers’ RetreatStoryknife Writers’ RetreatStoryknife Writers’ RetreatStoryknife Writers’ RetreatStoryknife Writers’ RetreatStoryknife Writers’ RetreatStoryknife Writers’ RetreatStoryknife Writers’ RetreatStoryknife Writers’ RetreatStoryknife Writers’ RetreatStoryknife Writers’ RetreatStoryknife Writers’ RetreatStoryknife Writers’ RetreatStoryknife Writers’ RetreatStoryknife Writers’ RetreatStoryknife Writers’ RetreatStoryknife Writers’ RetreatStoryknife Writers’ RetreatStoryknife Writers’ RetreatStoryknife Writers’ RetreatStoryknife Writers’ RetreatStoryknife Writers’ RetreatStoryknife Writers’ RetreatStoryknife Writers’ RetreatAlaskan author plans to double opportunity for women writers

By Mari Gallion

Dana Stabenow, the author of twenty-nine books including those in the wildly popular Kate

Shugak series, doesn’t forget where she came from—in more ways than one.

Not only is her Kate Shugak character an Aleut who lives on a 160-acre home-stead in a generic national park in Alas-ka, the state where Stabenow was born, raised, and calls home—but Stabenow also hasn’t forgotten the life-changing investment that was made on behalf of Hedgebrook Farm Retreat for women writers on Whidbey Island, Washing-ton, where she was granted two weeks of room, board, and solitude in order to apply her focused energy towards what would later be her fi rst published book.

It was the combination of these two formative components in Stabenow’s life that provided inspiration for what she sees as her most important project of

all, the product of all her written works combined: Storyknife Writers’ Retreat, a proposed six-cabin retreat for women writers—in the tradition of Hedgebrook Farm with an Alaskan twist—expected to serve a projected forty (with poten-tial to serve up to one hundred) women writers each year by providing room, board, solitude, transportation from Anchorage, and Alaska experiences to help them hone their craft .

Th e retreat will be built on six acres of ocean view property in Homer. Se-lect women writers will be granted a stay between six and eight weeks, write all day, and come together for dinner in the main house, where meals will be

prepared and served. Th ese six cabins at Storyknife will give aspiring women writers a place of their own and time free of any other obligation. Th eir only job while at the retreat is to write.

WhereSheCameFromBorn in Anchorage and raised in Kachemak Bay, Stabenow spent her early years surrounded by Alaska Na-tive friends, neighbors, and culture.

“I didn’t realize I was ‘white’ until I went to college,” she says, indicating that skin color was as much a non-issue to her friends as it was to her.

It only makes sense that Kate Shugak, the protagonist in most of her novels,

Those interested in helping make Storyknife a reality can check the status of the 501 (c) 3 application and make a donation at:

storyknife.org/support/

Alaskan author Dana Stabenow writes from her home overlooking Kachemak Bay in Homer.

© Nathan Havey, courtesy of Thrive Consulting Group


would be a composite of those people to which the author was exposed, rep-resenting the quintessential strong and truly Alaskan female character. Stabe-now hopes to garner interest among the Alaska Native community, not only in the form of grantees, but also funders interested in helping preserve what will otherwise be lost.

“Litera scripta manent,” Stabenow says. “What is written endures. If you don’t write it down, it will be lost—period—end. In the Bush, there is a lifestyle going on now that is not going to survive the people living it—and if it doesn’t get writ-ten down, it will not be remembered.”

Although a fi ctitious character, Shugak is directly responsible for the bigger part of Stabenow’s success, so much so that she feels compelled to share with women like her. “Th is will be the retreat that Kate Shugak built,” Stabenow says. “And she is a woman and an Alaska Native.”

It is also Alaska Native culture that provided Stabenow with the inspiration for the name of the retreat: Storyknife.

According to Stabenow’s website, storyknife is the English translation for the Yupik word yaaruin. Tradition-ally, young Yupik girls would use yaa-ruin made from wood, bone, antler, or ivory to carve stories in snow and in river banks to entertain their younger siblings. Th e stories oft en featured the lesson that disobeying one’s parents could carry the consequence of being killed and eaten by monsters. As girls who write stories about monsters in the snow become women who write full-length novels—some of them about monstrous acts—it’s a more-than-fi tting name for a writer’s retreat for women in Alaska founded by a writer of murder mysteries.

“As a traditional Alaska Native ve-hicle for storytelling,” Stabenow says, “it is the perfect metaphor for what we hope to accomplish at Storyknife.”

Stabenow is proud to be the “100 per-cent, through-and-through” product of the Alaska public school system. She attended Cordova Elementary School, Seldovia Elementary and High Schools, received her Bachelor of Arts in Jour-nalism from University of Alaska Fair-banks in 1973, and her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Univer-sity of Alaska Anchorage in 1985.

Th e Hedgebrook retreat is the only writer’s retreat in existence exclusively for women, as far as Stabenow knows. Once Storyknife Writers’ Retreat is op-erational, it will have doubled the op-portunity for women writers to obtain a residency in such a retreat, and Sta-benow is proud to provide women with this opportunity—but says that even with her contribution, women writers deserve much more.

“Women are still the primary care-givers,” she says. “Th ey are the primary homemakers. Women still earn sixty cents to the man’s dollar. Women still need the extra help. Th ey just do—it’s a fact. Probably most educated men would agree with that. So it’s got to be for women. It’s going to be for women writers for those reasons.”

ConstructionStabenow demonstrates that she knows how to reward a business for a job well done: She has re-hired Scott Bauer, the contractor who built her house in 2006, to be the general contractor for Storyknife.

“We’ve stayed good friends, and have communicated quite a bit since then,” Bauer says.

Stabenow plans to build six thirty-by-forty-foot cabins, each with a bedroom, bathroom, and Internet access. Lunch will be delivered to the residents in their cabins, and dinner will be served in the main house, modeled aft er Stabenow’s own. Th is main house will be the resi-dence of the caretaker/chef, one of only two full-time employees at the retreat, the other being the executive director.

Th e timeline for construction, ac-cording to Bauer, is contingent upon the success of fundraising. When asked about the current phase of construc-tion, Bauer responds with, “waiting for money to appear.”

“We’ve done a few things like a soils adequacy test for a septic system,” Bau-er says, noting that the septic system is usually the biggest issue when it comes to building in Homer, “and everything passed… but Dana wants to feel confi -dent that she does have the money be-fore we get too carried away.”

“We are considering putting a road extension in, and the things we have done, including the soils test and septic design, are all things that add value to the land regardless, so we will continue along those paths,” Bauer says.

Since having cleared the hurdle of the soils and septic tests, Bauer rests as-sured that Storyknife is “not that diffi -cult of a project”: six small cabins and a fi ve-star energy rated house exactly like one he has built before.

HeatingaUniqueSite“We want to try some alternative ener-gy things,” Bauer says. “Th e cabins will be very small and very well-insulated, so we’re looking at perhaps heat pumps and possibly some alternative heat source for the little cabins.”

According to Bauer, heat pumps are not yet popular in Alaska.

“What they do is take heat out of the air,” he says, using the “opposite of a re-frigerator” as an illustration. “Even air down to thirty or thirty-two degrees

Stabenow is the author of twenty-nine books, including the extremely popular Kate Shugak series.

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has heat in it, so a heat pump is just a compressor that extracts the heat from the air and puts it into a building.”

Because heat pumps get less eff ec-tive and effi cient in the cold, the cabins will need to have another heat source, most likely electric. Despite gas being plumbed in to many parts of Homer at this time, it is not yet available in the vicinity of Storyknife. Th e heating op-tions available in Stabenow’s area in-clude propane, oil, and electric.

Although some of Stabenow’s neigh-bors have found that the area has excel-lent conditions for wind energy, Stabe-now and Bauer agree that the batteries used to store the wind energy are not yet eff ective enough to make wind en-ergy viable for the retreat. Stabenow admits that the future could take her in any direction, but that she needs to plan for what makes sense right now, hoping to see the retreat fi nished next summer.

GoodNeighborsStabenow aims to remain a well-re-spected neighbor by making sure the residents of Homer feel a sense of own-ership in the retreat’s success by utiliz-ing local businesses whenever possible.

Stabenow plans to provide each of the residents with one Alaska excursion as a part of her residency, if possible. If suf-fi ciently funded to implement this plan, Stabenow says she will defi nitely be us-ing Bald Mountain Air and Mako’s Water Taxi for the residents’ adventures but will be spreading excursion opportunities around the entire Homer tourism busi-ness sector. While implementation of this plan as part of the retreat residency is up to the discretion of the board, Stabe-

now likes the idea so much that she may pay for it out-of-pocket, if she is able.

Additionally, her Alaskan neighbors seem to be willing to transcend their regular business off erings in order to be involved in an undeniably benefi cial project. Rita Jo Shoulz, former owner of Fitz Creek Gardens and current peony grower, has volunteered to do the land-scaping, which will include, in Shoulz’s words, “lots of peonies.”

Th e menu will also have a decidedly local infl uence.

“Storyknife will be a nonprofi t group” Stabenow says, “which means it can sign up for the moose road kill program. Any fi sherman who runs out of freezer space, Storyknife stands ready to take their overfl ow. Storyknife will have a hoop garden and supply the retreat’s table with as many greens and vegetables as we can grow.”

StrengthinUnionStoryknife Writers’ retreat founder and president Stabenow has assembled three board members and is currently troll-ing for more. So far, the board includes Pati Crofut, executive director for Arts on the Edge, as vice president; Rhonda Sleighter, a paralegal, as secretary; and Nora Elliot, an Anchorage-based CPA, as treasurer. Noteworthy members in-clude Catherine Stevens, wife of late Senator Ted Stevens and former board member for the National Endowment of the Arts; and Jeannie Penney, rumored to be an incredible organizer.

At the time of this writing, Storyk-nife is still waiting for offi cial word from the IRS on its status as a 501 (c) 3, tax-exempt nonprofi t corporation.

However, that is not stopping Stabenow from asking for support.

Stabenow has launched a crowd-sourced funding round on Storyknife’s website and on her fan sites. Th e orga-nization is accepting donations of all denominations, but current donors can receive gift s that range from a com-memoration in the form of a brick or a wall plate at a to-be-determined location at the retreat ($1,000 donation) to the op-portunity to name a cabin aft er the wom-an of their choice ($250,000 donation).

According to the Storyknife website, the current $1 million fundraising cam-paign is the fi rst phase in a much larger eff ort to raise a total of $21 million to cover the costs of developing the prop-erty and ensuring its continuing legacy through a $20 million endowment.

Stabenow certainly sets a good exam-ple of charity by donating a large por-tion of her own money to the project, “chipping away” at the construction as she can aff ord it, with her personal to-tal up to more than $15,000. As a writer with no heirs and few encumbrances, she feels that this retreat is her legacy for women with great potential and great need, so they too can enjoy the reward of a fair living for what they do best.

“I just need a little money every year to travel,” she says, “because I want to con-tinue to do that. Other than that, I’m go-ing to write books until I can’t write them anymore, so I’m going to have income,” she pauses, switching to a comedic third-per-son narrative, “she says confi dently.”

Above: A yaaruin is traditionally made of ivory, bone, antler, or wood. Left: Stabenow and general contrac-tor Scott Bauer discuss the layout of the proposed retreat.

Photos © Nathan Havey, courtesy of Thrive Consulting Group

Mari Gallion is Associate Editor at Alaska Business Monthly.

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66 Alaska Business Monthly | August 2013� www.akbizmag.com

special sections Building Alaska & Environmental Services

Northern Energy Effi ciencies, Design & Architecture

By�Gail�West

The elders knew. When winter came to Anaktuvuk Pass, homes built into the ground were warm-

er and more habitable. Th en came “con-ventional” housing and homes became harder to build and harder to heat. In the Brooks Range and accessible only by plane, this tiny Nunamiut commu-nity currently has wood-frame struc-tures built on pilings in the 1970s—ex-posing the homes to the intense winds of the mountain pass.

When the Cold Climate Housing Re-search Center arrived in Anaktuvuk Pass in 2008 to begin a research study of the area housing, Aaron Cooke,

CCHRC architectural designer, said he heard from community members: “We used to bury our dead up in the air and live in the ground where it was warm. Now we bury our dead in the ground and live in the wind. We’ve been cold ever since.”

By listening to the traditional knowl-edge and combining it with lessons learned and innovative technologies, CCHRC and its partner, Tagiugmiullu Nunamiullu Housing Authority, a trib-ally designated housing entity serving the North Slope, designed a prototype home. Th is prototype is being used to test an experimental active venting sys-

tem, a roof truss system designed to hold solar panels, and sprayed polyurethane foam insulation sealed with a spray-applied elastomeric liner to insulate the walls, fl oor, and roof and provide a weatherproof exterior fi nish. Th e home is also bermed with soil as insulation and a wind buff er and has a foundation of two feet of gravel fi ll topped with a synthetic waterproof membrane that supports the home’s light frame that is fi lled with spray foam insulation. Th e new house sits directly on the ground.

Cooke said traditional homes in many rural Arctic areas “sat very light-ly on the earth, so we’re experimenting

The Quinhagak prototype home was�designed�by�CCHRC�to�sit�lightly�on�the�ground�it�occupies�and�to�be�leveled�by�its�occupants�with�common�tools.�

Photo by Aaron Cooke

Northern Energy Effi ciencies, Northern Energy Effi ciencies, Northern Energy Effi ciencies, Northern Energy Effi ciencies, Northern Energy Effi ciencies, Northern Energy Effi ciencies, Northern Energy Effi ciencies, Northern Energy Effi ciencies, Northern Energy Effi ciencies, Northern Energy Effi ciencies, Northern Energy Effi ciencies, Northern Energy Effi ciencies, Northern Energy Effi ciencies, Northern Energy Effi ciencies, Design & ArchitectureDesign & ArchitectureDesign & ArchitectureDesign & ArchitectureDesign & ArchitectureDesign & ArchitectureDesign & ArchitectureDesign & ArchitectureDesign & ArchitectureDesign & ArchitectureDesign & ArchitectureDesign & ArchitectureDesign & ArchitectureDesign & ArchitectureDesign & ArchitectureDesign & ArchitectureDesign & ArchitectureDesign & ArchitectureDesign & ArchitectureDesign & ArchitectureDesign & ArchitectureDesign & ArchitectureDesign & ArchitectureDesign & ArchitectureDesign & ArchitectureDesign & ArchitectureDesign & ArchitectureDesign & Architecture

Bettisworth North Architects & PlannersBusinessPROFILE

Integrated design for northern energy efficiency

P A I D A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Fairbanks Office212 Front Street, Ste. 200Fairbanks AK 99701Ph. (907) 456-5780

Anchorage Office2600 Denali Street, Ste. 710Anchorage AK 99503Ph. (907) 561-5780

www.bettisworthnorth.com

Integrated design for northern Integrated design for northern Integrated design for northern Integrated design for northern Integrated design for northern Integrated design for northern Integrated design for northern Integrated design for northern Integrated design for northern Integrated design for northern energy efficiencyenergy efficiencyenergy efficiencyenergy efficiencyenergy efficiencyenergy efficiencyenergy efficiencyenergy efficiencyenergy efficiencyenergy efficiency

Photos left to right: Fairbanks Airport, Ketchikan Library (uses biomass boiler), Tanana Chiefs Conference Chief Isaac Andrew Health Clinic, (LEED Gold).

Photos by Kevin Smith Photography

“As Alaska community builders, Bettisworth North Architects and Planners helps clients

design community places that improve Alaskans’ lives,” says Roy Rountree, AIA, lifelong Alaskan and principal at Bettisworth North in Anchorage.

Over 37 years, Bettisworth North grew from a sole proprietorship founded by Charles “CB” Bettisworth, a Fairbanks architect and professional planner. Bettisworth’s legacy includes the new Fairbanks International Air-port, named one of the world’s “9 Beautiful New Airport Terminals” by The Atlantic Cities.

Now a 32-person firm, Bettisworth North is one of few firms in Alaska to integrate architecture, planning, inte-rior design, and landscape architecture in a collaborative firm.

“This integrated approach and col-laboration with clients and communi-ty members help us solve all aspects of the building design,” says Tracy Vana-irsdale, AIA, LEED AP®, principal in the firm’s Fairbanks office. “Our clients’ top concern now is efficient, sustain-able design solutions. Our responses must provide maintainable solutions, from envelope to space planning, main-tenance-free landscaping, and low op-eration budgets.”

The firm is in a unique position to help solve this design problem state-wide—designing schools, military facilities, housing, clinics, museums,

libraries, offices, public safety build-ings, airports, and university cam-pus buildings in Fairbanks and Rural Alaska, where the extreme 150-degree temperature swing has always made energy efficiency a priority.

As a result, recent studies report Fairbanks public buildings to be the most efficient in the state. Also, in June 2013, Tanana Chiefs Conference Chief Andrew Isaac Health Clinic in Fair-banks received a LEED Gold certifica-tion. Bettisworth North also designed five other LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Alaska buildings.

Most of the firm’s projects—Ket-chikan Public Library, Ketchikan Fire Station No. 1, University of Alaska Ke-nai Peninsula College Student Hous-ing, Raven Landing Continuous Care Retirement Community, and Fair-banks airport terminal—are designed to LEED Silver or Gold standards coupled with an arctic approach for energy efficiency and sustainability, through early energy modeling and new building technologies.

“On the North Pole Library and Val-dez Middle School, our team provided estimated energy use or EUI—Energy Use Indexes. We kept the client ap-prised of projected energy use and re-lated operations costs at every phase of the project,” says Vanairsdale. “We used that data to inform our design, includ-ing the payback of energy cost savings

in years, depending on amount of insu-lation, utilizing daylighting where most effective, or analyzing the most efficient heating systems, for example.”

Renewable energy is also part of the firm’s portfolio. Bettisworth North designed the Ketchikan Library to ac-commodate a biomass boiler as an ef-commodate a biomass boiler as an ef-commodate a biomass boiler as an efficient, cost-effective, sustainable heat source. On two Rural Alaska commu-nity office building projects in Interior and Southwest Alaska, Bettisworth North is working with the commu-nities to design for location-specific renewable energy sources, including sharing fuel sources and using waste heat to power new facilities.

“Through high-performance build-ing and site design specific to each com-munity, we help our clients save money and resources on energy, so they can focus on providing the services needed to make Alaska a viable place to live and prosper,” says Rountree.


with returning to on-grade structures. In areas of deep permafrost, you want to keep the ground cold. If you build a house on piles, you don’t have the melting permafrost problem but now you have to heat the floor as well as the walls and the roof. Keeping the ground cold feels less admirable if you have to keep yourself cold to do it.”

Cooke describes the “floating slab foundation” that CCHRC has developed as a prototype for building in perma-frost: “We’ve come up with a monolithic raft foundation—a rigid, sprayed foam foundation with joists embedded in it. It keeps heat from escaping into the ground and keeps the house down on grade and out of the wind. We’ve even done earth-banking around walls to lessen the heating load of the building.”

CCHRC is one of a handful of Alaska organizations that have taken the tra-ditional knowledge of the indigenous peoples and melded it with developing technology to create new solutions for Arctic challenges. The Institute of the North’s Week of the Arctic, August 12-18 this year, will feature presentations and case studies from many of them. Cooke is scheduled to present case studies during the morning session of the Northern Energy Efficiency, Archi-tecture and Design track.

In addition to the housing prototype for Anaktuvuk Pass, Cooke plans to discuss another prototype developed for homes in Quinhagak, a village at the mouth of the Kuskokwim River.

“Here, we’re working on a founda-tion that can be leveled by the people living in the home. No contractors, no heavy equipment. You just need a large wrench and a jack to bring your house back to level,” Cooke says. The home began as a single prototype but is now in production entirely by the village. He adds that CCHRC now has prototype homes in a half dozen Alaska commu-nities, including on the University of Alaska campus in Fairbanks.

ArcticChallenges“We’re very excited about the engineer-ing and design innovations taking place in the Arctic and about being able to forward those this year during the Week of the Arctic,” says Nils Andreassen, ex-ecutive director of the Institute of the North. “Our focus at the Institute is to

www.akbizmag.com� August 2013 | Alaska Business Monthly� 69

inform public policy and to engage the citizenry on Arctic issues, and there’s a week of presentations and events planned to focus on just that. We are always looking for new and better solu-tions to the challenges of the North.”

Andreassen says with the changing climate, the new ice breakers, deep-wa-ter ports, and the relationships we have with other Arctic nations, that there are political issues that must be addressed and some of that will happen during the Week of the Arctic. “Each session will produce a white paper with fi ndings and questions that still need to be addressed. Th ey will be put onto our website, given to policy makers—such as the State De-partment—and they will inform our agenda for the next year,” he adds.

One of the events happening during the Week is a session about the Arctic Council’s working groups with people who have participated in discussions of current issues and Alaska’s role. Th e Arctic Council is an organiza-tion composed of eight Arctic nations (United States, Canada, Iceland, Den-mark—through its relationship with Greenland—Finland, Norway, Sweden,

and Russia). Andreassen said there are also six permanent seats for indigenous peoples of the North, four of which are in Alaska—the Aleut, Inuit, Gwitch’in, and Arctic Athabascan. China and Sin-gapore are represented at the Council but do not have a voice or a vote, An-dreassen adds.

Dan White, director of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Institute of Northern Engineering, says UAF specializes in circumpolar Arctic engi-neering and has worked in Russia and Canada as well as Alaska.

“Th e impact of our research reaches across the Arctic,” White says. “Th e technology and engineering practices developed at the engineering institute for keeping foundations frozen are used worldwide today. Th e Chinese recently built a railroad in an arctic climate and the technology to keep the roadbed fro-zen was mostly developed here.”

White says UAF’s institute also does research on very small power grid systems that are common in Arctic regions. “Power supply and grid tech-nologies developed and tested at the In-stitute’s Alaska Center for Energy and

Power are developed for the Arctic but are exportable to rural regions world-wide,” he adds.

“Much of what we do here revolves around heat transfer. We work a lot with technologies to keep foundations frozen. Th e institute also has worked on access roads to state resource leas-es,” White says. “We’ve done the arctic hydrology for the roads which helps state engineers determine where to put culverts and how large to make them, among other things. It’s work for the state that also benefi ts industry.”

One of the issues on which the In-stitute has worked with communities is that of drinking water. White says they’re looking at the traditional ice-harvesting methods as they research ways to deliver water to meet the needs of communities. “We also do a lot of climate-change research here,” White says. “Th ere’s a healthy discus-sion about the landscape, precipitation changes, and how the climate is chang-ing. We’re looking at how the water resource has changed through the oral traditions. What have those changes meant to the people and what would

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changes in the water system mean cul-turally? How would the culture change with water change?”

Other areas of Arctic research at the Institute include oil and gas, mining, transportation, communications, and infrastructure, White adds.

EngineeringTeamworkPutting much of the research by the Institute of Northern Engineering into practice, PDC Inc. Engineers is an Alas-ka fi rm created from mergers over the years of four Anchorage and Fairbanks fi rms—with a history in the Arctic go-ing back sixty years. Th e PDC name was adopted in 1998.

“We work across all Alaska regions,” says Steve Th eno, PE, a principal in the fi rm, “and we’ve done projects in Greenland, Antarctica, and at the South Pole. Our passion, however, is Alaska.”

Th eno adds that there are dramatic diff erences in the Arctic—a vast area that can have extremes in weather throughout the year. “It’s a fragile envi-ronment,” he says. “Alaska ranges from a temperate, rainforest climate in the Southeast to a tough marine environ-ment on the Chain where temperatures always hover around hypothermic to the vast plain of the north.”

A project on which PDC worked closely with Maniilaq Association was the health center in Kotzebue, a state-of-the-art facility completed in 1995.

“Th e original hospital was a slab-on-grade foundation,” says Robert Posma, PE, a senior associate at PDC, “and there were a lot of diff erent levels across a totally fl at hospital. We provided the mechanical and electrical engineering for the original hospital then helped with the design and construction of an elder care facility that was incorporated into the hospital. We worked especially closely with the folks who would take over the operation and maintenance of the facility to make sure there were spaces for Native artwork to make the facility more familiar and comfortable for the elders who would use it.”

Danny Rauchenstein, PE, also a se-nior associate, points out that over the years the fi rm has worked in the north, improvements have been made in help-ing the community that builds a project continue to operate and maintain it. It’s a commissioning process, he says. “A

project isn’t truly sustainable without the local resources—so the approach has changed. Now, there’s a lot of attention paid to local knowledge and traditions and there’s a much better success rate.”

One of the biggest issues to build-ing anywhere now is the price of fuel to produce the energy. “It’s skyrocketed,” Rauchenstein says, “particularly in ru-ral villages. We’ve always been huge advocates of green energy, but trying to convince our clients has sometimes been problematic. Now, our clients are the fi rst ones to bring up energy-saving proj-ects. It’s cool to have clients like this.”

A good example of energy-conscious engineering lies in the recently completed Margaret Murie Life Sciences Building at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Th e university produces the steam to heat its own buildings during winter but when temperatures can reach into the high 90s, cooler air is a necessity.

“All buildings on campus use electri-cal chillers to cool buildings and they use an incredible amount of power,” Rauchenstein says. “Th ey didn’t have any use for the steam in the summer.”

PDC’s solution was to use radi-ant-fl oor tubing to cool the building through steam-absorption chillers. It’s one of the fi rst such energy-saving sys-tems in the nation, he adds.

Although PDC won’t be a presenter at this year’s Week of the Arctic, they will be participating in breakout sessions, says Lori Kropidlowski, marketing di-rector for the fi rm. Rauchenstein adds that PDC has good experience to con-tribute to the discussion.

“We presented a paper last year on innovative energy ideas at the 7th Inter-national Cold Climate HVAC 2012 Con-ference in Calgary [Alberta],” Rauchen-stein says, “and a few international organizations involved with standards and guidelines got together and wrote a cold-climate design guide. We were invited to contribute a couple of chap-ters. When it’s done in about eighteen months, it will provide strategies useful to building in the Arctic.”

EnergyEfficiencyAlso concerned about energy use and sustainability, the Renewable Energy Alaska Project is a statewide non-profi t organization educating and advocat-ing for renewable energy. Chris Rose,

executive director, says arctic countries share many opportunities and chal-lenges regarding energy and adds that we all need to keep abreast of what the other countries are doing in this fi eld.

“For instance, on one of the Institute of the North’s policy tours, we learned how the Norwegians work with the oil industry and how they’ve built a huge wealth fund about twenty times the size of Alaska’s Permanent Fund. On another trip, we learned how Iceland is putting geothermal energy to use and keeping energy prices stable,” Rose says.

He notes that much of Alaska’s hous-ing and commercial building stock is ineffi cient. “It was built long ago and uses lots of energy,” Rose adds. “New construction can use less energy through better heating technology, more insulation, and better control sys-tems.” Th e session Rose is scheduled to moderate at the Week of the Arctic, ac-cording to the Institute of the North’s schedule, is the reporting out of all the morning discussions. Each group will present its fi ndings and recommenda-tions to help create a road forward.

To attend this session or any Week of the Arctic event, go to institutenorth.org or call the Institute of the North at 907-786-6324. Th e Institute’s Andreas-sen says there will be events each day of the week. “Some will be presentations, some are work sessions, some are recog-nition events, and some are receptions or dinners and they will be at diff erent venues around Anchorage,” he says. Registration is suggested and those in-terested can register online or by phone.

“Th ere’s no reason why Alaskans can’t borrow building designs from Germany or Scandinavia, but we have tremendous ability here in Alaska to produce our own designs and innova-tions,” Rose says.

“We’re some of the biggest energy consumers in the world and we have the opportunity to develop our own tech-nology. In addition to saving energy, [and] developing better building tech-nology, it would diversify our economy and reduce our dependence on import-ed knowledge,” Rose says.

Freelance writer Gail West lives in Anchorage.

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special section Environmental Services

Each year, more than 114,000 tons of waste material is buried in the Fairbanks landfi ll. What if

some of those materials could be not only kept out of landfi lls but recycled to create energy? Chena Power, located in Fairbanks, has found a way to burn cardboard, paper, and woody biomass while working toward a zero-emission, sustainable source of electricity.

According to Bernie Karl, presi-dent of Chena Power and proprietor of Chena Hot Springs, the demonstration project, which has been in operation for approximately three years, makes sense for the state, especially in rural com-munities. “It’s the only energy plan that makes sense in Alaska,” he says. “Cities like Fairbanks spend millions of dollars burying everything, and all they’re do-ing is burying problems for future gen-erations.”

SimpleProcessTh e process itself is relatively simple; paper and cardboard are picked up by the power company and weighed. Th e mixture is dumped on the tipping fl oor where it is shredded and a set of mag-nets takes out any nails or steel. Th e shredded waste is put into a mixing chamber, then a densifi er, which creates pellets that are one inch square and up to six inches long capable of producing 7,200 BTUs per pound. “Th is product, which contains 10 percent moisture and 11 percent ash, is very similar to coal, which contains 30 percent mois-

ture and 20 percent ash,” Karl explains. “Th e diff erence is that it burns much cleaner.”

Karl says that this fuel could lower heating bills by at least 50 percent. “If the gas line does ever get built, we’ll still be more competitive,” he adds. “And we’ll not only deliver the fuel, but pick up the ash and mix it with sodium silicate and lye, which makes the most beautiful cement.”

Once fully functional, the power, heat, and carbon dioxide that are pro-duced from the plant’s hot oil heater and Organic Rankine Cycle turbines will also be able to support greenhouses where produce will be grown, and ex-cess power can be sold to Golden Val-ley Electric to help reduce the cost of electricity in the market. Chena Power’s ultimate goal is to expand to 500 kW, operating off of paper, cardboard, and wood from Fort Wainwright, the Uni-versity of Alaska Fairbanks, and other area locations.

NewTechnologyWhile three of the facility’s turbines are working, there are still two more to come online. Th ese high-speed, direct-drive turbines operate inside of mag-netic fi elds that suspend the turbines in mid-air, signifi cantly reducing friction on moving parts. “A demonstration

project like this is not for the weak of heart,” Karl says. “It has provided a lot of opportunities—some people might call them problems, but I’ve never had a problem in my life. I guess you could call them inconveniences.

“Because no one has ever done this before, and it’s a new technology, it’s like putting the fi rst spaceship up,” he continues. “We had to build and as-semble all of the power electronics; in fact, we had to build the whole space-age facility.

“We currently have three of the fi ve turbines running, but United Technol-ogies, who we’re working with on the project, believes that the topping cycle is too dangerous to complete,” he says. “But we will get all fi ve units running, maybe by the fi rst quarter of next year.”

In the meantime, Chena Power is not idly standing by. Th ey are in the process of collecting plastic to recycle into gas, diesel fuel, and jet fuel. “We’re looking at invest-ing $1.5 million in a small pilot plant that would be able to make 2,400 gallons of fuel a day from plastic,” Karl says.

“Everything that people throw away, I turn into something else,” he adds. “I’m just so glad that people are wasteful.”

Chena Power plant to produce energy

from old paper and cardboard

By�Vanessa�Orr

Vanessa Orr is the former editor of the Capital City Weekly in Juneau.

Chena Power expects to generate�excess�electricity�and�sell�to�Golden�Valley�Electric�Association�from�burning�paper�and�cardboard�recycled�into�pellets.

Photo courtesy of Chena Power

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Making sure the ‘dirt don’t hurt’

By�Mari�Gallion

While recycling for the sake of lengthening the lives of our state’s landfi lls is a com-

mon practice amongst Alaskans, many people outside of the construction in-dustry don’t put much thought into the fact that contaminated soil must also be dumped into an appropriate landfi ll if it cannot be suffi ciently cleaned.

Living in a state rich with natu-ral resources, construction sites, and military activity defi nitely has its ad-vantages. However, there is growing awareness of how the sites of such activ-ity carry potential to negatively impact human health and the environment if they are not properly remediated.

“Th e state has been fantastic over the years with trying to develop a program

that renders the soil safe for human health and the environment,” says Brad Quade, operations manager at Alaska Soil Recycling, a division of Anchorage Sand and Gravel.

According to Quade, soil remediation became a practice in Alaska when the federal government began recognizing that there is a need for us to change our habits and fi x some of the damage we’d set in place. “Everything has to be done with the state involved,” Quade says.

TheWayWeWereOnce upon a time in Alaska, more than twenty-fi ve years ago, soils remediation was not a common practice. According to Quade, “In the old days, if you need-ed some fi ll, you could just wait for the

trucks to come in. If you had some fi ll you wanted to get rid of, you could fi nd a place to get rid of it. Nowadays, you have to be very careful about the soils you are allowing others to bring into your site. You can’t take material from just any place anymore because of the laws we have in place.”

Quade says in the beginning of the remediation process there is “a lot of in-vestigative work in order to understand the degree and type of contamination.” From there, the workers propose a plan to the state of Alaska to restore the site to what is considered safe for human health and environment. Although the state mandates varying standards of “clean,” depending on whether the soil will be re-used at the same site or moved

Petroleum contaminated soil is covered�in�anticipation�of�winter�at�a�land�farm�in�Galena.

Photo courtesy of Brice Environmental Services Corporation


to another, the policy at Alaska Soil Re-cycling is to clean the soil to the state’s most restrictive standard every time.

However, as Quade points out, “Th e most restrictive levels do not necessar-ily mean non-detect. Some people want non-detect.” Regardless, remediating soil to the state’s highest standard allows the soil to be reused for myriad things.

What’sintheMix?What types of contaminants could one expect to fi nd on Alaskan soil? “Pri-marily,” Quade says, “what you’re going to fi nd in the state of Alaska is going to be soils contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons. Within that group, you could have anything from diesel to home heating oil, Bunker C, Avgas, PCBs... I refer to them as fuel-stained soils: the number one largest amount of contami-nated soils in the work around the state.

“Depending on where you are in the state, and depending on the contami-nant types and concentrations, those are going to be factors that lead you to mak-ing the decision on the methods used to clean up the site,” Quade says, adding that some methods of decontamination can be relatively fast and others can take several years. Location is a major factor when deciding which remediation meth-od is best for one’s needs.

“You may want to do something that’s called on-site treatment,” Quade says. Th e other option, if the site is near the road system or near marine lines, for example, is off -site treatment, which is taking the soil away for cleaning or disposal. At each site, “you’re trying to break it down into what works with your project.”

“Some processes are not as green and sustainable as our process,” Quade says, while adding that diff erent processes are best for diff erent types and concen-tration levels of contaminants.

ThermalDesorptionTh ermal desorption is a relatively “quick and clean” way to deal with pe-troleum-contaminated soils, which is the specialization of Alaska Soil Recy-cling. Quade describes it as a “guaran-teed, 100 percent treatment technolo-gy” for petroleum-based contaminants.

Th e thermal desorption process in-volves using a rotary drum, similar to what one would see at an asphalt plant,

except the drums used for this process are running at a higher temperature to volatize the hydrocarbon contaminants in the soil.

“Th ere are only a couple of people do-ing it in the state,” Quade says. “Th at’s really all the market can bear. Fur-thermore, you end up doing a lot of gravel handling, and it’s expensive to have that equipment, and expensive to maintain it: the conveying, the material handling, and the loader operating… it involves similar types of work that other divisions of the company are do-ing. Th is is why it makes sense for us

to be a division of Anchorage Sand and Gravel, and why we’ve been doing it for twenty-fi ve years.”

A rendering of a thermal�unit�used�to�re-mediate�soil�through�thermal�desorption.

Rendering courtesy of Alaska Soil Recycling

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“We recycle the soil once it’s clean, so we divert that material from the land-fill,” Quade says. “Landfill space is valu-able these days… our advantages are that you get a result very quickly and keep it out of the landfill.”

MotherNatureHelpsBrice Environmental Services Corpora-tion also specializes in remediation of petroleum-contaminated soils.

“Our specialty is remote sites,” says Craig Jones, president and general man-ager of Brice Environmental Services. “Sites that have challenging logistics: they are off the road system, so they re-quire barging, aircraft support, etc. They have basically been remote sites belong-ing to the Department of Defense.”

Much like Alaska Soil Recycling would not be able to do what it does if not a divi-sion of Anchorage Sand and Gravel, the economic feasibility of soil remediation work done by Brice Environmental Ser-vices is fostered by Brice Marine.

“Our marine division has specialized shallow-draft tugs and barges, and at a lot of these sites, these landings are shal-low. There aren’t wharfs or piers. You have to go ashore. So in most cases, it takes specialized gear to go ashore and go dry, get your equipment and resources to the site. It requires the standard construction equipment to do the on-site work, the ex-cavation, the haul, the backfilling, and the site restoration, so one of the keys to do-ing especially Alaska work is having the logistical wherewithal and the resources.”

Brice uses what Jones calls land-spread-ing or land-farming as their main method of remediation for petroleum-contami-nated soils. Soils are spread out, and in some cases, a chemical is added in order to speed up the attenuation of the soil.

“It works pretty well where you have a drier climate and you can get some heat. In Interior Alaska, it can work fairly well.”

Brice Environmental Services has re-cently been working in Galena.

“One of the things that we’ve been do-ing at Galena for the past two years is we’ve been digging up petroleum con-taminated soils, but we’ve been putting those in giant land farms,” Jones says. “At some locations, and depending on the soil type, you can actually spread these soils in a lined, protected area, and let na-ture remediate the soils through heating and naturally-occurring bacteria. Those

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diesel components primarily will break down and that soil can be rendered not hazardous right there in the fi eld.”

Although soil farming may be the only available method for many com-munities in Alaska, it is also oft en the most cost-eff ective. And under the right conditions, it can be fast as well.

“Th e length of time it takes to reme-diate the diesel impacted soils at Galena just depends on the concentration, how contaminated the soil is—but some-times you can see remediation success-ful in just one or two seasons.”

PCBsandHeavyMetalsBrice also handles soils contaminated with heavy metals and PCBs.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have a hazard-ous depository or landfi ll for heavy metals in the state,” Jones says, “so typically what happens is the heavy metals contaminated soils are excavated and trucked or shipped south to the Lower 48 for disposal.”

Emerald Alaska, Inc., which special-izes in remediation of contaminated sites caused by spills of hazardous waste, hazardous substances, and petroleum products, oft en handles remediation of sites contaminated by spillage of trans-former fl uid, which contains PCBs.

According to Blake Hillis, president and CEO, when dealing with PCBs, the site remediation process involves pack-aging, excavation, and shipment to a properly-permitted EPA facility that can accept it for disposal.

“If the levels are low enough, it can be used as a daily cover material in a permitted landfi ll, but otherwise it is disposed of through direct landfi lling,” Hillis says. “PCB contamination ren-ders the soil a waste product.”

Remediation of contaminated soils is one area in which the state government earns praise from Alaska businesses that would not be in existence if not for increased awareness of how contami-nation can aff ect human health and the environment. “Th ey want to be sure it’s done right,” Quade says. “Th ey approve your work plans and your goals, and they’re involved with it as an oversight to be sure that all conditions have been met before they close the site.”

Mari Gallion is Associate Editor at Alaska Business Monthly.

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Starting locally at the individual level

By�Susan�Sommer

Reduce, reuse, recycle. We’ve heard the refrain for years and recognize what has become the

universal recycling symbol—the three arrows folded back on themselves in a triangle of continuity.

Recycling experts in Alaska agree there are no numbers to be found on what percentage of businesses or resi-dents recycle. Th ere are, however, more businesses collecting recyclables in Alaska than ever before, according to Donna Mears, a recycling coordinator with the Municipality of Anchorage. Numerous recycling programs across the state collect many products that have come to the end of their original useful life. Larger communities have more options than smaller rural com-munities. Most materials collected for recycling, regardless of what part of the state they come from, get shipped south to national or international mar-kets. Very little material actually gets recycled right here in Alaska, though a handful of Alaska success stories exist.

Recyclable materials can be dropped off for free at many collection facilities across the state. Some landfi lls charge a fee to drop off recyclables. Curbside pick-up of recyclables requires that cus-tomers pay a monthly fee. Recycling programs are typically funded through memberships, grants, and the sale of recyclable materials to various markets.

UrbanProgramsMost companies that provide recycling services are from the private sector. A handful of conservation organizations around the state also have recycling pro-grams, some of which provide education on where and how to recycle various ma-terials. City governments in larger com-munities off er information about this as well. Most, but not all, recycling services

in Alaska only provide collection servic-es rather than actual recycling.

Mary Fisher, executive director of the nonprofi t ALPAR, or Alaskans for Litter Prevention and Recycling, says, “Recy-cling always starts with each and every person. One has to decide whether they want their waste materials to become resources or long-term liabilities. We all have that choice.”

She says that recycling tends to be volume-based, so smaller communities are more challenged to make it cost-eff ective than large ones, and distance from markets is an issue as well.

“Th ere are logistics and costs that are challenges just as there are in remoter areas of the Lower 48, but it’s more a question of fi guring out the most cost-eff ective ways to recycle in a given com-munity,” Fisher says. “Because recy-cling starts locally, every community in the world is challenged with setting up the most cost-eff ective system. It’s how a community meets that challenge that determines the level of recycling.”

In Anchorage, curbside recycling provided by AlaskaWaste and paid for by the consumer seems to have in-creased participation in recycling pro-grams, according to Kit Persson, a coor-dinator with the State of Alaska’s Solid Waste Program. “Th e increased conve-nience and attention on the benefi ts of recycling appears to make recycling at the household level more popular,” she says. Some products can’t be mixed in the curbside recycling bins and must be dropped off at the Anchorage Recycling Center located on Rosewood Street. Al-though not as convenient as curbside pick-up, it does provide free recycling to households with the initiative to sepa-rate recyclable waste.

Th e majority of recycling in Anchor-age (and thus Alaska, since most mate-

rials are funneled through Anchorage) is done by three companies and each has its own niche.

�� Alaska�Metal�Recycling,�owned�by�international�metals�recycler�Schnitzer�Steel,�has�been�operating�in�Anchorage�since�2007�and�recycles�metals�from�cars�and�trucks,�appliances,�cable,�wire,�pipe,�and�more.

�� Anchorage�Recycling�Center,�owned�by�RockTenn,�headquartered�in�Georgia,�collects�containers�(plastic,�steel,�aluminum)�and�fi�bers�(cardboard,�mixed�paper,�newspaper)�from�homes,�schools,�and�businesses�through�its�drop-off�center�and�deliveries�by�local�haulers�from�curbside�programs,�business�accounts,�and�other�drop-off�locations�in�Anchorage.

�� Total�Reclaim�is�a�company�servicing�the�Pacifi�c�Northwest�with�an�Anchorage�location�that�collects�numerous�items�to�be�recycled�at�its�Seattle�facility,�including�batteries�and�appliances.�It’s�best�known,�however,�for�its�electronics�recycling�program,�which�accepts�computers,�monitors,�servers,�televisions,�stereos,�cell�phones,�and�more�from�all�across�the�state.�Total�Reclaim�collects�electronic�waste�from�businesses,�individuals,�community�collection�events,�and�other�sources.�

One prominent statewide nonprofi t with a focus on recycling programs is Green Star. Green Star assists business-es, organizations, schools, and agen-cies and has more than three hundred members around Alaska. Recycling is just one of Green Star’s several stan-dards recognized through its award certifi cation program. Green Star has


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two chapters in Alaska—one in An-chorage and one in Fairbanks.

Kalee Mockridge, executive direc-tor of Green Star, says that theirs is the only electronics recycling program in the Interior.

“Interior Alaska Green Star orga-nizes an electronics recycling eff ort several times each year that gets good response,” says Doug Buteyn, interior and northern regional manager for the State of Alaska’s Solid Waste Program.

Small businesses like Anchorage’s Recycling Solutions of Alaska, started by entrepreneur Sarah Robinson in 2008 as a simple neighborhood pick-up service, can help other small busi-nesses earn a Green Star Award. Recy-cling Solutions of Alaska off ers fl exible pick-up times, including evenings and weekends; materials collected are taken to the Anchorage Recycling Center or Total Reclaim.

Materials collected in Fairbanks are shipped to Anchorage for distribution to appropriate channels. Th e most used recycling programs in Fairbanks are those off ered by Interior Alaska Green Star and the Fairbanks Rescue Mission, according to Buteyn. Th e University of Alaska Fairbanks had a recycling pro-gram, but it was recently cut. “Th e Res-cue Mission recycles cardboard, news-paper, mixed paper, and aluminum,” Buteyn says. “Th e Rescue Mission pro-gram is also proving to be a good re-source for smaller communities located on the road system.”

Th e Juneau Recycle Center at the city’s landfi ll accepts the usual array of paper, plastic, glass, aluminum cans, etc. Skookum Sales and Recycling, also in Juneau, calls itself “Southeast Alas-ka’s Original Metal Recycler,” and buys metals like aluminum, copper, and brass for resale to recyclers out of state.

Schools and public spaces such as con-vention centers, sports arenas, and parks have also become standard locations for recycling bins, especially for paper and aluminum cans. In the Anchorage School District, every school and ad-ministration building has some type of recycling program, according to Jeanne Carlson, a recycling coordinator with the Municipality of Anchorage. “Mixed paper is the primary material collected throughout the district,” she says, “but individual schools and buildings may

collect additional materials such as alu-minum cans and/or plastic bottles.”

Besides elevating awareness of re-cycling opportunities in Alaska, AL-PAR also organizes some recycling programs in urban and rural areas. Urban examples include free Christmas tree recycling and its partnership with businesses to set up collection and fi nd markets for plastic shopping bags.

Fisher says that one of the primary ways that ALPAR and the business community have helped recycling suc-cess in Alaska is through the shipping companies’ support. Several shipping companies donate backhaul services, which tend to cost less than north-bound shipping due to lower demand, to help move recyclables to market. Th is system has been operating in the Rail-belt for many years at no cost to taxpay-ers. “It’s an amazing system thanks to Horizon Lines, TOTE, Alaska Marine Lines, Lynden, Northland Services, and the Alaska Railroad,” says Fisher.

RuralProgramsSmaller communities on the road sys-tem are limited in services, and rural towns off the road system have fewer options for recycling.

A program through ALPAR called Flying Cans and Bottles has helped ru-ral villages—about eighty participate—to keep aluminum cans and plastic bottles off the streets and out of dumps and landfi lls. Northern Air Cargo and member airlines of the Alaska Air Car-riers Association haul these items that locals collect to Anchorage, where the items enter the larger recycling stream. Hooper Bay has had success with this as has Holy Cross, Chevak, and Iguigig. ALPAR pays each community by the pound for cans. Rural communities re-cycled more than fi ft y thousand pounds of aluminum cans and plastic bottles last year using this program.

With the help of regional authorities, nonprofi t agencies, and participating private companies, rural residents in in-terior and northern Alaska can recycle paper, plastic, scrap metal and white goods, fl uorescent bulbs, aluminum cans, electronics, and lead acid batteries.

For example, Nome-based Kawerak, Inc., the regional nonprofi t organiza-tion of Bering Straits Native Association, supports the process of backhauling lead

acid batteries and helps with transport-ing scrap metal. Maniilaq Association in the Northwest Arctic Borough provides general assistance with backhauling and recycling. Th e Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council provides gen-eral backhaul assistance of recyclables in communities along the Yukon River. Haines recycled over 250,000 pounds to-tal in 2012; the Chilkat Valley Community Foundation and RuralCap have provided grants in recent years for recycling eff orts in this small Southeast community.

Even with companies and agencies co-operating to organize and pay for back-haul of recyclables from rural Alaska to Anchorage and beyond, there “are still many local challenges to be overcome,” says Buteyn. Th ese include the lack of proper equipment for handling and loading the recyclables, the lack of ap-propriate containers for recyclables, and the lack of weatherproof storage space for recyclables. “Another reality in rural Alaska,” he says, “is that because barge service is available only in the summer, anything that interrupts that service can potentially set back a community’s or region’s recycling eff orts by a full year.”


In-StateRecyclingA handful of companies are recycling collected materials right here in the state.

�� Thermo-Cool�makes�cellulose�insulation�that�is�85�percent�locally�recycled�paper.�Manufacturing�is�done�at�the�company’s�Wasilla�facility.�“Thermo�Kool�of�Alaska�has�been�using�the�lion’s�share�of�Alaska’s�recycled�newsprint�for�the�manufacture�of�insulation�and�hydroseeding�mulch�for�more�than�twenty-fi�ve�years,”�says�Fisher.

�� Central�Recycling�Services�recycles�crushed�concrete�and�demolished�asphalt�into�aggregate�products�used�for�leveling�or�structural�fi�ll�for�roads�and�parking�lots;�crushed�post-consumer�glass�is�used�in�road�construction�and�bedding�for�utilities;�

and�wood�scraps�become�mulch�for�landscaping�and�erosion�control.

�� Alaska�Soil�Recycling,�a�division�of�Anchorage�Sand�and�Gravel�Co.,�Inc.,�recycles�soils�contaminated�with�hazardous�materials�such�as�gas�or�oil�into�clean�soil�available�for�everything�from�construction�projects�to�a�homeowner’s�landscaping�needs.�

�� Alaskan�Brewing�Company�in�Juneau�uses�its�spent�grain,�a�byproduct�of�the�beer�brewing�process,�as�the�fuel�source�for�its�steam�boiler,�reducing�the�company’s�fuel�oil�consumption�in�operations�by�60�percent�to�70�percent.

ClosingtheLoopMany Alaskans recycle in small ways that add up to tons of garbage that would otherwise end up in landfi lls: Th ey build

compost piles in the backyard, start fi res in the woodstove with newspaper and cardboard, and repurpose items for gar-den, craft projects, storage, and more.

One innovative Sitka resident, Keith Nyitray, recycles his waste glass into beach glass by depositing it along the rocky shoreline near his house. He says it takes about two years for the tides to move it back and forth to where it even-tually accumulates on a sandy point. He then off ers that “recycled” glass to art-ists in town for various projects such as jewelry, mosaics, and fused glass works.

Recycling is most effi cient when a waste product goes full-circle to be used again.

Susan Sommer is a freelance writer and editor living in Eagle River.

WhatCanbeRecycledandWhere?

The� list� of� what� can� and� cannot� be� re-cycled� is� constantly� changing� in� every�community.�Although�some�of�the�more�

well-known� resources� are� featured� here,� al-ways� check�which� resources� are� available� in�your�area.�A�wide�range�of�services�are�offered�throughout� Southcentral� Alaska,� Southeast�Alaska,� and� the� Interior.� Please� refer� to� the�Recycling�Directory�in�this�issue�for�a�compre-hensive�list�of�companies�and�services�offered.�

Paper and Paper Products: Everything�from� offi�ce� paper� to� (unsoiled)� pizza� boxes�can� be� recycled,� including� cardboard,�mixed�paper,�newspaper,�junk�mail,�telephone�books,�gift�wrap,�paper�egg�cartons,�and�brown�pa-per�grocery�bags.�Not�accepted�for�recycling,�however,�are�any�waxy�or�coated�boxes�such�as�milk�or�juice�cartons,�many�cereal�boxes,�or�boxes�for�shipping�fi�sh.�Paper�can�be�recycled�in�various�locations�throughout�the�state.�

Glass:� Glass� recycling� has� come� and� gone� in�Alaska�and�come�back�again.�Glass�bottles�and�jars� that�have�been�rinsed�clean�are�accepted,�but� the� following� are� not:� Pyrex,� laboratory�glass,� windshield� glass,� porcelain,� ceramics,� or�TV/computer�glass.�Lids�and�caps�that�typically�come�with�glass�containers�are�sometimes�recy-clable�in�other�categories.�Glass�can�currently�be�recycled�in�various�locations�around�the�state.

Plastic:There�are�several�types�of�plastic�con-tainers,� but� in�Alaska� the� only� ones� accepted�

for�recycling�at�this�time�are�the�#1�PET�bottles�with�neck�and�screw�top�(beverage�bottles)�and�#2�HDPE� jugs�with�neck�and� screw� top� (milk�and�detergent�jugs).�Although�in�the�past�peo-ple�were�asked�to�remove�caps�from�plastic�bot-tles�and�jugs,�the�caps�are�now�being�recycled�as�well.�According�to�Jeanne�Carlson,�recycling�coordinator�for�the�Municipality�of�Anchorage,�recyclers�are�now�being�asked�to�crush�the�jugs�and� replace� the� caps.� Plastic� bottles� can� be�recycled� at� various� locations� throughout� the�state.�According�to�the�Alaska�Waste�website,�newspaper� sleeves,� grocery� bags,� and� shrink�wrap�can�also�be�recycled.�If�you�are�not�sure�whether�plastic�can�be�recycled,�you�can�test�it:�If�the�plastic�stretches�when�you�pull�on�it,�then�it’s�recyclable.�Stretchy�plastics�can�be�recycled�through�Smurfi�t-Stone�Recycling�Center�in�An-chorage,�and�bins�are�also�located�inside�Carrs,�Fred�Meyer,�and�Wal-Mart�stores.

Metal:Aluminum�beverage�cans� can�be� re-cycled�in�various�locations�throughout�Alaska�but�not�aluminum�pet�food�cans�or�aluminum�foil.� Steel� food� and� beverage� cans� are� ac-cepted�at�some�locations,�as�are�some�scrap�metals.�Check�the�resources�available�in�your�community.�

Electronics:Plenty�of�electronics�can�be�re-cycled� in�Alaska:� televisions,� computer�moni-tors,� computers,� laptops,� keyboards,� mice,�modems,� external� drives,� scanners,� printers,�toner� cartridges,� copiers,� cables,� other� com-puter�peripherals,�VCRs,�DVD�players,�stere-os,�radios,�phones,�fax�machines,�camcorders,�electric� typewriters,� microwave� ovens,� tele-phones,� cell� phones,� and�most�media� (fl�oppy�disks,�CDs,�DVDs,�VHS�tapes).�Check�with�To-tal�Reclaim�and�Green�Star�for�residential�elec-tronics�recycling.�Businesses�can�often�recycle�

through�hazardous�waste�at��local�landfi�lls.�

Fluorescent Light Bulbs:� Accepted� are�whole�long�tubular�fl�uorescent�lamps,�round�tubular� lamps,� and� small� screw-in� or� pop-in�compact�fl�uorescent� lamps�of� all� styles,� but�not�ballasts,�broken�lamps,�incandescent�light�bulbs,�or�LED�lamps.�Check�at�the�hazardous�waste�area�at�your�local�landfi�ll.�

Wood and YardWaste: Trees,� limbs,� and�branches�can�be�recycled,�as�can�grass�clip-pings,�leaves,�twigs,�and�woody�debris.�Some-times�these�items�are�chipped�and�donated�to�nonprofi�ts�for� landscaping.�Check�with�your�local�landfi�ll�and�your�local�fi�re�department.�

Vehicles:� Cars,� trucks,� ATVs,� motorcycles,�snowmachines,� and� outboards� can� be� re-cycled� as� long� as� all� hazardous� fl�uids� are�drained� and� a� handful� of� other� criteria� are�met.�Various�companies�offer�cash�purchase�and�pick-up�services�all�over�the�state.

Appliances:� Refrigerators,� freezers,� air� condi-tioners,�washers,�dryers,�and�stoves�are�all�recy-clable.�In�Anchorage,�check�with�Total�Reclaim.�In�other�areas,�ask�at�metals�recycling�businesses.�

Construction Debris:� Concrete,� asphalt,�gypsum,�metal,� some�wood�waste,� and� land�clearing�debris�can�be�recycled.�Central�Re-cycling�Services�is�an�option�for�those�located�in�Anchorage.�

CookingOilandGrease:�Commercial�cook-ing� oil� and� grease� can� be� recycled� to�make�biofuels.�People� in�Southcentral�Alaska,�Ko-diak,�and�Fairbanks�can�bring�uncontaminat-ed�cooking�oil�to�Alaska�Waste�for�recycling.�

HazardousMaterials:Recycling�is�available�for�refrigeration�systems,�HVAC�units,�motor�oil,�and�batteries.

Visit muni.org/swsDon’t know what to do with it?

Recycle itRight!


ENVIRONMENTAL FIRMS AKCompany Top Executive Estab. Empls. Services

An excavation of petroleum contaminated�soil�is�backfi�lled�with�clean�soil�near�

Eielson�Air�Force�base�in�summer�of�2012.�

Photo courtesy of Brice Environmental Services Corporation

Company Top Executive Estab.AK

Empls. Services

3M Alaska11151 Calaska Cir.Anchorage, AK 99515Phone: 907-522-5200 Fax: 907-522-1645

Julie Morman, Gen. Mgr.

[email protected]

1976 12 3M manufactures a wide range of products covering many markets in Alaska. In the areaof natural resources, we provide products and services which support the oil/gas andmining industries in worker safety, electrical and communications, welding protection,fire and corrosion protection, cementing density control, filtration and spill control.

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

Stephen Murphy, Pres.

[email protected]

1976 75 Envionmental research and services: Services include environmental impact analysis,wildlife and fisheries, endangered species surveys, NEPA documentation, re-vegetation,ecological restoration, GIS services and wetland mapping.

Acuren USA600 E. 57th Pl., Suite BAnchorage, AK 99518Phone: 907-569-5000 Fax: 907-569-5005

Dennis Lee, Mng. Dir.

acuren.com

2002 240 Materials engineering, nondestructive examination and integrity management for the oiland gas, power, mining, transportation and construction industries.

Alaska Analytical Laboratory1956 Richardson Hwy.North Pole, AK 99705Phone: 907-488-1271 Fax: 907-488-0772

Stefan Mack, PE/Pres.

[email protected]

2008 3 Environmental testing laboratory. Soil and water analysis for methods 8021B, AK101,AK102, AK103 and ADEC certified.

Alaska Soil Recycling1040 O'Malley Rd.Anchorage, AK 99515Phone: 907-348-6700 Fax: 907-344-2844

Brad Quade, Operations Mgr.

anchsand.com

1988 15 Remediation of petroleum-impacted soils by thermal desorption. Our process is capableof off-site and on-site remediation projects. Results are quick and guaranteed. Soils arerecycled into beneficial products after treatment; thereby complying with green andsustainable recycling (GSR) practices.

Analytica Group4307 Arctic Blvd.Anchorage, AK 99503Phone: 907-375-8977 Fax: 907-258-6634

Elizabeth Rensch, Business Dev. Mgr.

[email protected]

1991 20 Analytica is the largest state certified laboratory in Alaska, specializing in drinking water,wastewater and general water quality testing. Locations in Anchorage, Fairbanks, andWasilla, Alaska. Analytica is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Aleut Corporation.www.aleutcorp.com.

Anchorage Soil & Water Conserv. Dist.PO Box 110309Anchorage, AK 99511-0309Phone: 907-677-7645 Fax: 907-677-7645

Bret Burroughs, Chair

[email protected]

1997 3 Anchorage Woodlot, property owner and development support and services, BMP anddevelopment planning, confidential assistance to property owners, land managers, anddevelopment industry.

APC Services LLC4241 B St., Suite 100Anchorage, AK 99503Phone: 907-677-9451 Fax: 907-677-9452

Ralph Angasan Sr., Pres.

[email protected]

2007 8 Environmental consulting; environmental assessments; contaminated land evaluation &remediation, geochemistry, baseline environmental studies; mining and explorationservices.

ARCTOS LLC130 Int'l Airport Rd., Suite RAnchorage, AK 99518Phone: 907-632-1006 Fax: 866-532-3915

Kirsten Ballard, CEO

arctosak.com

2007 7 ODPCP plans, oil spill prevention and response planning services. API certified tank andpiping inspections, incident management team staffing and training, HSE programs,imaging and mapping. Compliance assistance with state, federal regulations andresponse planning for oil and gas industry in Alaska.

ALASKA BUSINESS MONTHLY’S 2013 ENVIRONMENTALSERVICESDIRECTORY




Empls. Services

Arrowhead Environmental Services Inc.PO Box 872707Wasilla, AK 99687Phone: 907-376-8848 Fax: 907-376-8876

Terry Webb, Pres./CEO

[email protected]

1999 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.

B.C. Excavating LLC2251 Cinnabar Lp.Anchorage, AK 99507Phone: 907-344-4490 Fax: 907-344-4492

Gordon Bartel, Pres.

[email protected]

1982 2,545 Remediation services, soil farming, site cleanup for PCB, TCE, diesel/gasolinecontamination, etc.

Bell Tech Inc.PO Box 3467Valdez, AK 99686Phone: 800-537-6949 Fax: 907-835-4535

Randy Bell, CEO

belltechconsultants.com

1990 5 Bell Tech Inc. specializes in ecological management as it relates to the recovery andrestoration of spill response activities. With over 24 years of experience, Bell Tech hasdeveloped successful procedures addressing the recovery of contamination from anysurface including vessels, shoreline and frozen tundra.

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

Robert Braunstein, Pres.

bgesinc.com

2002 6 Environmental site assessment, remediation, ground-water monitoring programs, projectmanagement and permitting. Lead and asbestos inspections.

Blue Skies Solutions LLC3312 Robin St.Anchorage, AK 99504Phone: 907-230-4372

Michael Knapp, Principal

[email protected]

2003 2 Blue Skies specializes in geographic information systems (GIS) training and consulting.Our instructor is an Esri Certified Trainer and also a Certified Technical Trainer (CTT+)through CompTIA. We work with state, federal, local, non-profit, and private companies;helping them to create and manage their geospatial data.

Brice Environmental Services Corp.PO Box 73520Fairbanks, AK 99707Phone: 907-456-1955 Fax: 907-452-1067

Craig Jones, Pres./Gen. Mgr.

[email protected]

1991 10 Brice Environmental is an 8(a) Native owned small business specializing in remediationof heavy metal contaminated soils, remote site demolition, environmental constructionand remediation. Project history throughout Alaska and the lower 48 states and Hawaii.

Bristol Engineering Services Corporation111 W. 16th Ave., Third FloorAnchorage, AK 99501Phone: 907-563-0013 Fax: 907-563-6713

Travis Woods, Sr. Civil Engineer/CEO

[email protected]

1994 17 Civil engineering, permitting and planning; total project management encompassingplanning, design and construction.

CampWater Industries LLC2550 Hayes St.Delta Junction, AK 99737Phone: 907-895-4309

Jon Dufendach, Pres.

[email protected]

2009 2 Design/build portable/ emergency drinking water plants. NSF61- approved models tomeet USEPA drinking water standards available off-the-shelf.

CCI Industrial Services, LLC560 E. 34th Ave., Suite 200Anchorage, AK 99503-4161Phone: 907-258-5755 Fax: 907-770-9452

A. Ben Schoffmann, Pres./CEO

[email protected]

1989 377 Corrosion-under-insulation refurbishment; asbestos and lead surveys and abatement;specialty coatings; sandblasting; tank and vessel cleaning; fire proofing; demolition andhazardous waste removal; operations, maintenance and construction; oil spill response;heat treat services.

CH2M HILL949 E. 36th Ave., Suite 500Anchorage, AK 99508Phone: 907-762-1500 Fax: 907-762-1595

Mark Lasswell, AK Bus. Grp. Pres./GM

[email protected]/alaska

1946 2,452 We offer consulting, engineering, procurement, logistics, fabrication, construction,construction management, operations and maintenance services all under one roof,supporting entire project life cycles. We support oil and gas, mining, environmental,water, power, transportation and government.

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

Carrie Lindow, Pres.

[email protected]

1973 835 Please check out our Statement of Qualifications at chemtrack.net/about_us.htm.

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

Eric Helzer, Pres./CEO

[email protected]

1981 160 Arctic fuel logistics contractor, solid waste services, industrial supply.

Cook Inlet Spill Prevention & ResponsePO Box 7314Nikiski, AK 99635Phone: 907-776-5129 Fax: 907-776-2190

Todd Paxton, Gen. Mgr.

cispri.org

1991 23 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).

DAT/EM Systems International8240 Sandlewood Pl., Suite 101Anchorage, AK 99507-3122Phone: 907-522-3681 Fax: 907-522-3688

Jeff Yates, Gen. Mgr.

[email protected]

1987 11 DAT/EM Systems International is an Alaska-based developer of world-classphotogrammetric software. Since 1987, DAT/EM has built human interface tools toefficiently extract and edit 3D vector features from stereo imagery and point clouds.

DOWL HKM4041 B St.Anchorage, AK 99503Phone: 907-562-2000 Fax: 907-563-3953

Stewart Osgood, Pres.

[email protected]

1962 149 Multi-disciplined consulting firm providing civil engineering & related services for morethan 50 years: services include, environmental, land use and transportation planning,geotechnical engineering, landscape architecture, land surveying, GIS, constructionadmin., materials testing, construction testing & inspection.

Ecology & Environment Inc.1007 W. Third Ave., Suite 201Anchorage, AK 99501Phone: 257-5000 Fax: 257-5000

Kevin Neumaier, CEO

[email protected]

1970 3 Environmental consulting, planning, environmental engineering and design services toindustry and government. Committed to sustainable development through responsibleenvironmental stewardship. E & E has 30 offices throughout the United States and 8international locations.


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Empls. Services

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

Robert French, Principal

[email protected]

1986 8 Hazardous materials removal design, workplace health and safety, employee trainingand construction monitoring. Staff includes professional engineers, industrial hygienistsand environmental specialists committed to the safe control, removal and disposal. Nowoffering Code Consulting Services!

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

Blake Hillis, Pres.

[email protected]

2002 108 Hazardous/non-hazardous waste disposal, petroleum product recycling, industrialcleaning services, vacuum truck services, emergency spill response, automotive fluidsrecycling and sales, environmentally friendly cleaners/degreasers, site clean-up andremediation. Anchorage, Kenai, Deadhorse and Fairbanks.

ENVIRON International Corp.3909 Arctic Blvd., Suite 101Anchorage, AK 99503Phone: 907-563-0515 Fax: 907-563-0520

Laura Noland, Sr. Mgr./Sr. Env. Scnst.

[email protected]

2011 4 Environmental consulting; health sciences; natural resource management services; airquality management; ecology and sediment management; environmental complianceand permitting; contaminated sites solutions; water resources; sustainability; and greeninfrastructure.

Environmental Compliance Consultants1500 Post Rd.Anchorage, AK 99501Phone: 907-644-0428 Fax: 907-677-9328

Mark Goodwin, CEO

[email protected]

1999 48 A full-service environmental company dedicated to providing clients with qualityenvironmental services. Experienced in the disciplines of hazardous waste materialsmanagement, transportation, environmental consulting, assessment, remediationrecycling, demolition and more.

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

Larry Helgeson, Principal Eng.

[email protected]

1988 16 Environmental & civil engineering, compliance & consulting such as Phase I, Phase II,asbestos mngmt. & design, HUD lead paint activities, UST removals, biologicalsampling, SWPPPs, SPCCs, & related contamination remediation services & training. Ateam of dedicated professionals working to make Alaska cleaner and safer for tomorrow.

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

Jeffrey Leety, Mng. Partner

ermalaska.com

1995 70 Full environmental consulting services, including: ecological sciences (assessment,permitting, restoration), site remediation (investigation, engineering, closure), air quality,EHS management (systems, compliance, auditing, sustainability), and water resources(engineering, hydrology, wetlands, stream restoration).

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

Mark Musial, Principal/Mgr.

golder.com

1980 40 Arctic and geotechnical engineering, groundwater resource development, environmentalsciences and remedial investigation.

Green Star, Inc.333 W. Fourth Ave., Suite 310Anchorage, AK 99501Phone: 907-278-7827 Fax: 907-279-5868

Kim Kovol, Exec. Dir.

[email protected]

1996 2 Green Star, Inc., is a green business certification program that assists, certifies, andrecognizes Alaska businesses that are committed to fully integrating resource efficiencyand environmental leadership initiatives into their business plans and practices.





Empls. Services

HDR Alaska Inc.2525 C St., Suite 305Anchorage, AK 99503Phone: 907-644-2000 Fax: 907-644-2022

Duane Hippe, Sr. VP/PE

[email protected]

1979 144 Engineering services cover civil and structural engineering for transportation, water/wastewater, solid waste, federal, military, and oil & gas infrastructure. Specialty servicesin design-build. Engineering supported by full range of environmental/planning staff. AKoffices supported by 8,000 HDR staff nationwide.

HMH Consulting LLC200 W. 34th Ave., PMB 253Anchorage, AK 99503Phone: 907-562-8100 Fax: 907-338-0070

Erik Haas, Principal

[email protected]

1997 5 Air quality permitting, monitoring, testing emission-control design, professional training,industrial air-quality compliance evaluations.

Jacobs4300 B St., Suite 600Anchorage, AK 99503Phone: 907-563-3322 Fax: 907-563-3320

Terry Heikkila, Dir. AK Ops

jacobs.com

1947 90 Professional services supporting federal & energy clients. AK expertise includesenvironmental planning, permitting, compliance, investigation, remediation & emergencyresponse; energy conservation (retro-commissioning); remote logistics; design; planning;risk & construction management.

Kakivik Asset Management, LLC560 E. 34th Ave., Suite 200Anchorage, AK 99503-4161Phone: 907-770-9400 Fax: 907-770-9450

A. Ben Schoffmann, Pres./CEO

[email protected]

1999 185 Nondestructive testing, internal and external corrosion investigations, quality programmanagement, integrity program management, field chemical/corrosion inhibitionmanagement, heat treat, corrosion-under-insulation investigation, infrared thermography,rope access technology, and in-line inspection data interpretation.

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

John Fortner, Gen. Mgr.

[email protected]

1997 14 We make buildings smarter by providing: Intelligent building systems, energymanagement & analysis, building commissioning, energy conservation measures, andENERGYSTAR rating services.

Michael Baker Jr. Inc.1400 W. Benson Blvd., Suite 200Anchorage, AK 99503Phone: 907-273-1600 Fax: 907-273-1699

Jeffrey Baker, AK Office Principal

mbakercorp.com

1942 47 Regulatory and permit applications and compliance support; wetlands delineation;Section 10 and 404(b)(1) compliance and evaluation; field hydrological assessments &geotechnical investigations; NEPA documents; public involvement; agency coordination.

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

Michael Foster, PE/Owner

[email protected]

1998 20 Environmental planning documents (EA/EIS), and full-service A/E firm with design/build,construction management, and general contracting capabilities.

MWH1835 S. Bragaw St., Suite 350Anchorage, AK 99508Phone: 907-248-8883 Fax: 907-248-8884

Chris Brown, Alaska Reg. Mgr.

[email protected]

1977 40 Water, wastewater, environmental remediation, permitting and power.

New Horizons Telecom Inc.901 Cope Industrial WayPalmer, AK 99645Phone: 907-761-6000 Fax: 907-761-6001

John Lee, Owner/CEO

[email protected]

1978 80 Services include program management of remediation designs, surveys, sampling,contamination delineation and environmental remediation.

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

John Hargesheimer, Pres.

[email protected]

1979 26 Environment energy, health and safety: A multidisciplined professional consulting firmwith registered engineers and certified industrial hygienists on staff providingenvironmental, engineering, energy auditing industrial hygiene and health and safetyprofessional services throughout Alaska.

North Wind Group2627 C St.Anchorage, AK 99503Phone: 907-277-5488 Fax: 907-277-5422

Greg Razo, CEO

[email protected]

1997 13 Environmental investigation, restoration & remediation; engineering; natural and culturalresources; NEPA services; GIS services; construction; demolition; abatement; wastemanagement; regulatory support; public involvement; and mine reclamation. North Windowns and operates two direct push rigs and a UVOST soil screening system.

O.E.S.3201 C St., Suite 700Anchorage, AK 99503Phone: 907-562-8738 Fax: 907-562-8751

Pat McCormick, GM

[email protected]

1997 26 A wide range of environmental management and remediation; construction; oilfieldsupport; environmental training, tank and pipeline cleaning, inspection and relatedservices. Experienced working in remote and Arctic regions, O.E.S. is a subsidiary ofOlgoonik Corp., the Alaska Native Corp. of Wainwright.

Pacific Environmental Corp. (PENCO)6000 A St.Anchorage, AK 99518Phone: 907-562-5420 Fax: 907-562-5426

Matthew Melton, Alaska Area Mgr.

[email protected]

1973 100 Pacific Environmental Corporation (PENCO) specializes in land and marine spillresponse, environmental cleanup and remediation, and marine vessel remediation.PENCO's array of environmental services includes supplying teams of highly skilled spillresponse technicians for emergency response.

PDC Inc. Engineers1028 Aurora Dr.Fairbanks, AK 99709Phone: 907-452-1414 Fax: 907-456-2707

Royce Conlon, Pres./Envr. Principal

pdceng.com

1975 79 Supports highway, aviation, utility, and facility projects by providing environmentalexpertise for routes and site selection; assessing potential impacts to specificenvironmental categories such as wetlands and hazardous materials and developingdesigns to address identified environmental issues.

R&M Consultants Inc.9101 Vanguard Dr.Anchorage, AK 99507-4447Phone: 907-522-1707 Fax: 907-522-3403

Len Story, COO

[email protected]

1969 140 Engineering, Geomatics, Earth Sciences, Construction Administration

Restoration Science & Engineering LLC911 W. Eighth Ave., Suite 100Anchorage, AK 99501Phone: 907-278-1023 Fax: 907-277-5718

David Nyman, Mng. Partner

restorsci.com

1992 12 Environmental science and engineering specializing in environmental engineering andpermitting, environmental remediation and reporting, phase I&II site assessments, wastewater engineering, fuel system design and compliance, SPCC plans, SWPPP includingCGP and MSGP work, construction project management, and more.


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Empls. Services

Satori Group1310 E. 66th Ave., Suite 2Anchorage, AK 99518Phone: 907-332-0456 Fax: 907-332-0457

Jill Lucas , Pres.

[email protected]

12 10 Hazardous materials building surveys, asbestos & lead remediation, whole/interiorbuilding demolition, health & safety training, groundwater services, Phase I & II ESA's.

SGS North America Inc.200 W. Potter Dr.Anchorage, AK 99518-1605Phone: 907-562-2343 Fax: 907-562-0119

Charles Homestead, Gen. Mgr.

[email protected]

1964 45 Environmental Services: Providing full-service environmental testing since 1964. TheAlaska division has branches in Anchorage and Fairbanks. Extensive experience inDoD, oil industry, PWSID, mining.

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

Chris Darrah, Assoc./Fbnks. Ofc. Mgr.

[email protected]

1974 30 Shannon & Wilson is a nationally renowned engineering and applied earth sciences firmwith offices in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and the Lower 48. Our services includegeotechnical analysis and design; frozen ground engineering; environmentalcompliance, assessments, and remediation; earthquake analysis; and materials testing.

Shannon & Wilson Inc.5430 Fairbanks St., Suite 3Anchorage, AK 99518-1263Phone: 907-561-2120 Fax: 907-561-4483

Stafford Glashan, VP/Anch. Ofc. Mgr.

[email protected]

1974 30 Shannon & Wilson is a nationally renowned engineering and applied earth sciences firmwith offices in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and the Lower 48. Our services includegeotechnical analysis and design; frozen ground engineering; environmentalcompliance, assessments, and remediation; earthquake analysis; and materials testing.

SLR International Corporation2700 Gambell St., Suite 200Anchorage, AK 99503Phone: 907-222-1112 Fax: 907-222-1113

Brian Hoefler, AK Mgr.

[email protected]

2000 88 Air permitting, air measurements, project permitting, environmental compliance, siteinvestigation, remediation, risk assessment and oil spill contingency planning.

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

Jennie Sharpe, CEO

[email protected]

1990 10 Specializes in the treatment of crude oil, bunker C and diesel-contaminated soil, usingan ADEC-approved and -permitted thermal desorption unit.

Spill Shield Inc.5610 Silverado Way, Suite A10Anchorage, AK 99518Phone: 907-561-6033 Fax: 907-561-4504

Ken Bauer, Sales Mgr.

[email protected]

1992 2 Supplier for Smart Ash, Oil Away, Drug Terminator and MediBurn incinerators.Absorbents, water scrubbers, oil spill response kits and related oil spill cleanup products.We also supply the Titan fluid recycler that will clean diesel fuel or low viscosity hydraulicoil at 3 or 6 gallons per minute. We are also supplier of Super Sacks.

Taiga Ventures2700 S. Cushman St.Fairbanks, AK 99701Phone: 907-452-6631 Fax: 907-451-8632

Mike Tolbert, Pres.

[email protected]

1979 20 Provides all supplies necessary for remote work. Provides logistical support (portablecamp, food and vehicles) for environmental cleanups statewide. Full-scale expeditingservice to include well and water monitoring pipe and supplies. Also in Anchorage at 351E. 92nd., 245-3123.


ENVIRONMENTAL FIRMS

RECYCLING FIRMS

AKCompany Top Executive Estab. Empls. Services

AKCompany Top Executive Estab. Empls. Services



Empls. Services

Alaska Soil Recycling1040 O'Malley Rd.Anchorage, AK 99515Phone: 907-348-6700 Fax: 907-344-2844

Brad Quade, Operations Mgr.

anchsand.com

1988 15 Remediation of petroleum-impacted soils by thermal desorption. Our process is capableof off-site and on-site remediation projects. Results are quick and guaranteed. Soils arerecycled into beneficial products after treatment; thereby complying with green andsustainable recycling (GSR) practices.

Anchorage Soil & Water Conserv. Dist.PO Box 110309Anchorage, AK 99511-0309Phone: 907-677-7645 Fax: 907-677-7645

Bret Burroughs, Chair

[email protected]

1997 3 Anchorage Woodlot, property owner and development support and services, BMP anddevelopment planning, confidential assistance to property owners, land managers, anddevelopment industry.

Bin There Dump That3560 Fordham Dr.Anchorage, AK 99508Phone: 907-947-2844

Greg Green, Owner/Pres.

[email protected]

2013 2 Provides waste bins for residential construction, roofing, and other projects. The bins aredropped off and picked up by a uniformed driver, who will even sweep before leaving.Four bin sizes available to fit the specific project.

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

Blake Hillis, Pres.

[email protected]

2002 108 Hazardous/non-hazardous waste disposal, petroleum product recycling, industrialcleaning services, vacuum truck services, emergency spill response, automotive fluidsrecycling and sales, environmentally friendly cleaners/degreasers, site clean-up andremediation. Anchorage, Kenai, Deadhorse and Fairbanks.

Green Star, Inc.333 W. Fourth Ave., Suite 310Anchorage, AK 99501Phone: 907-278-7827 Fax: 907-279-5868

Kim Kovol, Exec. Dir.

[email protected]

1996 2 Green Star, Inc., is a green business certification program that assists, certifies, andrecognizes Alaska businesses that are committed to fully integrating resource efficiencyand environmental leadership initiatives into their business plans and practices.


Empls. Services

TELLUS, Ltd.2551 Susitna Dr.Anchorage, AK 99517-1148Phone: 907-248-8055 Fax: 907-248-8055

Scott Erdmann, Pres./Prof. Geologist

[email protected]

1997 1 Project management, environmental assessment and compliance, corrective actionprograms.

Three Parameters Plus, Inc.3520 International St.Fairbanks, AK 99701Phone: 907-458-8089 Fax: 907-458-8090

Cheryl Moody, Pres./CEO

[email protected]

1992 16 Natural resource consulting firm specializing in: wetland determinations, delineations &functional assessments; wetland compensatory mitigation; regulatory assistance;mineral exploration & mine permitting; terrestrial habitat evaluations & impactassessments; aquatic & hydrologic investigations; water quality monitoring.

Travis/Peterson Environmental Consulting3305 Arctic Blvd., Suite 102Anchorage, AK 99503Phone: 907-522-4337 Fax: 907-522-4313

Michael Travis, Principal

tpeci.com

1998 12 TPECI: Services include Storm Water Management, Environmental Site Assessments(Phases I and II), LUST remediation, hazardous material management, facilitycompliance audits, engineering analysis and design, field sampling, surface water/groundwater evaluations, NEPA, and wetlands delineations and permitting.

TTT Environmental Instruments & Supplies4201 B St.Anchorage, AK 99503Phone: 907-770-9041 Fax: 907-770-9046

Deborah Tompkins, Owner

[email protected]

2003 9 Portable gas detection, health and safety monitoring, environmental equipment. Rentals,sales, service and supplies. Warranty center. Alaskan owned small business.

Tutka LLC (Wasilla)5825 E. Mayflower Ct., Suite BWasilla, AK 99654Phone: 907-357-2238 Fax: 907-357-2215

Amie Sommer, Member

[email protected]

1999 30 Certified DBE/WBE (ADOT&PF, MOA),EDWOSB/WOSB, HUBZone, CCR/ORCAregistered. General contractor, heavy civil construction, environmental cleanup andconsulting, wastewater pre-treatment systems operations and maintenance services.

URS700 G St., Suite 500Anchorage, AK 99501Phone: 907-562-3366 Fax: 907-562-1297

Joe Hegna, AK Ops Mgr./VP

urscorp.com/

1904 100 Civil/structural/transportation engineering design services, analysis/response,containment sites, cultural/historical/archaeological/land use/noise & threatened/endangered species studies, fisheries/geology/soils expertise, GIS/AutoCAD, Section4fevaluations, wetland delineation, wildlife.

USKH Inc.2515 A St.Anchorage, AK 99503Phone: 907-276-4245 Fax: 907-258-4653

Timothy Vig, Pres./Principal

[email protected]

1972 97 USKH is a full-service, multi-discipline architectural and engineering firm. Servicesinclude: architecture; civil, structural, transportation, mechanical & electrical engineering;surveying & GIS; landscape architecture; planning; & environmental services.

Waste Management of Alaska Inc.1519 Ship Ave.Anchorage, AK 99501Phone: 855-973-3949 Fax: 866-491-2008

Mike Holzschuh, Territory Mgr./N.Am.

[email protected]

1969 4 Hazardous and nonhazardous waste disposal, project management, complete logisticaloversight, complete U.S. and Canadian manifesting, rail transportation, over-the-roadtransportation, marine transportation and turnkey remedial services.

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

Patrick Flynn, AK Business Mgr.

[email protected]

1957 60 WESTON delivers sustainable environmental, property redevelopment, energy &construction solutions. WESTON Alaska supports oil & gas industry, state & federalproject mngmt. permitting, construction, incident response & environmental remediation.Worldwide 1,800 staff build relationships & help solve our clients' toughest problems.

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

Melissa Cunningham, Principal Mgr.

[email protected]

2009 9 WNR provides biological and environmental consulting services and wilderness safetyspecialist support to the public and private sectors. Our expertise includes regulatorycompliance, environmental monitoring, permitting, GIS analysis, site assessments,technical writing, and supporting clients through the NEPA process.

RECYCLING FIRMS AKCompany Top Executive Estab. Empls. Services

ALA

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’S 2013

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Empls. Services

Hilltop Recycling IncPO Box 670069Chugiak, AK 99567Phone: 907-696-2246 Fax: 907-696-0704

Ben Gardner, Pres.

hilltoprecycling.com

1982 10 Automobile parts: used and rebuilt; metal recycling.

Interior Alaska Green StarPO Box 82391Fairbanks, AK 99708Phone: 907-452-4152

Kalee Mockridge, Exec. Dir.

[email protected]

1998 1 Interior Alaska Green Star, along with the North Star Borough, sponsors monthlyelectronics recycling collections every month, along with ongoing education andoutreach for recycling options in Fairbanks and publishes Fairbanks Recycling Guide;contact us to request printed copies or download it from our website.

Recycling Solutions of AlaskaPO Box 110015Anchorage, AK 99516Phone: 907-242-9587

Sarah Robinson, Owner

[email protected]

2008 2 We provide office, business, and residential recycling services. Paper, cardboard,aluminum, glass, electronics and more!

Richmond Steel Recycling11760 Mitchell Rd.Richmond, BC V6V1V8Phone: 907-280-8180 Fax: 604-324-8617

Harbinder Dhillon, Gen. Mgr.

[email protected]

1970 1 Auto hulk shredding, mobile car crusher, industrial steel accounts including full-containerservice, mobile shears, dock facilities and confidential shredding/destruction.

RockTenn Recycling6161 Rosewood St.Anchorage, AK 99518Phone: 907-562-2267 Fax: 907- 565-4459

Randy Virgin, Gen. Mgr. 1999 11 Services for general public and commercial sector; including cardboard, newspaper,mixed paper, office paper, aluminum cans, #1 and #2 plastic bottles. Buy non-ferrousmetals.

Shred Alaska Inc.801 E. 82nd Ave., Suite B-1Anchorage, AK 99518Phone: 907-929-1154 Fax: 907-929-8042

Robyn Forbes, Pres./Gen. Mgr.

[email protected]

2000 12 On-site and drop-off document shredding services to all customers throughout Southcentral Alaska.

Total Reclaim Environmental Services12101 Industry Way, Unit C4Anchorage, AK 99515Phone: 907-561-0544 Fax: 907-222-6306

Larry Zirkle, Mgr.

[email protected]

2005 8 Recycler for electronics, fluorescent lights, household batteries and refrigerants.Community resource regarding information on recycling matters. Also Non-Ferrous MetalBuyer.

Valley Community For Recycling SolutionsPO Box 876464Wasilla, AK 99687Phone: 907-745-5544 Fax: 907-745-5569

Mollie Boyer, Exec. Dir.

[email protected]

1998 8 Recycling Center: Receiving recyclables from MSB businesses, schools, agencies andresidents and communities connected along the highway system. Processing Plant:Turning recovered material into commodities for market. Education: Providing field trips,curriculum kit (4th-8th grade), and presentations on why and how of recycling.


energY

Going deep:Going deep:Going deep:Far below the muskegs of western

Cook Inlet, rich coal seams lurk deep below the ground—strand-

ed far beyond the reach of conventional mining techniques.

Enter CIRI and Linc Energy (Alaska) Inc., two companies pioneering the fi rst forays into the possibility of underground coal gasifi cation production in Alaska.

CIRI hopes to develop an under-ground coal gasifi cation project on its own lands northeast of the Beluga River. Linc Energy currently holds exploration licenses on Alaska Mental Health Trust lands four miles due west of Beluga.

Th e process works like this: Com-pressed air pumped through a well into a coal seam triggers the underground combustion of some of the coal. Th e re-

sulting heat converts the air, coal, and coal seam water into carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and methane, along with some contaminants including sulfur oxide and hydrogen sulfi de.

Th e products of underground coal gasifi cation—UCG in short—are brought up with fairly standard pro-duction wells without the disruption of traditional mining methods, backers say. Th e gases produced can be convert-ed to methane, the chief component of natural gas, for general utility uses or used directly to fuel power generation.

A gas-to-liquids plant can also convert the primary synthesis gas or “syngas” into diesel, jet fuel, or fertilizers.

UCG is already in production around the world—Uzbekistan, South Africa, Australia—and there are additional UCG projects at various stages of devel-opment elsewhere.

Its claim to fame: the process allows producers to plumb coal seams too cost-ly or technically challenging to mine.

Some western Cook Inlet coal seams, thousands of feet deep, defi nitely fi t that category.

Alaska’s coal gasifi cation pioneers

By�Zaz�Hollander

Linc Energy operates an underground�coal�gasifi�cation�facility�in�Queensland,�Australia�located�near�Chinchilla.�The�facil-ity�includes�this�gas-to-liquids�plant.�Linc�hopes�to�produce�UCG�in�Alaska.�

Photo courtesy of Linc Energy

To see a video demonstrating how UCG works, go to an animation posted by Linc Energy at linc energyenergy.com/video_gallery.php


“If you can reach those and turn them into a valuable energy commod-ity like syngas, then it brings a resource that’s probably of marginal value to the Trust to having a great value to the Trust and to those of us who consume gas in Alaska,” says Rick Fredericksen, the Trust’s senior resource manager for energy and minerals.

StoneHornRisesGiven predicted shortages in Cook Inlet natural gas, CIRI is hoping to bring a new source of heat and power to South-central homes and businesses.

CIRI has already spent more than $10 million on its UCG development on corporation lands in the Stone Horn Ridge area six or seven miles from the Beluga airstrip and power plant.

But back in 2008 or 2009, when the Alaska Native Corporation started get-ting cold calls from UCG proponents, the industry was not a familiar one.

“I’d never heard of the technology,” says Ethan Schutt, CIRI’s senior vice president for land and energy devel-opment. “We spent a year looking at whether it was a valid technology or

just something people were selling that wasn’t real.”

CIRI eventually entered into Stone Horn Ridge LLC, a joint venture with Laurus Energy, a Texas-based sub-sidiary of Canadian UCG technology

company Ergo Energy. Part of the ap-peal, Schutt says, is the relatively small area required if the coal resource is good. A producer might need just sev-eral thousand acres to produce decades of supply.

A core sample from test�drilling�north�of� the�Beluga�River� in�2010� is�part�of�CIRI’s�exploration�program�for�underground�coal�gasifi�cation�on�the�west�side�of�Cook�Inlet.

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Th e joint venture has drilled a total of thirteen stratigraphic test wells, Schutt says. Crews collected core samples from 500 to 2,500 feet deep. An early 2012 shal-low-focus, high-resolution 2-D seismic program will help plot the next phase: site characterization drilling with much more closely spaced holes to facilitate commer-cial development of the project.

Th e remote site complicates work. Early operations relied almost entirely

on helicopter support. Th is season, CIRI needs to re-establish road access before continuing work. Storms last fall washed out the route.

PowerorProcessing?If the site proves out, CIRI could pro-duce local electricity by burning syngas. Th e corporation has had preliminary discussions with Chugach Electric, Schutt says.

But UCG makes the big bucks in the gas-to-liquid process. Syngas produced by CIRI could be chemically upgraded to methane, ethanol, fertilizer, or liquid fuel for export to the Pacifi c Rim, Schutt says.

Processing the syngas would take a gas-to-liquid facility costing a “couple billion dollars,” he says. Any process-ing would happen in Alaska, so even though the value-added product would be exported, the facility would generate “a lot of jobs” here.

CIRI should know more about its UCG resources in about a year, aft er this year’s site characterization program wrap up.

“Th e fi nal project will, in part, depend on the market, the capital required to build out the project,” Schutt says.

LincEnergy:ExpandingUCGEmpire

Linc Energy is an energy and UCG heavyweight, a global company head-quartered in Brisbane, Australia. Th e company’s Alaska offi ce opened in 2010, joining four other US offi ces and eight offi ces worldwide.

Linc Energy comes to Alaska with ex-perience in underground coal gasifi ca-tion and gas-to-liquid technologies.

Its UCG demonstration facility in Queensland, Australia is unique, the company says. It contains Gas to Liq-uids Fischer-Tropsch processing for cleaner fuel production and a world-class laboratory for technical research. Linc Energy also owns the world’s only commercial UCG facility, located in Uz-bekistan, which has produced syngas for power generation since 1961.

In Alaska, Linc Energy is putting a lot of energy and attention into oil and gas leases in the Umiat area of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. But the com-pany is also making progress on several exploratory UCG wells in western Cook Inlet, according to Adam Bond, Linc En-ergy’s president for clean energy.

Th e company drilled the fi rst of two UCG test wells on the west side of Cook Inlet in 2011.

An application Linc Energy fi led that same year for a state permit to drill shows the company planned to core approximately 3,500 feet in a unit that includes the target Tyonek Formation, with subbituminous coal beds as much as 50 to 60 feet thick.

Linc Energy, like CIRI, is watching

Cook Inlet Region, Inc. equipment�conducts�test�drilling�in�coal�seams�north�of�the�Beluga�River� in�2010.�CIRI�hopes� to�produce�gas� from�underground�coal�gasifi�cation�on�the�west�side�of�Cook�Inlet.�

Photo courtesy of CIRI


forecasts for natural gas shortages in Cook Inlet closely, Bond says.

“There’s clearly growing demand in that region ... for a long-term, reliable gas supply,” he says. “Demand in the re-gion suggests there’s probably going to be a longer term opportunity to create a new source of synthesis natural gas to include in the system.”

Linc Energy is in the early stages of evaluating its Cook Inlet wells, explor-ing coal seams to determine how suit-able they are for UCG production, Bond says. Again like CIRI, Linc Energy ex-pects to know more about the viability of the coals by next year.

That’s when the company will know more about whether it will move ahead with power production or gas-to-liq-uids—or both.

“I guess the beauty or the benefit of syngas derived from UCG is its flexibil-ity,” he says. “You don’t necessarily have to have one or the other.”

SlowGoingThe Mental Health Trust is the land-owner for the company’s leases, not the regulating authority.

The coal gasification process is regulat-ed under Alaska’s Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act administered by the Coal Regulatory Group that’s part of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.

Linc Energy obtained its leases in a 2010 competitive lease offering, accord-ing to Marcie Menefee, deputy director of the Trust’s land office. Linc Energy won the majority of the acreage, some 167,000 in all. That number also in-cludes lands near Healy and Anderson, along with western Cook Inlet.

Asked about the timeline on Linc Energy’s leases, Fredericksen says the Trust would have liked Linc Energy to have drilled more holes by now but work was delayed by problems finding a suitable drill rig and training up crews. Linc Energy’s Bond acknowledged that “Alaska is a challenging place to do busi-ness” but says the company is comfort-able with its drilling plans this season.

The Trust could benefit in several ways from Linc Energy’s work, Freder-icksen says.

“We have the properties evaluated through either geophysical [work] or drilling so we have a better sense of what we have out there,” he says. “In

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addition to the inventory, should they find an area that will prove up, then we would have gas production from that—whereupon we get a royalty.”

The Trust is still negotiating royal-ties on potential production, trying to decide whether to assess royalties on a BTU basis, or value of coals in place, or some other basis.

ProsandConsA 300 to 400 percent increase in recover-able coal reserves in the United States is possible according to a draft best-prac-

tices report by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. For developing countries undergoing rapid economic expansion, including India and China, UCG also may be a particularly compel-ling technology, the report states.

Because it doesn’t involve convention-al mining techniques, UCG production does away with mine safety issues. Com-pared to traditional coal mining and processing, it also eliminates surface damage and solid waste discharge, while also reducing sulfur dioxide and nitro-gen oxide emissions, the report says.


Zaz Hollander is a journalist living in Palmer.

Still, the technology also comes with some environmental concerns. Chief among them, state offi cials say, are wa-ter quality and subsidence, or slump-ing in the project area aft er the under-ground reaction occurs and wells pump out gas and water.

Both hazards are avoidable with proper site selection and the adop-tion of best management practices, the Livermore report states.

Th e Livermore scientists reference two diff erent operations. At a Wyoming site of several UCG pilot tests, “improp-er site selection and over-pressurization of the reactor drove a plume containing benzene, volatile organic carbons and other contaminants into local fresh-water aquifers,” they found.

In contrast, a Linc Energy pilot at Chin-chilla, Australia “demonstrates that it is possible to operate UCG without creating either hazard,” the scientists concluded.

RulesAlreadyInPlacePerhaps surprisingly given the indus-try’s fl edgling status in Alaska, UCG operations are already regulated by specifi c state rules, according to Rus-

sell Kirkham, coal regulatory program manager for the state Division of Min-ing, Land & Water. When the state took primacy over the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), offi cials included “in situ” gasifi cation rules already written into the federal

regulations, Kirkham writes in an email.Along with the state SMCRA pro-

gram, other permitting authorities in-clude the US Environmental Protection Agency, Alaska Department of Envi-ronmental Quality, the US Army Corps of Engineers for any wetland permits, and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game for habitat permits.

Given the relatively new technology at play, however, state offi cials also put together a UCG working group “to re-view the technology and to make sure the permitting process is protective of the environment,” Kirkham writes. Th at team includes members from DNR, DEC, ADFG, and the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

Th e group is working on developing a guidance document and also working with a national UCG group.

Kirkham also referenced several ben-efi ts to the state, should these fi rst UCG projects prove out.

“UCG has minimal surface distur-bance and associated environmental impacts compared to conventional min-ing,” he writes. “UCG is able to use deep stranded coals. Both CIRI and Linc En-ergy are looking at coals in Southcentral Alaska at depths greater than ~800 feet. Coals at this depth are uneconomic to mine conventionally.”

Linc Energy ultra-low sulfur diesel�tanks�are�part�of�the�company’s�operation�at�its�underground�coal�gasifi�cation�facility�in�Queensland,�Australia,�located�near�Chinchilla.�

Linc Energy ultra-low sulfur diesel�tanks�are�part�of�the�company’s�operation�at�

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Primary Contacts:Michael Holzschuh – Territory Manager,

North America (206) 423-4955William Hickey – Project Manager,

Alaska/Pacific Northwest (360) 270-0430

Waste Management Energy & Environmental Services

1519 Ship Avenue, Anchorage, Alaska 99501Toll-Free (866) 402-1671

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Although WM is best known for being the largest waste management and recycling firm in North Ameri-ca, WM also offers business custom-ers turnkey waste and sustainability solutions through field services and technical support. WM offers spe-cialized support and subject mat-ter experts (SMEs) for the energy services industry, transportation, logistics, healthcare, environmen-tal, demolition, remediation, man-ufacturing, and construction busi-ness lines.

WM understands that the long-term business interests of oil and gas customers are tightly inter-twined with the environment and the communities in which they operate and that a critical balance must be achieved between energy production and environmental pro-tection. WM offers a variety of ser-vices relevant to these operational needs including on-site and off-site water and solids management, re-porting and tracking of materials, permitting/compliance assistance, and NORM and hazardous waste transport and disposal.

WM provides a single point of contact that will work closely with you every step of the way regardless of your type of industry or materials that need to be managed. WM seeks to develop new and proactive ways to minimize waste, maximize effi-ciencies, and uncover resource val-ue along your entire supply chain. WM’s unique expertise and ad-vanced waste disposal technologies provide forward-thinking solutions for reducing cost and deriving value from your residuals.

According to Bill Hickey, Proj-ect Manager Alaska/Pacific North-west “From a business standpoint, working with WM just makes sense because we plan, design, and imple-ment practical environmental solu-tions that strive to achieve tangible cost savings.” With that said, WM has great deal of experience work-has great deal of experience work-has great deal of experience working throughout all regions of Alas-ka and is well versed in handling remote logistical challenges.

By being the industry leader in waste solutions, WM has developed time-tested results as well as cut-ting-edge treatment technologies to better manage resources and reduce landfill disposal volumes. WM now offers web-based profile submissions as well as online applications that streamline waste tracking and com-pliance assurance with regulatory agencies, resulting in cost savings for ongoing operations and event-based projects. The new Anchorage office is now permitted as a ten-day facility for waste handling and storage.

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oil & gAs

Getting More Oil in the PipelineGetting More Oil in the PipelineGetting More Oil in the PipelineNew production, new revenues, new hope

By�Mike�Bradner

There is cautious optimism now that the gamble by Governor Sean Parnell and the Alaska State

Legislature in passing a major restruc-turing, and reduction, of the state’s oil production tax will result in new pro-duction and new revenues to the state.

Within days of lawmakers’ approval of Senate Bill 21 (SB21), the bill mak-ing the tax changes, on April 14, Cono-coPhillips announced new work in the North Slope fi elds it operates. A few weeks later BP announced new work in fi elds it operates.

If the new projects being planned and evaluated by the two compa-nies are done, they are likely to total

more than $5 billion in new invest-ment. Th ere is, in addition, new work planned by independent companies like Brooks Range Petroleum, a small Alaska-based company, and Pioneer Natural Resources, a large indepen-dent based in Dallas, Texas.

Companies are also exploring. Al-though they are not yet projects, Rep-sol, the Spain-based major oil company, made three oil discoveries in three exploration wells it drilled this past winter season, and two of them very encouraging, the company says.

Although Repsol’s drilling has been underway for two winter seasons, and prior to the passage of SB21, the compa-

ny says that the prospect of a tax change encouraged it to come to Alaska in 2010, when the governor fi rst proposed the reduction. Parnell’s bill didn’t pass that year or the following year, but pas-sage of SB21 in 2013 has increased the likelihood that Repsol will be able to develop at least two of the discoveries it made early this year, Repsol has said.

FittingScenariosMeanwhile, all of this fi ts a scenario developed by the state Department of Revenue and predictions by consul-tants to the Legislature that the tax changes made by SB21 will result in more oil and more new revenues than


the previous tax would have produced. In fact, the new projects announced so far come close to a scenario developed by the department where SB21 would generate about $1 billion a year in addi-tional state income compared to what the previous tax would have generated.

In the department’s Fiscal Note for SB21, the analysis of the fi nancial ef-fects of the law change, the estimate was for a $300 million revenue reduc-tion in Fiscal Year 2014, the state bud-get year that began July 1.

Under one scenario in the fi scal note that is actually similar to what is play-ing out, there would be four additional drill rigs put to work in the producing fi elds, one new well pad in an existing fi eld, and one small new fi eld outside the existing fi elds.

Th e scenario assumes 125 million barrels of new oil over an eight year pe-riod, by 2022, with an investment by in-dustry of $5 billion. If this were to hap-pen, there could be $1.1 billion in new revenues to the state treasury in Fiscal Year 2018 compared with what would be brought in from the previous tax.

WorkAnnouncementsWhat the companies have announced so far is three new rigs going to work; one new fi eld, “Mustang,” being devel-oped by Brooks Range; and two new well pads and the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) small fi eld un-der evaluation, which are likely to ex-ceed $5 billion in total investment.

What BP announced was that it would put two new drill rigs to work in the Prudhoe Bay and Milne Point fi elds, where it is operator. Janet Weiss, BP’s Alaska president, added more de-tails to the announcement in a speech to the Resource Development Council’s annual meeting in Anchorage.

Weiss said the two new drill rigs will be drilling by 2015 and 2016 and would add thirty to forty new production wells per year for at least fi ve years in the Prudhoe Bay and Milne Point units, in addition to the drilling of wells pre-viously planned. Th e new rigs will add two hundred new drilling jobs and will almost double BP’s rig fl eet on the North Slope, from fi ve rigs to nine.

BP is operator of the Prudhoe Bay fi eld for itself and the fi eld co-owners, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil, as

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well as the Milne Point fi eld, owned 100 percent by BP.

Signifi cantly, the Prudhoe Bay work requires the consent, and fi nancing, by all three of the major fi eld owners. Th is demonstrates that all three companies now agree that the SB21 tax changes are enough to improve the economics of new oil development and to encourage them to invest more money.

ConocoPhillips also announced new projects in the Kuparuk River fi eld, where it is operator, along with a pro-spective development in the NPR-A.

In the Kuparuk fi eld, ConocoPhillips said it will add one drill rig and begin evaluation of a new production pad in the southern part of the fi eld. Cono-coPhillips is majority owner in Kupa-ruk fi eld with BP also a major owner. ExxonMobil owns a minority interest.

Th e new production pad being con-sidered in the Kuparuk fi eld is Drill Site 2-S at the southern edges of the known Kuparuk reservoir, where ConocoPhil-lips had drilled an exploration well, “Sharktooth,” to test for potential oil accumulations.


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In NPR–A the company holds fed-eral leases along with Anadarko Petro-leum Corporation, a minority owner. ConocoPhillips has started work there on permitting and engineering for the development of GMT-1, one of two dis-coveries made by the company several years ago in the northeast part of the petroleum reserve. GMT-1 is seventeen miles southwest of the Alpine fi eld, which is operated by ConocoPhillips.

Th e company plans to submit permits to the US Bureau of Land Management, which administers NPR–A, later this year.

ConocoPhillips’ other discovery in the area is GMT-2, which is eight miles farther west, and which is not being de-veloped at this time.

Even though NPR-A is federally-owned, under federal law half of NPR-A royalties are shared with the state and production taxes to the state are paid just as if the production were from state-owned or pri-vate lands, and the changes made by SB21 benefi t potential NPR-A projects.

One new project BP will tackle soon is development of the Sag River formation, a thin, technically-challenged reservoir that overlies the main Ivishak producing formation of the Prudhoe Bay fi eld, Weiss said at the RDC meeting. Th e fi rst phase of Sag River development involves sixteen wells, with drilling to begin in 2015. Th is will add two hundred new production and injection wells and about 200 million barrels of new oil production.

In addition BP will evaluate the Northwest Schrader prospect in the Milne Point fi eld. Technical hurdles must still be overcome, but the project would require $1 billion to $2 billion in new investment and construction of two new well pads and seventy new wells, with about 80 million barrels of new production added.

“These� projects� would� create�thousands�of�direct�and�indirect�jobs,�access�hundreds�of�millions�of� barrels� of� additional� oil� at�Prudhoe,� and�eventually�gener-ate�tens�of�thousands�of�barrels�of�new�production�per�day.”

—Janet WeissAlaska�President,�BP


“Th ese were projects that were sidelined by the state’s tax policies,” prior to the change made by the Legislature in April, Weiss said at the RDC’s annual meeting.

In her RDC speech Weiss also added more details on the potential Prudhoe Bay west end projects being evaluated. If these proceed they will include “de-bottlenecking existing facilities and fi eld infrastructure, expansions of ex-isting well pads, construction of one new pad, and one hundred new wells,” she said. “We expect appraisal work to last two to three years. Development could last at least a decade.

“Th ese projects would create thou-sands of direct and indirect jobs, access hundreds of millions of barrels of ad-ditional oil at Prudhoe, and eventually generate tens of thousands of barrels of new production per day,” Weiss said at the RDC conference.

IndependentsMovingAggressively

Most attention is focused on the com-panies operating the large producing oil fi elds because that is where there are large resources that can be tapped relatively quickly. However, independents are also moving aggressively on new projects.

West of the Kuparuk River fi eld, Brooks Range Petroleum is now con-structing its new “Mustang” project. Th is is a small fi eld that will produce about 15,000 barrels per day at peak and will be in operation by 2015. While Mustang was in development before the tax change, SB21 has improved its economics and has encouraged Brooks Range to begin work on other nearby prospects that are similar to Mustang.

Pioneer Natural Resources is mean-while working on a potential new proj-ect near its existing Oooguruk fi eld. Th e company’s “Nuna” prospect has been drilled and evaluated, and Pio-neer is expected to make a decision this fall on whether to develop the project. If it moves ahead Nuna could produce about 15,000 barrels per day. Th ese are relatively small fi elds, but together they could add a substantial amount of new production for the trans-Alaska oil pipeline. What is important is that there are many small to medium-sized prospects like Mustang and Nuna, and these are the right size for independent companies to pursue.

‘MiddleofthePack’What has brought all this about, the tax change by the Legislature, eff ectively lowers the “government take” share of Alaska oil production from about 75 percent under the previous tax law to between 60 percent and 65 percent under the revised tax approved by the Legislature in April, according to Roger Marks, a retired state petroleum econo-mist who was a consultant to the Legis-lature this year. Previously Alaska had one of the highest tax rates among oil producing regions of the world. Now it

is in the “middle of the pack” among these producing regions.

Given Alaska’s geological endowment of oil and gas resources, the change is enough to make the state much more competitive in attracting new industry investment. Th e hope is that this will translate to new production to help keep the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System operating.

Mike Bradner is publisher of the Alaska Legislative Digest.


oil, gAs & fiscAl policY op-ed

Is This Generation of Alaskans Failing the Next?

Is This Generation of Is This Generation of Is This Generation of Is This Generation of Is This Generation of Is This Generation of Is This Generation of Is This Generation of Is This Generation of Is This Generation of Is This Generation of Is This Generation of Is This Generation of Is This Generation of Is This Generation of Is This Generation of Is This Generation of Is This Generation of Is This Generation of Is This Generation of Is This Generation of Is This Generation of Is This Generation of Is This Generation of Is This Generation of Is This Generation of Is This Generation of Is This Generation of Alaskans Failing the Next?Alaskans Failing the Next?Alaskans Failing the Next?Alaskans Failing the Next?Alaskans Failing the Next?Alaskans Failing the Next?Alaskans Failing the Next?Alaskans Failing the Next?Alaskans Failing the Next?Alaskans Failing the Next?Alaskans Failing the Next?Alaskans Failing the Next?Alaskans Failing the Next?Alaskans Failing the Next?Alaskans Failing the Next?Alaskans Failing the Next?Alaskans Failing the Next?Alaskans Failing the Next?Alaskans Failing the Next?Alaskans Failing the Next?

In 1976 Alaskans passed a constitu-tional amendment establishing the Permanent Fund. Th e amendment

provides in pertinent part that “at least twenty-fi ve percent of all mineral lease rentals, royalties, royalty sale proceeds, federal mineral revenue sharing pay-ments and bonuses received by the State shall be placed in a permanent fund.”

Th ose here during that period attri-bute the passage of the amendment to two things.

First, in 1969 the state had received $900 million in bonuses in the oil and gas lease sale that followed the discov-ery of the Prudhoe Bay fi eld. Within a few years the state had spent the en-tire amount on various projects. Many thought the spending ineffi cient and wasteful and voted for the constitution-al amendment as a way of putting some of the funds beyond political control.

Second, many realized that oil is a depleting resource and at some point production would no longer provide a signifi cant source of income for the state. Th ey supported the amendment to set aside a portion of the state’s oil wealth for future generations of Alas-kans that otherwise would not benefi t from it.

Th e amendment was tied to “min-eral lease rentals, royalties, royalty sale proceeds” and similar receipts because that was the only source of North Slope oil revenues being received by the state at the time. Production did not start until 1977. As a result, there were no production taxes being collected at the time the amendment was proposed and the vote taken.

Indeed, while production taxes start-ed growing as a source of revenue aft er the commencement of production, for the next thirty years they never sur-passed the level of revenue produced

from royalties. Instead, they were set at levels roughly correlated to the cost of funding state government, in much the same way as income or sales taxes are in other states.

AChangeinPhilosophyBoth the philosophy behind produc-tion taxes and their level changed in the mid-2000s. Beginning with the passage of PPT (the Petroleum Production Tax) in 2006, and subsequently ACES (Alas-ka’s Clear and Equitable Share) in 2007, Alaska converted its tax approach from one focused on generating revenues suffi cient to fund the reasonable costs of state government, to one focused on extracting Alaska’s “fair share” of the revenues produced from oil production.

Th is approach continues in SB21, the recently enacted replacement to ACES. While the tax rate is lower than under ACES, the rate nevertheless remains based on the Legislature’s view of Alas-ka’s “fair share” in light of current com-mercial conditions.

I have suggested in the past that the unilateral nature of this change may have been a breach of contract by the state. Under most legal regimes, the royalty rate negotiated at the time an oil and gas lease is signed is viewed as establishing the mineral owner’s “fair share” of the revenues produced from its lands. Private mineral owners cer-tainly are not permitted unilaterally to reset their “fair share” as oil prices rise. Th e leases are viewed as a contract and each party remains bound by its terms regardless of whether, in retrospect, one or the other should have argued for better terms.

For good or bad, however, in the mid-2000s Alaska took advantage of its position not only as a mineral owner, but also a government, to end run the

normal contractual limitations and, through its taxing authority, unilater-ally reset the terms of the state’s “fair share.” Other than the means used to calculate the amount, essentially the state did away with the distinction be-tween royalty and production taxes.

AnIncreaseinStateRevenues…andSpending…

Th e change in philosophy signifi cantly has boosted the level of oil revenues re-ceived by the state.

Prior to 2006, the most the state had received in production taxes was in 1982, when proceeds from the tax reached $1.5 billion. Since 2007, howev-er, proceeds from the tax have exceeded that amount substantially. Th e level of tax collected in the fi rst year was $2.2 billion; subsequent years’ receipts have been $6.8 billion (2008), $3.1 billion (2009), $2.9 billion (2010), $4.5 billion (2011), and $6.1 billion (2012).

Fully reminiscent of what happened aft er the 1969 Prudhoe lease sale, state spending has exploded with the in-crease in revenues. During Fiscal Years 2004 through 2006, before the passage of ACES, spending from the General Fund averaged $2.5 billion.

In the fi rst four years following the passage of ACES, spending nearly dou-bled, averaging a little under $4.75 bil-lion. In the last three years, state spend-ing has exploded again. In Fiscal Year 2012, the Legislature appropriated and the governor approved $6.72 billion in General Fund spending, a new record.

Th at record lasted only a year, though. In the recently completed Fis-cal Year 2013, state spending reached nearly $7.9 billion, a new record.

Late during this year’s legislative ses-sion, the governor announced that he intended to “limit” state spending for

By�Bradford�G.�Keithley

Th e views expressed herein are those of the authors’ own and not those of Alaska Business Monthly


Fiscal Year 2014, the current fi scal year, to $6.8 billion, down from the previous year’s record, but still the second largest budget in state history.

Confi rming that some view these in-fl ated spending levels as the new “nor-mal,” in the same announcement the governor said that he intends to main-tain spending at the $6.8 billion rate for the next fi ve years.

…butNotinthePermanentFund

Despite the increase in revenues result-ing from the 2007 passage of ACES, the then-Governor and Legislature did not similarly revise the calculation used to set aside a portion of the state’s “fair share” of oil revenues for future generations.

Aft er the passage of ACES, as before, the portion of Alaska’s “fair share” con-tributed to the Permanent Fund remains tied to “mineral lease rentals, royalties” and the like, notwithstanding that the majority of the state’s oil revenue now comes in the form of production taxes.

It is that failure to revise the calcula-tion of the Permanent Fund at the same time as changing the state’s approach to production taxes that raises the ques-tion of whether the state is treating fu-ture generations of Alaskans fairly.

ThePurposeofthePermanentFund

Th e philosophy embedded in the Per-manent Fund is that all Alaskans are entitled to a share of the state’s oil wealth, not just those who happen to be here during the time the oil is being produced. Sometimes this is referred to as “intergenerational equity,” ensuring that future generations are treated as well as the current one when dealing with a common resource.

Th e same general philosophy also surfaces elsewhere in the Alaska Con-stitution. For example, Article VII, Sec-tion 4 of the Alaska Constitution pro-vides in relevant part that “fi sh, forests … and all other replenishable resources belonging to the State shall be utilized, developed, and maintained on the sus-tained yield principle.” Simply stated, the “sustained yield principle” is that “takes” of resources by current genera-tions should be restricted so that future generations also are able to enjoy access to equivalent resources.

In passing the 1976 amendment es-tablishing the Permanent Fund, voters made the judgment that “at least” 25 per-cent of the value received from current oil production should be deposited in the Fund for the benefi t of future Alaskans.

With the growing use of production taxes as an alternate means of deriving that value, however, that promise in-creasingly is going unfulfi lled.

From 2001 to 2006, the percent of combined receipts from the state’s royalty share and production tax con-tributed to the Permanent Fund aver-aged roughly 18 percent. Th e diff erence between that and the 25 percent target refl ects the fact that the level of produc-tion taxes largely was set to help pay for the reasonable costs of government and, thus, were not attributable to the goal of the Permanent Fund.

Since the passage of ACES, however, the percent of combined receipts from the state’s royalty share and production tax contributed to the Permanent Fund has declined substantially, reaching a low of 8.3 percent in 2008 and averaging only 11.5 percent for the entire period.

What those declining numbers refl ect is that state government is increasingly taking more of the state’s current oil rev-enue stream for today’s citizens and leav-ing less for future Alaska generations.

To put it in terms that those who fi sh the state’s waters will fi nd familiar, state government is currently overtaking the state’s fi scal stock to make the life of current Alaskans more comfortable and leaving future generations of Alaskans to suff er with lower and lower returns.

TheImpactonFutureGenerations

Future Alaska generations will see the impact of these decisions in two ways.

First, the Permanent Fund will be smaller, and thus less capable of produc-ing an equivalent revenue stream once current oil revenues decline. Th e Uni-

versity of Alaska Anchorage Institute of Social and Economic Research estimates that, at its current size, the Permanent Fund is capable of producing roughly $2.5 billion in ongoing revenue. Th at amount would be substantially higher if the cur-rent generation reserved for future gen-erations the same share of production tax revenues as it does of royalty revenues.

Second, state government is creat-ing programs—and expectations—that future generations will not be able to sustain. As noted previously, the gover-nor’s recent announcement appears to lock in long-term spending at roughly $6.8 billion per year, well in excess of the capability of the Permanent Fund.

While the consequences of that over-spending may be buff ered for some pe-riod by drawing down the state’s various reserve funds, Institute of Social and Economic Research estimates that at current spending rates the reserves will be depleted sometime in the early 2020s. At that point, the state will be faced with choosing among sharply cutting pro-grams (leaving future Alaskans with fewer services than the current genera-tion enjoys), enacting substantial sales, property, and income taxes in an eff ort to sustain the same level of programs, or most likely, a combination of the two.

In short, the decision by this genera-tion of Alaskans to spend an ever great-er portion of the state’s oil wealth on themselves is burdening future genera-tions with increasingly more diffi cult prospects. Viewed from the perspective of those who established the Permanent Fund, this generation of Alaskans is failing those who will come aft er.

It does not have to be that way, how-ever, and I will write more about that in future editions.

Bradford G. Keithley is the President and a Principal with Keithley Consulting, LLC, an Alaska-based and focused oil and gas

consultancy he founded. Keithley also publishes the blog “Thoughts on Alaska Oil & Gas” at bgkeithley.com.

Bradford G. Keithley is the President and a Principal with Keithley Consulting, LLC, an Alaska-based and focused oil and gas

What� those� declining� numbers�refl�ect� is� that� state� government�is� increasingly� taking� more� of� the�state’s� current� oil� revenue� stream�for�today’s�citizens�and�leaving�less�for�future�Alaska�generations.


oil & gAs

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Two projects in the mix, will either fl y?

By�Rindi�White

Two natural gas pipelines have back-ing from the state and oil industry leaders to carry gas produced as a

byproduct of drilling to consumers, either in Southcentral and Interior Alaska or to tidewater for shipping to market.

One is a joint project between Trans-Cananda, BP, ExxonMobil, and Cono-coPhillips to ship liquefi ed natural gas (LNG)via a pipeline to somewhere in Southcentral Alaska for shipment to Outside markets.

So far about $35 million has been spent to investigate that concept, a small piece of the estimated $45 billion to $65 billion project—a project some say would be the most costly undertak-ing in North America.

Th e second is the Alaska Standalone Pipeline Project, or ASAP, a more mod-est project aimed at developing an in-state natural gas pipeline designed to carry natural gas from the North Slope to Southcentral, with off -points to serve communities along the way.

Th e project has backing from the Alaska Legislature, which agreed to spend $400 million to do more prelimi-nary work to further it along. Another $72 million had previously been appro-priated to the Alaska Gasline Develop-ment Corporation, the state corporation tasked with developing the pipeline.

ACloserLook—SouthCentralLNGProject

Th e South Central LNG project began as a plan to pipe natural gas to the Mid-western United States. TransCanada’s application to the state to build the pipeline was accepted in January 2008 and later that year, then-Governor Sar-ah Palin signed a law awarding Trans-Canada $500 million in state backing for the project. TransCanada now holds the exclusive license to build and oper-ate a natural gas pipeline in Alaska.

Th e project has since morphed into an eight hundred-mile pipeline from the North Slope to somewhere in South-

central Alaska, where the gas would be cooled to liquefy it for shipping via tanker to world markets.

According to the federal Alaska Nat-ural Gas Pipeline Projects offi ce, the line as currently proposed would carry between 3 billion and 3.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas each day, some for use by Alaskans but most for export. Th e companies connected to the project announced in February they had se-lected a pipeline concept that includes an eight hundred-mile, forty-two-inch pipeline with up to eight compression stations, at least fi ve take-off points for in-state gas use, a gas treatment plant on the North Slope, and a liquefaction plant in Southcentral. Estimates re-leased in May indicate the peak pipeline construction workforce to be between 3,500 and 5,000 people. Th e line could be operational by 2023 or later.

Th e companies involved in the proj-ect in mid-June laid out their plans for summer fi eldwork on the project, most-

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ly north of Livengood. According to the announcement, the companies plan to have spent $80 million to $100 million by the end of this year.

“This builds upon more than $700 million in past work by the collective companies,” according to a press re-lease issued by the partnership.

In mid-June, Governor Sean Parnell said he was not satisfied with the prog-ress the companies pursuing the proj-ect have made so far. Instead of begin-ning a work plan to conduct hundreds of millions of dollars worth of work on preliminary engineering and design, the announcement outlines a much more narrow scope of work—and it does not extend beyond 2013, Parnell pointed out. Work is progressing more slowly than he—and the rest of Alas-ka—expected, he said in a statement.

ACloserLook—AlaskaStandalonePipelineProject

The Alaska Standalone Pipeline Project involves a 737-mile, thirty-six-inch bur-ied pipeline from the North Slope to the ENSTAR distribution system, located near Point MacKenzie in the Mat-Su Borough. The pipeline would run along the route of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline between Prudhoe Bay and Fairbanks.

Gasline Development Corporation public affairs director Leslye Langla said in a previous interview that the line would carry “lean gas” or gas ready for consumer use, and propane. The natural gas liquids—chemicals such as meth-ane, ethane, propane, and butane fre-quently produced along with pure natu-ral gas, will have already been removed before the gas enters the pipeline. The removal will happen at a $1.7 billion gas treatment facility, Langla said. The cor-poration determined that gas liquids are not economical to ship due to a market glut linked to a Lower 48 shale gas boom.

As currently proposed, the pipeline would carry about 500 million cubic feet of gas per day

At roughly $7.7 billion, the project is significantly cheaper than the pro-ducer-driven pipeline. But the driving point in the smaller-diameter project is speed. If the project sticks to the out-lined schedule, gas could hit the market by 2019. Another key factor is take-off points: communities along the pipeline would have access to natural gas with-

out having to pay high costs associated with building extraction plants.

Residents who live in communities lacking natural gas service are excited about the prospect of tapping into the project. Fairbanks-based Airport Equipment Rental chief financial offi-cer Jon Cook said his community needs natural gas quickly. His company is ne-gotiating with three large retailers in-terested in building box stores in Fair-banks but construction is delayed until Cook’s company can prove that enough natural gas will be available to supply the new stores. Cook said Fairbanks doesn’t currently have enough natural gas to supply the new users.

The Legislature this year passed House Bill 4, which outlined project fi-nancing and established Alaska Gasline Development Corporation as a stand-alone public corporation so it could enter ownership and operating partner-ships and issue revenue bonds if needed.

WhatOthersSayAlaska Business Monthly asked several people close to the two projects to out-line what is best for Alaska and why, re-garding natural gas delivery. The com-ments of those responding follow:

Much progress has been made on my ad-ministration’s top priority: getting Alas-ka’s gas to Alaskans, and then to markets beyond. We’ve made progress on two fronts. First, this past session, the Leg-islature authorized the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation to carry Alaska’s interests in a natural gas pipe-line. Second, BP, ConocoPhillips, Exxon-Mobil, and TC-Alaska continue to make progress on a large volume Alaska LNG project. These companies have met two of three critical benchmarks, including providing Alaskans with project concept selection details and ensuring a full field season commences this summer.

As the companies move forward, my administration will work closely with them to help expedite engineering and permitting work required for the proj-ect. [Alaska Gasline Development Cor-poration] is on schedule for a fourth quarter 2014 open season. Meanwhile, the state continues to aggressively pro-mote Alaska LNG to global customers and investors, and is working closely with federal regulators to expedite the

permitting of a gas commercialization project. Furthermore, through the Inte-rior Energy Project, the state is moving aggressively to build out gas infrastruc-ture to get Alaskans’ gas to Alaskans.

—Alaska Governor Sean Parnell

The Alaska South Central LNG project is important to Alaska and important to BP. The State of Alaska plays a huge role in making this project commercially vi-able and enabling progress. BP and the other companies continue to make prog-ress in moving this project forward as demonstrated by our commitment of 350 people and our anticipated investment of $100 million in the project by year-end. Our commitment is to continue to work together with the state, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and TransCanada with the goal of moving the project forward.

—Janet Weiss, BP Alaska Region President

The best outcome for Alaska after years of waiting for a North Slope natural gas pipeline would be a project that makes gas available to Alaskans at the lowest cost, encourages the most oil and gas exploration and production, and gener-ates the highest level of tax and royalty revenues for public services. That would be a large-volume line feeding gas to a tidewater plant for liquefaction and de-livery to global markets.

LNG export customers would pay most of the bills for the pipeline, lowering the cost for gas taken by Alaskans. This is especially important for Fairbanks, which desperately needs relief from high energy costs. The project would provide Alaskans with decades of energy, along with the option of pulling propane out of the gas stream for delivery to communi-ties not along the pipeline route.

Equally important would be the bil-lions of dollars that would be spent on new exploration and development to keep the gas line full for decades, in-variably leading to additional years of North Slope oil production, too.

—Larry Persily, Federal Coordinator for Alaska Gas Line Projects

Alaska has a world class commodity of natural gas on the North Slope where we re-inject a huge volume of gas back into the fields every day. Alaska has the most proved gas reserves in the world.


As a result of a solicitation of interest under AGIA last fall, an Asian market response was received for at least 200 percent of the volume needed for a large volume gas line. Th e fi nancial markets have expressed their willingness to fi -nance a large volume project based on long-term contracts with the market.

A consortium of Japanese market participants, Resource Energy, Inc., recently released its multimillion dol-lar analysis for an Alaska LNG project that would transport gas to tidewater via a large volume gasline. Th e project was deemed very feasible showing a cost of delivered Alaska LNG to Japan for as low as $7.31/mcf. Other projects being developed elsewhere around the world and in the Lower 48 have much higher delivered cost to Japan, as high as $12.17/mcf. While Alaska’s project remains on the drawing board, ExxonMobil, Cono-coPhillips, and BP advance competing LNG projects all over the world, some as close as British Columbia, with project economics signifi cantly inferior to Alas-ka’s LNG project economics.

Stalling the large volume project also insures that Alaskans will continue to pay some of the highest energy costs in the nation. Given the recent cost analysis done by Resource Energy for delivered gas to Japan from Alaska, it is possible that the delivered cost to com-munities such as Fairbanks would be in the $5/mcf range as opposed to the cur-rent $24/mcf range. According to world recognized energy consultant Wood MacKenzie, the potential revenue to Alaska from the Alaska LNG project would be billions of dollars each year.

Alaska needs to follow the lead of ev-ery other energy rich country, includ-ing Canada, and step up and engage with the market participants that are pounding at our door. We should hire the private sector to build the project (which would be fi nanced on long-term gas purchase contracts), and move Alaska’s gas to the world markets and to Alaskans at a much reduced price re-sulting from the economy of scale that only comes from a large volume gasline.

—Bill Walker, candidate for Alaska Governor

Rindi White is a freelance journalist living in Palmer.

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Wells FargoWells Fargo has named Chris Horton as a Principal Business Relationship Manager for its Alaska C o m m e rcia l B a n k in g Group. Horton began his career with Wells Fargo predecessor National Bank of Alaska as a man-agement trainee and he graduated from the Pacific Coast Banking School in 2010.

URSGary Reimer has recently joined URS as a Senior P r o g r a m M a n a g e r . R e i m e r p r e v i o u s l y served as Bureau of Land Management Alaska’s A n c h o r a g e D i s t r i c t Of fice Manager, Field Office Manager, and as a Senior Manager in Bureau of Land Management Alaska’s Land Conveyance program and Office of Pipeline Monitoring.

Providence Valdez Medical CenterBarbara Bigelow has j o i n e d P r o v i d e n c e a s A d m i n i s t r a t o r o f P r o v i d e n c e V a l d e z Medical Center. Bigelow e a r n e d a B a c h e l o r of S cien ce in H ealth Information Management from Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, and a Master of Science in business organizational management from the University of La Verne in California. She is also a licensed nursing home administrator and a regis-tered health information administrator.

United Fishermen of AlaskaUnited Fishermen of Alaska announces the

selection of Kevin Adams as Chairman of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute Board of Directors. This is the first time a commercial fisherman has held this position in more than a decade. Adams has more than thirty-eight years of commercial fishing experience in Bristol Bay.

Alaska DOT & PFThe Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities Northern Region announces the hire of David J. Miller a s M a i n te n a n c e a n d O p erations Dire c tor. Miller is a graduate of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ petroleum engineering program and has more than thirty-three years of experience in the public and private sectors in Ft. Wainwright and Fairbanks, Alaska.

Bradley Reid + Associates

Bradley Reid + Associates announces the promo-tions of Jason Smith and Jontue Hollingsworth.

Smith has been named Creative Director of Bradley Reid. He received a BFA degree in design from Utah State University at Logan.

H ollin g s wo r th has b e co m e A ss o ciate Creative Director. He is a graduate of the Visual Communication and Design program at the University of Nebraska.

Janice Wright has joined the firm as Account Supervisor. Wright brings more than twenty-five years of media sales to her new job.

Old Harbor Native Corporation

Old Harbor Native Corporation, owner and operator of Grande Denali Lodge and Denali Bluffs Hotel, announces the hire of Tennelle Peterson as Assistant General Manager, Shirley Palmer as Director of Rooms, Jennifer Hanks as Inventory Control Manager, Jelena McAleer as Director of Food and Beverage, and Jacob Ebel as Executive Chef for the two properties. Sharlene Berg was selected as Director of Lodging and will head up their newly-created Tourism Division.

Peterson holds a Bachelor of Science in International Hospitality from the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management from Northern Arizona University.

Palmer holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology

RIGHTMOVES� Compiled by Mari Gallion


PetersonPeterson

SmithSmith

BergBerg

McAleerMcAleer

PalmerPalmer

WrightWright

HortonHorton

MillerMiller

ReimerReimer

HanksHanks

EbelEbel

BigelowBigelow

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from Miriam College in Quezon City, Philippines. Hanks started working in the Alaska visitor

industry while still in high school, and her expe-rience includes positions with several well-known visitor industry companies.

McAleer earned a Bachelor of Arts in Hospitality and Resort Management and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics in Tourism from Rochester Institute of Technology in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Ebel received formal culinary education from Sullivan University’s National Center for Hospitality in Louisville, Kentucky.

Berg has served as a board member for the Alaska Hotel and Lodging Association, the Governor’s Work Force Development Board, and the local Alaska Tourism Industry Association.

Bering Straits Native CorporationBering Straits Native Corporation announces the hire of Laura L. Edmondson as Chief Financial Officer. Edmondson is a graduate of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where she obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration degree.

WHPacific Inc. WHPacific Inc. announces the addition of Harold Hollis, PE to its executive leadership team as Vice President of WHPacific’s Alaska Region. Hollis brings more than thirty-one years of leadership experience in Alaska to WHPacific.

Anchorage MuseumThe Anchorage Museum has hired Alison Gazay as Marketing and Public Relations Manager. Gazay has a Master of International Studies and a post-graduate degree in Tourism from the University of Otago in New Zealand.

Bean’s CaféBean’s Café announces the hire of Lisa Sauder as the new Executive Director. Sauder is a graduate of Pepperdine University with a degree in Political Science and a minor in Communications.

AT&T

Wendy Shem has recently joined AT&T as an Account Executive of Business Markets. She holds a master of Science in Forensic Science from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Samantha Jones was just promoted to Mobility A cco unt M a na ge r of Wholesale at AT&T. Jones has five years of experience in telecom having worked as a retail sales consultant, an assistant store manager at the Wasilla location, and most recently, as a Field Service Manager supporting the business market retail accounts.

Matthew Hemmer has recently joined AT&T as a member of the Signature Accounts Team. Hemmer began his telecom career more than twelve years ago providing voice, data, wireless, hosting, and software solutions to major customers in Alaska, most recently handling oil and gas, Native corporation and local government accounts.

Delta Constructors LLCDelta Constructors LLC announces the addition of Ted Cipra, PMP to the Executive Management Group. Cipra has more than twenty years of con-struction management and engineering experience. He brings extensive experience in project execution strategies, safety first culture, and unmatched con-struction and operations knowledge.

Alaska Sea GrantPaula Cullenberg is the new Director of Alaska Sea

Grant at the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. Prior to leading the Marine Advisory Program, Cullenberg directed the North Pacific Fishery Observer Training Center at the University of Alaska Anchorage and was the Bristol Bay Marine Advisory Program Agent.

Sourdough ExpressS o u r d o u g h E x p r e s s announces the promotion of Brian E. Skinner to the position of Vice President of Freight Services.

S k i n n e r j o i n e d Sourdough Express ten years ago as the Manager of Business Development. S k i n n e r w a s q ui c k l y promoted to General Manager as his leadership increased a loyal cus-tomer base and successfully diversified the services Sourdough Express provides.

TerraSond

TerraSond Limited has announced the promotion of Brian Busey and Captain Rich Hendren. Busey is now Vice President, Business Development and Hendren is Vice President, Operations.

Busey is an ACSM Certified Hydrographer, has twenty years of industry experience, and served twenty-three years in the Canadian Navy.

Hendren’s experience and qualifications include thirty years of US Navy service, US Merchant Marine Master (Oceans 1600 Tons), a BS from Regents College, and a Master of Human Relations from the University of Oklahoma.

RIGHTMOVES� Compiled by Mari Gallion


JonesJones

BuseyBusey

ShemShem

HendrenHendren

HemmerHemmer

SkinnerSkinner

HollisHollis


Compiled By Tasha Anderson

dining

YakandYetiHimalayanRestaurant

ALASKATHISMONTH

For a little taste of the Himalayas in Anchorage, head on over to the Yak and Yeti Himalayan Restaurant lo-cated at 3301 Spenard Road—or the Yak and Yeti Café,

located at 1360 W. Northern Lights Boulevard in the REI mall. Owned by Suzanne Hull, a lifelong Alaskan, and Lob-sang Dorjee, a Tibetan who was born and raised in India, the family-run restaurant and cafe feature “some of our favorite dishes from India, Nepal, and Tibet,” Dorjee writes.

Th e restaurant menu caters easily to any group of diners, as it features both vegetarian and non-vegetarian appetiz-ers and entrees. Any of the dishes can be prepared to be as spicy as an adventurous diner may want, from “medium” to “screaming hot.” Th e menu also off ers traditional items—such as Kheer, an Indian rice pudding garnished with nuts—and not-exactly-traditional items, such as Lhassi, a yogurt drink, which is “traditionally served in India with just sugar or salt, we have added mango or strawberry.”

At the cafe near REI, diners can fi nd a selection of tradi-tional drinks as well as gyros, sandwiches, and various typi-cal coff eehouse selections.

Dorjee writes, “We feel that Alaska deserves to be treated to authentic cuisine from other parts of the world, including mine, at a fair and reasonable price. Our aim is to provide our customers with quality Himalayan dishes to enjoy and share.”

Th e restaurant summer hours vary by the day and loca-tion. Restaurant closes between lunch and dinner. Café serves food from open to close.

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YakTours

ALASKATHISMONTH

“Alpine Ascents is a mountaineering company. We climb the highest peaks on every continent and we do a variety of trips, probably twenty or thirty trips

around the world,” says Todd Burleson, founder and owner.He was raised on Sitkalidak, an island off Kodiak, until his

family moved to Anchorage. At eighteen, he left Alaska to climb around the world. When he came back, he decided to bring the yak experience with him. “I spent so many guiding hikes on Everest and that area, and we used yaks all the time. I kind of fell in love with them.”

For the past eleven years, Alpine Ascents has off ered an incredible Talkeetna area experience: Hikers are responsible for moving themselves, and the yaks do the rest. “What’s unique about these tours is that you’re able to go into Alaska without carrying a heavy backpack: it’s for everybody. We have ice chests on the yaks and we have steaks, king crab, and wine; it’s a luxury kind of tour up in the mountains,” Burleson says.

Guests can plan on about four or fi ve hours a day of light climbing and hiking through high-country tundra in the care of expert guides, Sherpas, and of course, the yaks. Bur-leson says, “Sherpas come over and help me with the yaks, so there’s this real Nepali kind of feeling; the yaks are all dressed in bells, but it’s not overdone. It’s kind of a little Ne-pal in Talkeetna.”

Tour groups can have a maximum of eight, and the season runs about mid-July through August; scheduling is fl exible.

alpineascents.com

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REAPEnergyFair

ALASKATHISMONTH

Take the opportunity to learn more about clean energy at the ninth annual Alaska Renewable Energy Fair organized by REAP, the Renewable Alaska Energy

Project, on Saturday, August 10 from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Downtown Anchorage Parkstrip between G and I streets.

“Th e goal is to educate citizens of Anchorage and Alaska... about energy in general, renewable energy and energy effi -ciency in particular, and the implications of energy choices that we all make every day,” says REAP Founder and Execu-tive Director Chris Rose.

Th e fair consists of family activities, lectures, and twen-ty workshops. “Everything is free,” Rose says. “We want to make this as accessible to everyone as possible.” Th ere will also be live music and vendors.

Th e workshops and lectures will cover information about the Eva Creek, Fire Island, and Delta Junction wind projects, as well as other clean energy developments including energy effi ciency building designs and construction projects around the state, Rose says.

“We’ll also be talking about what people can do them-selves, whether that’s weatherizing your own home, what to do and what not to do when sealing your home, or what folks are doing with residential solar electric and residential solar hot water,” he reports.

“[Th ere’s] something that is integral to all our lives, and that is energy,” Rose says. “With energy prices for heating, transportation, and electricity all going up... it’s very im-portant for people to understand where their energy comes from. By providing a free educational outlet, we’re building a better educated citizenry on this really crucial issue to all of our lives.”

alaskarenewableenergy.org

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AnchorAge3-4 AnchorageGardenClubAnnualFlowerShowThis year’s theme is “Thru a Child’s Eyes,” and will highlight hor-ticulture that can be grown in Southcentral Alaska as well as the floral design talents of Alaskans. Northway Mall, Saturday 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday Noon to 5 p.m. alaskagardenclubs.org

7-10 TheMusicMachineCulmination of a six-week workshop in American Musical Theatre for local youth, a fast-paced musical revue featuring eighty local children, colorful costumes, high energy dancing, singing, and smiling faces. Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, Wednesday through Friday, 7 p.m.; Sunday 2 p.m. myalaskacenter.com

17 DogDazeofSummerBlockPartyThis is a celebration of all things dog, including a pet-look-alike contest, canine fashion show, fly ball demonstrations, dog trainer tips, and canine-related products and services. Well behaved dogs welcome. Downtown, 7th Ave. between D and E Streets, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. anchoragedowntown.org

24 GardenandNurseryPotRecyclingAll plastic garden containers are accepted; they are baled and shipped to markets in Seattle to be turned into plastic lumber or other products. Recyclers are also welcome to take pots home for re-use. Alaska Botanical Garden, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. alparalaska.com

coffmAn cove10-11 ‘BytheSea’Arts&SeafoodFestivalThis festival takes place on Prince of Wales Island and includes a farmer’s market, seafood feast, live music, raffles, the Lucky Ducky contest, fish poetry, and the 2014 t-shirt design contest. Downtown Coffman Cove, Saturday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday Noon to 4 p.m. ccalaska.com

copper center16-17 KennyLakeFairEvents include a barbeque dinner, dessert auction, contra dance, fun run, chess tournament, country games, “Animal’s Got Talent,” and live music. Mile 7.5 Edgerton Highway, various times. alaskakennylakefair.com

fAirbAnks2-11 TananaValleyStateFairThis year’s fair includes an antique tractor pull, candy shoot, rocket launch, Alaska Club Zumba dance party, barn dances, mud bogs, and more. Tanana Valley State Fairgrounds, fair opens at Noon daily. tananavalleystatefair.com.

23-25 TananaValleyCraneFestivalThe schedule includes an outdoor slide show, bird banding, nature walks, beginning photography workshop, an ice cream social, talks, and a silent auction. Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge, starting Friday evening at 7 p.m. creamersfield.org

girdwood10-11 AlyeskaResortBlueberryFestivalCelebration of the blueberry season, featuring live music, local arts and crafts booths, blueberry treats, cooking demos, hiking and biking, a beer and wine garden, chair massages, a pie eating contest, family activities, and a disc golf tournament. Hotel Alyeska Pond Courtyard, 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. alyeskaresort.com

8/31-9/1 GirdwoodFungusFairThis year’s guests include mycologist Dr. Michael Beug, who spe-cializes in all toxic and hallucinogenic mushrooms; Teresa Paquet, a mushroom dyer; Dominique Collet, an Alaska naturalist; and

others. Events include the Fungus Fair Formal, workshops, guided walks, etc. Girdwood Community Room and Hotel Alyeska, various times. fungusfair.com

JuneAu31 AnnualFoodFestivalThis festival fosters greater food self-sufficiency by bringing together consumers, growers, and producers of local foods, and offers a place for nonprofits to raise money through sales of produce or baked goods containing locally grown or harvested ingredients. Juneau Arts & Culture Center, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. jahc.org

ketchikAn2-4 BlueberryArtsFestivalEvents include an art exhibit, pet and doll parade, the Gigglefeet dance festival, fun runs, and pie-eating, trivia, and blueberry bear and mustache contests. Various locations, events start 2 p.m. on Friday. ketchikanarts.org

ninilchik2-4 SalmonstockThis year’s annual celebration of wild Alaska salmon and music will feature singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile. Kenai Peninsula Fairgrounds, begins Noon Friday. salmonstock.org

16-18 KenaiPeninsulaFairThis year’s them is “Clammin’ it Up!” Events include arts, crafts, and food vendors, market livestock auction, entertainment, and live music. Kenai Peninsula Fairgrounds, various times. kenaipeninsulafair.com

pAlmer8/22-9/2 AlaskaStateFairThis year’s concert series includes Foreigner, Bill Cosby, 3 Doors Down, Brian Regan, Bret Michaels, and Phillip Phillips. The fair also includes rides, games, arts and crafts and food vendors, live-stock auctions, quilting and craft exhibits, products contests, and more. Alaska State Fairgrounds, various times. alaskastatefair.org

sitkA3-4 SitkaSeafoodFestivalThe festival includes the Highland Island games, a five-course dinner by local executive and guest chefs, a parade, keynote lectures, tours, a poetry contest, and marketplace with food, entertainment, and arts and crafts. Various locations and times. sitkaseafoodfestival.org

11 Sitka‘State’FairFair Midway food, music and entertainment on the center stage, a photo contest, and various judged competitions with baked goods, canned goods, home grown vegetables, f lower arranging, small farm animals, hobbies, crafts, and collections. Harrigan Centennial Hall, Noon to 5 p.m. sitkaarts.org

vAldez7/31-8/4 GoldRushDaysAnnual festival celebrates the community’s gold rush history and heritage. Events include a historic homes tours, Craft-a-Hat and Eat-a-Sweet, mini carnival, skit, kids dive for gold, kids and adult scavenger hunts, wine walk, Dutch oven demo, fashion show, and a market with a beer garden and live music. Various locations and times. valdezgoldrushdays.org

YAkutAt2 FairweatherDayThis local festival day includes music concerts at local establish-ments and Canon Beach, food vendors, fresh oysters, games, tug-of-war, beach golf, raffle prizes, fireworks, and a community dinner. Various locations and times. ptialaska.net/~gycc/events.html

EVENTSCALENDAR Compiled By Alaska Business Monthly Staff


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ALASKA TRENDS HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO YOU THIS MONTH COURTESY OF AMERICAN MARINE/PENCO

The State of Alaska’s Depart-ment of Labor and Work-force Development publish-

es data comparing the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the Anchor-age municipality to the total Unit-ed States. Th e CPI is compiled by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for Anchorage and twen-ty-fi ve other US cities monthly, bimonthly, or semiannually de-pending on the city. Th e basket of consumer goods used in the CPI represents items purchased by all urban consumers, which make up 87 percent of the US popula-tion, and urban wage earners and clerical workers. Th e BLS survey from 2007-2008 updated the bas-ket of items used with data from quarterly consumption surveys with seven thousand families and from comprehensive consumption journals written by another seven thousand families. CPI prices are updated by BLS “economic assis-tants” who visit or call thousands of goods providers in the two hundred CPI goods categories for current prices.

Th e chart shows the data’s base years of 1982-1984 at 100.

Each locations index is independent and based solely on the prices of its base year. Relative to the United States, Anchor-age has a 14.16 percent smaller spread in its CPI. Smaller changes in the Anchorage CPI could refl ect decreasing pric-es relative to the past if monetary infl ation was controlled for; however, further investigation is required to know.

SOURCES: State of Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, US Bureau of Labor Statistics

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ConsumerPrices Alaska Trends, an outline of significant statewide statistics, is provided

by the University of Alaska Center for Economic Development.

ALASKATRENDS� By Paul Davidson


ANCHORAGE OFFICE6000 A Street, Anchorage, Alaska 99518

(907) 562-5420

www.amarinecorp.com www.penco.org

Alaska I California I Hawaii

AMERICAN MARINE• Marine Construction/Dredging• Subsea Cable Installation & Maintenance• Commercial Diving• Platform & Pipeline Construction, Installation, Repair & Decommissioning• Underwater Certified Welding• Marine Salvage• NDT Services• ROV Services• Vessel Support Services

PENCO• Environmental Response/Containment• Site Support Technicians/Maintenance • Waste Management/Environmental Monitoring• Tank Cleaning/Inspection• Petroleum Facility Maintenance & Repair• Logistics Support• 24-Hour Response

DEADHORSE OFFICEPouch 340079, Prudhoe Bay, AK 99734

(907) 659-9010

GENERALPersonal Income—Alaska US $ 4th Q12 34,863 34,279 33,342 4.56%Personal Income—United States US $ 4th Q12 13,659,468 13,401,314 13,137,224 3.98%Consumer Prices—Anchorage 1982-1984 = 100 2nd H12 206.62 205.22 202.58 1.99%Consumer Prices—United States 1982-1984 = 100 2nd H12 230.34 228.85 226.28 1.79%Bankruptcies Alaska Total Number Filed April 78 48 59 32.20% Anchorage Total Number Filed April 47 36 43 9.30% Fairbanks Total Number Filed April 19 9 5 280.00%

EMPLOYMENTAlaska Thousands April 337.02 336.46 336.64 0.11%Anchorage & Mat-Su Thousands April 187.92 188.07 186.30 0.87%Fairbanks Thousands April 43.61 43.19 43.86 -0.56%Southeast Thousands April 35.73 34.75 36.53 -2.19%Gulf Coast Thousands April 36.08 35.53 35.84 0.67%Sectorial Distribution—AlaskaTotal Nonfarm Thousands April 326 324 321.1 1.65% Goods Producing Thousands April 43.7 43.5 38.7 12.92% Services Providing Thousands April 282.7 280.3 282.4 0.11% Mining and Logging Thousands April 17.5 17.3 16.3 7.36% Mining Thousands April 17.1 16.9 15.9 7.55% Oil & Gas Thousands April 14.1 14.0 13.2 6.82% Construction Thousands April 15.6 15.1 11.6 34.48% Manufacturing Thousands April 10.6 11.1 10.8 -1.85% Seafood Processing Thousands April 6.7 7.4 7.6 -11.84% Trade/Transportation/Utilities Thousands April 62.2 61.0 61.8 0.65% Wholesale Trade Thousands April 5.9 5.9 6.0 -1.67% Retail Trade Thousands April 35.2 34.4 34.7 1.44% Food & Beverage Stores Thousands April 6.0 6.0 6.3 -4.76% General Merchandise Stores Thousands April 9.8 9.7 9.6 2.08% Trans/Warehouse/Utilities Thousands April 21.1 20.7 21.1 0.00% Air Transportation Thousands April 5.6 5.5 5.6 0.00% Information Thousands April 6.0 6.1 6.3 -4.76% Telecommunications Thousands April 3.9 3.9 4.1 -4.88% Financial Activities Thousands April 13.0 13.1 14.5 -10.34% Professional & Business Services Thousands April 27.9 27.2 27.3 2.20% Educational & Health Services Thousands April 47.9 47.7 46.4 3.23% Health Care Thousands April 33.5 33.8 32.3 3.72% Leisure & Hospitality Thousands April 29.5 29.4 29.4 0.34% Accommodation Thousands April 6.7 6.6 6.2 8.06% Food Services & Drinking Places Thousands April 18.8 18.7 18.8 0.00% Other Services Thousands April 11.4 11.4 10.9 4.59% Government Thousands April 84.8 84.4 85.8 -1.17% Federal Government Thousands April 15.1 14.9 16.2 -6.79% State Government Thousands April 26.9 26.8 26.6 1.13% State Education Thousands April 8.7 8.7 8.6 1.16% Local Government Thousands April 42.8 42.7 43.0 -0.47% Local Education Thousands April 24.1 24.1 25.8 -6.59% Tribal Government Thousands April 3.4 3.5 3.8 -10.53%Labor Force Alaska Thousands April 359.73 360.10 362.89 -0.87% Anchorage & Mat-Su Thousands April 198.55 199.06 198.76 -0.10% Fairbanks Thousands April 46.16 45.82 46.89 -1.56% Southeast Thousands April 38.09 37.36 39.26 -2.99% Gulf Coast Thousands April 38.87 38.52 39.09 -0.57%Unemployment Rate Alaska Percent April 6.3 6.6 7.2 -12.50% Anchorage & Mat-Su Percent April 5.4 5.5 6.3 -14.29% Fairbanks Percent April 5.5 5.7 6.5 -15.38%

YearOverYear

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Southeast Percent April 6.2 7 7 -11.43% Gulf Coast Percent April 7.2 7.8 8.3 -13.25%United States Percent April 7.1 7.6 7.7 -7.79%

PETROLEUM/MININGCrude Oil Production—Alaska Millions of Barrels April 15.67 16.52 16.57 -5.40%Natural Gas Field Production—Alaska Billions of Cubic Ft. April 8.40 9.66 8.99 -6.57%ANS West Cost Average Spot Price $ per Barrel April 104.58 108.93 119.95 -12.82%Hughes Rig Count Alaska Active Rigs April 8 9 8 0.00% United States Active Rigs April 1755 1756 1962 -10.55%Gold Prices $ Per Troy Oz. April 1,485.49 1,591.94 1,649.30 -9.93%Silver Prices $ Per Troy Oz. April 25.20 30.32 31.55 -20.13%Zinc Prices Per Pound April 0.91438 0.926315 1.00 -8.56%

REALESTATEAnchorage Building Permit Valuations Total Millions of $ April 92.06 44.67 30.39 202.92% Residential Millions of $ April 18.68 9.96 15.76 18.54% Commercial Millions of $ April 73.37 34.71 14.62 401.88%Deeds of Trust Recorded Anchorage—Recording District Total Deeds April 1234* 1110* 1061* *GeoNorth 27.26% Fairbanks—Recording District Total Deeds April 294 277 319 -7.84%

VISITORINDUSTRYTotal Air Passenger Traffic—Anchorage Thousands April 321.35 356.57 323.76 -0.75%Total Air Passenger Traffic—Fairbanks Thousands April 64.72 77.42 59.70 8.41%

ALASKAPERMANENTFUNDEquity Millions of $ April 46,434.60 45,509.60 41,642.10 11.51%Assets Millions of $ April 47,354.60 46,676.90 42,130.10 12.40%Net Income Millions of $ April 289.4 606.4 128.4 125.39%Net Income—Year to Date Millions of $ April 852.4 2,261.0 1,468.1 -41.94%Marketable Debt Securities Millions of $ April 89.7 (3.3) 80.6 11.29%Real Estate Investments Millions of $ April 55.70 1.50 77.10 -27.76%Preferred and Common Stock Millions of $ April 454.4 (16.5) (245.7) -284.94%

BANKING(excludes interstate branches)Total Bank Assets—Alaska Millions of $ 1st Q13 2,163.28 2,203.51 2,085.52 3.73% Cash & Balances Due Millions of $ 1st Q13 45.15 58.83 38.36 17.70% Securities Millions of $ 1st Q13 135.91 133.54 138.30 -1.73% Net Loans and Leases Millions of $ 1st Q13 1,201.04 1,159.55 1,124.51 6.81% Other Real Estate Owned Millions of $ 1st Q13 7.31 6.75 7.98 -8.40%Total Liabilities Millions of $ 1st Q13 1,894.70 1,926.65 1,820.76 4.06% Total Bank Deposits—Alaska Millions of $ 1st Q13 1,837.36 1,877.43 1,775.89 3.46% Noninterest-bearing deposits Millions of $ 1st Q13 567.54 599.27 509.26 11.44% Interest- bearing deposits Millions of $ 1st Q13 1,269.82 1,277.86 1,266.63 0.25%

FOREIGNTRADEValue of the Dollar In Japanese Yen Yen April 97.78 94.70 81.43 20.08% In Canadian Dollars Canadian $ April 1.02 1.02 0.99 2.92% In British Pounds Pounds April 0.65 0.66 0.63 3.72% In European Monetary Unit Euro April 0.77 0.77 0.76 1.11% In Chinese Yuan Yuan April 6.25 6.28 6.31 -1.02%

YearOverYear

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Access Alaska LLC .................................52Alaska Air Transit ............................... 106Alaska Airlines Visa .............................. 35Alaska Boat Brokers .........................110Alaska Public Media ............................30Alaska Seafood Marketing

Institute (ASMI) ................................29Alaska USA Federal Credit Union .69Alchem Inc. ................................................52American Marine / PENCO............111Arctic Office Products

(Machines) .......................................... 40ASRC Builders ......................................... 61Bettisworth North Architects

& Planners Inc. ..................................67Bezek Durst Seiser ............................... 53Builders Choice ....................................... 55Calista Corp. ............................................ 75Carlile Transportation Systems ...44Chris Arend Photography ..............114Ciri Alaska Tourism ...............................25City of Seward

Marine Industrial Center ............31

Conrad Houston Insurance.............39Construction Machinery

Industrial LLC ........................................2Cornerstone General

Contractors .........................................59Cruz Construction Inc. ....................101Donlin Gold................................................77Dowland-Bach Corp. ...........................97Emerald Alaska........................................77ERA ALASKA ............................................15ERA Helicopters .....................................96First National Bank Alaska .................5GCI ...................................................... 96, 115Golder Associates Inc. ........................95Great Originals Inc. ..............................76Green Star Inc. ......................................110Hawk Consultants LLC ......................94Heritage Contracting .......................... 53Island Air Express ...............................107Judy Patrick Photography ...............92Lynden Inc. ................................................ 37McKinley Service

& Equipment Inc. ..........................103

N C Machinery .........................................71NALCO Champion ............................... 68New York Life ............................................11Nortech Inc............................................... 68North Wind Inc. .....................................79Northern Air Cargo ..............104, 105Northland Services ..............................45NTCL .............................................................94Oxford Assaying

& Refining Inc. ................................108PacArctic Logistics ...............................91Pacific Alaska Freightways ...............51Pacific Pile & Marine...............8, 9, 10Pacific Rim Media/

Smart Phone Creative ...............110Paramount Supply .............................110Parker, Smith & Feek ............................13PDC Inc. Engineers ..............................60Peak Oilfield Service Co. ..............103PenAir ..........................................................23Personnel Plus ..................................... 106Polar Supply Co. .....................................85Procomm Alaska .................................... 57

Ready to Read Resource Center.. 19Rotary District 5010 ........................107RSA Engineering Inc. .......................... 68Sam’s Club .....................................................3SeaTac Marine Services ....................44Seward Chamber & CVB .................. 21SGS ..................................................................83Shannon & Wilson .................................87Span Alaska Consolidators ..............47Spenard Builders Supply ...................65Stellar Designs Inc..............................110The Superior Group ............................ 57T. Rowe Price .............................................17Trailboss Solutions ................................27True North FCU ...................................110Tutka LLC ....................................................76UMIAQ ........................................................ 89Unisea............................................................27URS Corp. .................................................. 68Washington Crane & Hoist ..............33Waste Management .......... 73, 93, 91Watterson Construction Co. ......... 61Wells Fargo .............................................116

A d v e r t i s e r s i n d e X

Business Platinum Credit Card

Get a new business platinum credit card today and receive 0% introductory rate for 6 months

The Wells Fargo Business Platinum Credit Card is an essential tool for all small businesses to help better manage business expenses, while getting rewarded for everyday purchases.

0% introductory rate – plus double rewards

The Business Platinum Credit Card offers:• 0% introductory rate for 6months1 on purchases and balance transfers• Best-in-class rewards — Enroll in the BusinessCardRewards programand receive double rewards for 6months2

— Get the first year rewards free3

— Earnmore valuable rewards for everyday business purchases• No annual card fee• Credit lines up to $50,000

Talk to your banker today!

Offers valid from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013. 1New Business Platinum Credit Card accounts submitted and approved during the promotional period will receive the introductory rate of 0% for the first six billing cycles. The 0% introductory rate applies to purchases and balance transfers for the first six cycles as long as the customer does not default under the Customer Agreement. Each Balance Transfer transaction will be assessed a 3% fee ($10 minimum and $75 maximum).

2Customer must enroll in the Wells Fargo Business Card Rewards® program at the time of account opening to receive double rewards for the first six billing cycles. A Wells Fargo Business Card Rewards® program at the time of account opening to receive double rewards for the first six billing cycles. A Wells Fargo Business Card Rewards®maximum of 10,000 bonus points or $100 bonus cash back credit per account during this promotion. Applies to the first six cycles as long as the customer does not default under the Customer Agreement.

3Enroll in the Wells Fargo Business Card Rewards program when you open a new Business Platinum Credit Card account and get the annual rewards program fee of $50 waived for the first year only.

Offer subject to change at any time. © 2013 Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. All rights reserved. Member FDIC.

Abm august 2013 4 web

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