In wake of tax cut, ConocoPhillips reviews spending in Alaska A month after state lawmakers approved a multibillion-dollar oil tax cut, ConocoPhillips executives told investors they hope to ramp up oil production, but offered no specifics.May 15, 2013

The company caught many by surprise when it snatched up 500,000 acres in a 2010 lease sale.

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But two years after executives told lawmakers the company could pump one million barrels into TAPS a day, it isn’t even close to serious production.

Former Alaska revenue commissioner Patrick Galvin, now deputy general counsel at the company, said Great Bear is analyzing geological data from wells drilled last year.

“We’ve got a lot of information that we’ve obtained from those first two wells and the seismic data, and we’re still in the process of evaluating that,” he said Tuesday evening.

That’s taking place in the San Francisco Bay Area. Galvin would not say how many wells he hopes the company will frack, or whether initial projections were too high.

“We’ve got a lot of acreage and a lot of determinations to make as to what a full field development would look like,” he said.

Great Bear plans on cracking the source rock on the North Slope with a mix of chemicals to release oil. About a quarter of the wells in the state have been hydraulically fractured.

Unlike the Marcellus Shale in the Eastern U.S. – these wells would primarily harvest oil, not gas.

And unlike the Lower 48, some environmental groups are welcoming the possibilities. The water table near the proposed well sites is filled with brackish water, so it couldn’t be consumed by humans.

Lois Epstein, an engineer who works with the Wilderness Society, said the conservation community could get behind this proposal; in part because the operations will be on state land, land she said is less sensitive than federally protected acres.

And as an Alaskan, it’s good to see more oil in the pipeline.

“It could be a good thing for the state of Alaska to increase flows through the Trans Alaska Pipeline by tapping into resources near the existing infrastructure,” Epstein said.

The company’s two existing wells are near the Dalton Highway.

“They’ve chosen it for more than just the geology,” said Cathy Foerster, chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. “They’ve chosen it because it’s got some ‘close-ology’ – it’s close to existing infrastructure.”

Foerster said in the past companies have started near existing gravel roads and infrastructure and then moved further away as production scaled up.

“Unless you’re going to find another Prudhoe Bay, you can’t afford to build your own infrastructure. You need to rely on what’s already in place,” she said.

The company has not applied for any permits beyond the ones it has for six well sites along the Dalton Highway.

Foerster said she remains optimistic the project will still pan out even though the state is considering new regulations on fracking. A public comment period on proposed rule changes – like requiring producers to disclose fluids online – just ended.

“We’re not proposing anything that’s out of line with other states that are doing hydraulic fracturing of shale,” she said.

Great Bear’s Pat Galvin said he too remains optimistic about the prospect. But the project appears to be taking longer than expected.

The company’s founder Ed Duncan told legislators two years ago that he’d be pumping oil into TAPS by last summer.

Pavlof Volcano Erupting on May 14, 2013 — Credit: Gina Stafford

Pavlof Volcano put on a light show for residents of several communities on the Alaska Peninsula Tuesday night. Activity at the volcano has increased, and it’s spewing ash up to 20,000 feet.

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Cold Bay resident Molly Watson was watching Pavlof for signs of activity from her kitchen window on Tuesday evening.

“And I’d kind of given up, thinking ‘ehn, we’re not going to see anything else, just smoke.’ As soon as I mentally thought that, and I was actually writing it to a friend — I was emailing — and sure enough, I saw this spark, and I was like ‘what is that?!’”

Watson says at first it just looked like a faint glow on the side of the mountain, but that it got clearer over time.

“As it got darker you could really see it shooting up and out — and then you could see the lava flow going down the side of the mountain.”

Pavlof was also shooting up ash clouds — some of them rising up to 20,000 feet. Alaska Volcano Observatory scientist-in-charge John Power:

“Most of the plumes that we’ve been seeing are more in the 15,000 foot range, and seem to be falling out of the atmosphere quite quickly. So, so far there hasn’t been any widespread ashfall from this, and it certainly has not gotten up high enough to affect international air travel.”

Nevertheless, an advisory has been issued for all flights in the area, and Power says the Observatory will be monitoring for ash clouds reaching 30,000 feet or above. He adds that other agencies are keeping a close eye on air quality in local communities.

“There is some concern for ash fallout, although in the 2007 eruption, it didn’t pose much of problem for those communities, and we’ll be hopeful that that’s the case this time.”

So long as it is, Cold Bay and Sand Point residents can rest easy, and continue to enjoy the light show.

The recent detection of two cases of rabies in wolves trapped south of the Brooks Range has prompted concern about whether the deadly disease has re-emerged in the interior.  Many pet owners in Fairbanks are getting their animals vaccinated as a precaution.

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Passengers board the ferry Malaspina while vehicles wait to load at the Auke Bay terminal in Juneau. Travelers will no longer be able to take advantage of some discounts, due to budget cuts. Photo by Ed Schoenfeld, CoastAlaska News.

Say so long to summer drivers riding the ferry for free.

Wave goodbye to the winter roundtrip discount.

And printed schedules? Those are on their way out too.

They won’t happen for a while. But the changes are some of the ways the Alaska Marine Highway will address a $3.5-million spending cut mandated by the Legislature.

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Ferry Business Enterprise Director Dick Leary described the cuts at Tuesday’s Marine Transportation Advisory Board meeting.

He said managers won’t cut sailings where tickets have already been sold. That means no reductions to the summer schedule that runs through September.

“We also feel very strongly that the winter schedule as it now exists is a bare-bottom service level and so if possible, we don’t want to cut any of the winter schedule,” Leary said. “And that takes us from October first to April 30th. So, of course, you put one and two together and you’ve only got May and June left.”

Managers also agreed that none of the system’s 35 port communities should lose service for an extended amount of time.

But there will be some cuts.

Link to a PowerPoint presentation describing budget changes. Scroll down to the fifth page.

The Taku will not operate on its Prince Rupert-to-Juneau run in June of 2014. That reduces sailings to Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, Kake and Sitka. Another ship, the Malaspina, will continue to offer that service.

The Juneau-based fast ferry Fairweather will sail less often during the first two weeks of next May. That affects Sitka and Lynn Canal routes.

Advisory board member Gerry Hope of Sitka said that hurts his hometown.

“It seems like we’re a frequent visitor to your cut-budget system. I want to support you; I want to back you up. But it feels at this point that I can’t get fully on board, no pun intended,” Hope said.

Business Director Leary said other cuts were chosen to avoid further service reductions. The roundtrip discounts will go away this fall. The drivers-ride-free program will end at the same time.

Board Chairman Robert Venables said the marine highway should prepare for further reductions.

“It was obvious that the Legislature’s squeezing all areas of the state budget and that’s going to be a trend that’s going to continue for the foreseeable future. This year’s cuts were probably more of a nick than an amputation,” Venables said.

Officials said they would consider raising ticket prices and retiring ferries if further cuts come in future years.

Photo by Lauren Rosenthal, KUCB – Unalaska

Atka is home to just 71 people. But that’s about to change. The city’s processing plant wants to quadruple its workforce — and with that, the community is ramping up a campaign to replace its dilapidated clinic.

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Photo by Lauren Rosenthal, KUCB – Unalaska

When patients step over the threshold into Atka’s health clinic, they’re taking a bit of a risk.

Millie Prokopeuff: “Because our floor is rotting right now. We had to put a board over it to keep it safe because it was so soft, so that we didn’t lose any patients or anybody coming in.”

That’s Millie Prokopeuff. She’s the village’s wellness advocate, and the clinic’s only permanent employee.

The 33-year-old building houses the clinic on the first floor, and Atka’s city hall on the second floor.

Prokopeuff: “And it’s so old, and the nails are starting to pull out themselves just from the wind and the building swaying back and forth.”

In addition to the structural decay, Prokopeuff says it’s also becoming clear that the clinic isn’t big enough to serve the community anymore.

Prokopeuff: “We have no space. Like if we ever had an emergency of six or more, there would be no – it would be really hard. Because there’s no rooms, no beddings, nothing.”

Atka didn’t used to have a reason to plan for an emergency like that – one that would send six people to the clinic in a single day. But it’s not so far-fetched.

Photo by Lauren Rosenthal, KUCB – Unalaska

At a ceremony last week, celebrating the completion of some big infrastructure projects in Atka, representatives from the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Community Development Association, or APICDA, gave more details on a plan to triple production capacity at their fish plant.

Atka Pride Seafoods only employs about 15 processors now. But APICDA’s chief operating officer John Sevier told villagers that that’s about to change.

Sevier: “Our plans over the next few years is to put a 65 person bunkhouse here. That will probably be within the next year.”

In one fell swoop, Atka’s population will nearly double —  from 71 villagers, to about 140 residents and workers. That’s added incentive to get a new medical facility built, and fast.

City administrator Julie Dirks says now that the village finished its 17-year-long project to build a hydroelectric power plant, she’s zeroing in on the clinic.

The Aleutian Pribilof Island Association is getting involved, and they’re lobbying Congress for funding on Atka’s behalf. But with the federal budget being stretched so thin already, Dirks says she isn’t holding her breath.

Dirks: “[I'm] not gonna sit and wait for them to do it. I’ll still be doing my bit.”

Her bit is lobbying the state. Atka requested $500,000 in capital funding from the state during this legislative session to finish off the design plans and lay the groundwork for even more fundraising. That request was denied – and Dirks says it wasn’t the first time.

Dirks: “I put it in there every year. It’s our number one priority in this village here.”

Dirks says the design is 95 percent complete, and it’s pretty straightforward. It gives the clinic more space to examine patients, a dedicated morgue, and moves the city hall entrance away from the clinic’s front door.

The estimated price tag is more than $3 million, and rising. That’s more than Atka’s annual budget. And while Atkans are used to pursuing expensive projects on a long timeline, with the clinic floor about to give way, they may not be able to wait.

Scientists: Rapid Arctic changes require fast action As world leaders met in Sweden to discuss the state of the region at the Arctic Council, scientists released a book-length report examining how the changing Arctic may impact those living in the North.May 15, 2013

State wildlife officials have closed a subsistence musk ox hunt near Kotzebue because of evidence of wanton waste of the animals. Area biologists say five cow musk oxen from the Cape Thompson herd were killed sometime during January or February of this year.

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According to Jim Dau a biologist with the state office in Kotzebue, wildlife officials were tipped off to the killings when two musk oxen bodies were spotted by census takers last month.

On further investigation, Wildlife Troopers found 5 more cow moose bodies that had apparently been shot, and left unsalvaged.

Dau says the illegal harvests exceeded the harvest quota for the unit. The hunt was scheduled to open July 1. The closure does not affect a similar musk ox hunt on the Seward Peninsula.

State officials are keeping an eye on anticipated flood conditions in the Interior of the state, but in the Matanuska Susitna Borough flooding is already starting. Borough officials say the ground is saturated with rain from last fall’s heavy storms, and that, coupled with the lack of snow this winter is causing conditions that give melting ice runoff nowhere to go.

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A Petersburg fisherman has recovered more than half of the hand-carved cedar paddles that were lost by the One People Canoe Society late last month.

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There are not great numbers of female rappers and Alaska Native female rappers probably number in the single digits. But one such artist is finding great success in the state and around the world as a woman with a passion for raising awareness of the struggles of Native people.

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Individual news stories are posted on the APRN news page. You can subscribe to APRN’s newsfeeds via email, podcast and RSS. Follow us on Facebook at alaskapublic.org and on Twitter @aprn.

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Great Bear Undecided On 2013 Drilling Season

Peter Granitz, APRN – Washington DC

A few years ago, executives from start up oil company Great Bear Petroleum told Alaska legislators they’d drill some two hundred North Slope wells per year for fifteen years.

Activity Increases At Pavlof Volcano

Stephanie Joyce, KUCB – Unalaska

Pavlof Volcano put on a light show for residents of several communities on the Alaska Peninsula on Tuesday night. Activity at the volcano has increased, and it’s spewing ash up to 20,000 feet.

Interior Rabies Cases Prompt Animals Vaccinations

Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks

The recent detection of two cases of rabies in wolves trapped south of the Brooks Range has prompted concern about whether the deadly disease has re-emerged in the interior.  Many pet owners in Fairbanks are getting their animals vaccinated as a precaution.

Marine Highway Dropping Discounts To Save Money

Ed Schoenfeld, CoastAlaska – Juneau

Say so long to summer drivers riding the ferry for free. Wave goodbye to the winter roundtrip discount. And printed schedules? Those are on their way out too. The changes are some of the ways the Alaska Marine Highway plans to address a $3.5-million spending cut mandated by the Legislature.

Atka Searches For Funds To Replace Aging Health Clinic

Lauren Rosenthal, KUCB – Unalaska

The remote village of Atka, in the western Aleutians, is home to just 71 people. But that’s about to change. The local processing plant wants to quadruple its workforce – and with that, the city of Atka is ramping up a campaign to replace its dilapidated clinic.

Officials Close Kotzebue-Area Subsistence Musk Ox Hunt

Ellen Lockyer, KSKA – Anchorage

State wildlife officials have closed a subsistence musk ox hunt near Kotzebue because of evidence of wanton waste of the animals.   Area biologists say five cow musk oxen from the Cape Thompson herd were killed sometime during January or February of this year.

According to Jim Dau a biologist with the state office in Kotzebue,  wildlife officials were tipped off to the killings when two musk oxen bodies were spotted by census takers last month.

On further investigation, Wildlife Troopers found 5 more cow moose bodies that had apparently been shot, and left unsalvaged.

Dau says the illegal harvests exceeded the harvest quota for the unit. The hunt was scheduled to open July 1. The closure does not affect a similar musk ox hunt on the Seward Peninsula.

State Keeping Close Eye On Mat-Su Flood Conditions

Ellen Lockyer, KSKA – Anchorage

State officials are keeping an eye on anticipated flood conditions in the Interior of the state, but in the Matanuska Susitna Borough flooding is already starting. Borough officials say the ground is saturated with rain from last fall’s heavy storms, and that, coupled with the lack of snow this winter is causing conditions that give melting ice runoff nowhere to go.

Fisherman Recovers Over Half Of Group’s Lost Canoe Paddles

Matt Lichtenstein, KFSK – Petersburg

A Petersburg fisherman has recovered more than half of the hand-carved cedar paddles that were lost by the One People Canoe Society late last month.

Female Alaska Native Rapper Finding Worldwide Success

Lori Townsend, APRN – Anchorage

There are not great numbers of female rappers and Alaska Native female rappers probably number in the single digits. But one such artist is finding great success in the state and around the world as a woman with a passion for raising awareness of the struggles of Native people.

Rasmuson Foundation announces 2013 grant, fellowship winners Alaska's Rasmuson Foundation announced the winners of its 2013 fellowships and grant awards, including Tlingit weaver Teri Rofkar, who won the coveted Distinguished Artist award.May 15, 2013

Controlled fire planned this week at Anchorage International Airport You may see big billowing plumes of smoke this week, coming from nearby the Anchorage international airport. How big a deal are the live-fire exercises? It depends on where you live.May 15, 2013

An off-duty RCMP officer who clipped a Fulda rental SUV with the wing of his private airplane at 200 kilometres an hour pleaded guilty to the crime Tuesday afternoon.

The Yukon Hospital Corp. knew as of late May 2012 that Dowland Construction Ltd. had not paid at least one subcontractor working on two rural hospital projects.

Christina Asp has refused to testify in the first-degree murder trial of her boyfriend, Norman Larue, and has been cited for contempt of court.

It was an experience that 20 local high school students won’t soon forget.

Cadet Corporal Brendan Curteanu of Whitehorse carried the Yukon flag during the National Cadet Marksmanship Championship opening ceremony recently held at historic Fort George, in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.

As North Korea heats up, South Korea and Japan should warm ties Cooperation on missile defense between South Korea and Japan would help blunt threats from North Korea. But Japanese officials' recent insensitivity to Imperial Japan's painful role in World War II, including forcing South Koreans to become 'comfort women,' works against cooperation.May 15, 2013