Alaska Business August 2024

CORDOVA HOOKS BIG DATA

SAM ENOKA Founder & CEO Greensparc

CLAY KOPLIN CEO Cordova Electric Cooperative

Jamey Bradbury

Tracy Barbour

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CONTENTS SPECIAL SECTION: ENERGY

12 GIRDING UP THE GRID

Investments in Railbelt electricity transmission

22 STEADY AS SHE FLOWS

Government money pours into run-ofriver hydro projects

28 COLD WATER, WARM CITY

The Seward Heat Loop Project

By Rachael Kvapil

36 SEEING THE LIGHT

Solar power under the midnight sun

By Vanessa Orr

32 VOLCANIC RUMBLINGS

Geothermal grid power seems closer than ever

CORRECTION: In the July 2024 Table of Contents and on page 58 of that issue, we misspelled the first name of one of our freelance writers: the author’s name is Mikel Insalaco, not Mike.

16 VIRTUOUS CIRCUIT

Cordova data center sparks renewable energy demand

ABOUT THE COVER

Cordova has an enviable problem. On the edge of the Chugach Range rainforest, the coastal town of fewer than 3,000 people has access to abundant hydropower. Its run-of-river facilities generate, at times, more electricity than the community needs. Clay Koplin, CEO of Cordova Electric Cooperative, needed an “anchor tenant” to soak up surplus power that nobody else was buying.

Enter Sam Enoka. Raised in North Pole, Enoka is the founder of California-based Greensparc, a company that developed modular, scalable computing centers. As told in this month’s article “Virtuous Circuit,” siting a distributed data server in Cordova solves Koplin’s electricity surplus problem while putting advanced cloud-based technology microseconds away from Alaskan users.

Photography by Chelsea Haisman

By Alex Appel

By Dan Kreilkamp

By Rindi White and Scott Rhode

By Joseph Jackson

Paul Craig

| GeoAlaska

Chelsea Haisman

FROM THE EDITOR

The big news for Alaska as I write this in early July is the Record of Decision of No-Action for the Ambler Access Road, and thus the Ambler projects. While on its face this news is about mining and transportation, to me it is closely tied to the legal and energy themes of this issue.

On the energy front, every major remote project in Alaska has at least two major obstacles in common: how to get power in and how to get the resource out. Both require the development of infrastructure, which is expensive to build and maintain.

On the legal side, the Ambler projects (and projects like them) are a magnet for lawsuits. While some stakeholders in the region are relieved that this road has reached an apparent dead end, others are incensed that the federal government has once again put halt to a project that does have some local support and despite the fact that access to this area is addressed in the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. Some say denying access is a violation of federal law, and I’m sure lawsuits will follow asserting that belief. Then again, had any version of the access road been approved, there also would have been lawsuits in the project’s future. If anyone were to go mining for lawsuits, Alaska is the place to do it.

Interestingly, the project’s ties to energy and legal/policy stretch further. The Ambler projects would potentially produce rare earth elements, copper, and gold, all of which are critical minerals for renewable energy projects. In addition to solar panels or turbines, renewable energy projects generally require battery storage solutions to be effective, as wind, sun, and currents all— unforgivably—operate on their own schedule.

Nationally, the Biden administration is pushing for the development of critical minerals domestically, though apparently its definition of domestic is “within the country, but not in Alaska.” Part of this push is so that the country can transition to an energy future that relies less on fossil fuels.

The Ambler projects, which could provide materials to build a renewable energy future, have been halted by an administration advocating for that future.

Don’t take that as myself or this publication advocating specifically for the Ambler projects; rather, I’m highlighting the frustrating loop Alaska is caught in year after year. We want economic development; we want community buy-in for that development. We want to develop our resources, and we want to protect them. These are not opposing ideas, for Alaskans, and if this decision-making were placed in our hands, I’m confident we’d see not every project—but the right projects—move forward.

On the bright side, energy projects in Alaska, many of which are covered in this issue, are constantly under development, to the benefit of communities large and small. And the legal industry? There’s more than enough work available to keep those professionals busy.

Tasha Anderson Managing Editor, Alaska Business

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Energy Special Section

Al aska is bursting with more energy than it can handle, yet accessing it remains a challenge. A community may sit at the foot of a volcano without being able to tap its heat or watch the raw power of a river just flow by. High energy costs stand in the way not just of small communities but major projects that would pencil out easily in any other part of the world yet teeter in the balance in remote Alaska. Alaskans address these challenges head on to unlock the state’s vast energy potential. When the people of this state are fully powered, who knows what they might accomplish next.

Girding

Up the Grid Investments in Railbelt electricity transmission

By Alex Appel

The Railbelt has no redundancy.

“If we have a power problem in Anchorage and the line to Fairbanks goes down, we don’t have a Plan B,” says Curtis W. Thayer, executive director of the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA).

In the past, natural disasters have forced parts of the electricity transmission grid from the Kenai Peninsula to Fairbanks, a 700-mile corridor known as the Railbelt, to close.

In 2019, a wildfire near Cooper Landing shut down part of the Sterling to Quartz Creek transmission line for four months in the summer. Not only were Chugach Electric Association (CEA) and Matanuska Electric Association (MEA) cut off from the Bradley Lake

Hydroelectric Project near Homer, forcing them to purchase more natural gas, but the water level at the dam overflowed, wasting energy. The ordeal cost Alaskan ratepayers more than $10 million.

Last November, another section of that line was closed for around a week because of a snowstorm. It was fixed quickly, but the incident was a warning sign.

“What happens if it was down for a month in the middle of winter? That would be very bad. This last winter we had this very bad cold snap, and we were using all the natural gas we can and using Bradley power as much as we can,” says Thayer, “but if that line was down, we would have had

major problems; that’s 10 percent of our power needs.”

The Railbelt grid also supplies power to five military bases, adding to the urgency for more reliability. Another problem is inefficiency due to the distance involved. Around 17 percent of power from Bradley Lake, the largest hydroelectric dam in the state, is reserved for Fairbanks. The miles of wire in between result in unavoidable “line loss.” Thayer says there are times of the year when one-fifth of the energy sent from Bradley Lake to Fairbanks just bleeds away into the air.

These vulnerabilities have driven efforts to fortify the Railbelt grid, just as funding arrives to pay for the longawaited improvements.

James Pendleton

| US Department of Agriculture

Transmission Limits

The Railbelt is the heart of Alaska’s energy grid. Feeding power to threefourths of the state’s population, it is managed by AEA in cooperation with five regional power utilities: CEA, MEA, Golden Valley Electric Association (GVEA), Homer Electric Association, and City of Seward electric department. Although each entity is responsible for its own region, the Railbelt grid makes it easier to improve power generation, lower energy costs, and increase transmission capacity.

But things are not perfect.

“The transmission systems that make up the Railbelt were designed to meet the needs within each service area but have limited capacity to transmit power in several locations,” says Julie Hasquet, senior manager of corporate communications for CEA. “The result is congestion at these interties, which limits the transmission of power throughout the Railbelt.”

Many of the transmission lines in the Railbelt are more than forty years old and need to be upgraded to meet current demand, according to Thayer.

Also, a shortage of natural gas looms in the future. Historically, the Railbelt has relied on natural gas from Cook Inlet. In 2022, that fuel provided two-thirds of the energy used in the grid, according to a recent report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. However, that resource is declining, so utilities are looking for other resources.

Railbelt Innovation Resiliency Project

To address these issues, the Railbelt Innovation Resiliency project was devised as a multi-pronged strategy.

One part aims to integrate highvoltage direct current (HVDC) submarine cables into the grid, parallel to existing lines carrying alternating current. These cables will run from the Kenai Peninsula, across Cook Inlet, and to the Beluga Power Plant, which services Anchorage and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. As AEA explained to state legislators in April, HVDC across Cook Inlet will act as a redundant transmission system.

AEA also wants to build one or two battery energy storage stations, one

“A lot of wins for everyone involved in this, but at the end of the day, the ratepayers and the citizens on the Railbelt are going to benefit the most.”

Curtis W. Thayer Executive Director Alas ka Energy Authority

“The transmission systems that make up the Railbelt were designed to meet the needs within each service area but have limited capacity to transmit power in several locations… The result is congestion at these interties, which limits the transmission of power throughout the Railbelt.”

Julie Hasquet Senior Manager of Corp orate Communications

Chugach Electric Association

in Anchorage and one in Fairbanks. GVEA has pioneered utility-scale battery storage in Fairbanks, and a more modern technology is being tested in Soldotna. In June, the US Department of Agriculture awarded GVEA a $100 million loan for a lithium-ion system. Thanks to GVEA’s partnership with Doyon, Limited, the Alaska Native corporation for the Interior region, up to $60 million of the loan qualifies for forgiveness.

Enhanced transmission and storage capacity outlined in the resiliency project would increase redundancy and security of the electric grid. As a bonus, upgrades would also simplify the integration of renewable energy into the Railbelt.

“Expanding the capacity of these interties will allow for the lower-cost generation resources to be available to all customers on the Railbelt and will enable new utility-scale wind, solar, and hydroelectric renewable projects to be more cost effective for customers,” Hasquet says. “Renewable projects are built where the resources are located, and transmission must be built to bring that additional clean energy to consumers.”

In addition to furthering longterm sustainability goals, Alaskans will see immediate benefits once the upgrade is complete.

“The best part about that is if there’s an earthquake or a natural disaster or something, and that one line goes down, we’ve got that secondary line; we’ve still got power on,” Thayer says.

Getting a GRIP

If all that new energy infrastructure sounds expensive, it is. Luckily, the cost is being spread over a decade of installation, and some federal support is on the way.

Last October, the US Department of Energy (DOE) distributed $3 billion across the country for the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnership (GRIP). Alaska’s share is $206 million, to be administered by AEA for the Railbelt Innovation Resiliency Project.

“This is going to transform the Railbelt in Alaska,” says Thayer.

The state would need to match that funding. While $206 million has not yet been set aside, the Railbelt

upgrades will take around eight years to complete. And in the short term , the legislature set aside nearly $33 million for the Railbelt upgrades.

“I’m optimistic that the State will match the grant funding,” says Representative Mary Peltola. “I’ve spoken to many legislators about this project, and they understand the gravity of affordable, reliable energy in the state. I understand our legislature has a lot of tough decisions about funding, but I’m going to continue to advocate for cheaper and more reliable ener gy on the Railbelt.”

In its April presentation to the House Finance Committee, AEA projected that it will complete an environmental impact assessment and find a contractor by the end of 2027. That’s when the big spending will begin, according to Thayer.

Energy Boost

The actual construction of the upgrades is expected to start in 2030.

Although the specific costs for each part of the Railbelt Innovation Resiliency Project have not been hammered out, Thayer is confident that all parties involved will come to an agreement.

“Considering we only got the award in October, and the legislation and the utilities were able to work together and bring almost $33 million to the table, I think you’ll see some sort of plan this year and next year to do that,” he says. “There’s a lot of support for it. Everybody understan ds the need for it.”

Since DOE is matching what the state puts forward, Alaska should secure around $66 million when the grant agreement is done in the fall. Thayer believes that amount is more than enough to get started in the first year.

The state expects 650 “highly paid jobs” while also establishing apprenticeship and internship programs during construction.

“A lot of wins for everyone involved in this, but at the end of the day, the ratepayers and the citizens on the Railbelt are going to benefit the most,” Thayer says.

For the one-quarter of Alaskans not plugged into the Railbelt grid, the project represents a statewide

economic boost. “Whether you’re on the Railbelt or not, more energy supply means we all get more for less,” says Peltola. “For engineers, truckers, and workers, it means more jobs constructing an energy grid of the future.”

Completing the Circuit

Strengthening the backbone of the Railbelt grid opens opportunities for its constituent utilities. MEA Chief Strategy Officer Julie Estey is already envisioning the possibilities.

“We sit right in the center,” says Estey, “so we can buy and sell power between MEA and Chugach Electric pretty easily; we have some redundant transmission among us. But if we want to look at any projects on the Kenai or in the Interior, or if we want to do anything collaborative with Homer Electric or Golden Valley, we’re really limited in the current system in a couple different ways.”

Those limits are primarily technological and administrative, according to Estey.

The limitations include insufficient energy storage and transmission lines that are too small to move large amounts of electricity. “Right now, we have low transmission and storage capacity, meaning it’s not practical to build more energy production here,” says Peltola. “If a power plant makes more power than their surrounding area is consuming, that power can’t be stored, and it’s expensive to send it to the next community over. Those logistical challenges are stopping projects throughout the Railbelt.”

The Railbelt grid was not built with interconnection in mind. Originally, the five different power utilities evolved to serve their local populations. “Because we all own our own small segment of the transmission line. It's not necessarily operated as a whole,” Estey says.

Over time, the regions grew bigger, and the populations became closer. A major step toward integration occurred in the ‘80s with the construction of the Alaska Intertie, a 170-mile transmission line betwe en Willow and Healy.

The more interconnected the grid is, and the more efficiently utilities can move electricity around, the less

energy costs. In Mat-Su, energy costs $0.20 per kWh, and around $0.08, or 40 percent of that, is the cost of generating energy, according to Estey. As the grid becomes more integrated, and it is easier to access energy from other regions, that cost will decrease.

Recognizing the advantages of cooperation, the utilities formed the Railbelt Reliability Council in 2022. The nonprofit gives each participant a voice in developing reliability and interconnection

standards. The council is also a forum for joint planning, guiding the implementation of the Railbelt Innovation Resiliency Project.

The unified front helped convince DOE to award GRIP funding fo r the work to come.

“The first and most important are the technical challenges, and that’s really what this GRIP is about,” Estey says. “That gets us a long way toward providing options as we look at our uncertai n energy future.”

Tu cked into a corner of the Cordova Electric Cooperative’s Humpback Creek Hydroelectric facility are two metal cabinets, each about 2 feet by 2 feet by 6 feet in size, that could contain the future of cloud computing.

Virtuous Circuit

Cordova data center sparks renewable energy demand

By Rindi White and Scott Rhode

The cabinets house a virtual mountain of data and computing capability. A few years ago, the amount of data housed in the two cabinets would have taken forty server racks, all humming loudly and putting off considerable heat. The small but mighty data center represents the next step in cloud computing in two ways: a combination of advances in technology—the ever-present drive to shrink the space needed for computing capacity—and the symbiotic location with the hydroelectric facility, which not only provides power to run the data center’s logic circuits but also cools the processors via fingers of copper pipe circulating water and glycol, keeping the electronics at an ideal temperature.

The data center is owned by Greensparc, an edge computing company led by Sam Enoka, who grew up in North Pole before he relocated to California. Enoka maintains his roots through years of involvement with Alaska Center for Energy and Power, a microgrid research group linked to UAF. By partnering with Hewlett Packard Enterprise, his company established the small but powerful-data center in November 2023, co-located with Cordova Electric Cooperative’s Humpback Creek plant.

Chelsea Haisman

An Ever-Growing Cloud

Edge computing, the basis of Greensparc’s business model, brings distributed computation and data storage closer to sources of data. Ten years ago, many Alaska companies had local servers on which their data was housed. Lured by the convenience and relatively low cost of cloud computing, many slimmed down or eliminated their server banks, instead housing that data remotely. The cloud, however, is generally thousands of miles away. For some companies that means a hesitation of a few milliseconds or even a few seconds when accessing data; a price to pay, yes, but less costly over time than maintaining server banks locally.

However, as data is more centralized, the cumulative costs through higher electricity prices—because more power must be generated to meet the data processing demand, along with potential security risks of housing data at a single, large location—add up.

At a panel in May entitled “AI, Grid Integration, and the Energy Transition” at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference in Anchorage, Amogh Bhonde, vice president of digital solutions for Siemens Energy, shared concerns about the evergrowing demand for places to house and process data.

“Data centers are expected to be almost one-third of the US electricity consumption in the next four to five years,” Bhonde told the audience. He cited an example of Georgia Power, the primary power producer in that southern state. The company boosted its demand projections by a factor of sixteen due to the added load to its grid from data centers, advanced manufacturing, and artificial intelligence (AI) firms setting up shop in Georgia.

Enoka, attending the same conference panel, noted that the problem is getting larger. Amazon Web Services, Google, Meta (Facebook’s parent company), Azure (Microsoft’s cloud platform), and other companies are demanding—and building—more and more data storage space. “The tier-one markets in the Lower 48 are out of power; that is now the binding constraint. You can’t build those hyper-scale data centers in those markets,” Enoka said.

The commute to the data center involves a fifteen minute boat ride from Cordova Harbor to the Humpback Creek Hydroelectric Project.

Chelsea Haisman

Located about 6 miles northeast of Cordova Harbor, Humpback Creek is one of the only hydroelectric plants in the country that is unfenced and open to the public (for anyone with a boat).

Chelsea Haisman

But the drive to digitize everything, from manuals for a 1995 treadmill to an app for a local sandwich shop, isn’t going away. If anything, the drive toward incorporating AI into more basic functions is moving society toward more data crunching.

“While there is no silver bullet, I firmly believe that software can help,” Bhonde said. “It’s ironic how the problem that we’re trying to solve was created primarily by AI—namely data centers—and we’re using AI to actually fix that problem.”

Bhonde noted that AI, while requiring more data processing, can also analyze weather patterns to manage energy grids over a four- or eight-hour horizon; predict system failures, saving costs on preventive maintenance; and protect energy infrastructure by detecting cyberattacks in anomalous behavior patterns. It can collect valuable institutional knowledge from a longtime employee, interviewed before retirement, to create an AI co-pilot who

can assist a new employee with the complex job of running a power plant.

A plant that powers the AI that helps run the plant that powers the AI that helps run the plant that powers the AI, and on and on.

The Draw of Regional Data Centers

To break the cycle, Enoka believes edge computing is part of the answer.

Instead of making huge data centers in mid-sized cities and requiring power providers to build larger plants to meet those demands, edge computing could create a network of smaller, powerful data centers in smaller towns. Those would provide more reliable data storage and processing to rural areas while also making use of power margins—the unsold and sometimes renewable power that small power providers make that, because of their small consumer base, is “spilled” or unused.

“When I explained our concept to Amazon, for instance, they understood what we’re trying to do. When you order an Amazon package, a truck with an Amazon logo shows up a few days later, and a person with an Amazon uniform gets out of that truck and delivers that Amazon package to your door,” Enoka explains. However, “That’s not Amazon; that’s a local distribution company that [it] contracts with. That employee is not an Amazon employee; they just d o the distribution.”

By analogy, Enoka says Greensparc is seeking to be the data center distributor to local markets, providing users with better, closer data infrastructure so they get better service. Users don’t choose where the data is coming from; the backend process is invisible. But using a local data center would support more responsive and reliable cloud-based services.

Chelsea Haisman

Cordova Embraces Innovation

Clay Koplin, CEO of Cordova Electric Cooperative (CEC) quickly understood the potential of having a local data center.

“It’s the intersection of energy, data, and telecommunications,” Koplin says. “The more data you store and process locally, the less you have to shift over telecom networks. The more renewable energy is available, the more you can fluctuate your data services. There’s a lot of opportunity.”

Koplin also grew up in Alaska, on his family’s farm in Soldotna. His father was an electrician, traveling all over the state to maintain airports. Koplin got an engineering degree and was hired in Cordova when CEC transitioned its power lines underground. The community’s grid has, since 2011, been completely underground, resulting in minimal power outages, which is vital to its

biggest industrial customers: seafood processors, for whom power outages can spell hours of interrupted work time.

Koplin notes that CEC in 2023 generated about 75 percent of its power through two run-of-river hydroelectric plants—the Humpback Creek plant, installed in 1991, which provides about 10 percent of the community’s power, and Power Creek, installed in 2002, which provides about 65 percent of its power. The remaining power is provided by the Orca diesel plant, which is about forty years old. CEC is in the process of upgrading the Orca plant, going from one large, inefficient generator to two smaller and more efficient ones. Three-quarters of CEC’s diesel generated power is used in winter, when the community can’t tap the hydroelectric power; the remaining 25 percent of the diesel power generated is used for peak usage in summer, when seafood

processors place more demand than the hydro plants can supply.

CEC has a state-of-the-art battery storage system as a spinning reserve and cushion for the power load swings. Using creative management, Koplin says it has been able to coax more than 7 MW out of its 6 MW plant. CEC hopes to create a 70-foot dam at Humpback Creek to enable year-round hydroelectric capability, dramatically reducing its reliance on diesel.

Reliable and competitive electricity rates in Cordova have motivated some seafood processors to move processing facilities onshore there, Koplin says. It’s not gone unnoticed: CEC was the only electric cooperative in the United States featured in a thirty-film documentarystyle series the British Broadcasting Company created called “Humanising Energy,” which showcased innovations from across the energy ecosystem.

Koplin says, “Outsiders look at Cordova and they get excited by the

Greensparc uses power from Cordova Electric Cooperative, and in exchange the utility is the data center's first customer, hosting its cloud-based administrative software locally instead of in Seattle.

Chelsea Haisman

Below, Sam Enoka points to the cooling system on top of the cabinets. About 40 percent of power consumption for a typical data center goes toward keeping the electronics at a stable temperature.

Chelsea Haisman

renewable energy and the technology that we use and the innovation. The exciting thing is, we have been able to deliver some of the most reliable energy—we have very few outages— and still support the seafood industry. Our seafood industry has moved onshore to take advantage of our reliable and relatively low-cost energy.”

Soaking Up the Surplus

Aside from peak summer power, Koplin says CEC frequently generates more renewable electricity than the community can use. That’s where Greensparc comes in.

“We spill excess hydropower a lot of the time. We’re now, as we talk, spilling over a megawatt of excess power. We’d rather sell that to someone,” he said in June. “[Greensparc] can manage their use of the energy in concert with our ability to produce it.”

Greensparc’s servers, if CEC were powering them all the time, would require about 5 percent of the cooperative’s energy sales. Koplin told the panel at the Sustainable Energy Conference, “This is a market for us to sell and generate more revenue against fixed costs, keeping rates for the rest of our customers down while bringing these new tools into the economy.”

He compared Greensparc, and distributed data centers generally,

Enoka (left) and Koplin (right) stand in front of the spigot that returns water from the data center cooling system back into Humpback Creek.

Chelsea Haisman

Koplin (left) and Enoka (right) stand on the walkway from the Humpback Creek generator to the run-of-river dam. A string of cables was added last fall when the data center was installed.

Chelsea Haisman

to an anchor tenant that props up other investments. As Koplin put it, “I mean, if you can’t quite get over the hump with a solar farm, maybe having a data server that can take that extra load helps you monetize that, lets you overbuild your solar. Then you get to decide as a community: do we need the energy more, the data more, or some optimal mix?”

Don’t Forget the Data

While the decentralized data center is a focal point, and marketing its capacity to data consuming giants might allow Greensparc to expand around the country, the advantage of a local data system should not be left out of the picture.

CEC is a Greensparc customer because Koplin saw the benefit to having the utility’s highly automated system function locally, not subject to potential outages at an Outside data center or vulnerable to cyberattacks. He can see a range of other local computing possibilities, he says, such as a dashboard for Alaska Department

of Fish and Game managers to track res ources in real time.

“The opportunity to sell more excess energy was enough to get us there,” Koplin says of partnering with Greensparc. “But the other opportunities are so much more valuable. This is attracting partnerships and attention, and we’re part of it, here in Cordova, Alaska.”

At a Greensparc demonstration in Anchorage last year, Enoka found a lot of interest from a variety of users. Those discussions have continued as Greensparc has continued to move forward.

Enoka says he hopes to have deployments in Fairbanks, Anchorage, Juneau, and even some Alaska military bases. A data center on the North Slope would make sense, he notes, as it would add reliability to oil field technology. At the Sustainable Energy Conference panel, he suggested co-locating data servers with village airports might make sense too.

“Then, when you get to that village, what else is there? A school? Great. A clinic? Great. Is there some other

industry that could use maybe not AI but basic computing? That asset could be managed at a micro-level, down to kilowatts,” he noted.

“Enterprises are going to be the low-hanging fruit right now. As we tap in and get more exposure to the [US] Department of Defense and those folks, we can demonstrate how we’ll be in the best position to help them out. Not just in places like Alaska, but it translates well to Hawaii or Guam, markets that are difficult to reach and hard to serve,” Enoka adds.

Enoka sees plenty of good business reasons why distributed data centers tapping remote renewables makes sense. “We want to be a self-sustaining business, but the community benefit, the social impact, of setting this kind of business up to serve users in these communities, I think it will be transformative,” he says. “The results will bear out in the coming months and years, but a lot of us—not just us on the business side of this, but folks on the business side and on the user community—are embracing the opportunity.”

Steady as She Flows

Government money pours into run-of-river hydro projects

By Dan Kreilkamp

Earlier this summer, the Southeast community of Angoon came together to celebrate the arrival of new jobs, clean power, stable electricity rates, and a government award of $26.9 million.

The “Thayer Celebration” was an opportunity to recognize the considerable efforts that led to the 850 kW Thayer Creek Hydroelectric Project, now slated for construction on Admiralty Island.

Attendees included representatives from US Senator Lisa Murkowski’s office and the US Forest Service, among other influential parties involved in the project’s conception.

“The community has rallied around this project,” says Jon Wunrow, project manager for Angoon’s village corporation, Kootznoowoo.

“It’s a great example of a federally

recognized tribe, a rural Alaska community, a village corporation, and the federal government working really well together.”

With a $34 million price tag, Thayer Creek is just one (albeit glistening) example of many energy infrastructure improvement projects across Alaska that are receiving a pivotal source of funding, some of which have been decades in the making.

In terms of government funding, Alaska finds itself in a modern gold rush. Key programs from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 have created a generational opportunity for energy improvements—particularly for rural or remote communities. And those tasked with guiding the state to a more stable, sustainable energy future aren’t taking the flow of funds for granted (so to speak).

Tall Order

Identifying viable energy improvement projects is the easy part; Alaska has long been touted for its massive renewable energy potential. But realizing these projects—from writing the grants to obtaining the necessary permits and then securing the millions of dollars in matching funds—is a far cry from a straightforward process.

Just look at the Susitna-Watana Hydro Project, says Jacob Pomeranz, a senior electrical engineer with Anchorage consulting firm Electric Power Systems (EPS). He’s been orchestrating energy infrastructure projects across the state for the better part of twenty years, and the Susitna dam has been on the drawing board the whole time.

Indeed, the 600 MW Susitna-Watana hydroelectric dam has been a dream since the ‘60s. If built, it would be the

John Pennell

second-tallest dam in the United States. In the midst of federal prelicensing studies in 2016, state funding for Susitna-Watana was vetoed, partly due to the oil price crash and partly for environmental reasons. Had the $5 billion project remained funded, proponents anticipated enough power to satisfy more than half of the Railbelt’s energy demand alone.

“This is something that has been tossed around for a while but never received funding,” says Pomeranz. “The state was teetering on it, everyone would get fired up and go back and forth, but ultimately it never happened.”

Which is unfortunate, he explains, because hydropower projects typically possess a 100-year project life, whereas other plants—like natural gas, for example—are closer to twenty or tnirty years.

“So the hydro plant would pay for itself in the first thirty years, and then you’d have another seventy of making money,” he says, pointing to the Bradley Lake Hydroelectric Plant near Homer as a good example of a hydroelectric project that paid off its debt and now serves as an economic driver.

In many ways, the Susitna-Watana project can be seen as a microcosm of Alaska’s complicated relationship with renewable energy projects: financially, politically, and in technical execution.

The private investment matching requirements in government grants often prove to be a stumbling block, or in some cases an outright barrier.

Pomeranz recalls a recent grant that his team were encouraged to apply for, but the private investment match totaling a cool $100 million proved too costly.

Access Infrastructure

While there’s ample opportunity to tap into Alaska’s renewable energy resources, the infrastructure is lacking.

“The biggest thing for Alaska in terms of our available renewable energy sources is that we don’t have the infrastructure there to connect them,” says Pomeranz. He points to the Rural Electrification Act of the ‘30s as an example of what government measures could be taken to address this. “As part of Roosevelt’s New Deal,

“I think we’re getting caught up, and a lot of people around the state are putting in a lot of hours to make sure that the state and its communities receive maximum funding.”

Jacob Pomeranz, Senior Electrical Engineer, El ectric Power Systems

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Unlike conventional hydroelectric dams, run-ofriver designs impede the stream flow as little as possible. By siting the project at natural change in elevation, usually at a bend in the river, the artificial detour taps the energy without creating an upstream reservoir or a barrier to fish passage.

US Department of Energy

they pumped tons of money into making sure that everybody in the United States had power. I mean, they had distribution lines in the Lower 48 that ran miles just to a single guy in a farm.”

The Thayer Creek project reflects this reality all too well. A large portion of its funding will be allocated to the complex engineering and construction involved in accessing the creek situated seven miles from town and then transmitting electricity back to Angoon.

“That’s why this is a $34 million project,” Wunrow says. “If it was just putting in the hydro, it would probably be closer to a $6 million project. Getting to the water and getting the power back to the community—that is the expense.”

The fact that such a massive sum is being allocated to a town with a population smaller than your average American high school isn’t lost on Wunrow. However, he’s careful to note that Thayer Creek’s power production will far exceed Angoon’s current needs—by more than three times, according to DOE estimates— providing ample opportunity for

future economic development and infrastructure upgrades.

Shortcut to Energy

One of the reasons SusitnaWatana was never executed, apart from its daunting scope, was concern about environmental damage from interrupting the flow of the fourthlongest undammed river in the country. Thayer Creek avoids that obstacle (almost literally), which helps explain why its construction is a cause for celebration.

When Thayer Creek wraps construction in 2028, it’s expected to supply 99 percent of Angoon’s energy needs, displacing an estimated 120,000 gallons of diesel annually and providing its 400 residents with clean power and stable rates for years to come. That’s one environmental benefit, common to most hydropower.

Better yet, unlike many other hydroelectric dams, Thayer Creek’s run-of-river design takes advantage of the creek’s natural elevation—often referred to as “head”—ensuring minimal

impacts to Admiralty Island’s natural ecology. Instead of artificially elevating the creek level and harnessing power as gravity pulls the water downhill, the generator is placed at a bend in the river, where a shortcut channel taps part of the downstream flow.

“Run-of-river is a really, really great way to generate hydro because the water gets diverted but it still flows,” Wunrow says. “And there’s all kinds of things that are engineered in to make sure that it doesn’t have an adverse effect on fish or marine life.”

Wunrow says there were other creeks that may have been in contention, but none quite had that perfect combination of head, flow volume, and reflection of Kootznoowoo’s values as Thayer Creek. “It’s no coincidence that they [Angoon] decided on run-of-river. It’s part of a bigger stewardship mentality.”

A Promise to Keep

Thayer Creek’s journey to funding has been particularly unique, Wunrow admits.

Back when the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) was being enacted, elders and community leaders from Angoon traveled to Washington, DC, to meet with congressional members and thenPresident Jimmy Carter.

“Leaders of Angoon went to DC and said, ‘We love the idea of preserving the land we’ve been using for 10,000 years—but we want a couple of things in return,’” says Wunrow.

One of those things, eventually included in ANILCA, was a single sentence that read: Kootznoowoo is granted the right to develop

hydro power in the Admiralty Island National Monument.

“And that’s all it says,” Wunrow says with a laugh. “There’s nothing about exactly where, or what that means. But the truth is that the leaders of Angoon at the time had enough foresight back then to say one of the things we want is low-cost, sustainable energy.”

Fast forward a few decades, and it looks like Angoon’s leaders may finally have their wish.

With combined financial outlays from the DOE Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED), the Alaska Energy Authority, the US

Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Inside Passage Electric Cooperative, and two separate contributions from the Denali Commission—Thayer Creek has its green light.

“This is a four-year project. There’s nothing that’s going to stop us from moving forward now,” says Wunrow, who is also the corporation’s tourism and natural resources director.

Wunrow stressed the, in some instances, unlikely partnerships that Kootznoowoo cultivated along the way.

“Historically, the Angoon Community Association have had a challenging relationship with the federal

“Run-of-river is a really, really great way to generate hydro because the water gets diverted but it still flows… And there’s all kinds of things that are engineered in to make sure that it doesn’t have an adverse effect on fish or marine life.”

Jon Wunrow, Director of Tourism and Natural Re sources, Kootznoowoo

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Kootznoowoo

government in general, and the Forest Service specifically,” he explains. “The village is now surrounded by land that they no longer have any control over, and that’s been a challenge for the community to grapple with.”

In this case, though, less so. “I say this to everybody I have a chance to: the US Forest Service have been 100 percent behind Thayer [Creek], and they have literally moved mountains to help us through the permitting process,” says an energized Wunrow, revealing how the US Forest Service helped save the project millions of dollars in timber cutting fees and other costs.

Federal Spread

Wunrow also recognizes the strategic legislative efforts from Senator Murkowski’s office. In the past, the Thayer Creek project couldn’t pursue other DOE funding opportunities because they explicitly prohibited hydro dams. “We couldn’t get around it. Even though we kept saying, ‘Runof-river is different; it’s not what you think!’” he recalls.

That situation changed thanks to the 2021 infrastructure law. Wunrow says, “This OCED funding that we got, I think there’s a couple of sentences written into that legislation that specifically targets run-of-river, remote rural Alaska—and that has everything to do with Senator Murkowski’s office.”

The same announcement in March that Thayer Creek had been selected for DOE rural infrastructure money also spread some more around Alaska. Five projects split $125 million. The

largest share, $54.8 million, goes to the Northwest Arctic region for solar, battery storage, and heat pumps, and $26.1 million goes to seven Interior villages for a similar setup.

Two other run-of-river hydroelectric projects received funding as well.

The Alutiiq Tribe of Old Harbor was allocated $10 million, and the Lake and Peninsula Borough was given $7.3 million for run-of-river hydro at Chignik Bay.

Meanwhile, last year a study by Dillingham-based utility Nushagak Cooperative completed initial field studies for run-of-river hydro on the Nuyakak River, a tributary of the Nushagak in the world’s largest red salmon watershed. Work on that project continued this year with a public survey, to be published in December.

Learning Quickly

As Alaska continues to navigate its energy transition, it’s important to consider the broader context in which projects like these operate.

Introduced in 1984, Power Cost Equalization (PCE) plays a major role in making energy affordable for rural Alaska communities. Historically, this state-funded program has subsidized the high cost of electricity by covering the difference between local energy costs and the average cost in urban centers. This subsidy is vital for economic viability of remote communities.

However, integrating renewable projects such as Thayer Creek introduces a new dynamic. PCE

subsidies are traditionally based on fuel usage, Pomeranz explains. Thus, as communities shift to renewable energy and reduce their reliance on diesel, the amount of PCE they receive would theoretically decrease.

Independent power producers (IPPs) are a workaround solution. By creating IPPs, communities can sell power back to utilities at a reduced cost, effectively leveraging the benefits of renewable energy without reducing their PCE subsidies. IPPs ensure that the economic advantages of PCE are preserved while communities transition to more sustainable energy practices.

Pomeranz stresses the importance of these partnerships, along with the creative measures Alaska’s energy leaders are taking to ensure its rural communities don’t get left behind.

“Right now, if you want funding for a project, you need a group or partnership with multiple entities,” he says. “And what the government is really looking at is putting together projects that are a consortium of community members—including tribes, nonprofits, and utilities—to come together to create a sustainable energy future.”

As with any landmark legislation— what US Representative Mary Peltola called a “once in a lifetime” opportunity for energy infrastructure—there’s always a learning curve. When asked about the time it took for the state to understand what was available and who was eligible, Pomeranz says, “I think we’re getting caught up, and a lot of people around the state are putting in a lot of hours to make sure that the state and its communities receive maximum funding.”

Pomeranz and EPS have not yet played a role in the Thayer Creek project, but that may change when the engineering and construction aspects go out for bid in 2025. And if Wunrow’s experience is anything to go by, it’s not the worst way to put in the extra hours.

“There are so many things I do with Kootznoowoo that are not as fun,” Wunrow says with a laugh. “But with this one, I know I can get on the phone— with the Forest Service or OCED or the mayor or whomever—[and] we’re all talking about the same thing and heading in the same direction. And that’s just rare.”

Once construction commences on the Thayer Creek Hydroelectric Project, the expensive parts come first: access to the site.

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Cold Water, Warm City

The Seward Heat Loop Project

By Rachael Kvapil

Th e Seward Heat Loop Project is a unique alternative energy system firmly rooted in geothermal science, a concept that may sound like something out of science fiction. This innovative project, which has been in development for nearly a decade, combines tidal energy, gravel deposits, and thermal gradients to heat entire buildings. If successful, this demonstration project has the potential to revolutionize energy systems in other communities with similar natural resources.

Go with the Flow

In a nutshell, the Seward Heat Loop Project reduces the reliance on heating oil and electric heat in four city buildings by using a ground-source carbon dioxide (CO2) heat pump. Groundsource loops derive heat from a closed loop of vertical boreholes at Waterfront Park adjacent to Resurrection Bay. Tidal movements are key to providing an initial heat source: an influx of warm seawater from the Alaska Coastal Current flows into the bay each fall, then the North Pacific Gyre heats this

current during a three-year circuit along the equator. Due to this influx, Resurrection Bay remains ice-free year-round. During winter months water temperatures can reach 50°F in November while the air temperature is 22°F, frequently causing steam.

Andy Baker, founder and owner of YourCleanEnergy (YCE), is the designer who conceptualized the unique combination of heated water from Resurrection Bay with heat pump technology to heat an entire building. In 2012, Baker designed and installed

Sam McDavid

a heat pump system using a synthetic refrigerant known as R-134a; however, Baker quickly replaced R-134a with CO2 to eliminate the synthetic refrigerant’s environmental impact.

“Synthetic refrigerants contain PFAS [per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances] fluorination compounds that eventually leak from the heat pump circuit into the atmosphere,” says Baker. “By using CO2, we are preventing super greenhouse gases from rising into the air and ending up in the water.”

Resurrection Bay already heats one building complex in Seward: the Alaska SeaLife Center. However, the Seward Heat Loop Project proposes a different configuration. The center pumps seawater directly from Resurrection Bay into a heat exchanger, but the Seward Heat Loop Project relies on the thermal mass of the seabed. Vertical loops will be inserted into 200 feet of gravel that is saturated by Resurrection Bay, resulting in a consistent temperatures of 45°F. A mixture of water and propylene glycol will be piped down the hole and back up to the surface, collecting tidal and groundwater heat

along the way. The mixture is then piped to the heat pumps, which turn CO2 from a liquid into vapor. The vapor is then compressed to nearly 2,000 pounds per square inch, adding significantly more heat. The hot vapor circulates through a gas cooler that transfers much of its heat into a 100°F hydronic loop that is heated up to 194°F. The 194°F hydronic water leaving the heat pumps is blended into a large building loop that is kept at 140°F to 160°F and further distributed to Seward’s library, city hall, the city annex, and the fire hall.

“Pumping seawater directly into the heat exchanger is high maintenance because saltwater is corrosive,” says Baker. “Using the tidal flush in deep gravel is a novel approach to heating buildings in coastal Alaska.”

They Said Yes

When first proposed in 2015, the Seward Heat Loop Project acquired $725,000 in grant funding from the Alaska Energy Authority. The design process continued through 2019, when the project stalled due to COVID-19, multiple changes in city

managers, budgetary constraints, and necessary adjustments to the project's concept and scope. In 2022, the City of Seward formed an ad hoc committee under the Port and Commerce Advisory Board (PACAB) composed of community volunteers to help find funding and develop a shovelready design. The PACAB Heat Loop Committee is one of five organizations that make up the Community Coalition Team involved with the development of this project. Additional members include the City of Seward, YCE, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and the Alaska Vocational Technical Center (AVTEC), a state-run industrial training school in Seward.

Within six months of its formation, the Community Coalition Team won a highly competitive US Department of Energy (DOE) grant for $315,000. Out of fifty applicants, DOE selected only eleven projects for Phase 1 funding, which takes a project from concept to the point that it’s ready for construction. In September, the team will apply for $3.8 million in Phase 2 DOE funding for construction. In this round, the Seward

Heat Loop Project will compete with ten other projects, of which three to six will be selected.

“We are dedicated to bringing renewable energy to Seward,” says Mary Tougas of the PACAB Heat Loop Committee. “Andy’s design is such a genius idea. It’s such a simple concept that it makes you smack your head and ask, ‘Why didn’t we think of it sooner?’”

The decision to heat only four cityowned buildings is mainly for funding purposes. Projects that benefit the public have a better chance to meet the grant criteria, so the team chose four public buildings in close proximity to one another with the most usage.

Baker says making this project 100 percent public avoids inequities that could arise from creating a conventional heating district project.

“This is a demonstration project that could be expanded at some point in the future if we are successful,” says Baker.

The construction cost was estimated at $4.5 million when initially proposed in 2015. In 2022, the committee increased the cost estimate to $4.7 million for the DOE grant application. There are several reasons for the increase. Costs for materials and labor have gone up since the project started. Several addons, like heated sidewalks in front of the library, weren’t in the original proposal

but are features community members would like included in the final project. Given all the factors, Baker hesitates to speculate on the construction cost without the final review of an estimator.

“For DOE, it’s not just about the cost,” says Baker. “This is a new process, so installing it is more costly at first. It becomes more affordable as more people adopt it and we find ways to make it more scalable.”

A Penny Saved...

As the founder of YCE, Baker’s primary focus is developing alternative energy processes that decrease environmental impact. However, he is business savvy enough to know that a project isn’t going to succeed if it isn’t economically viable. According to the final design memorandum, heat pumps at the Alaska SeaLife Center have already proved beneficial. Even though the original heat pumps used the synthetic R-134a refrigerant, the system still reduced the center’s use of heating oil by 48,104 gallons, with a net CO2 emission reduction of 420,000 pounds and produced a financial net savings of $120,000. Since replacing the synthetic refrigerant with CO2, the SeaLife Center has produced net energy savings of $135,000 and reduced CO2 emissions by 1.3 million pounds.

The memorandum also outlines the increasing cost of heating oil for the four buildings chosen for the Seward Heat Loop Project. In FY13, after the library was built, the total cost for heating all four buildings jumped to $67,605. In FY14, the price dropped slightly to $57,031 due to a global oil price crash. The library currently has an electric boiler installed as an alternative heating method; however, the oil-fired boiler is still a more cost-effective heating source. By using a ground-source CO2 heat pump system, the city estimates a 62 percent reduction in heating costs for the library compared to the existing electric boiler. For all four buildings, the reduced heating costs are estimated at around 52 percent compared to using existing heating boilers, at heating oil prices of $3.99 per gallon.

“We have few cost-effective, environmentally friendly options to heat our buildings here in Seward,” says Tougas. “Other than heating fuel, we have electricity, firewood,

YourCleanEnergy founder Andy Baker (left), who designed the Seward Heat Loop Project, crunches the numbers with geothermal HVAC researcher Saqib Javed (right) of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Sam McDavid

Saqid Javed (left) and Karlin Swearingen (right) from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory visited Seward in May to collect data to model the heat loop system for the final design.

Sam McDavid

and a small amount of propane. We don’t have natural gas.”

Electricity from the primary grid still powers the heat pump system; however, the committee has identified solar panels as a clean energy source for this purpose. This addon is not in the original proposal and depends on what DOE approves in the upcoming grant submission.

Future Workforce for Future Technology

Among a list of requirements, the Phase 1 DOE grant includes an allocation for workforce development. The PACAB committee used grant funds to purchase a SanCO2 residential heat pump, which employs the same carbon dioxide heat pump technology as the ones used in the proposed heat loop, for training purposes. Instructors from AVTEC are crafting a curriculum based on a recent intensive training and certification course with the system’s codesigner earlier this year.

In a committee press release, AVTEC Director Cathy LeCompte expressed her excitement about the opportunity to

weave this new training curriculum into the center ’s existing program.

AVTEC is a division of the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development that provides postsecondary workforce training that is flexible, accessible, affordable, and responsive to the dynamic needs of business and industry and serves Alaska’s diverse communities. AVTEC delivers training statewide in refrigeration, plumbing and heating, information technology, industrial electricity, construction technology, business and office technology, and more. A course in operating and maintaining the heat loop in Seward and future deployments will fit perfectly into AVTEC’s structure.

As the Community Coalition Team works on the final requirements of the Phase 1 DOE grant, there is much optimism going into the Phase 2 application process.

“The design system used in this demonstration project has the potential to benefit all coastal communities in Alaska,” says Tougas. “We look forward to the next stage and beyond.”

“We have few cost-effective, environmentally friendly options to heat our buildings here in Seward… Other than heating fuel, we have electricity, firewood, and a small amount of propane. We don't have natural gas.”

Mary Tougas Recorder

PACAB Heat Loop Committee

Volcanic Rumblings

Geothermal grid power seems closer than ever

By Joseph Jackson

Geothermal energy exploration is picking up steam in Alaska—literally.

In the last three years, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has issued several geothermal exploration permits for use in the Aleutian Arc. One of these applies to the previously untapped Augustine Volcano in Lower Cook Inlet. Meanwhile, the Makushin Geothermal Project near the city of Unalaska is restructuring.

Taryn

Neither the DNR exploration permits nor the Makushin project are new endeavors; lease sales have been held in the Aleutian Arc, particularly on the stratovolcano Mount Spurr, since 1983, and the Makushin project has been in the works since 2020. However, there’s reason to believe that these more recent developments are better poised for success.

The federal Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 provides new incentives for geothermal development, such as tax credits up to 30 percent through 2032. In May, the Alaska Legislature passed House Bill 50, which mainly relates to storing carbon dioxide deep underground on state lands, but it was amended to include language specific to geothermal exploration. Governor Mike Dunleavy had requested legislation to extend the length of geothermal exploration permits from two years to five.

The US Department of Energy estimates that 8.5 percent of the country’s electricity could be generated by geothermal power by 2050, and more than 28 million homes could be heated and/or cooled by geothermal heat pumps. Alaska, given its location in the geologically active Ring of Fire, remains a focal point for advancing such technology.

Bubbling Up

The premise of geothermal energy is to use the Earth’s inner heat—usually by producing and moving steam— to generate electricity. Paul Craig, president and CEO of Anchorage-based GeoAlaska, jokes that geothermal is one of the only industries in which “the goal is to get into hot water.”

A compelling virtue of geothermal is that it’s considered a baseload energy source, says Craig. Unlike other renewables such as wind or solar, which are intermittent, geothermal can continually meet the minimum necessary demand for an electrical grid

Heat’s not the only concern, though. According to Guy Oliver, director of geoscience and exploration at Ignis Energy (a sister company to Geolog, one of the largest geothermal development companies in the world), an exploitable geothermal resource must meet a few other requirements

in order to be successful: sufficient flow rates to extract the resource to the surface (for power production) and proximity to an accessible market.

Currently, two volcanoes in the Aleutian Arc may fit the bill.

The first is, of course, Mount Spurr, an 11,070-foot stratovolcano approximately 80 miles west of Anchorage; and the second is Mount Augustine, another stratovolcano 4,134 feet tall, occupying an island roughly 60 miles southwest of Homer.

Both resources are close to the Railbelt grid, the area between the Kenai Peninsula and Fairbanks that supplies about 75 percent of Alaskans with electricity. Declines in other Railbelt energy resources—such as Cook Inlet natural gas, which is expected to face a serious decline by 2030 according to a 2023 study by the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas—could make geothermal attractive as both an alternative source and a carbon offset.

Spurring Development

Mount Spurr has long been a prospect for supplying a portion of the Railbelt’s power needs. Since 1983, DNR has held four lease sales, each giving developers an opportunity to probe Mount Spurr’s subsurface potential.

In 2008, Nevada-based Ormat Technologies was awarded leases to explore more than 35,000 acres of Mount Spurr’s flanks. Several years of testing proved fruitless, and in 2015 Ormat abandoned its efforts. Currently there are two companies still combing Mount Spurr: GeoAlaska and Cyrq Energy out of Salt Lake City.

GeoAlaska is also exploring Augustine, a resource previously untapped for its geothermal potential. John Eichelberger, a professor emeritus at the UAF Geophysical Institute and pioneer of both the Alaska Volcano Observatory and the Krafla Magma Testbed in northern Iceland, believes that Augustine presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. “It’s one of the hottest volcanoes in the Pacific,” Eichelberger says.

GeoAlaska has been gathering geophysical data on Augustine since the summer of 2023. Initial tests suggest that it is worth further study. In March 2023, GeoAlaska partnered with Houston-based Ignis Energy to

Volcano is one

monitored volcanoes in the world, according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory. This makes it much safer to explore for geothermal resources on the island. GeoAlaska has been using magnetotelluric data—a means of measuring subsurface electrical resistivity—to seek out potential geothermal reservoirs.

plan more expansive data collection on Augustine this year.

GeoAlaska has also been proactive in figuring out how to deliver geothermal power, should its exploration prove successful. According to Craig, GeoAlaska entered into an agreement with the Homer Electric Association (HEA) in 2022. While details are confidential, the agreement spurred HEA to apply for and receive grants from the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA) to study electricity transmission from both Mount Spurr and Augustine.

In the case of Augustine, the proposed plan is to transmit power via a submarine cable across Cook Inlet to a power inverter near Anchor Point, which would, in turn, plug into the Railbelt grid. GeoAlaska estimates that Augustine could produce between 50 MW and 100 MW using traditional geothermal methods.

Far-Out Venture

Supplying the grid with clean, baseload energy isn’t the only application for geothermal in Alaska. Small-scale and/or remote geothermal development also has massive potential. Imagine it: off-grid settlements run entirely by endless geothermal energy. No more diesel generators. No more power shortages. Complete energy independence.

One of the most notable examples of this is the Makushin project near Unalaska. The city became interested in the nearby Makushin Volcano as a potential energy source in the ‘80s. Developing the necessary infrastructure, though, proved easier said than done. Fast-forward to 2019, when Bernie Karl stepped in. Karl is credited with not only building the now world-famous Chena Hot Springs Resort from the ground up but with introducing the first geothermal power generator to the state of Alaska in 2006.

In 2020, Karl’s Fairbanks-based Chena Power teamed up with Unalaska’s Native corporation, the Ounalashka Corporation, with the lofty goal of designing, building, and operating a 30 MW power plant to harness Makushin’s energy. The project carried an estimated price tag of $250 million and was expected to be completed in 2024.

As a joint venture, Ounalashka Corporation/Chena Power (OCCP)

Augustine

of the best

Esther Babcock | Logic Geophysics & Analytics

GeoAlaska believes that Augustine Volcano harbors major potential for Alaska geothermal energy.

M.L. Coombs | Alaska Volcano Observatory | UAF Geophysical Institute

GeoAlaska began conducting geophysical surveys on the south side of Augustine Island in 2023.

Paul Craig | GeoAlaska

made good headway: it entered into a thirty-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the City of Unalaska in 2020, signed an intent to award the engineering construction contract to Ormat in 2021, and secured $2.5 million in federal funding in 2022, along with a $5 million funding commitment from AEA in 2023.

Shaking and Quaking

Unfortunately, progress slowed due to supply chain issues and funding difficulties. To combat rising project costs, OCCP sought an increase in the PPA prices from $0.16 to $0.22 per kWh. As of December 2023, the PPA expired, and on March 8, 2024, the City of Unalaska announced that it did not intend to extend or renegotiate the agreement.

But the announcement did not end the Makushin geothermal project. In the same news release, the City stated plans to resuscitate the project in partnership with the Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska and Ounalashka. It remains unclear how Ounalashka plans to dissolve its former partnership with Chena Power.

On February 1, 2024, the City of Unalaska submitted a letter of intent to apply for a Climate Pollution Reduction Grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency, with the goal of developing Makushin geothermal. The Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program has $5 billion set aside for ambitious projects that seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, up to $500 million per project with no local grant match requirement. The Unalaska City Council submitted an application before the April 1 deadline, according to City Manager William Homka. Grant awards will be announced in October.

Homka hopes the Makushin project will be selected. Unalaska is striving to cut out diesel and the costs associated with it, seeking viable alternatives to provide reliable, baseload electricity for all stakeholders— from individual households to Dutch Harbor seafood processors.

Makushin could blaze a trail for other communities to follow, not just to tap geothermal resources but to strive for true sustainability.

“The power is here,” says Homka, and though he refers specifically to Unalaska, his words ring true for the entire state.

Imagine it: off-grid settlements run entirely by endless geothermal energy. No more diesel generators. No more power shortages. Complete energy independence.

Seeing the Light

Solar power under the midnight sun

By Vanessa Orr

Pu tting the role of solar energy into terms Alaskans can understand, Chris Rose draws an analogy. “It’s like fishing in the summer or hunting in the spring and fall,” says Rose. “While you can’t do these things year-round, you harvest what you can when you can so that you have it available when you need it.”

Rose, founder and executive director of Renewable Energy Alaska Project, notes that half of the state’s electricity comes from natural gas, which is becoming a problem. Communities in Cook Inlet are already paying three times more than residents in the Lower 48 are paying for natural gas, and that amount is about to go up. Due to dwindling supplies, Alaska utilities are

looking at importing liquified natural gas from Outside, which is expected to raise costs by 50 percent or more in the next five years.

“Even though natural gas is a local resource, it’s not a cheap resource,” says Rose. “Fossil fuels are expensive and getting more expensive, so if we can generate local power with no fuel costs, there are a lot of advantages to that.”

By using renewable energy most of the year, natural gas can be conserved for use during the winter. To this end, several projects—both at the state and community levels—are underway to harness the midnight sun. Federal funding is also supporting more projects, especially in rural areas, that

could help the state become even more energy independent.

Direct Currency

In April 2024, the US Environmental Protection Agency awarded $125 million to Alaska to build and expand solar energy projects as part of its Solar for All program. Part of a $7 billion program that funds community energy nationwide, Solar for All projects typically enable a group of people (like residents of an apartment block) to invest in solar projects and get credits on their utility bills when those projects deliver power to the electric grid.

The $125 million splits between two projects: $62.5 million was awarded to a partnership between the Alaska Energy

Authority and the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) to fund solar energy infrastructure around the state. Alaska Energy Authority will use the grant for communities seeking to develop solar arrays, including battery storage, and AHFC will administer a program to subsidize residential rooftop solar installations for low-income households.

The remaining $62.5 million was awarded to the Tanana Chiefs Conference, in partnership with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and AHFC, to invest in solar energy for thirteen tribal communities along the Railbelt, including Nenana and Chickaloon.

In addition, the US Department of Energy recently funded five Alaska projects through the Energy Improvement in Rural or Remote Areas program, two of which are solar.

The first provides $54.8 million to ensure reliable access to energy and heating for eleven Alaska Native villages in the Northwest Arctic Borough through the planned installation of solar, battery storage, and heat

pump systems. The borough will use this money to install 850 residential heat pumps, or almost one for every home in Ambler, Buckland, Deering, Kiana, Kivalina, Kobuk, Noatak, Noorvik, Selawik, and Shungnak. NANA Regional Corporation is matching $5 million for this project, which builds on previous energy diversification efforts in the region.

The second award, an Alaskan Tribal Energy Sovereignty project, provides $26 million to Tanana Chiefs Conference to expand solar projects in eight tribal communities including Minto, Huslia, Nulato, Kaltag, Grayling, Anvik, Shageluk, and Holy Cross. Instead of relying on diesel generators, solar panels and battery storage would be integrated into each community’s microgrid, a process that is expected to take approximately five years.

The US Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy for America program provided a $460,000 federal grant in March 2024 to expand a solar power system at Whistle Hill in Soldotna. The final phase of the two-stage project is

expected to be completed this summer by Peninsula Solar, which is installing a 200 kW solar system with 500 kW of battery storage that will have the ability to generate and sell electricity to commercial indoor herb garden fresh365 and three other businesses on site. The annual production of the completed system is estimated to produce enough electricity to power nineteen homes.

Solar by Subscription

In January 2024, Chugach Electric Association (CEA), Alaska’s largest electric utility, filed a plan with regulators to create a 500 kW community solar project in Anchorage. Ratepayers would subscribe and pay the costs to build and maintain the panels, while the cost of solargenerated power would be subtracted from their bills. The 500 kW array, with 1,280 panels, would be built at the CEA substation south of the Dimond Center mall. In February, the Regulatory Commission of Alaska approved the utility’s request for an initial three-year pilot period.

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“Renewable energy is becoming increasingly important, particularly with the decline in natural gas production in Cook Inlet… Every kilowatt provided by renewable energy uses one less kilowatt from gas, which can be put into storage for a later time.”

Alaska Senat or Bill Wielechowski

The utility’s first attempt to create a small community solar farm in Anchorage was rejected in 2019.

The CEA program would allow members without their own rooftop solar array, such as renters, to benefit from renewable energy by subscribing to buy power from the solar farm. Under the plan, a member could subscribe to receive power from one panel or up to twenty panels, paying a monthly fee.

The community solar project would generate electricity equivalent to an average of 0.02 percent of CEA’s retail energy sales annually. CEA would own the project, estimated to cost about $2.8 million.

Member applications will be accepted beginning October 1, and construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2024, with the program going live by March 1, 2025.

CEA is also planning to put solar panels on its two major power plants, the Southcentral Power Project near its headquarters along Minnesota Drive and the George M. Sullivan Plant along the Glenn Highway. The projects, which are anticipated to be roughly 100 kW each, will increase the efficiency of the plants and offset the use of natural gas. Solar panels will also be installed as part of a remodel of the operations building on CEA’s South Campus, which will add an additional estimated 165 kW of solar capacity to the system.

Plugged In and Charging

Two recently completed projects are already generating power for communities as well as contributing to the electric grid.

The $2.2 million solar farm at Shungnak, completed last fall, is now generating power for Shungnak and Kobuk. An electrical intertie connects the two villages, located about 10 miles apart on the Kobuk River. The farm on which the 225 kW project sits is owned by the two tribal governments, which enables them to sell the power to the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative, the largest electric utility in rural Alaska. This spring, the solar farm produced so much power that the diesel-fed power plant shut down for several hours a day.

Alaska’s largest solar farm, located in Houston, began operating in September 2023 and is now feeding power to Matanuska Electric Association. The

45 acre, 8.5 MW farm can provide about 5 percent of the utility’s output, powering about 1,400 homes at peak production, for roughly the same cost as gas-fired generation.

Community Action

The Alaska Legislature passed two bills this spring aimed at helping Alaskans access renewable energy.

Senate Bill 152 (SB152) creates a streamlined framework to establish community energy projects in Alaska, including those powered by solar, hydroelectric, and wind. The bill, titled “Saving Alaskans Money with Voluntary Community Energy (SAVE) Act,” enables Alaskans to subscribe to communityowned solar arrays not located on their home or property.

According to lead sponsor Senator Bill Wielechowski, SB152 opens clean energy access for the first time to more than 260,000 Alaskans who live in rental housing and 79,000 who are living below the federal poverty level. He expects subscribers could see 10 to 20 percent savings on their monthly electric bills.

“Renewable energy is becoming increasingly important, particularly with the decline in natural gas production in Cook Inlet,” says Wielechowski. “It is also spurred by the desire of many to have cleaner energy and lower energy costs, which can be provided, in part, by renewable energies like solar and wind. This will not only benefit consumers in Southcentral Alaska but people across the state.”

He notes that, by providing regulatory certainty to consumers and independent power producers, more people will become interested in virtual net metering—a solar incentive program that allows people to participate in the green energy economy without installing solar panels themselves.

In addition to solar energy, SB152 supports access to other forms of renewable energy, including tidal and wind power, and it includes a component for battery storage to provide utilities with increased capacity.

“This would help in areas like Southcentral, where this past January we weren’t able to produce enough gas or pull enough out of the storage wells,” says Wielechowski. “Every kilowatt provided by renewable energy uses one

less kilowatt from gas, which can be put into storage for a later time.”

Wielechowski also anticipates that SB152 could attract more solar companies to Alaska as well as create more jobs. With substantial current federal tax credits of 30 to 50 percent, there are also tremendous incentives to build right now.

Green Bank

The second new piece of legislation leverages federal funding for an ongoing reservoir of renewable energy capital. On May 15, the Alaska Legislature passed HB273 to establish a state “green bank” as a subsidiary of AHFC. The legislation allows AHFC to set up private sector loans using a portion of the billions of dollars that are now available through the federal Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

According to Rose, green banks in other states have been instrumental in providing affordable loans to consumers who want to make energy efficiency improvements or install rooftop solar.

“One of the problems with current programs is that, while you can get a

30 to 40 percent tax credit for using renewable energy, you have to have the upfront capital to build the project first,” he explains. “The green bank will provide a huge opportunity for average Alaskans to get affordable loans, install rooftop solar, and take advantage of federal tax credits.”

Rose adds that excess electricity from these projects can feed the entire grid. “The utility pays nothing for those generation resources to be put on roofs; people buy them, and the federal government helps finance these solar projects,” he says.

According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, if Railbelt utilities produced 76 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2040, rate payers could save more than $1 billion over the next sixteen years.

“While the economics are important, Alaskans also like to be independent and provide for themselves—that’s why we garden and hunt,” says Rose. “If we can also generate our own power, it provides even more independence. We can’t be very energy independent if we have to import our gas.”

“Fossil fuels are expensive and getting more expensive, so if we can generate local power with no fuel costs, there are a lot of advantages to that.”

Chris Rose

Westinghouse Electric Company

Shaping tomorrow’s insights

When most people think of Westinghouse Electric Company, they imagine nuclear energy. That makes sense given that Westinghouse built the world’s first commercial pressurized water reactor in Shippingport, Pennsylvania in 1957. Now, about half of the nuclear reactors operating around the globe employ Westinghouse technology.

However, the company’s legacy of innovation extends back 130 years to when its founder, George Westinghouse, commercialized the alternating current. Today, as the world seeks solutions to evolving environmental challenges, Westinghouse is staunchly committed to developing clean, reliable, safe, economical energy sources.

ADDRESSING ENERGY GAPS WITH LONG-DURATION ENERGY STORAGE

One of the latest advancements at Westinghouse is its long-duration energy storage (LDES) system. The demand for this modular large-scale energy storage solution—which can discharge for more than eight hours and up to 200 hours—is accelerating around the world, according to John Battaglini, Vice President of Market Development and Sales (Americas) at Westinghouse.

Recently, Westinghouse launched a major LDES project in Interior Alaska. The company, along with multiple partners, will deploy a 1.2 gigawatthour, utility-scale pumped thermal energy storage (PTES) system in Healy. The technology’s eventual user will be Fairbanks-based Golden Valley Electric Association, which is closing one of the area’s coal-fired power plants and bringing on LDES to pair with wind energy. “It will make that wind firm

and dispatchable,” Battaglini says. “This particular case required longer energy duration up to 24 hours, and that’s where our technology is a great fit. It really exemplifies the energy transition.”

With a PTES system, a heat pump draws electricity from the power grid and converts the electricity into heat stored in inexpensive concrete blocks. This stored energy is then converted back into electricity using a heat engine. The system also uses a low-cost, icebased low temperature reservoir. “The major storage components are concrete and water, so there are no mining or rare elements involved,” Battaglini explains. “Plus, the components are fully recyclable.”

Besides being a truly sustainable solution, a PTES system is scalable (simply by adding larger tanks or more tanks), has safe energy storage aspects (concrete and water), and has a longlife asset (50-plus years). Additionally, Battaglini emphasizes: “It will save costs for rate payers. We think it’s a very economical solution for Golden Valley Electric.”

EVINCITM MICROREACTOR FOR REMOTE ENERGY APPLICATIONS

Westinghouse is also working on several other significant energy projects that can directly impact Alaskans: the eVinci microreactor and AP300TM small modular reactor (SMR).

For instance, Nome is pondering the local potential of the eVinci microreactor that Westinghouse is developing and plans to have operational by 2026. The eVinci microreactor applies an innovative approach to traditional heatpipe technology to create a system that is safe and reliable. Essentially a “nuclear battery,” the system has a simple design with almost no moving

parts to be maintained. Once installed, it can operate in the harshest conditions for eight years or more at full power without refueling.

Westinghouse’s eVinci microreactor is also designed to be highly transportable; it can be fully assembled in a factory before shipment and delivered anywhere there is a need for clean, reliable power. This makes the microreactor the ideal solution for small communities like Nome as well as off-grid or edge-of-the-grid military installations, mining operations, oil and gas operations, and even universities looking to reduce their carbon footprint.

The eVinci technology also offers significant economic advantages— particularly for remote regions of Alaska, where the rising cost of diesel is a constant struggle. Using the eVinci could lower energy expenses by 10 to 40 percent compared to diesel fuel, according to Michael Valore, Senior Director of Advanced Reactor Commercialization eVinci Technologies at Westinghouse.

“Being part of the eVinci microreactor team is exciting as we transition towards a sustainable, clean energy future.” Valore said. “The eVinci reactor’s innovative design combines new technologies with over 60 years of Westinghouse commercial nuclear and engineering experience. It is a cost-competitive and resilient source of power that provides superior reliability with minimal maintenance and will prove critical to Alaska’s remote communities and remote mining projects.”

NEW AP300TM SMR NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY

Westinghouse’s AP300 SMR is a 330 megawatt, single-loop pressurized

water reactor. Its design is a scaleddown version of the company’s advanced, proven AP1000® nuclear power plant. The smaller reactor uses the same technology as its larger counterpart, including major equipment, structural components, passive safety, proven fuel, and instrumentation and control systems.

With their compact, modularized design, AP300 SMR units can be custom built in the factory to reduce construction time and costs. Like the AP1000 reactor, the AP300 SMR is designed to operate for an 80-hoursplus year life cycle. “We think it’s a great solution for utilities, data centers, oil and gas, chemical manufacturers, and various industrial decarbonization players,” Battaglini said.

Currently, Westinghouse is in the basic design phase with the AP300 SMR. It expects to receive Nuclear Regulatory Certification by 2027 and begin constructing the first unit by the end of the decade. However, the

company is already engaging in earlystage discussions with prospective customers in Alaska. Per Battaglini, "We think it could be a really good solution and help solve Alaska’s problem for the next 60 to 80 years.”

COMMITMENT TO CLEAN ENERGY SOLUTIONS

With more than a century of innovation under its belt, Westinghouse

is focused on developing different energy products to meet the evolving needs of different market segments in Alaska and worldwide. Battaglini said: “There’s a lot that Westinghouse is bringing to the party in terms of decarbonization and clean energy. We’ve been around for different business cycles, and we plan to be a big part of this energy transition.”

Example of Westinghouse's Long Duration Energy Storage Plant.

Regional Turbulence

How to succeed in air travel

By Alexandra Kay

Th e Alaska aviation system is the largest of its kind in North America. The Federal Aviation Administration counts 82 percent of communities and recognized landing areas that are inaccessible by road; that’s 251 communities exclusively accessed by air, according to the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF). Regional air carriers serve an important function in the state.

The State of Alaska owns and operates 237 airports. In addition to the transcontinental hubs at Ted

Stevens Anchorage International Airport and Fairbanks International Airport, 235 rural airports fall under the federal definition set forth in the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. The Internal Revenue Service defines a rural airport as one with fewer than 100,000 commercial passengers, more than 75 miles from one with more than 100,000 commercial passengers, not connected by paved roads to another airport, and receiving federal Essential Air Service subsidies.

Rural doesn’t mean unused. DOT&PF states, “Rural airports are vital to

Alaskan communities, providing access to essential supplies, mail, schools, medical/dental services, and travel.”

According to the Alaska Division of Statewide Aviation, 402 communities rely on aviation for year-round access. When regional carriers reduce flights or go out of business in those communities, it’s highly disruptive. That’s when other carriers step in to fill a gap in service.

Challenging Times

During the COVID-19 pandemic, several of Alaska’s regional air carriers

reduced or suspended flights due to a nationwide pilot shortage and a lack of profitability. Companies that canceled flights during the pandemic include Ravn Air, the state’s largest regional carrier at the time; Bering Air in Northwest Alaska; and Warbelow’s Air, which canceled charter flights but maintained essential services like mail and fuel delivery. Although COVID-19 faded to the background, regional air carrier unpredictability has continued in some instances.

According to a 2019 survey by consulting firm Oliver Wyman, pilot shortages are expected to continue in North America through this decade. A recent survey found that regional carriers have a harder time recruiting talent, with 83 percent of regional carriers finding it challenging versus 22 percent of low-cost carriers feeling the pinch.

Anchorage-based Ravn Alaska, which bounced back from COVIDinduced bankruptcy, stumbled again last fall. Ravn cut all flights to Kenai and Aniak in October 2023 due to pilot shortages and laid off 130 employees

in March of this year. Alaska Airlines and its regional subsidiary Horizon Air maintained at least minimal service to those communities.

Recognizing a need after Ravn Alaska canceled flights, Grant Aviation stepped in, announcing fifty new flights between Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula each week, a nearly 30 percent increase in service at the time.

“For the Anchorage-Kenai route we added two new aircraft,” says Grant President and CEO Gabriel Kompkoff. “We also added aircraft to our other hub communities in Bethel, YukonKuskokwim, and Bristol Bay. We’ve grown significantly in the time since the beginning of COVID. We’ve more than doubled our fleet.”

The decision to add flights between Anchorage and Kenai was an easy one, says Grant’s VP of Commercial Operations Dan Knesek. He says Grant added flights to the Kenai Peninsula to meet the needs of the oil and gas industry, visitors, and others. He also says that Grant was grateful to be able to provide more service to Peninsula communities.

“Alaskans fly five times more than the average American. We’re like the local bus service for the people we serve in these communities.”

Dan Knesek VP of Commercial Operations Grant Aviation

Grant Aviation stepped up to carry the load in 2020 during Ravn's bankruptcy, covering the Southwest region while fellow carriers Bering Air, Wright Air Service, and Ryan Air helped ensure communities had air travel options elsewhere.

Grant Aviation

“It kind of started during COVID when the original Ravn went bankrupt and stopped service. We were basically left as the only scheduled air service on that route, and we were 100 percent full on every flight. When the new owners took over Ravn and came back, we still maintained service, but we didn’t have any equipment to add to the route, and there was no other availability beyond Ravn,” Knesek says. Grant’s fleet includes the Beech King Air 200, Cessna Grand Caravan, Piper PA-350 Navajo, and smaller single-engine planes; nothing that can carry more than nine passengers.

Ravn uses the de Havilland Dash 8 airplane, which carries up to fifty passengers—a different kind of flying altogether. Knesek says, “When they decided to pull out of the route, we knew the community needed those seats, so we immediately went out and made the decision to acquire enough capacity to serve those same number of passengers. That was the decision and that’s how we made it. It was all based on the need s of the community.”

Rural Airport Improvements

Knesek cites the lack of aviation infrastructure as one of the biggest challenges faced by regional air carriers in Alaska. While the Anchorage-Kenai route has infrastructure like travelers would see in the Lower 48, the rest of Alaska’s routes urgently need improved weather reporting, Knesek says, as well as air traffic control availability and radar coverage.

“Without that, we cannot fly under the instrument flight rules, which is the safest way of flying.” Knesek says.

Kompkoff adds that, while all of Grant’s aircraft are equipped with updated Garmin satellite navigation systems so they can fly using instrument flight rules, service is not always available in the areas in which the company flies.

Knesek says Grant is continuing its partnership at the federal and state level to improve infrastructure, for the benefit of all air carriers. “This is an ongoing challenge, and there’s not a week that goes by that we are not doing something along those lines,” he says. “And we have to continue that,

as well as staying ahead of advancing technology on the aircraft side and the different fuels and new technologies that are coming out. We’re of the size that we need to make sure we stay ahead of all that.”

Bus Service of the Sky

Both Knesek and Kompkoff credit Grant’s commitment to the communities it serves as a key reason for its success. “We’re members of the community; how do we prove that on a daily basis?” asks Knesek. “We are prepared to get emergency supplies to villages as soon as the weather clears. We were there before anyone else. We are members of the communities and we support those communities.”

Knesek says the company has a ground school, so he speaks with new pilots every month to teach them that they have to become members of the community.

“We’re not trying to oversell what we do. We just understand the gravity of the service we provide,” he says. “Most of these communities don’t have road service. Their groceries, medicines,

“Living up here in Alaska, there’s a sense that neighbors have got to rely on each other, and in the small aviation universe we’re all neighbors trying to learn from and rely on each other.”

Gabriel Kompkoff President and CEO Grant Aviation

Started in 1971 as Delta Air Services in Emmonak, Grant Aviation's routes now extend as far as the Gulf Coast village of Perryville and the Aleutian Island village of Atka.

Christmas presents, all of these things are arriving on our aircraft. We’re taking elders to their doctors’ visits in Bethel. Those critical services make us this integrated member of the community, and it’s really amazing to see when our community members get to know the pilots. They call them out by their first names. They joke with them. Alaskans fly five times more than the average American. We’re like the local bus service for the people we serve in these communities.”

Another important reason for the company’s success is its continued commitment to improving its operations. Kompkoff notes that Grant

In 2022, Grant Aviation absorbed Tanana Air Service and Shannon's Air Taxi. Former president and CEO Rob Kelley led the expansion of Bristol Bay services; earlier this spring, Gabriel Kompkoff was named the company's new leader.

Grant Aviation

Grant Aviation

has been around for fifty years, and there’s every reason it should be around for fifty more, so its leaders make decisions for the people who will be leading the company in the future.

Focus on Doing Better

“I would say we don’t spend a significant amount of time focusing on the competition,” Kompkoff says. “Companies only stay around that long if you’re thinking about the people you serve at the forefront rather than just thinking about the competition. It’s a huge privilege to be able to operate in the markets where we are, so we’re constantly thinking of how we can do better with what we’ve got, how to improve safety standards and pilot training.”

Kompkoff and Knesek both mention several things the company is doing to improve its internal technology systems, such as advanced pilot qualification training and a safety management system, which is a new requirement for Grant’s level of operations.

Grant learns from operators in other parts of the country, especially companies that fly the same type of aircraft. Kompkoff says, “They’re operating in different markets, so there’s no reason not to share with them. Living up here in Alaska, there’s a sense that neighbors have got to rely on each other, and in the small aviation universe we’re all neighbors trying to learn from and rely on each other. Air carriers that operate in small areas are a critical service.”

This summer marks the centennial of inter-city air travel in Alaska, inaugurated by aviation pioneer Noel Wien in 1924. Grant and its peer carriers recognize the part they play in the state’s transportation heritage.

“The type of services and everything an air carrier has to do when they operate in rural Alaska and the challenges they face every day— those are the things that challenge us on a daily basis. That’s why we’re here, and anyone here would say the same,” says Knesek.

His boss agrees. Kompkoff says, “A lot of companies are trying to invent their higher purpose of what they provide to the world, and for us it’s right in front of us every day. It’s right there, and we love to be a part of it.”

Academies of Anchorage A learning floodgate, not a funnel

By Sarah Reynolds Westin

Students returning to classes in the Anchorage School District (ASD) are witnessing massive changes this fall. Start times are changing, opening elementary schools at 8 a.m. while high schoolers sleep an extra hour and arrive at 8:45. Middle schools run from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., and this year all 6th graders are attending alongside 7th and 8th.

While families adjust to this shakeup in their routines, a third change holds promise for the business community.

To enhance the quality and quantity of job applicants, ASD is rolling out Academies of Anchorage (AoA), a model for career readiness.

The graduating class of 2028, this year’s 9th graders, enter the program by taking a Career Exploration class. As sophomores next year, they will pick a career track offered at a particular high school and develop those skills. If their neighborhood high school doesn’t teach their preferred track, ASD plans to pay to transport them.

The AoA model builds on ASD’s existing career and technical education (CTE) programs. About half of middle and high school students are involved in CTE, offered in select clusters at certain schools (e.g., construction at Bartlett, East, Service, or West High; transportation at Dimond or Eagle River; et cetera) or comprehensively at King Tech. Alaska Middle College School, colocated at King Tech, gives high school students access to college-level degree or certificate courses.

AoA is meant to extend the CTE programs’ reach and impact.

Break the Cycle

“Its origin story began before my tenure,” says ASD Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt.

Around 2017, ASD was attempting to address declines in student participation and graduation rates. It had tried several approaches, but none gained traction, and the effort stalled.

“The 2018 earthquake put a pause on initiatives,” Bryantt says. And then, “COVID-19 threw a wrench into the mix—but also unlocked a lot of opportunities in the rationale for our pursuit of Academies today.” The Anchorage School Board established ten-year goals for reading, math, and college, career, and life readiness (CCLR).

When Bryantt interviewed to be the ASD superintendent in 2022, school board members asked how he would measure CCLR goals. His answer?

High schools should implement an academic model that correlates with local values and challenges. The school board liked his idea, so when he was hired, he started determining what direction to go.

Bryantt’s entry into the field of education occurred in a low-income Texas school district where he taught math. “One thing struck me,” he says about his first job. “Everyone encouraged students to become

teachers, doctors, engineers— to pursue jobs like those—if they wanted to break the cycle of poverty. However, I saw people achieve income security without college degrees.”

He further observed that collegebound students mostly ended up directly in the workforce.

And not just in Texas. In Alaska, learning engagement and completion— both in secondary and postsecondary classrooms—is dwindling. One in three students who attend ASD high schools leave Alaska by the age of 26. And nearly all employers face hiring shortages and supply-line understaffing.

As the workforce evolves, so must learning institutions.

Thus, Bryantt says, “By focusing on connecting ASD students to the workforce, I realized ASD could elevate career and technical courses, which equalizes the playing field for our graduates.”

Pathways to Success

Whether a student is college or workforce-bound, AoA aims to set them up for success. Bryantt says part of that preparation requires awakening students’ interests and offering career paths.

Career and technical courses can result in certifications and licenses that lead ASD graduates to living-wage jobs immediately after earning high school diplomas. They also enable students to receive dual credit for secondary and college courses.

“By 2030, 72 percent of US jobs will require postsecondary attainments,” says Bryantt. Currently, he notes, only 40 percent of Alaskan high school graduates attend college, and about 25 percent earn a bachelor’s degree. “There’s a lot of work to be done.”

Alaska’s percentages align with national trends. The impacts, however, are amplified because hiring people from Outside poses difficulties.

“Our members are facing significant worker shortages,” says Rebecca Logan, CEO of The Alliance, a nonprofit representing about 500 employers, mainly in the industrial support services sector. “The numbers are so large we can’t wait any longer to find solution s.”

Logan assisted ASD with its CCLR development, along with more than

James Evans | UAA

400 Anchorage-area community members who contributed research, strategies, and insights from May 2022 to May 2024. They helped produce a master plan that outlines trends in and predictions for Alaska’s labor market. It also relies on teacher, parent, and student feedback. Plus, the master plan demonstrates how ASD will use its resources and obtain new ones, including funding and infrastructure, as well as classroom and support staff.

Professional Partners

According to Logan, the AoA master plan has two critical goals. One is to benefit the students themselves: “Academies will make sure ASD students are educated well about, aware of, and trained for excellent jobs in Alaska,” she says. The second goal is to combat the outmigration of young adults and benefit the Alaska economy. “Kids don’t know what they can do here after graduating,” Logan says, and AoA can help retain those educated Alaskans.

When ASD opens high schools this month, it kicks off Freshmen Academies. Upper classes are exempt for now; a version of the AoA master plan amended by the school board on June 4 allows 10th, 11th, and 12th graders to opt out of AoA. Yet to be decided are how to fill the thirty or so AoA teaching vacancies, how to fund the program sustainably, and how to fit the added requirements into limited class time. Problems to be solved later.

“Now our focus is standing Academies up,” says Bryantt.

To accomplish this, ASD has formed many relationships. It collaborated with professional organizations and associations to spread the AoA message. Among them are The Alliance, the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation (AEDC), and the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce. ASD has received funding from the US Department of Education and guidance from Ford Next Generation Learning, part of the Ford Motor Company Fund.

ASD has also strengthened its longstanding partnership with United Way of Anchorage. Together, they hired Misha Chakraborty, a professor of

Rebecca Logan The Alliance

College isn't the only option, but it is an option. UAA Chancellor Sean Parnell spoke at the Anchorage School District's CCLR Community Convening at the Alaska Airlines Center.

education at Alaska Pacific University, as AoA facilitator.

In addition, ASD formalized an agreement with UAA that invites ASD teachers to participate in professional development. They earn graduate credits so that some upperlevel high school courses they teach can satisfy college requirements at the 100 and possibly 200 level. Every academy has at least one qualifying course. Denise Runge, provost and executive vice chancellor of academic affairs at UAA, says these new courses enable ASD high school students to earn short-term certificates so they enter the workforce with skills or build on them with postsecondary instruction.

“When students see a light at the end of the tunnel and have clear pathways to make it through and secure livingwage jobs that fit their interests,” says Wright, “they do better in school and create meaningful lives for themselves.”

Kathleen McArdle, president and CEO of the Anchorage Chamber, agrees. “Academies are designed to transform over time,” she says. “Mechanisms built into them keep them relevant to students and our economy for decades.”

Upcoming Expo

Routes Not Taken

Whether at the expo or in class, business partners can advise students to options and help them consider their interests.

“Academies are here to help students explore,” Chakraborty says, adding, “Nothing’s set in stone.”

Chakraborty cites the example of a student she met in Nashville.

Tennessee Test Case

Runge traveled with ASD staff and other Anchorage community members to cities already using the academies model, including Nashville, Tennessee. Her visit reinforced her theoretical viewpoint and a practical application that she advances at UAA.

“I’ve always thought of education as being K through 20—not 12—which is common among university faculty members,” says Runge. “Acquiring knowledge and receiving training have always been a continuum. People have chosen to treat them in a siloed fashion historically, but learning is a more continuous model.”

Three AEDC staff members went on the trip to Nashville alongside Runge. “They were amazed with the students’ motivation and engagement levels,” says AEDC President and CEO Jenna Wright says. “It’s a reminder we all learn better when we care, are engaged, and have mentors.”

Wright believes AoA will be transformative for the state and local economy and for graduates themselves.

The Anchorage Chamber is looking forward to the Freshmen Academies career expo, which occurs October 4 at the Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center. “I’m really excited about it,” McArdle says. “Students often don’t know what opportunities are available to them; a lot of great jobs fly under the radar.”

“This high schooler told me she knows now she doesn’t want to be in a certain academy again,” she shares. “She tried it, realized it wasn’t for her, and is picking a different one next school year. That was an ah-ha moment for me.”

The career expo showcases a cross-section of career paths. Students peruse exhibits where they interact with workers from many fields, engage in hands-on experiments, connect to industries, and see how professional skills and credentials have transferability.

Says McArdle, “It’s going to surprise their families when they learn about the job requirements and how ASD is helping their children meet them and use them to go further down their career path.”

The career expo introduces students to “career clusters,” a term being used to categorize ASD’s seven academy types, which stem from nine industries. It also equips them with information to try academy pathways for 10th through 12th grades.

Chakraborty is soliciting fifty workplaces to send employees to attend these exhibits. Workplaces choose what clusters they want to be identified with. For example, “Health and science, engineering, and environmental studies will be clustered together at the expo,” she says. She’s also filling eighty-two speaker slots for the Freshmen Academies.

Each person quoted in support of AoA offered career-path anecdotes like hers.

“If a student gets a phlebotomy certificate, they can be employed,” Runge says. She uses this scenario to demonstrate “stacks,” which combine a series of courses, credentials, and experiences to further career paths. Runge explains, “If this student wants to go into UAA’s nursing or medical laboratory science programs, they already have skills relevant to those career fields.”

Wright highlights another aspect. “Perhaps a student knows they want to be in data and IT management. But do they want that job at a natural resource development company, with a financial lender, or in the service industry?” asks Wright rhetorically. “Academies give them variables to weigh.”

The most persuasive story came from an Alaskan graduate named Scott Habberstad.

“I’m a product of the ‘80s,” he says, calling it a blessed time. High school students were required to take a seminar on welding, woodshop, auto mechanics, seine fishing, and aviation, among other things.

“I got hooked on aviation,” says Habberstad. “When I graduated, I’d passed my private pilot written exam.” He started working for the company that introduced him to the field. “I was loading, fueling, and flying for them. I thought, ‘Maybe I should try bigger planes?’”

Habberstad earned his college degree and started flying commercially. “I realized if I had to sit in the cockpit forever, I’d go insane,” he recalls with

Jenna Wright AEDC

Denise Runge UAA

Kathleen McArdle Anchorage Chamber

a laugh. “I switched to management track.”

Habberstad is now the managing director of the Alaska market for Alaska Airlines, a top executive in the carrier’s namesake state. “That course got me where I am today,” he says.

Habberstad also represents Alaska Airlines on ASD’s AoA steering committee.

“Academies unite industry and education to highlight opportunities and careers here at home,” he says. “They create robust pathways for our youth to learn about, consider, and pursue possible professions, including jobs in the trades and those requiring postsecondary education.”

United Effort

Chakraborty is asking employers, like Alaska Airlines, to indicate their willingness to support AoA. They can complete a questionnaire to be contacted about what their participation could entail. The questionnaire is found online at both the ASD website and the site of United Way of Anchorage.

Eric Utraq Billingsley, president and CEO of United Way of Anchorage, says, “Supporting Academies aligns well with our efforts to advance education and strengthen financial stability in Anchorage.”

United Way has long supported ASD’s goal of improving graduation rates. “Our engagement has helped solve challenges before, so people trust us,” Billingsley says. “Academies are another step toward fulfilling our vision for our community.”

With ASD showing students the practical impact of their school careers, AoA supporters believe graduation rates will improve and labor shortages will be filled.

“Standardizing students’ experiences and ensuring expectations and opportunities extend to everyone gives them all a leg up,” says Bryantt. “Academies [of Anchorage] nurtures students. They’ll find their passions and succeed—which helps them and our community.”

“Perhaps a student knows they want to be in data and IT management. But do they want that job at a natural resource development company, with a financial lender, or in the service industry?... Academies give them variables to weigh.”

Jenna Wright, President and CEO, Anchorage Economic Dev elopment Corporation

Scott Habberstad Alaska Airlines

Sold on Retail Customer-facing brands of Alaska Native corporations

By Jamey Bradbury

As a result of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) of 1971, the richest opportunities for Alaska Native corporations have typically come in the form of government contracting, construction, resource development, and other land-based industries. And those opportunities have been rich: regional and village corporations—such as Bering Straits Native Corporation (BSNC), Bristol Bay Native Corporation (BBNC), and Afognak Native Corporation—cumulatively account for almost 17 percent of Alaska’s annual gross domestic product, according to the ANCSA Regional Association’s 2017 Economic Report.

While major revenues have flowed from land-based opportunities both in Alaska and the Lower 48, some ANCSA corporations have invested in brands that everyday customers might recognize. With retail businesses like Alaska Industrial Hardware (AIH) and Brown Jug liquor, parent companies BSNC and Afognak have diversified their investments while also creating stronger ties to their communities.

The Benefits of Retail

Venturing into a new industry comes with its own risks. Especially in Alaska, supply chain issues and staffing availability can pose challenges to retail ventures. But for ANCSA corporations that choose to acquire or open retail stores, the benefits often outweigh the risks.

When BSNC acquired Alaska Industrial Hardware in 2015, it did so after a year-long evaluation of the opportunities and benefits of the acquisition. “BSNC determined Alaska Industrial Hardware was a solid, Alaskan-owned company that fit well with [our] growing portfolio of companies,” says Ana Grayson, BSNC associate communications director.

Prior to that acquisition, BSNC had launched a car rental service in Nome. Together with the Aurora Executive Inn and Suites, Stampede Vehicle Rentals served to diversify

BSNC’s portfolio and now serves as Nome’s central car rental hub. The acquisition of AIH further enhanced the corporation’s financial stability, providing steady and predictable income and reducing the risks associated with market fluctuations in any one industry.

Similarly, Afognak’s decision in 2020 to purchase Brown Jug Liquor from Alcanna was made in part to increase the corporation’s profits and reduce its reliance on government and other contracts. At the time, representatives from the corporation told KTUU that adding Brown Jug’s twenty-one retail stores and warehouse to its holdings would increase its commercial operations income from 2 percent to 12 percent.

“Brown Jug is a financially low-risk investment because the business is highly resistant to recession,” Afognak’s then-Executive Vice President Alisha Drabek told Tribal Business News in 2020. “Moving beyond our heavy reliance on the federal contracting marketplace to diversify into the commercial sector has been an Afognak

Native Corporation Board strategic goal that we’re proud to realize.”

Community Connections

While revenue is always at the forefront of the decision to invest in retail operations, some corporations see their customer-facing brands as opportunities to create deeper ties to their communities and regions.

In October 2019, when BBNC acquired controlling interests in a seafood company and a fishery, then merged them to create Bristol Wave Seafoods, one of the corporation’s goals was to return control and earnings of the Bering Sea freezer longline cod fishery to BBNC shareholders. Today, the seafood company provides high quality, sustainably harvested Alaska seafood to customers, while also reviving BBNC’s connection to the seafood industry, rooting the company more deeply in the culture and landscape of its region.

For BSNC, acquiring Alaska Industrial Hardware has been a way to stay at the forefront of the minds of its customers.

“A physical retail presence boosts brand visibility and community

engagement, allowing direct customer connections,” says BSNC President Cindy Massie. “Retail and customerfacing businesses help to remind our customers about BSNC and our mission to provide to our shareholders. We as a corporation do what we can to bring the health and well-being of our people and communities into a bright future.”

Reversing the Revenue Stream

When it was enacted, ANCSA completely transformed the Alaska economy. Prior to the act, the large oil and construction companies operating in Alaska were mostly headquartered out of state; revenue they generated flowed out of Alaska and benefitted economies in the Lower 48.

ANCSA flipped that paradigm. State labor economist Neil Fried called it a “reverse colonial model” in a 2022 Indian Country Today article; ANCSA corporations established many of their subsidiaries in the Lower 48, and profits from those companies funneled back to Alaska. The model established significant revenues for

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the corporations, which are distributed to its Alaska Native shareholders through dividend payments.

Retail enterprises have the potential to generate flows of revenue back into Alaska too. The most extreme example of this model demonstrated by an ANCSA corporation-owned retailer might be Clear Alaskan Glacial water. Bottled by Alaska Glacier Products in Chugiak, the company is owned by Minto Development Corporation (a subsidiary of the Interior village’s Seth De Ya Ah Corporation) in addition to several other Native corporation investors. Clear Alaskan Glacial entered a partnership in 2013 with CHIC of Shanghai to sell its products throughout China. This development built on Clear Alaskan Glacial’s existing strong sales in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Alaskans visiting the Far East might be surprised to see thirsty

locals quaffing bottles bearing the label of their home state, thanks to Minto’s marketing hustle.

BBNC, meanwhile, delivers fish sustainably harvested from the Bering Sea to customers throughout the world. Fish are processed and flash frozen at sea, ensuring a high-quality product; the revenues from sales of the product are distributed to employees through “crew shares,” portions of the total profit decided upon by each vessel’s captain.

Additional Advantages

Dividends aren’t the only perk that shareholders enjoy through regional and village corporations. The missions of each ANCSA corporation include directives to improve the quality of life of shareholders through economic development. This is done in part through providing

employment opportunities, as well as relieving economic hardship, especially for shareholders who live in rural communities.

“In addition to shareholder employment opportunities and returns to help grow shareholder dividends, each of [our] three retail businesses provide exceptional discounts to BSNC shareholders,” Grayson says. “In Nome, the Aurora Inn offers a shareholder discount above and beyond any other discount provided by other hotels. These discounts can really make a difference, especially for people coming from the surrounding communities in the Bering Strait region, where oftentimes travel is significantly higher in cost.”

Meanwhile, BSNC shareholders also enjoy lower prices at BSNC car rental; however, shareholder discounts at AIH vary by item.

BSNC’s companies also create jobs. The corporation’s shareholders and their descendants currently make up 12 percent of AIH’s 200 Alaskan employees, “reflecting our commitment to creating employment opportunities for our commu nity,” says Grayson.

With twenty-four stores throughout Alaska, Afognak-owned Brown Jug employs more than 200 Alaskans; like many retailers owned by ANCSA corporations, Brown Jug emphasizes shareholder hire on its career opportunities website, encourages Afognak shareholders to apply, and links them to career development resources at their corporation. Other ANCSA corporations highlight a preference for shareholder hire at their subsidiaries, including their retailers.

Though retail operations create exciting new possibilities for ANCSA corporations, operating retailers is not without its challenges, says AIH President and CEO Terry Shurtleff. But every challenge, he emphasizes, can be viewed as a possibility, too.

Staffing, supply chain issues, and competition pressures, Shurtleff says, “are also the same challenges our competitors have. We reframe our challenges as opportunities to distinguish ourselves from our competitors and provide the superior customer experience Alaskans expect.”

Bering Straits Native Corporation

Among Bering Straits Native Corporation’s customer-facing enterprises is the Aurora Executive Inn and Suites, a hotel in Nome which offers discount rates to shareholders in addition to employment opportunities for locals.

Bering Straits Native Corporation

• IN TERIOR AND EXTERIOR PAINTS, STAINS, PRIMERS AND MORE!

• CUSTOM PAINT MIXING AND TINTING

• F ULL LINE OF PROFESSIONAL PAINT ACCESSORIES

Inclusion for Fairer Banking

Removing obstacles to access financial services

By Tracy Barbour

Re cent updates in the financial services sector address the important issue of inclusion. These adjustments aim to reduce discrimination, promote racial equity, and enhance access to banking services.

Financial inclusion broadly refers to individuals and businesses having access to useful and affordable financial products and services in a responsible and sustainable way. Also called inclusive finance, financial inclusion may focus on geographic regions, consumers of a specific gender, individuals of specific age, or other marginalized groups. It involves removing obstacles that prevent people from participating in the financial sector and improving their economic wellbeing. This often involves transparent and consumer-friendly offerings to reach unbanked and underbanked individuals, who typically face higher fees and limited savings opportunities.

In 2021, an estimated 4.5 percent of US households (5.9 million) were unbanked, which means no one in the household had a checking or savings account, according to the 2021 FDIC National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households, released in October 2022. An estimated 14.1 percent of US households (18.7 million) were

underbanked—meaning someone in the household had a bank account but also used nonbank products or services like money orders, check cashing, international remittances, rent-to-own services, or shortterm cash advances like payday loans, auto title loans, tax refund anticipation, or pawn shops.

Bank regulators have long been scrutinizing financial institutions’ lending practices, but recent updates address a wider spectrum of services. Recent regulatory developments underscore their commitment to promoting fair, responsible banking practices and financial inclusion for all.

Community Reinvestment

Financial inclusion is largely regulated at the federal level by the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) of 1977. The CRA encourages federally insured institutions to provide services, lend, and invest in the communities where they do business, including low- and moderate-income (LMI) neighborhoods, consistent with safe and sound operations.

Last October, federal banking agencies revised their regulation implementing the CRA, the first significant change in about twenty-five years. The final rule— issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve Board, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation—was designed to strengthen and modernize CRA requirements. The rule modifications support minority depository institutions and community development financial institutions (CDFIs), as well as in Native land areas, persistent poverty regions, and other high-need areas. The final rule also emphasizes smaller loans and investments that respond to the needs of LMI communities.

In Alaska, implementing CRA requirements is a top priority at First National Bank Alaska, which has a long history of addressing the community’s credit needs, according to Natasha Pope, the bank’s fair lending and quality assurance manager and CRA officer. “Our consistent and effective banking decisions are not a response to the moment but a cornerstone of who we are,” she says. “Supporting Alaskans

and their financial needs has been the center of the bank’s success and what we strive to do each day.”

First National’s most recent CRA performance evaluation by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in January reflected the highest possible rating, “Outstanding,” in three performance tests: lending, investment, and services, according to Pope. In fact, it was First National's eighth consecutive “Outstanding” rating. “Community development is more than one specific program at First National. It’s a philosophy we value, engrained in the beliefs and ideals of the bank and its employees, and it demonstrates the impact and commitment to the communities we serve,” Pope says.

In addition, a major update happened last year with the CDFI Fund, which expands economic opportunity for underserved people and communities through a national network of lenders, investors, and financial service providers. The CDFI Fund significantly revised the application and renewal process for CDFI certification, including new requirements relating to

“responsible financing standards” and defining and serving a “target market.”

More Services to More People

Other improvements for financial inclusion encompass expanded offerings, enhanced access through technology, compliance with the American Disabilities Act (ADA), following processes to minimize bias, and addressing financial literacy.

At Wells Fargo, which has nearly forty locations in Alaska, an important area of focus is connecting more people to banking services through its Banking Inclusion Initiative. Launched in May 2021, the initiative is Wells Fargo’s tenyear commitment to accelerate the access of unbanked communities to affordable mainstream accounts as well as easier access to low-cost banking and financial education. “We’re focusing on Black and African American, Hispanic, and Native American/Alaska Native families, who account for more than half of America’s 5.9 million-plus unbanked households,” explains Michael Martino, head of Wells Fargo’s Consumer, Small, and Business Banking Diverse Customer Segments and Banking Inclusion Initiative. “We’re also assisting those who are underbanked and underserved, who may have a bank account yet still use high-cost, non-bank services.”

Martino adds, “The Banking Inclusion Initiative is more than just a project; it’s a decade-long pledge to bridge the financial gap and offer everyone the opportunity for economic stability and growth.”

Northrim Bank, with almost twenty branches in Alaska, is constantly looking for ways to offer its services to more people, including underserved communities, according to COO Amber Zins. In the past two years, Northrim opened three new branches in rural areas, including Kodiak, Nome, and Homer. In addition, Northrim’s online services also help the bank reach customers in rural areas.

While First National understands the importance of traditional brick-andmortar branches for many customers, Pope says, it also recognizes the growing need for secure and reliable digital tools. “The bank’s online and mobile banking services are ADAaccessible and compliant with state and federal banking laws, regulations, and rules,” she says.

This summer sees the launch of a complete redesign of FNBAlaska.com to provide intuitive access to financial services and resources.

The bank’s guidelines have mitigation triggers to lend to lower credit tiers while still offsetting its risk, which helps reach marginalized groups. “When you make a decision off the credit score alone, it adds unconscious bias to the process,” she says.

“We are also focused on rolling out a new online and mobile banking platform designed to offer our personal and business banking customers a more modern, seamless, and accessible digital experience,” Pope says.

Wells Fargo is also leveraging technology with services like Fargo and LifeSync in its mobile app. Its Fargo virtual assistant enables users to manage finances and monitor credit. LifeSync is a personalized digital approach that aligns customers’ goals with their money.

Likewise, Northrim is improving financial inclusion with digital technologies. Northrim allows customers to open accounts online, apply for loans online, and provides electronic signing. Zins says, “Personal Finance is a user-friendly budgeting tool that the bank offers at no charge to consumers. And businesses can use remote deposit capture to scan check deposits from their office.”

Minimizing Bias in Lending

A conscious strategy of inclusion is meant to reverse a history of unfair banking, with effects that linger today. Thus, banks are more intentional about following processes to minimize bias and discrimination in lending.

Wells Fargo utilizes training and product monitoring among its bias-reduction strategies. It partnered with the National Urban League to replicate an Appraiser Trainee Program externally through the establishment of the Urban Appraisers Initiative. “The bank provided the Urban League, which is responsible for the initiative’s administration, with a five-year, $5 million grant to help promote diversity within the appraisal industry to help combat appraisal bias,” Martino says.

Wells Fargo also has a Diverse Customer Segments-Home Lending team to help evaluate potential product changes and understand their impact on CRA and fair lending requirements. Martino explains, “The Diverse Customer Segments-Home Lending team also participates in Wells Fargo’s annual stakeholder meeting, where the bank discusses its home-lending activity and HMDA [Home Mortgage Disclosure Act] performance and solicits feedback on how it can improve to serve historically underserved communities.”

First National recognizes its responsibility to provide credit services to all communities and regions it serves, Pope says. As such, the bank’s board of directors and leadership team regularly review lending policies and procedures that support anti-discrimination, which are updated and communicated to employees. First National also reviews its marketing and advertising materials to ensure inclusivity.

First National—which has locations in nineteen communities—also enhanced its presence at several locations. It opened a loan production office in Ketchikan and relocated its Healy branch to a more convenient location along the Parks Highway.

One method Northrim employs is that underwriters for consumer loans have no contact with the customer so that they stay completely objective when reviewing the loan, according to Zins. Northrim also uses the credit score as a pricing tool, not a decision tool.

As another measure to avoid bias, the compensation structure for First National’s lending team is based on a salary, not tied to loan volume or any specific product or service. “The bank is committed to serving the genuine financial needs of its communities and customers while complying with all laws and regulations to ensure that no illegal discriminatory lending practices are in any way a part of this institution’s business practices,” Pope says.

Natasha Pope First National Bank Alaska

Michael Martino Wells Fargo

“Our culture of inclusivity and honesty is something we work hard to ensure is ingrained in every employee, and our commitment to that is clear in every interaction and transaction.”

Amber Zins COO, Northrim Bank

Offerings for Marginalized Groups

Alaska banks are also being more intentional about offering products designed for marginalized groups. Wells Fargo, for instance, has a Clear Access Banking account that is certified as meeting Cities for Financial Empowerment standards for safe and affordable bank accounts. Clear Access Banking has no overdraft fees and no monthly fees for primary account owners ages 13 to 24, helping people enter or re-enter the mainstream financial system.

Wells Fargo also offers a low-cost, small-dollar Flex Loan that gives digital account holders immediate liquidity for a low, flat fee. Furthermore, “Many of our customers who are immigrants to the United States also appreciate Wells Fargo’s ExpressSend remittance service,” Martino says. “This service provides remittance capabilities to Mexico and twelve additional countries in Central America, the Caribbean, South America, and Asia.”

At First National, a wide variety of specialized mortgage and commercial lending programs enable lending to low- and moderate-income individuals and minorities. For example, a Title

VI loan helped a rural tribal council bring much-needed housing to its village. Additionally, Pope highlights responsiveness to rural Alaska’s credit needs through its continued use of the Title VI loan program for affordable housing and community development support.

Northrim Bank president and CEO Mike Huston works closely with organizations that focus on increasing access to low-income housing throughout Alaska. “These programs allow organizations to reduce tax liabilities while supporting community development and fulfilling regulatory obligations,” Zins says.

Recently, Northrim received certification for its Easy Banking product, which is designed to make banking more accessible and affordable for customers. There is no minimum balance, overdraft fee, or monthly bill pay fee for customers using this new account. The certification comes from the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund as meeting national standards for safe and affordable transaction accounts.

on-one financial coaching available to unbanked and underserved communities through HOPE Inside in collaboration with Operation HOPE. Wells Fargo has more than twenty coaching centers nationwide—with one soon to open in Alaska. “As part of our Banking Inclusion Initiative, we will be launching a HOPE Inside center in Anchorage, which will provide free financial coaching to the community by the end of 2024,” Martino says.

Commitment to Fairer Banking

In addition, Northrim’s new Bank On account is geared toward providing banking services to the underserved. “Our pledge of CD/ savings loan can be used as a credit builder,” Zins says. “Customers are able to use their own CDs or savings account to secure a loan.”

Promoting Financial Literacy

Financial education, so customers are better equipped to make informed decisions, is another tool to promote inclusion. Northrim, for instance, encourages employees to teach financial literacy all around the state at schools, prisons, shelters, and through Junior Achievement of Alaska.

First National also has a longstanding commitment to Junior Achievement of Alaska, contributing annual financial and in-kind assistance as well as volunteering staff hours to help provide financial literacy in K-12 classrooms statewide.

Wells Fargo offers a free Hands on Banking education program about responsible money management for all ages. It also has free one-

Financial institutions in Alaska expressed an ongoing commitment to satisfying regulatory and consumer expectations for fair and inclusive services. Northrim works hard every day to ensure it is doing everything it can to support the customers and communities it serves, according to Zins. “Our culture of inclusivity and honesty is something we work hard to ensure is ingrained in every employee, and our commitment to that is clear in every interaction and transaction,” she says. “We continue to strive every day to be Alaska’s most trusted financial institution and we understand that trust is earned with every interaction we have.”

Martino says Wells Fargo is dedicated to enhancing the experience of all its customers who interact with the bank in a variety of ways, including through its retail branches, customer service centers, and online and mobile channels. “My Diverse Customer Segments team seeks to develop and deliver equitable and inclusive solutions that support its various customers, including diverse customers across the financial spectrum (i.e., from unbanked and LMI to affluent) as well as minority-owned businesses,” he says.

Pope emphasizes that First National has been providing fair and responsible community banking for more than a century, and that commitment will continue. She says, “We celebrate the diversity of our team and Alaska, believing that our differences enrich our lives and experiences, making our community uniquely Alaskan and better for everyone today and tomorrow.”

Amber Zins Northrim Bank

CSG, Inc.

Capitalizing on fiber internet to provide a first line of legal defense for Interior Alaska and beyond

When clients need legal expertise, CSG, Inc. is poised to help. And for CSG Managing Shareholder Steven Hansen, one of the great things about practicing law in Fairbanks is the breadth of work. In addition to appearing at state and federal courts, the firm has assisted clients in front of local tribal courts—which has been “educative and rewarding.” Hansen elaborates, “I think a lot of the work CSG does is about building a stronger community, whether drafting contracts that help businesses work together better or solving problems involving disputed property.”

CSG’s attorneys, which have 150-plus years of combined legal experience, are adept at a wide range of specialties. This enables them to navigate the complexities of commercial transactions, corporate law, employment and environmental regulations, estate planning, family law, intellectual property rights, personal injury cases, real estate, tax law, trusts, wills, and probate matters. Whether serving individuals in the Bush or Fortune 500 companies in the Lower 48, CSG provides high-quality, tailored services to help clients protect their interests.

However, CSG could not operate successfully without the landline telephone and high-speed internet services of GCI, Alaska’s largest telecom. “Most of the work law firms perform outside of court is done electronically, such as accessing servers, file management, and emailing clients,” Hansen explains. “The lifeblood of a law firm is technology. We would not be able to do our work without the stability of GCI’s services.”

By Tracy Barbour

Having access to GCI’s solutions— which CSG has relied on for more than two decades—has been essential for the firm to retain several employees who had to relocate from the state and now work remotely across multiple time zones. “It has allowed us to keep employees we are happy with and continue that relationship,” Hansen says.

Additionally, CSG appreciates the dependability of GCI’s fiber internet service, along with its responsiveness for addressing any technical or other issues that may occasionally arise. Hansen says, “GCI has outstanding customer service.”

Headquartered in Alaska, GCI provides data, mobile, video, voice, and managed services to consumer, business, government, and carrier customers throughout Alaska, serving more than 200 communities. The company has invested more than $4 billion in its Alaska network and facilities over the past forty years and recently launched true standards-based 5G NR service in Anchorage. GCI is a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Broadband Corporation. To learn more about GCI and its services, visit www.gci.com.

Steven Hansen, Managing Shareholder at CSG, Inc., 714 4th Ave. #200, Fairbanks, AK 99701.

Photo Credit: Sarah Lewis Photography

Fighting Crime by Design

How the built environment shapes behavior

Ag gravated assault is one of the most common types of crime committed in Alaska. About 4,000 times each year, someone with a deadly weapon is harming someone else, somewhere in the Great Land. That’s an assault roughly every two hours, every day of the year.

According to U.S. News & World Report , Alaska is one of the most dangerous states in the country, with the highest combined violent crime and property crime rates of any state. Alaska's overall crime rate was 32.14 per 1,000 people in 2022; its rate of violent crimes was 758.9 per 100,000 while the US rate is 380.7, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s crime data explorer.

Efforts to reduce crime range from more forceful policing and harsher sentencing to forming neighborhood watches and creating community gardens. Those latter examples align with the broader concept of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), which looks at how to make spaces—including homes and neighborhoods—more of a deterrent to criminal activity.

“If you want to build social cohesion, it’s important to recognize the limits of the human brain and its capacity to recognize people and have some sort of relationship with them… If a building structure has more than 100 people coming and going, it’s very difficult to exert social control over that space.”

Sharon Chamard, Professor, UAA Justice Center

The Four Pillars of CPTED

Access control ensures that people using a space have a right to be there while also marking who does not belong. Design for surveillance helps occupants easily view all areas within their space, as crime is less likely to happen when someone is watching. Territoriality taps into feelings of pride or ownership of a space, which leads people to feel more inclined to protect it. And when a building or area is properly maintained, it is less likely

to attract crime, as it is obvious that someone is caring for the space.

Furthermore, by creating a space where neighbors know their neighbors—even if just by sight—it creates a sense of social cohesion that can help lower crime rates.

“If you want to build social cohesion, it’s important to recognize the limits of the human brain and its capacity to recognize people and have some sort of relationship with them,” explains Sharon Chamard, a criminologist at

the UAA Justice Center. “The brain tops out at about 100 people. If a building structure has more than 100 people coming and going, it’s very difficult to exert social control over that space.”

A study in the ‘70s by architect Oscar Newman looked at two adjacent public housing projects that were similar demographically in terms of variables associated with crime. The higher crime area had large high-rises with a single point of entry. The area with less crime had shorter buildings with fewer

ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES

NEPA Compliance Audits & Permitting • Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plans (SWPPP)

Wetlands Delineation & Mapping • Environmental Site Assessments

Environmental Impact Statements • Permitting & Regulatory Compliance

Wetlands Jurisdictional Determination Report

Wastewater Treatment System Design & Permitting

Drinking & Storm Water System Design & Permitting

Spill Prevention, Response & Site Remediation

Spill Prevention Control & Countermeasure Plans (SPCC)

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As-built Plot Plans • Boundary Surveys • Road Alignments

Grading Design • Construction Surveying • Earthwork Quantities/Cross Sections

Cadastral Remote Parcel Surveying • Landscaping & Drainage Design

Water Sample Testing & Analylis • Septic System Design & Testing

Percolation & Sample Analysis • Commercial Site Development

Subdivision Design & Platting • Right of Way/Easements

apartments on each floor and fewer families per entrance.

“Newman determined that it was the design of the building that made the difference in crime levels,” says Chamard. “Essentially, there were too many apartments and people in the first building, to the point that no one knew who belonged and who didn’t. A person’s apartment was just one door in a long row of other doors, so they felt no sense of control of the space outside their apartment door. “

How Do You ‘Design Out’ Crime?

Chamard studies the spatial distribution of crime and conflict over use of public space. She has plenty of ideas for how architects and builders can create safer spaces and structures.

A building complex with multiple units, for example, should be designed in relation to the street. Rooms with the most human activity—such as the kitchen or living room—should have windows facing the street so that residents can keep an eye on what’s happening. Chamard notes that when bedrooms are in the front, windows are usually covered with curtains, so nobody is watching the street.

As an example of CPTED being ignored, Chamard points to homes in

the Fairview area of Anchorage. “The predominant multi-family structures are fourplexes built in the ‘80s,” she explains. “They were built in cookiecutter fashion, which is efficient and is done for cost reasons, and they did comply with building codes at the time.”

The design had trade-offs from a crime prevention standpoint. “The building windows face toward adjacent buildings and not to the back or front of the building,” she observes. “In some areas, you can walk down the street full of fourplexes and sixplexes, and it’s like going through a tunnel; there are no windows looking out to the front.”

While this does provide good surveillance over the sides of buildings, it is not optimal from a design perspective, as these buildings limit residents’ ability to see strangers in the neighborhood.

While increased lighting would seem like an obvious choice to deter crime, early studies surprisingly showed that it often did the opposite. “Where there is more lighting, it’s possible that people feel safer, so they leave their homes at night,” says Chamard. “This increases a person’s risk of being a victim and also leaves their home exposed to break-ins.”

She notes that lighting is contextsensitive; not only the type, color, strength, brightness, and direction of

it, but where it is used. For example, “A warehouse owner can install a bunch of strong lights around the back of the warehouse and the loading dock, but these lights only help if there are people around to see something going on and take action,” Chamard explains. “If a warehouse backs onto a wooded area where no humans live, all you’re doing is making it easier for people to break in.”

Design choices can even affect maintenance during the life of the structure. Materials that require less upkeep help the property look better and less attractive to criminals. Avoiding long, blank walls, which attract graffiti, can also help to keep properties more pristine.

Creating Social Cohesion

Hardening targets is just one way of deterring crime. Design can also subtly influence the behavior of a space’s inhabitants. Feelings of connectedness, trust, and belonging among neighbors are what Chamard refers to as social cohesion. Enhancing social cohesion through physical and social design can improve guardianship—when people recognize something unusual is going on and choose to intervene.

“Knowing who your neighbors are is important; I’ve lived in the same house

Townhouses under construction overlooking Ship Creek in Downtown Anchorage have street-facing windows, which encourages residents to be aware of who goes through the neighborhood.

Patricia Morales | Alaska Business

for twenty years, and I recognize my neighbors, even though I don’t know their names or how to contact them,” she says. “This is the whole idea behind Neighborhood Watch—to develop that communications network.”

While Neighborhood Watch programs tend to work well in stable communities with longterm homeowners, they can be more difficult to establish in socially disorganized neighborhoods with a lot of residential turnover.

“Many neighborhoods have residential instability, where people don’t live there long enough to form relationships with other people,” Chamard explains. “These areas often have a lot of renter-occupied properties, and renters tend to be less invested in an area financially, compared to property owners.”

Mechanisms that promote social cohesion include block parties, community gardens, and banding together to help neighbors in need. Emergency preparedness programs can also help, especially in higher-crime areas.

“People may not want to be identified as doing something about crime, as it makes them a target for the criminal element,” says Chamard. “But if you’re meeting neighbors and working with them on projects related to emergency preparedness, it still achieves the goal of working with other people and getting to know them.”

Public vs. Private Spaces

While CPTED for private spaces can be a challenge, protecting public spaces is even more difficult. According to Newman’s study, one way to reduce crime is to convert public space to private space as much as possible.

For example, while the Anchorage 5th Avenue Mall feels integrated with the public space on the street, the fact that it is owned by Simon Property Group, a private entity, means that the building interior can more easily be controlled.

“People treat it as public space, wandering around it without buying anything or using it as a place to walk in winter, but it is a privately owned space, so mall owners or their representatives have the right to kick people out for

“You don’t necessarily need to have programs focused on crime prevention to have crime prevention… It’s bringing people together in collective activities that improve an area. That’s the ticket.”

Sharon Chamard Professor, UAA Justice Center

undesirable behaviors,” says Chamard.

When architects design a mall, considerations include controlling who goes where: for example, to cut down on young people wandering around, stores that cater to that demographic can be placed close to the entrance. Stores that cater to an older clientele can be deeper in the mall.

“It’s all about controlling the flow of people through the mall,” says Chamard. The professor adds that groups of young people might not be committing crimes, but to other shoppers they can be disorderly or appear threatening.

Outdoor public spaces can be privatized too. When large homeless encampments were established at the former site of the Alaska Native Medical Center near downtown Anchorage, for example, the city transferred the land to developers, allowing the new owners to put up a fence and remove people for trespassing.

“It’s much like if someone pitched a tent in my backyard; I could tell them to get out and call the police,” says Chamard. “But if they pitch a tent in a park by my house, I don’t have the authority to remove them.”

In commercial areas, municipalities allow businesses with streetfacing storefronts to set up cafes, displays, or vending areas on the sidewalks. In addition to being lively attractions for walk-in customers, sidewalk activity exerts more formal ownership over those areas.

“When you give business owners control over that space, they will work

much harder to keep disorderly activity and crime out of it,” says Chamard.

Privatizing public space is effective, Chamard notes, but it must be balanced against the civil rights of everyone. “The problem is that then you have a public sidewalk taken over by a private entity. Is that good in the overall context of things?” asks Chamard. “From a crime prevention standpoint, it is, but it also limits the ability for others to use that public space.”

Curbing Crime

Street and traffic patterns can also relate to crime. A heavily trafficked street tends to have more crime than a less populated one, as people in busier areas aren’t as familiar with their neighbors.

“One of the safest places to live is on a cul-de-sac because residents recognize each other and their vehicles,” says Chamard. “People keep a close eye on someone who seems out of place. On a busy street, there are so many people coming and going that people who live there don’t have the capacity to know who belongs and who doesn’t.”

However, Chamard has concerns about permeability in designing walkable cities. That is, while connecting streets creates more access, that’s not a positive development from a crime prevention standpoint.

“If you look at studies on the relationship between burglary and

street patterns, a strong predictor of burglary risk is how many other streets a given street connects to,” says Chamard. “A home on a street that leads to a four-way intersection has a higher burglary risk than if only one or two other roads connect to that street.”

Again, the Fairview neighborhood serves as an example. When residents felt the grid of side streets was bringing too much fast-moving traffic, the city responded by converting some four-way intersections into chicanes. The result over the last twenty years has been an improved sense of safety.

Protection Without Programs

While CPTED can have a major impact on the amount of crime in an area, it’s the human element that matters most.

“You don’t necessarily need to have programs focused on crime prevention to have crime prevention,” says Chamard. “It’s bringing people together in collective activities that improve an area. That’s the ticket.”

Philosophers can debate whether a tendency toward crime is built into human nature, but whether crime occurs, and where, is certainly built into the designed environment.

“It’s hard to keep a really motivated criminal out, but if they think that they’ll be seen or that it’s too much of a pain to commit a crime in an area, they’ll find another target,” Chamard adds. “There are many other targets around, so when they perceive increased effort, they’ll typically move on.”

The public space on the street outside the Anchorage 5th Avenue Mall is much harder to control, in a crime prevention sense, than the private property inside the shopping center.

Carter Damaska | Alaska Business

Alaska Business Presents

LEE BAXTER

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt

Anchorage

PHILIP BLUMSTEIN

Landye

Bennett Blumstein

Anchorage

ANNA CHAPMAN CRARY

Landye

Bennett Blumstein

Anchorage

We lcome to the second annual Alaska Business Legal Elite! This list features Alaska’s most talented lawyers, as nominated by their peers. Earlier this year, we invited licensed Alaskan lawyers to nominate fellow professionals whom they think excel in providing legal services. Once the online survey was complete, a third-party data collection specialist verified that the nominated individuals have a current law license. The final list of Legal Elite represents the most notable practicing lawyers in the state, selected by those who are intimately knowledgeable about what it takes to excel in the field.

Lawyers named among the Legal Elite occupy a range of roles, from working at government agencies or traditional law firms to corporate counsel or “hang a shingle” small practices. This list is not a directory of attorneys for hire; many would be happy to provide legal services to any client, but some already have briefcases full with other business. What this list represents is the cream of the legal industry crop in Alaska.

KEVIN M. CUDDY

Stoel Rives

Anchorage

JON M. DEVORE

Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot

Anchorage

HEATHER KENDALL-MILLER

Native American Rights Fund

Anchorage

WHITNEY A. LEONARD

Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Miller & Monkman

Anchorage

KAY E. MAASSEN GOUWENS

Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Miller & Monkman

Anchorage

ANDREW MARCH

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt

Anchorage

MATT MEAD

Landye

Bennett Blumstein

Anchorage

LLOYD B. MILLER

Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Miller & Monkman

Anchorage

RICHARD D. MONKMAN

Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Miller & Monkman

Juneau

NICHOLAS OSTROVSKY

Ahtna, Inc.

Anchorage

BONNIE J. PASKVAN

Dorsey & Whitney

Anchorage

REBECCA A. PATTERSON

Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Miller & Monkman

Anchorage

ELIZAVETA BARRETT RISTROPH

Ristroph Law, Planning, and Research

Allakaket

CHRISTOPHER SLOTTEE

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt

Anchorage

GEOFF D. STROMMER

Hobbs, Straus, Dean & Walker

Anchorage

MICHAEL WALLERI

Jason Weiner and Associates

Fairbanks

CHRISTINE WILLIAMS

Outlook Law

Anchorage

WHITNEY A. BROWN

Stoel Rives

Anchorage

JENNIFER M. COUGHLIN

Landye

Bennett Blumstein

Anchorage

ANDY ERICKSON

Landye

Bennett Blumstein

Anchorage

MATTHEW T. FINDLEY

Ashburn & Mason

Anchorage

KIRSTEN KINEGAK-FRIDAY

Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium

Anchorage

MARA E. MICHALETZ

Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot

Anchorage

MICHELLE S. NESBETT

Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot

Anchorage

AIMEE ORAVEC

Doyon Utilities

Fairbanks

WILLIAM R. SATTERBERG JR.

Satterberg Law Offices

Fairbanks

JOHN M. STARKEY

Landye

Bennett Blumstein

Anchorage

WILL WRIGHT

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt

Anchorage

ARCTIC LAW

RICHARD A. CAMILLERI

Ukpeaġvik

Iñupiat Corporation

Anchorage

ELIZABETH SAAGULIK HENSLEY

NANA

Regional Corporation

Anchorage

AVIATION MARITIME & TRANSPORTATION

PETER J. CALTAGIRONE

Caltagirone Legal

Anchorage

BRENT R. COLE

Law Office of Brent R. Cole

Anchorage

MOLLY HENRY

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt

Anchorage

MARK C. MANNING

Mark C. Manning

Anchorage

JACK POULSON

Poulson & Woolford

Juneau

ROBERT L. RICHMOND

Richmond & Quinn

Anchorage

MICHAEL S. SCHECHTER

Ashburn & Mason

Anchorage

LANNING M. TRUEB

Trueb Berne & Beard

Anchorage

MARC G. WILHELM

Richmond & Quinn

Anchorage

BANKRUPTCY LAW

AUSTIN K. BARRON

Step Two Law

Anchorage

MICHELLE BOUTIN

Landye

Bennett Blumstein

Anchorage

JENNIFER HOLLAND

Law Offices of Jennifer L. Holland

Anchorage

ROBERT H. HUME JR.

Landye

Bennett Blumstein

Anchorage

BRUCE A. MOORE

Landye

Bennett Blumstein

Anchorage

BUSINESS LAW

WILLIAM M. BANKSTON

Bankston Gronning

Brecht Attorneys at Law

Anchorage

ANDREA N. CANFIELD

Stoel Rives

Anchorage

KEN CICCOLI

North Star Law Group

Anchorage

PETER M. DIEMER

Clayton & Diemer

Anchorage

ZOE A. EISBERG

Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot

Anchorage

MICHAEL GERAGHTY

Holland & Hart

Anchorage

MICHAEL A. GRISHAM

Dorsey & Whitney

Anchorage

JOHN D. KAUFFMAN

Stoel Rives

Anchorage

COLE M. LINDEMANN

Manley

Brautigam Bankston

Anchorage

JULIAN L. MASON

Ashburn & Mason

Anchorage

MARK P. MELCHERT

Jermain Dunnagan & Owens

Anchorage

MICHAEL R. MILLS

Dorsey & Whitney

Anchorage

ABIGAIL E. O’CONNOR

Peak Trust Company

Anchorage

MICHAEL PARISE

Lane Powell

Anchorage

BRIAN RIEKKOLA

North Star Law Group

Anchorage

MICHAEL ROSE

North Star Law Group

Anchorage

A. WILLIAM SAUPE

Ashburn & Mason

Anchorage

JAMES E. TORGERSON

Stoel Rives

Anchorage

CHRISTOPHER WALKER

Faulkner Banfield

Juneau

THOMAS V. WANG

Ashburn & Mason

Anchorage

CORPORATE COUNSEL

STEPHANIE AICHER

Cook Inlet Region, Inc.

Anchorage

WILLIAM H. BITTNER

Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot

Anchorage

PETER BOSKOFSKY

Koniag

Anchorage

SIENA CARUSO

Chenega Corporation

Anchorage

WALTER FEATHERLY

Calista Corporation

Anchorage

KRISTY A. GARRETT

Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot

Anchorage

JESSICA GRAHAM

Global Credit Union

Anchorage

LINDSEY HOLMES

NANA North

Anchorage

ALEXANDER J. KUBITZ

Landye

Bennett Blumstein

Anchorage

DONALD W. MCCLINTOCK

Ashburn & Mason

Anchorage

ROBERT MISULICH

The Aleut Corporation

Anchorage

MELANIE OSBORNE

Alyeska Pipeline Service Company

Anchorage

DANIELLE RYMAN

Bering Straits

Native Corporation

Anchorage

PETER SCULLY

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt

Anchorage

SARAH SHINE

Arctic Slope

Regional Corporation

Anchorage

NATASHA SINGH

Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium

Anchorage

MOIRA SMITH

ENSTAR Natural Gas Company

Anchorage

ALLEN TODD

Doyon, Limited

Fairbanks

EMPLOYMENT LAW

SUZANNE A. ADLER

Bankston Gronning

Brecht Attorneys at Law

Anchorage

JENNIFER C. ALEXANDER

Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot

Anchorage

JACK DAY

Davis Wright Tremaine

Anchorage

KIM DUNN

Landye

Bennett Blumstein

Anchorage

WILLIAM A. EARNHART

Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot

Anchorage

BILL EVANS

Sedor Wendlandt Evans & Filippi

Anchorage

GREGORY S. FISHER

Littler Mendelson

Anchorage

DAVID M. FREEMAN

Holmes Weddle & Barcott

Anchorage

EVA R. GARDNER

Ashburn & Mason

Anchorage

ELIZABETH P. HODES

Davis Wright Tremaine

Anchorage

KRISTAL LEONARD

Davis Wright Tremaine

Anchorage

MICHAEL O’BRIEN

Davis Wright Tremaine

Anchorage

RENEA SAADE

Arctic Slope

Regional Corporation

Anchorage

HOWARD TRICKEY

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt

Anchorage

PATTI A. VECERA

Davis Wright Tremaine

Anchorage

ENVIRONMENTAL NATURAL RESOURCES

SHANNON M. BLEICHER

Stoel Rives

Anchorage

SCOTT BROADWELL

Davis Wright Tremaine

Anchorage

ERIC B. FJELSTAD

Perkins Coie

Anchorage

TINA M. GROVIER

Stoel Rives

Anchorage

MICHAEL JUNGREIS

Reeves Amodio

Anchorage

JONATHON KATCHER

Pope & Katcher

Anchorage

JOHN D. KAUFMAN

Stoel Rives

Anchorage

CAMERON MILEHAM LEONARD

Perkins Coie

Anchorage

LYNN T. MANOLOPOULOS

Davis Wright Tremaine

Anchorage

CONNIE SUE MARTIN

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt

Anchorage

RAMONA L. MONROE

Stoel Rives

Anchorage

HANNAH PATON

Perkins Coie

Anchorage

HERBERT RAY

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt

Anchorage

ELENA ROMERDAHL

Perkins Coie

Anchorage

MATTHEW SINGER

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt

Anchorage

ESTATE PLANNING & PROBATE LAW

PETER B. BRAUTIGAM

Manley

Brautigam Bankston

Anchorage

ANN M. BRUNER

Durrell Law Group

Anchorage

BETHANN BOUDAH CHAPMAN

Faulkner Banfield

Juneau

MARIBETH CONWAY

Manley

Brautigam Bankston

Anchorage

BLYSS CRUZ

Cruz Law

Anchorage

STEPHEN GREER

Stephen Greer Law

Anchorage

HEIDI HOLMES

Hompesch Evans & Averett

Fairbanks

MELANIE IVERSON KAUFMAN

Foley & Pearson

Anchorage

KARL A. KAUFMAN

Landye

Bennett Blumstein

Anchorage

Alaska Owned & Operated Since 1979

www.chialaska.com info@chialaska.com

ph: 907.276.7667

CHRISTOPHER P. LAUER

Manley

Brautigam Bankston

Anchorage

ROBERT L. MANLEY

Manley

Brautigam Bankston

Anchorage

STEVEN T. O’HARA

O’Hara Tax Lawyer

Anchorage

WILLIAM M. PEARSON

Foley & Pearson

Anchorage

STUART CAMERON RADER

Ingaldson Fitzgerald

Anchorage

CHELSEA RAY RIEKKOLA

Foley & Pearson

Anchorage

DAVID ROHLFING

Shaftel Delman

Anchorage

ELIZABETH SMITH

49th Estate Planning

Juneau

ASHLEY SUNDQUIST

Sundquist Law

Anchorage

TONJA WOELBER

Woelber & Associates

Anchorage

ETHICS & COMPLIANCE

ERIN ROSE

Doyon, Limited

We work as hard as you do to provide great service and insurance protection to our clients. Let us show you how to control your Insurance costs.

DOROTHEA G. AGUERO

Dorothea G. Aguero, Attorney at Law

Anchorage

RACHEL K. BERNGARTT

Baxter Bruce & Sullivan

Juneau

SARAH KATHRYN BRYAN

Shortell Law

Anchorage

MARC CHICKLO

Chicklo Law Group

Anchorage

NICOLE DAUSSIN

The Law Office of Nicole Daussin

Wasilla

LINDSEY N. DUPUIS

The Law Office of Lindsey N. Dupuis

Anchorage

MAURICE

NATHANIEL ELLIS

Law Office of Maurice N. Ellis

Anchorage

MICHAEL GERSHEL

Law Offices of Michael Gershel

Anchorage

ADAM GULKIS

North Star Law Group

Anchorage

MEGAN HISER

Chicklo Law Group

Anchorage

RYAN LONERGAN

Stohler & Lonergan

Palmer

KARA A. NYQUIST

Nyquist Law Group

Anchorage

STEFAN OTTERSON

Otterson Law & Mediation

Anchorage

D. PATRICK PHILLIP

Carlson Law Group

Anchorage

DANEE L. PONTIOUS

Pontious Law Offices

Anchorage

MARGARET ROGERS

Rogers Law Group

Fairbanks

GABRIEL E. SASSOON

Baxter Bruce & Sullivan

Juneau

CAITLIN SHORTELL

Shortell Law

Anchorage

JOE TOWSLEE

Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot

Anchorage

JASON WEINER

Jason Weiner and Associates

Fairbanks

GOVERNMENT & ADMINISTRATIVE

AISHA BRAY

State of AlaskaDepartment of Law

KEVIN R. FELDIS

Perkins Coie

Anchorage

SCOTT KENDALL

Cashion Gilmore & Lindemuth

Anchorage

LESLIE R. NEED

Landye

Bennett Blumstein

Anchorage

AARON PETERSON

State of AlaskaDepartment of Law

Anchorage

JESSICA SPUHLER

Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot

Anchorage

HOLLY C. WELLS

Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot

Anchorage

MATTHEW C. WIDMER

Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot

Anchorage

HEALTHCARE LAW

CAROLYN HEYMAN

Sedor Wendlandt Evans & Filippi

Anchorage

TIMOTHY J. LAMB

Delaney Wiles

Anchorage

DONNA M. MEYERS

Delaney Wiles

Anchorage

IMMIGRATION LAW

JULIE FIELDS

Fields Immigration Law Office

Anchorage

MARGARET D. STOCK

Cascadia Cross Border Law Group

Anchorage

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

JONATHAN WARD

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt

Anchorage

LITIGATION

BREWSTER H. JAMIESON

Lane Powell

Anchorage

JAMES N. LEIK

Perkins Coie

Anchorage

JACKSON MORAWSKI

Landye

Bennett Blumstein

Anchorage

JEFFREY W. ROBINSON

Lane Powell

Anchorage

CONNOR SMITH

Stoel Rives

Anchorage

PERSONAL INJURY

DAVID KARL GROSS

Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot

Anchorage

KENNETH M. GUTSCH

Richmond & Quinn

Anchorage

MARC W. JUNE

Law Office of Marc June

Anchorage

ROBERT J. JURASEK

Pentlarge Law Group

Anchorage

MICHAEL KRAMER

Kramer & Cosgrove

Anchorage

REBECCA LINDEMANN

Richmond & Quinn

Anchorage

JAMES NOLAN

Richmond & Quinn

Anchorage

NEIL T. O’DONNELL

Cascadia Cross Border

Law Group

Anchorage

PETER SANDBERG

Ingaldson Fitzgerald

Anchorage

MICHAEL J. SCHNEIDER

Law Office of Michael J. Schneider

Anchorage

MEG SIMONIAN

Dillon Findley & Simonian

Anchorage

JASON SKALA

Law Office of Jason Skala

Anchorage

AARON D. SPERBECK

Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot

Anchorage

ROBERT STONE

Robert Stone Law Office

Anchorage

RICHARD VOLLERTSEN

Atkinson Conway & Gagnon

Anchorage

PUBLIC CONTRACTS

LAW

WILEY CASON

Holland & Hart

Anchorage

ADAM W. COOK

Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot

Anchorage TRAEGER MACHETANZ

Davis Wright Tremaine

Anchorage

ANNE MARIE TAVELLA

Davis Wright Tremaine

Anchorage

PUBLIC UTILITY REGULATORY

JP WOOD

Dillon Findley & Simonian

Anchorage

REAL ESTATE LAW

SARAH A. BADTEN

Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot

Anchorage

LAUREN SOMMER BOSKOFSKY

Landye

Bennett Blumstein

Anchorage

SARAH C. GILLSTROM

Davis Wright Tremaine

Anchorage

CASEY K. GILMORE

Landye

Bennett Blumstein

Anchorage

JOSHUA D. HODES

Landye

Bennett Blumstein

Anchorage

DOUG A. KARET

Bankston Gronning

Brecht Attorneys at Law

Anchorage

BARBARA SIMPSON KRAFT

Davis Wright Tremaine

Anchorage

REBECCA E. LIPSON

Ashburn & Mason

Anchorage

JAMES H. MCCOLLUM

McCollum & Rounds

Anchorage

MICHAEL J. SCHWARZ

Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot

Anchorage

BENJAMIN W. SPIESS

Landye

Bennett Blumstein

Anchorage STEVEN TERVOOREN

Hughes White Colbo & Tervooren

Anchorage

RYAN J. THOMAS

Landye

Bennett Blumstein

Anchorage

TAXATION LAW

JONATHAN E. IVERSEN

Stoel Rives

Anchorage

CHRISTY LEE

Law Offices of Christy Lee

Anchorage

FRANCIS STEVEN MAHONEY

Manley

Brautigam Bankston

Anchorage

CHARLES F. SCHUETZE

Manley

Brautigam Bankston

Anchorage

WORKERS’ COMPENSATION

AMANDA K. EKLUND

Eklund Law Office

Anchorage

JUSTIN S. EPPLER

Law Office of Justin S. Eppler

Anchorage

BRYAN HAUGSTAD

Haugstad Advocacy & Litigation Office

Anchorage

REBECCA HOLDIMANMILLER

Holmes Weddle & Barcott

Anchorage

CARSON HONEYCUTT

Honeycutt Law

Anchorage

MICHELLE M. MESHKE

Meshke Paddock & Budzinski

Anchorage

ADAM SADOSKI

Meshke Paddock & Budzinski

Anchorage

STACEY STONE

Holmes Weddle & Barcott

Anchorage

MARTHA TANSIK

Meshke Paddock & Budzinski

Anchorage

ZANE D. WILSON

CSG, Inc.

Fairbanks

Featured Profiles

Alaska Native & Native American Law

FIRM: Outlook Law

HOMETOWN: Anchorage, Alaska

LAW SCHOOL: Santa Clara University School of Law

PRACTICED LAW: 22 years

WHAT DREW YOU TO THE LEGAL FIELD: The ability to help others. My mother instilled in us, through her words and her life, that reaching out and helping others was incredibly important and immensely rewarding. She taught us to make sacrifices, to work hard, and to lift ourselves up from rather impoverished conditions through education. She taught us never to be ashamed of not being well-off and that education and helping others was a key to being fulfilled and happy. She was eminently correct.

LEGAL CAREER ASPIRATIONS: My aspirations are simple—do meaningful work that is rewarding while not engaging with those that chose to do otherwise.

Ckstockphoto

Gov Con, M&A, Employment

SIENA CARUSO

FIRM: Chenega Corporation

HOMETOWN: Irvine, California

LAW SCHOOL: U.C. Berkeley School of Law

FAMILY: My husband, Daryl, and I live in South Anchorage with our retired sled dog, Casper.

LEGAL INSPIRATION: My mother is my legal inspiration. She was the first female partner at her firm and one of the first female judges in Orange County. Her joy and passion for the law inspired me to follow in her footsteps.

2024 MILESTONES: 2024 has been a big year for me! Daryl and I were married at Alyeska in May, and I am pursuing my MBA at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. I look forward to celebrating my two-year anniversary at Chenega in August and continuing to provide the best advice and counsel to Chenega’s shareholders and executives.

Chief Fiduciary Officer

ABIGAIL E. O’CONNOR

FIRM: Peak Trust Company

HOMETOWN: Highland Park, NJ

UNDERGRAD: Rutgers University

LAW SCHOL: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

PRACTICED LAW: 15 years

FAVORITE IN-STATE TRAVEL DESTINATION: There is a beautiful hike across the bay from Homer called the Saddle Trail. The trail ends at the Grewingk Glacier Lake. The lake is my favorite Alaska destination. The beauty never gets tiresome.

WHAT DREW YOU TO THE LEGAL FIELD: DNA! I am a third-generation lawyer on both sides of my family. My mother and her mother were lawyers. My father and his father were lawyers. I was hanging out in a law office by around age five or six.

Justice for All Civil legal services for the community

By Terri Marshall

In criminal cases, the accused has the right to an attorney and, if the accused cannot afford an attorney, one is appointed by the court. In civil matters, though, there is no right to representation. As a result, most low-income Americans are unable to get the legal help they need for civil justice issues such as debt, divorce, domestic violence, housing, landlord disputes, public benefits, and more.

To meet this need, some attorneys offer services free of charge or at a discount. Billable hours and expansion of the practice typically rank among a law firm’s top priorities, yet some firms provide additional services for their communities through pro bono work. Derived from the Latin phrase “pro bono publico,” which means for the good of the public, pro bono work refers to legal services rendered by a professional for free or at a reduced fee. And where professionals are unavailable, Alaska is pioneering other methods of closing the justice gap.

A Lawyer’s Spare Time

“There’s a really big pro bono culture within our firm, and attorneys are encouraged to participate,” says Anne Marie Tavella, an Anchorage partner of Seattle-based law firm Davis Wright Tremaine (DWT). “On our first-of-itskind website portal—The In-House Gateway to Good— attorneys at our firm can find pro bono opportunities across the country. We pick what we want to be involved in based on our expertise, the required time commitment, and our availability.”

As a litigator, Tavella chooses her pro bono work based on her litigation schedule. If she’s in the discovery phase of a case or potentially going to trial, her time is limited, and she cannot focus on a pro bono case.

Although DWT doesn’t impose a specific number of hours that attorneys are expected to devote to pro bono work, the firm encourages fifty hours a year, if possible. “For those meeting the fifty hours, the firm sends swag in recognition of the efforts put forth,” notes Tavella.

Examples of pro bono cases include immigration, reproductive issues, voting rights, and more. “Within Alaska, the top matters requiring legal assistance are family law issues and landlord/tenant issues. Our attorneys use virtual meetings to assist clients across the state with family law issues,” says Tavella.

DWT employs more than 600 attorneys across eleven offices in the United States, including one in Anchorage. In the Anchorage office, a pro bono partnership with the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault focuses on assisting with domestic violence and sexual assault cases. Tavella says, “Our services include protective orders and divorces or a combination. At times, there’s just a divorce; sometimes that divorce requires a protective order, sometimes not.”

Tavella also notes the need for aid to military veterans. “Alaska Legal Services has attempted to connect with veteran clinics across the state but hasn’t received a lot of response. Sometimes people who need help don’t know who to connect with. Similarly, those willing to give the help don’t necessarily know who to reach out to.”

What is Alaska Legal Services?

Help for the 92 Percent

Because professional lawyers cannot handle the entire unmet need, Alaska Legal Services Corporation (ALSC) exists as a statewide civil legal aid provider for low-income individuals and seniors.

“The most critical issue is that most low-income individuals will not be able to access help for their legal problems,” says Executive Director Maggie Humm. “According to the most recent study by the Legal Services Corporation, the federal funder of civil legal services in the United States, an astounding 92 percent of people with low incomes can’t get the legal assistance they need to address these life-altering problems. There exists an enormous justice gap in our nation and in Alaska.”

A justice gap occurs when important legal needs of low-income individuals are not met due to insufficient funding and support. These individuals risk losing their homes, healthcare, access to food, and the ability to protect themselves or family members against abuse. These unresolved problems lead to more poverty in a seemingly endless cycle.

Legal Services Corporation, a nonprofit established by Congress in 1974, provides funds to ALSC, and donations supplement that income, somewhat like public broadcasting. Today ALSC has fifty-five employees across fifteen locations: in Anchorage, Bethel, Dillingham, Fairbanks, Juneau, Kenai, Ketchikan, Kodiak, Kotzebue, Nome, Palmer, Utqiaġvik, and Wasilla. In addition, two medical-legal partnership sites at Alaska Native Medical Center and Providence Alaska Medical Center have a statewide reach, too, as patients travel to Anchorage from across Alaska for treatment.

“In 2023, we handled 6,460 cases that impacted almost 19,000 Alaskans. Over half of those households have kids in them; one-third of the households have one or more individuals with a disability; and over 25 percent are seniors,” shares Humm.

Sometimes ALSC reaches out to firms like DWT to request pro bono work. The nonprofit’s website also solicits volunteer assistance, such as attorneys to staff the Landl ord Tenant Helpline

“We identify discrete legal issues that can be addressed with the help of a community member and teach volunteers about these issues through our training courses… Our community justice worker communicates directly with clients to resolve those issues within and outside of their community.”

Sarah Carver, Co-director ALSC CJW Resource Center

CONGRATULATIONS TO

Humm says, “Our work focuses on helping vulnerable individuals facing the loss of a critical need or service, including the loss of food security, housing, healthcare, and personal safety due to domestic violence or sexual assault.”

Although domestic violence and sexual assault are criminal matters, Humm notes that sometimes incidents are not reported, so the criminal justice system may not be activated. And such cases might also be entangled with civil matters. “Survivors often need domestic protective orders to keep the abuser from going to the home, place of work, or the kids’ school. The orders also serve to implement safe visitation measures if children are involved,” says Humm.

ALSC also provides domestic violence survivors with legal services for financial security. “They need to sort out any property or assets they might be entitled to—if they were married to or in a domestic partnership with the abuser—so that they can be financially secure and restart their life,” notes Humm. “Financial insecurity often keeps domestic violence victims from being able to start over and get out of an abusive relationship. It’s really important for survivors to get safe and stay safe.”

Seniors across Alaska also benefit greatly from ALSC services. “We help seniors with a lot of the same things the general population needs, like SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] benefits and housing issues,” says Humm. “Seniors also need assistance to access healthcare benefits and assistance in accessing Medicare and Medicaid benefits that they are legally entitled to. Sadly, we also see a fair amount of elder abuse and elder fraud. We can often help those individuals by securing financial abuse protective orders.”

Trained Volunteers

To further bridge the justice gap, ALSC launched the Community Justice Worker (CJW) program in 2019. This movement started as partnerships with tribal healthcare facilities, as ALSC embedded attorneys to help patients address their legal needs.

“Our services have expanded over the years as a result of the implementation of creative ideas designed to improve

Staff from ALSC volunteered at Grow North Farm in Anchorage's Mountain View neighborhood. The urban farm managed by Catholic Social Services supplies produce to early-stage food businesses, especially those started by immigrants and refugees.

Davis Wright Tremaine

access to justice across numerous platforms.” says Humm.

Sarah Carver, co-director of ALSC’s Community Justice Worker Resource Center, explains how CJW works. “We identify discrete legal issues that can be addressed with the help of a community member and teach volunteers about these issues through our training courses,” she says. “Our community justice worker communicates directly with clients to resolve those issues within and outside of their community.”

The online courses are free and can be done at the volunteer’s own pace and schedule.

To date, 225 people have completed training courses, and 260 volunteers are currently going through training modules. The training focuses on five areas: SNAP advocacy, preparing a will, the Indian Child Welfare Act, debt collection defense, and domestic violence protect ive order advocacy.

“Across the board, the majority of our CJWs take more than one training course, but most don’t take all of the courses,” explains Carver. “About 30 percent of CJWs are taking the courses on behalf of a tribe or tribal community, and another 30 percent are from social service agencies. But

Rachel Rossi, director of the US Department of Justice’s Office for Access to Justice, visited Bethel last fall and met with local leaders.

Lauren Lambert

anyone can take the courses. We currently have CJWs in forty-seven communi ties across Alaska .”

CJWs were instrumental in helping numerous households when the state fell behind in processing thousands of SNAP applications. “Over the past one and a half years, the SNAP delay was one of the biggest needs we saw,” recalls Carver. “Part of that crisis— especially in the beginning—was people not realizing the delay as a legal issue. Our CJWs communicated the message that people didn’t have to just wait it out; there were actual legal remedies that could be used. Once that knowledge was out there, CJWs were able to address it directly by negotiating with public assistance and, in some cases, going to hearings with or on behalf of the clients in regard to their benefits.”

The SNAP delay affected seniors as well. “Part of the issue with the crisis was that the public assistance department fell behind in processing applications. That department is also responsible for senior assistance, including Medicaid. The CJWs were

often able to take care of the SNAP delay, Medicaid, and senior benefit delays all at once,” says Carver. She adds, “CJWs specifically work with senior clients for will preparation and end-of-life planning.”

The CJW program continues to grow, and new training modules will be rolled out over the next couple of years. “There’s a high need for CJWs in disaster response for FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] applications and appeals,” says Carver. “We also see a need for CJWs to handle probate matters to clear titles for property. This is a problem, especially in rural areas.”

A Model for the Country

The CJW program has garnered national attention. Last fall, Carver and other leaders from ALSC traveled to Bethel with Rachel Rossi, director of the US Department of Justice’s Office for Access to Justice, to meet with local leaders.

The success of Alaska’s CJW program has led to a new national movement led by Frontline Justice.

“Our work focuses on helping vulnerable individuals facing the loss of a critical need or service, including the loss of food security, housing, healthcare, and personal safety due to domestic violence or sexual assault.”

Maggie Humm , Executive Director Alaska Legal Services Corporation

SARAH SHINE SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, GENERAL COUNSEL

RENEA SAADE VICE PRESIDENT, HUMAN RESOURCES & COMPLIANCE

Congratulations, Sarah and Renea, for being honored by their peers as an Alaska Business Legal Elite! This recognition is a testament to Sarah and Renea’s dedication to ASRC and our shareholders.

ARCTIC SLOPE REGIONAL CORPORATION

The initiative was founded by four distinguished individuals with a passion for closing the justice gap. Rebecca Sandefur is the director of the Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics at Arizona State University and a faculty fellow at the American Bar Foundation, where she founded and leads the Access to Justice Research Initiative. Matthew Burnett is the senior program officer at that initiative. And the other two are former directors of the White House Domestic Policy Council, Cecilia Muñoz and John Bridgeland.

These co-founders brought aboard Nikole Nelson, until recently the executive director of ALSC, as the founding CEO for Frontline Justice. During her twenty-five years in the field, she helped launch the medicallegal partnership Partnering for Native Health, which won the 2019 World Justice Challenge. “The work I did at ALSC to provide access to justice for communities and within the healthcare system led me to this position,” says Nelson of Frontline Justice. “I went through this process when we started

developing the community justice worker program in Alaska.”

What has proven to be successful in Alaska is now being implemented around the country. “The movement is growing exponentially,” says Nelson. “We have twenty-plus states right now that are considering community justice worker programs. And I love that Alaska was number one in this movement!”

Empowering Women

Concepts for improving access to justice are feeding back into Alaska from around the country, especially thanks to multi-state firms like DWT.

For instance, in addition to its pro bono work, DWT helps women through a unique initiative called Project W. Founded by Lynn Loacker, a partner in the New York City office of DWT, Project W focuses on closing the gender gap in the corporate world.

“Project W started with the goal of creating an initiative to help women business owners succeed by addressing the struggles women face in terms of getting investments and capital to build a successful business,” Tavella explains.

“It eventually spread across the nation and often varies based on the location.”

Elizabeth Hodes, DWT’s Anchorage Partner in Charge, teamed up with Tavella to promote Project W in Alaska, empowering women to work together to advance the state.

“We’re seeing more women in the boardroom these days working with a lot of different industries,” Tavella shares. “Our Project W initiative spurred from the thought that it would be so great to get all of these women in a room to work together, continuing to advance Alaska into more economic prosperity and into a place people will want to stay. There are a number of Anchorage women's groups that are industry-specific, and some focus more on professional development; we wanted this to be more of a space where women can come together and network with specific programming aimed at helping Alaska.”

From the boardroom to the Bush, legal services professionals and volunteers are answering the call, to help ensure that Alaskans have justice for all.

Community justice workers, volunteers trained to guide clients through specific legal processes, have caught national attention. Alaska Legal Services Corporation led Rachel Rossi of the US Justice Department on a tour of the CJW program in Bethel last fall.

Lauren Lambert

Inspired by their out-of-state colleagues, Elizabeth Hodes (left) and Anne Marie Tavella (right) hosted a meeting in Anchorage for Project W, a forum for women to access business opportunities.

Davis Wright Tremaine

Dillon Findley & Simonian Announces the hiring of Nick Bajwa

Specializing in complex commercial transactions and civil litigation

Bajwa has more than fifteen years of experience working for and on behalf of corporate clients with a presence in Alaska, including ConocoPhillips and JL Properties. Bajwa's clients range from large corporations to small local businesses and individuals, and he has handled multiple forms of complex real estate transactions both in Alaska and worldwide, including major construction projects and dispositions. Bajwa's practice is focused primarily on transaction real estate, including acquisitions and divestitures, development, land assemblage, financing, construction, commercial leasing, taxation, surface use, and damage claims. In addition, Bajwa regularly advises clients on strategy, risk mitigation, and portfolio optimization. Bajwa also has significant experience in property tax matters, with a practice that includes litigation and administrative appeals. Bajwa also serves as general counsel for several small businesses and advises them on corporate governance, employment disputes, and contract formation, implementation, and disputes.

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nick@dillonfindley.com

dillonfindley.com

Veteran of the Trolley Wars

A tour of trade name law

By Scott Rhode

Cy rus Aldeman could hate me: twenty-five years ago, his family sought my help during a dispute with a business rival, and I sided against them. He has every right to be angry.

But he isn’t. “I’m just a happy-go-lucky person,” Aldeman says. “Everything leads up to what it needs to be.”

Alderman v. Iditarod Properties was a lawsuit (filed under an alternate spelling of the family name) involving the Fourth Avenue Theatre and the use of its name. Iditarod Properties, owned by supermarket heir Robert Gottstein, renovated the historic building into a meeting space in the ‘90s.

While Aldeman was barely in kindergarten, his parents ran trolley tours from the theater. Then their

business arrangement with Gottstein dissolved. The “Trolley Wars,” as local media called the fracas, culminated with a trial in 1999.

I was on the jury. We found in Gottstein’s favor.

Aldeman doesn’t hold a grudge. “A lawsuit is just a disagreement between two people, where a third party has to intervene,” he says.

Indeed, Aldeman still sees Gottstein around Anchorage. “We catch up like we’re old friends,” he says. “My dad and Gottstein talk, like, once a year. ‘Bout nothing. About cheese in the grocery store.”

Gottstein sold the Fourth Avenue Theatre in 2009, and in 2022 the building was demolished pending a major redevelopment. Meanwhile,

Aldeman carries on the family business as the owner and “chief experience officer” of Anchorage Trolley Tours in a legal landscape paved by his parents.

First Impression

When his parents appealed the trial verdict in 2001, the Alaska Supreme Court noted, “Trade name infringement is an issue of first impression for this court.”

Novelty attracted Walter Tutiq Featherly to the case, representing Gottstein. Featherly recalls, “One of the parts of the case that made it so interesting, as a lawyer, is to be litigating a matter where the law was not settled in Alaska. It added a dimension.”

At the heart of the case was the right to “Fourth Avenue Theater”

as part of a trade name. Aldeman’s family claimed it for the trolley tour, while Gottstein asserted ownership. The law secures naming rights to preserve fair competition.

Businesses register trade names with the Division of Corporations, Business, and Professional Licensing of the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development. For example, every two years Aldeman renews the registration of “Anchorage Trolley Tours,” the “doing business as” (DBA) name of the transport carrier owned by parent company Alaska Guestours (which is likewise registered).

Paperwork protects the business. “The branding and the marketing [give the trade name owner] the ability to say, ‘This is our brand, and you

can’t misidentify as my brand,’” says Paula Bradison, founder and owner of PeopleAK. “It assists in being able to at least have a conversation of, ‘Hey, this is my brand.’”

Bradison cites a recent incident when a company in Seattle redirected traffic from PeopleAK’s subsidiary, Alaska Executive Search (AES), via the Bing search engine. The registered name helped AES sort out the masquerade.

The trolley case, according to Featherly, determined that Alaska policy and terms are to be used in Alaska, not borrowed from other jurisdictions. Alderman established that registration was not sufficient without prior use. “The court clarified that, even though the Division of Corporations would register a name… if there was a prior use, then that registration did not trump the prior use, did not somehow result in getting exclusive rights to use the name,” Featherly explains.

Prior Use

Anchorage Trolley Tours appreciates the value of prior use. Its trademarked logo is a cartoon character, Clifford

“The branding and the marketing [give the trade name owner] the ability to say, ‘This is our brand, and you can’t misidentify as my brand… It assists in being able to at least have a conversation of, ‘Hey, this is my brand.’”

Paula Bradison Founder and Owner, PeopleAK

Non-Standard Standard

The Chevron gas station at Dimond Boulevard and Victor Road in South Anchorage displays non-standard signage. Or rather, it displays Standard signage. Easy to ignore because the logo is wildly out of context, the Standard sign is Chevron’s exercise of the Standard Oil trademark. The company protects its rights in the state by using the name at one location.

the Big Red Trolley. A rip-off of the Big Red Dog in books published by Scholastic since 1963? Take it up with Aldeman’s great-grandfather Clifford, who had the name first.

Aldeman has learned a lot about trade name law since he recently retained an attorney. He says, “My dad’s like, ‘Put TM after everything; put R after everything.’ And my lawyer was like, ‘If it’s not trademarked, don’t do that. You’re not supposed to.’”

Registering “Fourth Avenue Theater Trolley Tour” before using the name was, according to the Alderman ruling, one of his father’s mistakes. But reasonable people could disagree whether Iditarod Properties had exclusive use.

“It required a fact-specific inquiry, including the presentation of evidence, as to whether or not the use actually resulted in confusion, or whether it might be reasonably expected to result in injury,” Featherly notes. Witnesses told jurors that customers with trolley reservations would show up at the theater—and when Gottstein started his own trolley tour, his customers would show up next door, where the Aldemans had set up shop.

Alter Ego Similarity

PeopleAK has also dealt with cases of mistaken identity. “For instance, I had six or seven people who applied for unemployment, and the paperwork came to me because they understood they were working for Alaska Executive Search, yet they were working for a different company entirely. That’s where it got a little bit tricky,” says Bradison. “Unraveling that with the state took time and money, to be honest.”

Bradison adds that the confusion did not, in that instance, involve the personnel branch of Arctic Slope Regional Corporation. That staffing company recently registered a new DBA as ASRC Talent Solutions while maintaining its previous identity as a business line of ASRC Energy Services. Formally named ASRC Energy Services E&P Technology, Inc., the company is best known as AES Talent Solutions.

No relation to AES, Alaska Executive Search. Bradison recalls, “We did have two events where we were both contributors, and they inadvertently used the wrong AES. That just has to do with marketing departments picking up the wrong logo.”

ASRC Energy Services recently adopted a new logo that resembles Iñupiaq whalebone arches, and the branding also drops “Services” to unify its companies under “ASRC Energy.” On paper, though, “AES” is still part of the official name. An ASRC Energy spokesperson says, “We have not received any reports of confusion or concern with our long history of using the AES short form name.”

For her part, Bradison feels that, although AES and AES Talent Solutions both deal with staffing, they get along well.

“I’m certainly no competition for ASRC, as a small business owner. We’re in a little bit of a different space,” Bradison says.

Organizations in other fields lay claim to “AES” too: Arctic Encounter Symposium, Alaska Enterprise Solutions, Alaska Earth Sciences, and more. Bradison says she became aware of them when her company acquired Alaska Executive Search in 2016 from its co-founder, the late Bob Bulmer.

Although Bulmer had a trademark for AES, “it had expired at some point or was no longer recognized or enforced,” Bradison says. “We applied for a trademark with the state,

Business

“The court clarified that, even though the Division of Corporations would register a name… if there was a prior use, then that registration did not trump the prior use, did not somehow result in getting exclusive rights to use the name.”

Walter Tutiq Featherly, Attorney

and because the logo had slightly changed (font and some other things), we couldn’t necessarily trademark ‘AES’ retroactively.”

Alaska Executive Search remains a separately licensed company under the PeopleAK umbrella. The newer brand, Bradison explains, launched in 2021 to combine her companies under one website. It also helped emphasize the evolution of Alaska Executive Search into the areas of contingent and flex staffing. “It was difficult for people to wrap their mind around that we didn’t just place executives,” Bradison says.

Secondary Meaning

As a trade name, “PeopleAK” combines two generic terms: the word “people” and the postal abbreviation for Alaska. Any organization in Alaska involving people might’ve registered the name, but Bradison’s company thought of it first.

The crux of the Alderman case was whether “Fourth Avenue Theatre” was generic enough for anyone to use. “There are a lot of Fourth Avenues—this, that, and the other thing—and there

MOIRA SMITH

Vice President & General Counsel, ENSTAR Natural Gas Company

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Alaska Business

are a lot of theaters,” Featherly explains. “Has the combined ‘Fourth Avenue Theater’ acquired secondary meaning associated with something distinct from Fourth Avenue, the street name, and distinct from theaters generically?”

By comparison, Gottstein needed nobody’s permission to name his company. Featherly says, “Iditarod Properties, the company owned by Mr. Robert Gottstein, had nothing whatsoever to do with any aspects of the Iditarod race or Iditarod, Alaska, the place. As a consequence, ‘Iditarod Properties’ acquired secondary meaning.”

Litigating this question, Featherly and his co-counsel contended against a legendary lawyer, Edgar Paul Boyko. Representing the Aldemans was the final case for the former state attorney general known as the Snow Tiger before he died on January 1, 2002. Featherly had previously handled a

case on the same side as Boyko, when they represented codefendants. “I found Edgar Paul delightful to be our adversary,” Featherly remembers.

Unfortunately for Boyko and the Aldemans, Gottstein’s lawyers persuaded the jury that Iditarod Properties had invested in reviving the landmark’s identity and therefore owned the right to the name. Thus, any confusion was the Aldemans’ fault. Gottstein might have played dirty by starting his own trolley tour after the Aldemans developed the market, but not in a legally actionable way.

In 2001, the Alaska Supreme Court upheld our verdict. According to the ruling, “The evidence shows that the Aldermans registered the name ‘Fourth Avenue Theater Trolley Tours’ soon after the falling out with Iditarod and selected a trolley parking spot partially in front of the theater. Because this evidence raises the inference that the Aldermans

intentionally infringed Iditarod’s trade name, it also supports the jury finding.”

The opinion says the trial court correctly interpreted Alaska statutes as requiring prior use of a name for valid registration. The single mistake in the Aldemans’ favor was a matter that I, alone among the majority of jurors, also dissented on: a claim of back rent that Featherly tacked on after evidence had been presented. This award was overturned in the 2001 appeal but upheld in a 2004 appeal.

The law regarding trade names still stands, and conflicts are now rarer. “I think that was the last trade name case I ever handled and have not, in any direct way (not in any litigation), handled any trademark case,” says Featherly. Now general counsel for Calista Corporation, Featherly says intellectual property matters for the legal department mainly relate to copyrighted books published by a nonprofit affiliate.

Cyrus Aldeman (left) was just a kid when his parents faced Walter Featherly (right) in court. Although they lost the "Trolley Wars" case, the family business has grown stronger than ever with Aldeman as CEO, under the Anchorage Trolley Tours brand.

Mom and Pop Prevail

In the wake of the lawsuit, Fourth Avenue Theater Trolley Tours reverted to its previous name, Anchorage Trolley Tours. While Aldemans’ parents retired on income from rentals built on the family’s century-old homestead, he purchased the company outright about two years ago. He had been handling operations since about 2005, before he graduated from high school.

The company weathered the tourism downturn during the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to eighteen months of liquidity, which Aldeman attributes to financial advice from First National Bank Alaska. Tours now operate year-round, with three different routes in summer. The newest takes riders to the William Jack Hernandez Sport Fish Hatchery on Ship Creek, the largest sportfish hatchery in North America.

A little way downstream, Aldeman is preparing for a big move. “We just signed a lease with the Alaska Railroad, and we’re going to be building our new headquarters on the shore of Ship Creek,” he says, allowing the company to consolidate offices currently at The Boardroom and park the trolley fleet that’s now stored at an off-site lot. “With this new headquarters, we’re putting everything in one, and we’re very, very excited about that, becoming a more unified unit every day.”

Ironically, the mom-and-pop company thrived while Gottstein’s trolley venture folded. However, a former Iditarod Properties employee, Donna McCarrey, came to work for Alaska Guestours and became a valued part of the family.

To this day, trolleys roll down Fourth Avenue, where the historic theater is just a hole in the ground. Like many fans of the building, Aldeman agrees its demolition was a shame.

“Gottstein put the Fourth Avenue Theatre in the historical books as a registered building. If he hadn’t done that, the building would’ve been torn down years and years and years ago. That lawsuit helped save the building for more years than it should’ve,” Aldeman says.

Fatefully, the Trolley Wars might’ve been what brought Gottstein’s theater crumbling down. Aldeman conjectures, “If he didn’t get distracted by the trollies, he could’ve really invested and built something beautiful.”

Proud to 2024 Alaska Business Legal Elite.

Lee Baxter: Alaska Native Law

Molly Henry: Aviation Maritime and Transportation

Connie Sue Martin: Environmental Natural Resources

Herbert Ray: Environmental Natural Resources

Peter Scully: Corporate Counsel

Matthew Singer: Litigation and Appellate Law

Christopher Slottee: Alaska Native Law

Howard Trickey: Employment Law

Will Wright: Appellate Law

Attorney on Your Side

When and how businesses should obtain legal services

By Chuck Green

Patricia Morales | Alaska Business

To operate a business as effectively as possible, finding a lawyer could be an integral part of a management plan. When is the right time to begin looking for a lawyer, and how does anyone go about it?

In the United States, as of January 1, 2023, the number of active attorneys totaled 1,331,290, according to the American Bar Association National Lawyer Population Survey. That’s approximately equal to the number of active-duty US military personnel.

The number of active lawyers counted by the survey inched up slightly by more than 4,000 from 2022. In the previous decade, the number of lawyers increased about 5 percent each year. Three places—Florida, the District of Columbia, and Ohio—represented the bulk of the increase.

On the other side of the ledger, among twenty-two states reporting a decrease in lawyers, Alaska’s 7 percent drop was second only to Alabama, which lost 15 percent of its lawyers in the past decade.

According to the Alaska Bar Association, 2,486 attorneys are actively practicing law, and 4,160 lawyers are licensed to practice law in the state.

When to Engage a Lawyer

With all those legal eagles at their disposal, when’s the right time for businesses to hire one?

For sure, by the time an employer has at least three employees, according to Kim Dunn, a partner with Landye Bennett Blumstein in Anchorage. Dunn, whose practice focuses on employment, housing, and nonprofit organization law, suggests that one of a business’ first legal chores is to check that it is complying with state employment laws. A lawyer could also help craft a short set of rules or policies to cover a workfo rce of four or more.

“This can be the size where a company starts hiring people other than friends and family, who might be more likely to make legal claims,” she notes.

At this early level, Dunn continues, much of the legal advice covers basics: how to compensate lawfully, fulfill state labor requirements, and plan for growth. “This can be less than an hour’s worth of legal work,

depending on the company’s existing knowledge and know-how,” she says.

Christopher Slottee, shareholder and industry group leader at Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt in Anchorage, says businesses should not delay hiring an attorney until one is needed. “As a general matter, lawyers are much more effective in helping a business avoid issues if they're involved sooner than later.” Consequently, he’d recommend that “companies reach out to a lawyer once they identify an issue they haven’t addressed, isn’t covered by their policies, or if there’s a potential dispute.”

That’s because, Slottee continues, “the lawyer can help them proactively rather than coming in after the fact for a cleanup when options may be more limited.”

Adds Ben Spiess, a corporate and real estate attorney with Landye Bennett Blumstein in Anchorage, “Clients should consult with their attorney early in the process. For someone launching a business, they should work with a lawyer before they form their corporation, LLC, or other business entity.” Furthermore, someone buying or leasing real estate

“should consult with their lawyer before drafting the term sheet or entering into a lease or purchase agreement.”

Lawyers, Spiess continues, “are much better at avoiding problems than solving them after they occur. Put another way—avoiding mistakes is costefficient. Fixing them is expensive.”

In Case of Emergency

Still, some business owners could be recalcitrant to recognize—or act on— even beginning to pursue an attorney. Having legal counsel in advance can help when claims come in, notes Dunn. When she works with a small employer facing its first legal claim—typically filed by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development for unpaid wages or overtime or the Alaska State Commission for Human Rights involving claims of discrimination—she says, “The employer has often taken several steps with the agency before realizing that they needed legal advice, and those first several steps can be critical to resolving a claim in the employer’s favor.”

If a state or federal agency gives notice of enforcement or potential violation, that’s definitely a time to call

a lawyer. For some claims, “you should also check with your insurance broker to see what might be covered by insurance and whether you have to give notice to your carrier,” Dunn adds.

Tapping the expertise of an attorney later, rather than sooner, can potentially have consequences. Slottee says, “It might be harder, more expensive, and there might be areas in which you've foreclosed certain paths that might've been better.”

He shares an example in which someone begins negotiating a sale or commercial transaction without getting a lawyer involved. Later in the process, Slottee says, “They might ask the lawyer to draft a transaction based on their discussions. At that point, the discussions might not be binding but may have set the boundaries for negotiations or structure going forward.”

An attorney could have significantly altered the circumstances. Slottee observes, “The lawyer might've been able to identify potential issues and opportunities beforehand, [which] could have improved the structure or the flow of the deal.”

Patricia Morales | Alaska Business

The Unpleasant Matter of the Bill

Nevertheless, another reason a business might refrain from retaining a lawyer: what else? Money, says Slottee. In which, the client might be making some inaccurate assumptions.

Many businesses view lawyers as a “cost sink who charge a lot of money and add no value,” notes Spiess. However, he adds, “in business as in medicine, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. A business well organized can avoid costly mistakes down the road; a real estate transaction structured correctly will close quickly with a minimum of issues.”

Average rates range from roughly $200 to $400 per hour, but an affordable amount of time might be all it takes. “You don’t need to hire a lawyer and spend thousands of dollars. With a ‘good lawyer,’ that shouldn’t be the case,” Slottee says. “You just call someone— hopefully, a lawyer with whom you have a relationship, and who understands your business. You explain the issue and ask what they think. If you have an ongoing relationship with a lawyer in

your industry—someone who knows your business, your industry, and your background—they should be able to provide timely and cost-effective advice.”

The conversation could be brief “but provide assurance that you at least checked on potential issues—or they might at least flag issues that you could address either on your own or with the help of your lawyer,” Slottee adds.

The bottom line aside, fear of intimidation also could factor into reluctance to consult a lawyer. Slottee says, “I think a lot of people worry about calling a lawyer because it can seem nerve-racking, and they're worried about being nickeled and dimed.”

A solution? Establish a working relationship over a course of years. “It's going to be a lot easier for them to provide really cost-effective work,” Slottee says.

That relationship could pave the way toward balming a business owner’s level of ease in touching base with a lawyer if an issue arises. “[You’ll] feel much more comfortable calling them [regarding] minor or upfront issues,” Slottee adds. “Have that ten-to-thirty-minute call.

“Clients should consult with their attorney early in the process. For someone launching a business, they should work with a lawyer before they form their corporation, LLC, or other business entity.”

Ben Spiess, Partner Land ye Bennett Blumstein

wise counsel

Dorsey attorneys bring more than legal experience to the table. We offer clients results-oriented advice reflecting a deep understanding of their business.

“[Talk] to other people in your industry that do the same things that you're doing or that have dealt with a similar issue… You're going to know a lawyer by the work product they provide. Get a recommendation.”

Christopher Slottee, Industry Group Leader, Schwabe , Williamson & Wyatt

That could really save you a lot of money and heartache.”

While new businesses might be reluctant to interact with a lawyer, Dunn explains that new clients can find it easier than expected to get useful legal advice. “My guess is that negative impressions come from movies and TV—or there’s fear that a lawyer will charge for even a brief phone call,” she says. “In fact, as lawyers, we’re screening you, too—and most of us don’t charge for that initial review.”

Starting Early

According to an advice column by Illinois-based Midwest Law Works, startup businesses have several reasons to hire an attorney:

Legal entity formation

• Contracts and agreements

• Intellectual property protection

Compliance with laws and regulations

• Risk management and litigation support

Naturally, not everyone double clutches before turning to an attorney. Some clients “definitely are open to working with lawyers, which they’ve done multiple times and feel free calling them,” in Slottee’s experience. Typically, in those circumstances, “they have an ongoing and historical relationship with a particular firm or lawyer and feel really comfortable [contacting] them,” he says.

Just as not all business owners harbor the same perspective on tapping an attorney, attorneys aren’t carbon copies either. Thus, when it comes to ensuring professional compatibility with a lawyer to handle specific business needs, take your time.

While, yes, lawyers are available for the “big moments,” when it comes to daily matters, a business attorney is ready to help. For a business owner, a knowledgeable expert can dispense guidance on issues from transactions to terminations, and much in between.

Looking for Lawyers

Once businesses decide to engage a lawyer’s services, they must consider the matter of sourcing one. In doing so, Dunn suggests trying to ascertain a couple of important factors:

• Is this a lawyer who's dealt with these issues in the past?

Patricia Morales

| Alaska Business

Do they understand my industry and the nature of my business?

Answering those two questions enables attorneys to provide the most cost-effective and relevant legal advice for a client, she points out. Sourcing can unfold in numerous ways. For example, Dunn recommends contacting a business network or industry association and asking questions about cost, responsiveness, and trustworthiness.

“Word of mouth and personal recommendations are still the best way to find the lawyer who is right for you. If you know a respected local lawyer—and even if you think they’re too expensive or busy—call them; they’ll be happy to refer you to an appropriate firm or professional,” Dunn says.

For free legal advice related to employment matters, “the web is a great resource for getting a sense of an issue, why it’s important, and what liability you might face,” she notes.

“Employment lawyers are comfortable putting free advice on the web because employment law is broad, complex, and different between locations.” Dunn adds that free advice from the internet does not reduce the demand for specific legal advice.

When using free or borrowed templates for legal documents, though, Dunn preaches caution: “Don’t adopt a personnel policy or handbook that’s too elaborate for your company.” She often sees policies that “over-promise” or are the wrong size for a small business.

Slottee says he’d focus primarily on referrals and those with industry knowledge. “[Talk] to other people in your industry that do the same things that you're doing or that have dealt with a similar issue. Ask if they’ve worked with a lawyer and whether they were effective and efficient,” he says, and ask if they were satisfied with the lawyer’s level of performance. “You're going to know a lawyer by the work product they provide. Get a recommendation.”

Outside of a network of industry connections, look up lawyers online. “Everybody's got a website,” Slottee says, but he agrees with Dunn that “you want to work with someone who understands your industry, recognizes the issues you would deal with, the trends in your industry, and the pressures you’re under.”

For Your Consultation

The ins and outs of a loss control survey

By Sean Dewalt

“Th e loss control consultant from the insurance company wants to inspect our business this month. What should I expect?”

The short answer: nothing scary. Longer answer: a helpful survey into ways the insurance company and its client can both avoi d paying for losses.

Commercial insurance carriers often rely on loss control consultants to provide information to underwriters to help assess the risks that the insured brings to the table. While some of these consultants work for the insurance company, there are also third-party companies who are contracted to complete risk assessments on behalf of the insurer.

A loss control consultant (sometimes called a risk control consultant) is tasked with conducting a field inspection of the insured’s operations to assess the exposures and controls for the different lines of coverage. This could be property, liability, inland marine, auto, workers’ compensation, or other insurance products. The goal is to be able to convey accurate, timely reports that will allow the insurance company to set the premiums accordingly. Assisting in mitigating and managing risk by identifying exposures and providing effective solutions to implement the necessary controls is t he name of the game.

Fewer Losses, More Wins

Loss control consultants are basically risk managers. Understanding risk is the true nature of this career. Pure risk has two parts: frequency and severity. That is, the probability that something will happen and the consequences if it does. On the one hand, there is a chance that nothing will happen; no loss at all. On the other, there may be the likelihood of total loss. Since severity is often unexpected, most consultants focus on frequency— preventing the event from happening. That’s where loss control consultants come in. The goal is to reduce the frequency of events that might harm a company’s property, workers, reputa tion, or operations.

A good loss control consultant will have a deep understanding of

safety, insurance, and liability. Most true consultants will earn college degrees or designations from accredited programs prior to working in the field. A great loss control professional will also have a solid sense of business, people, and an attitude that partners with insurance brokers and companies to create a company culture that is safe and profitable. The best consultants have all these traits combined with decades of experience in the field managing complex risks and employing strategic improvisation to solve problems.

Ideally, commercial risk is a threelegged stool: you have the business (the insured), the agent (brokering for the business), and the insurer (the carrier) working in tandem to help reduce their total cost of risk. To put it simply, it’s a relationship. Each of the three parties are sharing risk together. The fewer number of claims the business experiences, the fewer number of claims the insurance company pays out, the better the loss ratio for the co mpany and the agent.

The term “consultant” is important here. Loss control consultants are representatives of the insurance company and should be there to assist in helping improve operations. These professionals are not regulators and should never act in that manner or capacity. Consultant is defined as “a person who provides expert advice professionally.” A true loss control consultant should be teaming with the other two parties to offer sound, credible, and empowering advice, professionally. It should never be adversarial or contentious.

Consultant Calling

Typically, a loss control visit starts with notifying the agent of the need for the visit. Some loss control consultants prefer to have the agent along on the visit, which is generally a good idea. After surveying the business’ operations, it is common to meet the company and tour their facilities. The meeting normally begins with introductions and questions from the loss control consultant that will help the insured to better understand the totality of the business.

Assisting in mitigating and managing risk by identifying exposures and providing effective solutions to implement the necessary controls is the name of the game.

The fewer number of claims the business experiences, the fewer number of claims the insurance company pays out, the better the loss ratio for the company and the agent.

Contracts can play a large role in most businesses. Knowledge of the four corners of a contract, contractual risk transfer, and the theory of indemnity is basic information a loss control consultant should possess. The same goes for torts, as liability is a large piece of corporate risk. Legal understanding regarding administrative procedure—and the ability to decipher codified government regulations—are a requirement for any consultant. Most Alaska businesses have some regulatory or legal requirements to adhere to. US Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Mine Safety and Health Administration regulations are just two examples of this.

A loss run review is an important step in this meeting. Loss runs are the total insurance claims that a company has sustained over the course of the last five years. A discussion of these claims is crucial to knowing what some of the leading causes of loss are for the business and can help guide the consultant in finding controls for those exposures. For instance, if the company is having vehicle collisions with objects during backing operations, the consultant may recommend back-up cameras, spotters, or enhanced training for the operators to help reduce the number of incidents.

After the initial meeting, a field inspection of properties, equipment, vehicles, or a jobsite is likely. A jobsite inspection will focus on hazards to workers that could cause injury. Protecting workers is a very high priority for loss control, so a good understanding of workplace safety to help prevent illness and injury is crucial. For property and liability, the consultant will focus on life safety as a primary risk, followed by exposures for fire, water, wind, and collapse. People will always come first; after all, property can be replace d but people cannot.

At the conclusion of the visit, a debrief should occur. If the consultant has recommendations to improve safety and decrease risk, this is the time for the discussion on mitigation and improvement. There will likely be a letter coming from the insurance company with the

recommendations and a set amount of time to correct any deficiencies. These dates are normally thirty to ninety days, depending on the carrier’s requirements. Items deemed crucial sho uld be prioritized.

Protecting Assets Together

A good loss control consultant should be open to discussion regarding the recommendations made during the survey and aid the insured in completing each of the corrections. In some cases, a followup visit to the insured to assess completed recommendations is warranted. A lot of what loss control does is “trust, but verify,” and fieldtruthing information is a large co mponent of the work.

Business insurance is what drives operations behind the scenes. Protecting assets, people, and creating capacity for businesses to operate is the promise insurance companies make to policyholders. Loss control should be a tool that is available to insureds to help manage their operations safely and efficiently. By being proactive to assist companies to perform with lower risk and higher rewards, loss control consultants can be a very valuable part of any entity’s overall strategy for business ventures, business enterprise, and business continuity.

Ask your commercial insurance agent about loss control services and how these professionals can help your company improve. If you have a loss control survey coming, use it to your advantage. Ask questions, get answers, and enhance your enterprise’s goals of safety, growth, and profitability knowing this perso n is on your side.

Sean Dewalt is a Senior Loss Control Consultant for Umialik Insurance Company in Anchorage. Dewalt has been working in safety and risk management in Alaska since 2000. This column is intended to be informational and is not intended to be construed as legal advice.

INSIDE ALASKA BUSINESS

NSTI

North Slope Telecom, Inc. is streamlining its branding. “We have always referred to ourselves as NSTI (versus North Slope Telecom, Inc.),” says NSTI President Sharon Kazem. “Recognizing that—and just how far we have come as a company and the technologies we work with—has been so exciting with this rebranding effort.” NSTI has operated telecommunications systems in remote areas since 1980. As part of the rebranding, NSTI is launching a new website, helping customers get started on projects where communications infrastructure is in need. nstiak.com

UIC Commercial Services

Two subsidiaries of UIC Commercial Services form the core of a new division. HC Contractors and Qayaq Construction are now components of Alaska Civil Construction. UIC Commercial Services is a holding line for several businesses owned by Ukpeaġvik Iñupiat Corporation (UIC), the village corporation for Utqiaġvik. In 2022, UIC acquired North Pole-based HC Contractors, founded in 1993 by Bill Hoople, who remains chairman of HC Construction Holdings. Alaska Civil Construction is led by Vice President Kodi Long, general manager for Qayaq Construction. uicalaska.com

Brice Civil Constructors

The construction contract for the Barrow Coastal Erosion Project in Utqiaġvik goes to Brice Civil Constructors. The US Army Corps of Engineers–Alaska District awarded the first segment of the contract valued at approximately $60 million to the component company of Calista Corporation. Anchorage-based Brice Civil Constructors will begin building a revetment by downtown Utqiaġvik aimed at reducing erosion and storm damage along 5 miles of coastline. Funded by the 2022 Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, the federal government is covering 90 percent of the project’s cost, and the

North Slope Borough is responsible for 10 percent. Work is scheduled for completion in 2031. bricecivil.com

ASCI

The first US company in support of federal contracts, and the first company in Alaska, to receive a Workplace Inclusion Certification from the Human Resource Standards Institute (HRSI) is Anchorage-based Advanced Supply Chain International (ASCI) and its family of companies. “Securing the HRSI certification underscores our dedication to embedding diversity and inclusion at the core of what we do," says ASCI President and CEO Christine Hopkins. For example, ASCI participates in the SkillBridge program, transitioning military veterans to civilian careers. ascillc.com

Polyseal/MCGA

Polyseal Insulation recently purchased Mobile Concrete and Grout of Alaska (MCGA) and renamed the company Polyseal/MCGA. The purchase has been in the works since October of 2023, and papers were signed at the end of January 2024. Terry Waschke, the previous owner of MCGA, continues as a consultant for MCGA. The company plans to focus on being the best spray foam and structural geo foam company in Alaska, and the purchase adds new tools to Polyseal’s existing kit. Services now include slip-line grouting, batching, superbag mixes, remote concrete work, void filling or abandonments, compaction grouting, full-service spray foam, deep injection, foundation lifting, helical piers, slab lifting, and attic restoration. polysealinsulation.com

Contango ORE

Avidian Gold is selling its Alaska subsidiary to Contango ORE, the company involved in developing the Manh Choh mine near Tok. The $2.4 million deal covers two Interior properties: Golden Zone between Anchorage and Fairbanks and Amanita NE, near Fort Knox, the mine north

of Fairbanks operated by Manh Choh partner Kinross Gold. Contango ORE also has the option to take full ownership of Avidian’s Amanita property, also near Fort Knox. Dino Titaro, chairman of Toronto-based Avidian, says Contango is in a better position to advance exploration. contangoore.com

Systemcenter

Office furniture dealer Systemcenter opened a new showroom in Anchorage, becoming the exclusive dealer in Alaska of Haworth seating, tables, cabinets, and storage solutions. The showroom at 4401 Business Park Boulevard, N-42, operates by appointment, Monday to Friday. Systemcenter is a commercial furniture and storage dealership headquartered in Honolulu and previously serviced military customers in Alaska. The new showroom expands its reach to wider commercial markets. The exclusive Haworth dealership for Alaska was formerly managed by AAK Business Environments. systemcenter.com

Export Council of Alaska

At the Alaskan Export Leadership Luncheon in May, the Export Council of Alaska honored Triverus as the Exporter of the Year. The company manufactures aircraft carrier deck washing machines at its factory in Palmer and is expanding sales into Italy and Spain while also exploring municipal stormwater management applications. Triverus was also named Small Business of the Year 2024. Ramper Innovations was named the New Exporter of the Year. The maker of folding conveyor belts for loading cargo aircraft has distributors in Malaysia, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and Norway, and sales agents in Canada, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, and India. Lynden Logistics was named Export Services Provider of 2024, and the Alaska Travel Industry Association was awarded Service Exporter of the Year. exportalaska.com

RIGHT MOVES

Cape Fox Corporation

· The Alaska Native corporation for the village of Saxman, Cape Fox Corporation, hired Jason Brown as Senior Vice President of Construction Services. In that position, he leads the Cape Fox Corporation construction team and business lines for Cape Fox Federal Contracting Group. Brown most recently served as chief strategy officer for Bristol Bay Construction Holdings and as vice president of corporate development for Panhandle Power Solutions, both subsidiaries of Bristol Bay Native Corporation. Brown has an MBA in finance and marketing from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Bering Straits Native Corporation

· Bering Straits Native Corporation (BSNC) promoted attorney Jenna Krohn to Associate General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, leading compliance strategy for the Nome-based regional corporation and its subsidiaries. Krohn is a BSNC shareholder and an enrolled tribal member of the Native Village of Koyuk. She grew up in Anchorage and graduated from UAA with a bachelor’s degree in justice. Krohn earned her law degree from Mitchell Hamline School of Law in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Krohn began practicing at private firms in Anchorage, primarily in family law, employment law, and insurance defense. She joined BSNC as corporate counsel in 2021.

Alaska Legal Services Corporation

· Alaska Legal Services Corporation (ALSC) welcomed Maggie Humm as Executive Director in April. She had been holding the position on an interim basis for six months prior. ALSC is a private, nonprofit law firm that provides free civil legal aid to Alaskans who cannot afford it. Humm has worked with ALSC for more than twenty years, as an intern, staff attorney, supervising attorney, and deputy director before serving as interim executive director. In her practice, she has advocated for victims of violence and sexual assault and for underserved families and youth.

Peak Trust Company

· The Peak Trust Company brand of affiliated federally and state-chartered estate planning firms appointed Anchorage attorney Abigail “Abby” O’Connor as its Chief Fiduciary Officer. In this position, O'Connor works with Peak Trust partners and referral sources, contributing to the company's trust administration processes and growth strategy. She also serves as Alaska chair of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, collaborating with legal professionals around the country on wills, trusts, and gift tax law. O'Connor leads her own private legal practice, O'Connor Law, dedicated to estate and business succession planning.

Northrim Bank

Leadership changes at Northrim Bank did not end earlier this year with Chairman of the Board Joe Schierhorn, a charter employee since 1990, yielding his President and CEO titles to Mike Huston. Other officers rose to greater levels of responsibility.

· Jason Criqui is now Executive Vice President, Chief Banking Officer. Criqui has been with Northrim since 2014. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Emporia State University and graduated from Pacific Coast Banking School.

· Melody Charlton was hired as Senior Vice President, Compliance Director in January. Her thirty-eight years of experience includes time as a compliance examiner for the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and an attorney for KeyBank. She holds a law degree from ClevelandMarshall College of Law.

· Gerard Diemer started with Northrim in February as Vice President, Lending Systems Operations Manager with more than thirty-seven years of experience in the financial industry. A longtime Alaskan, he holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Gonzaga University.

· Kendra Loges is promoted to Vice President, Business Applications Manager. Loges has been with Northrim for a total of sixteen years. She is a certified project management professional.

· Stephanie Love is now Vice President, Marketing & Sales Manager. Love has been with Northrim since 2016 and has more than twenty years of experience in the financial industry. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Maine.

RIGHT MOVES IS BROUGHT TO YOU B Y NORTHERN AIR CARGO

Brown

Krohn

Humm

O’Connor

·Dorothy MacKenzie becomes Vice President, Commercial Loan Portfolio Manager. MacKenzie started at Northrim 2019 as a credit analyst. She has a degree in economics and art history from Smith College in Massachusetts and an MBA from the college of William and Mary.

·Delores Siah is promoted to Vice President, District Branch Manager. Siah has been with Northrim since 2013 and has more than twenty-five years of banking experience. She is a graduate of the Northrim Management Academy.

·Diana Soliday is now Vice President, District Branch Manager, with more than twenty years of experience in the financial industry. She is a graduate of the Northrim Management Academy and coordinates the bank’s school-business partnership with MatSu Career and Technical High School.

·Astrid Erdman, the new Associate Vice President, Treasury Management Consultant, began her banking career in Frankfurt, Germany before joining Northrim in 2017. She completed the Northrim Bank Management Academy and is a certified accredited payables specialist.

·Tori Mejia is promoted to Associate Vice President, Mortgage Servicing Assistant Manager. Mejia began her career with Northrim in 2021. She holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Alaska Pacific University and completed the Northrim Management Academy.

·Deanna Radich is a newly hired Associate Vice President, Lending Compliance Manager. Radich has more than twenty-five years of banking experience and is a certified regulatory compliance manager. She holds an MBA from the University of Southern Indiana.

· Blake Rod becomes Associate Vice President, Loan Officer - Commercial.

Rod has been with Northrim since 2018 and has more than nine years of banking experience in Alaska. He holds a bachelor’s

degree in business from Minnesota State University Mankato.

Alaska Native Heritage Center

In time for its 25th anniversary this summer, the Alaska Native Heritage Center (ANHC) added new members to its leadership team.

· Elizabeth Uyuruciaq David was appointed Finance Director, playing a crucial role in projecting revenue goals. David has more than twentyfive years of experience in finance, most recently as senior Indigenous finance director for First Alaskans Institute. Born and raised in Bethel, David is Yup’ik and tribally enrolled in the Native Village of Kwigillingok. She earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and accounting from UAF and finished her MBA there.

· ANHC promoted Kelsey Ciugun Wallace to Vice President of Strategic Advancement and Communications. Wallace was previously director of development and communications, returning to ANHC staff in 2022 after starting her professional experience there as an intern. Wallace is Yup’ik, originally from Bethel (which ANHC calls by its Central Yup’ik name, Mamterilleq). She obtained her undergraduate degree from UAF in rural development with a concentration in Indigenous organizational management and a minor in the Central Yup’ik language. · Gregory Stewart, previously senior manager of grants, was promoted to Director of Grants, in charge of all grant opportunities to benefit cultural and educational programming at ANHC. Originally from Long Island, New York,

he moved to Anchorage in 2019 after a brief internship in the summer of 2018 with the Northern Alaska Environmental Center. He has a bachelor’s degree in English and history from State University of New York at Geneseo and a master’s degree in creative publishing and critical journalism from The New School in New York City. · Michelle Maŋiaq Trefon was promoted from cultural program manager to Senior Manager of Cultural Programs. In this role, Trefon continues to lead ANHC’s internship program, private tours, school visits, dance performances, and games demonstrations. She serves as a lead culture bearer for ANHC and subject matter expert in Alaska Native history and culture. Her background is Dena’ina, Iñupiaq, Thai, and Laotian, and she was born and raised in Anchorage. She first worked at ANHC at age 14 as a summer intern.

ANC Airport

· The Interim Airport Director at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) is Angie Spear, previously the director of Fairbanks International Airport (FAI). The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities promoted Spear to succeed former lieutenant governor Craig Campbell, retiring after two years as ANC airport director. Spear has been with FAI since 2005, starting as the marketing, communications, and air service development manager. In 2012, she became deputy director, and she has been director since 2018. During her tenure FAI expanded passenger service by more than 30 percent.

Wallace

David

Stewart Gallagher Spear

ALASKA TRENDS

Ai rplanes were barely a decade old when the technology arrived in Alaska’s sky. The first flight took place in 1913, when early adopters James and Lily Martin shipped a biplane via the Klondike and assembled it in Fairbanks as part of a demonstration tour.

About a decade after that, in the summer of 1924, Noel Wien completed the first airplane flight from Anchorage to Fairbanks. This month marks the centennial of Wien’s first Bush flight to miners in Livengood, and the same year saw Carl Ben Eielson deliver the first airmail in Alaska from Fairbanks to McGrath. Air travel evolved hand-in-hand with the development of Alaska as a US territory.

Today, aviation contributes about $3.8 billion to the state economy, according to the Alaska Division of Statewide Aviation. The number of licensed pilots, as a portion of the entire population, is six times the rate in the rest of the country, and Alaska has sixteen times as many aircraft per capita.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) counted 2 million “enplanements” by air passengers in Alaska for fiscal year (FY) 2021, or 2.9 times the population of the entire state; the national rate of enplanements was just 1.1 times US population. Alaska has 391 public-use airports—more than Texas or California—plus nearly as many private and military landing areas. Pilots used FAA flight service stations 1,406,761 times in FY2021, or nearly 4,000 activities every day.

This month’s article “Regional Turbulence” by Alexandra Kay spotlights the importance of rural airports and the state’s 309 certificated carriers that connect them. The instrument panel for this edition of Alaska Trends displays more facts for frequent flyers. Up, up, and away!

SOURCES: FAA Alaska Region Aviation Fact Sheet, January 2022; Alaska International Airport System, Annual Activity Summary Report FY20-FY2029; dot.alaska.gov/stwdav/index.shtml

Annual Takeoff Weights by Percentage

Aircraft Landings

82% of Alaska communities depend on aviation for year-round access.

9,127 Active pilots

761 Landing areas

The busiest, by number of tower operations in FY 2021

Annual Passenger Traffic by Location

Field (MRI)

Stevens (ANC)

Hood (LHD)

35,000 Aviationrelated Jobs

8,713 Registered aircraft

What book is currently on your nightstand?

I just started a romance novel called Bride by Ali Hazelwood, and I’m in the middle of reading Endangered Eating by Sarah Lohman.

What charity or cause are you passionate about?

Food access and food justice... Gender rights and gender safety.

What’s the first thing you do when you get home after a long day at work?

I work in a Winnebago in my driveway, so it’s not a long commute. I probably think about dinner; I’m a food motivated person.

What vacation spot is on your bucket list? I’ve been thinking about Japan lately.

If you could domesticate a wild animal, what animal would it be?

I might have to abstain [she laughs]. I feel like I want the wild animals to be wild.

Photos by Chelsea Haisman

OFF THE CUFF

Amy O'Neill Houck

Copper River salmon comes ashore in Cordova to be shared with diners around the world, so naturally that’s where Amy O’Neill Houck tells the story of the state’s food resources in the pages of Edible Alaska .

Houck has co-owned the quarterly magazine with co-editor and co-publisher Jeremy Pataky since 2019. “We have learned from our readers that they find print to be a more trustworthy medium. They enjoy the tactile experience,” she says.

Houck had written for Edible Alaska before taking the reins from founder Mary Smith. She has a master’s degree in creative nonfiction from UAA and has published three books of knitting and crocheting patterns; apart from words, wool is her chosen medium of expression.

Yet food was always part of the picture. As a teenager, she started a catering business. “I think I got a love of food and feeding people from my grandmother and my mom,” she says.

Now she tells stories of food and drink harvesters and preparers. “The food that’s created in the state, using Alaska ingredients,” she explains. “And of course Alaska has a subsistence culture which is pretty unique.”

Alaska Business: What do you do in your free time? Amy O’Neill Houck: I play music with friends. I play the fiddle and the ukulele, and I’m a singer.

AB: Is there a skill you’re currently developing or have always wanted to learn?

Houck: As far as music, I consider myself a constant beginner. And the same with drawing; I’m a doodler.

AB: What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever done?

Houck: Being a parent. It’s a wild ride.

AB: What are you superstitious about?

Houck: I have some of my mom’s superstitions that I will still carry out, like I will pat the plane when I get on the plane. I spill salt over my left shoulder if I spill salt.

AB: What’s your favorite local restaurant? Houck: Baja Taco.

AB: Dead or alive, who would you like to see perform live in concert? Houck: Joni Mitchell.

AB: What’s your greatest extravagance?

Houck: Might be my attachment to dark chocolate.

AB: What’s your best attribute and worst attribute? Houck: One positive attribute is that I find myself to be full of ideas. That can also be negative as well… Could be that I have more ideas than I have capacity to execute.

ADVERTISERS INDEX

3-Tier Alaska 63 3tieralaska.com

Airport Equipment Rentals 107 airportequipmentrentals.com/

Alaska Mergers & Acquisitions, LLC 39

Alaska Railroad 47 akrr.com

Alaska School Activities Association 51 asaa.org

American Heart Association 21 alaskaheartrun.org

Anchorage Chrysler Dodge ........................ 57 accak.com

Anchorage Convention Centers .................. 15 anchorageconventioncenters.com

Anchorage Sand & Gravel ........................... 35 anchsand.com

Arctic Slope Regional Corporation .............. 79 asrc.com

Bering Straits Native Corp 55 beringstraits.com

Chenega Corporation 75 chenega.com

CIRI 85 ciri.com

Conrad-Houston Insurance Agency 71 chialaska.com

Construction Machinery Industrial 2 cmiak.com

Cook Inlet Tug & Barge Inc 47 cookinlettug.com

crowley.com

Craig Taylor Equipment 99 craigtaylorequipment.com Crowley Fuels

Denali Commercial ......................................

denalicommercial.com

DILLON FINDLEY & SIMONIAN, P.C. 81 dillonfindley.com

Dorsey & Whitney LLP 91 dorsey.com/locations/anchorage

Doyon Utilities ............................................ 71 doyonutilities.com ENSTAR Natural

enstarnaturalgas.com

jagalaska.com