The firm developing the proposed trans-Alaska natural gas pipeline has proposed limiting the price for natural gas sold through the pipeline to Alaskans. If accepted by legislators, the limit would prevent the cost of gas from rising if the pipeline costs more than expected. The new proposal from pipeline developer Glenfarne comes as the Alaska […]
The Trump administration has denied Alaska’s request for a larger federal cost share for disaster recovery efforts following devastation wrought by the remnants of Typhoon Halong in Western Alaska last fall. In a May 31 denial letter, a senior official with the Federal Emergency Management Agency denied the state’s appeal for a 90% federal cost […]
This story is co-published by Northern Journal and Bethel-based public media outlet KYUK. HOOPER BAY, ALASKA — Every few weeks this winter, 75-year-old Harvey Joe, an Yup’ik elder in this Western Alaska village, climbed onto his snowmachine. Dragging a sled with a fuel drum on top, he’d bump 20 miles across the tundra to the neighboring […]
The leader of the coalition majority in the Alaska House of Representatives will leave his seat and run for state Senate. On Wednesday, Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, filed as a candidate with the Alaska Division of Elections for the Senate seat covering Southwest Alaska. Edgmon said he decided to run “with some […]
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed a bipartisan bill aimed at streamlining the state’s elections process on Thursday, just seven months ahead of high-stakes state and federal elections in November. Leaders with the multipartisan House Majority caucus said there will be a joint legislative veto override vote within the next few days. In a prepared statement […]
The Alaska Legislature on Wednesday approved a stopgap budget bill amid an ongoing debate among lawmakers around war-driven oil revenues and whether to draw from state savings. The stopgap budget bill contains $449.6 million in state spending including for disaster relief, construction, education, correctional officer overtime and some public assistance programs — expenses accrued since […]
The Alaska House of Representatives on Thursday postponed its final vote on a fast-track supplemental budget bill that would use the state’s largest savings account to cover some shortfalls in the current state budget. Members of the House voted 21-19 to pull the bill from the House floor after it became clear that there were […]
The Alaska Legislature is expected to declare this week that parts of Western Alaska are still in a state of disaster following a major storm in October. On Monday, the Alaska Senate voted 19-0 to extend a state of disaster until early March, retroactively extending a disaster declaration that expired Feb. 6. “While there has […]
Leading members of the Alaska House of Representatives said Friday that Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s ambitious long-term state fiscal plan has almost no support among legislators and is almost certainly dead on arrival. House leaders spoke with reporters Friday morning, a day after members of the House Finance Committee heard two hours of public testimony on […]