Category: Alaska News

The state of Alaska is looking for someone to take the Matanuska, one of the first three ships built as part of the Alaska Marine Highway System after statehood.

In a public notice published Friday afternoon, the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities said it is now looking for “interested parties regarding the opportunities to dispose of the vessel in a manner that honors its historic significance while allowing it to continue serving Alaska in new innovative ways.” 

DOT is primarily looking for people or groups interested in operating the Matanuska “as a museum vessel, maritime training ship, tourism or hospitality venue, community facility, research platform, heritage site, or other maritime or public-serving use,” according to a detailed document accompanying the public notice.

Any applicant would have to demonstrate that they have the financial resources necessary to take care of the ship.

Retired ferries are notoriously expensive to operate, and idealistic plans for other ships have repeatedly fallen apart. The former Washington state ferry Kalakala was turned into a cannery in Kodiak, recovered and towed back to Washington, but fell derelict and almost sank into a canal before being scrapped in 2015.

The Alaska ferry Taku was intended for use as a hotel after its retirement, but it ultimately ended up being scrapped in India. 

The ferry Malaspina was retired by the Alaska Marine Highway System in 2022 and is now being used as housing at a cruise ship terminal in Ketchikan. The business partners behind that effort are now fighting in court over a variety of issues.

Built in 1963, the Matanuska served as an active ferry for almost 60 years and still has a gold-painted funnel indicating its status as the “Queen of the Fleet,” the oldest operating ship in state service.

Despite that honor, the Matanuska has been out of regular service for at least three years, and has been laid up in Ketchikan for use as a “hotel ship” by the ferry system. Last year, DOT officials said the ferry system lacked the money needed to return the ship to service, and they recommended fully retiring it.

Proposals for the Matanuska’s future are due to DOT by 2 p.m. April 14. 

“Letters of interest proposing scrapping, dismantling, or scuttling the vessel may be submitted for informational purposes,” the agency said, but for the time being, it’s looking at ideas to reuse the ship.

The post Alaska prepares to get rid of historic ferry Matanuska, one of state’s oldest appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

This time there’s no doubt and Mother Nature provided a last-minute surge of snow just to be sure.

Juneau officially set the all-time record for winter snowfall on Monday, with a record 5.4 inches at the airport as of 11:59 p.m., putting the total since Oct. 1 at 201.2 inches, according to the National Weather Service Juneau. The city began the day 2.1 inches short of the record — to the surprise of many, including weather officials who on Sunday raised the previous record to 197.9 inches after discovering 7.5 inches of “missing” snowfall from 2006-2007 data.

About an inch fell at Juneau International Airport by early afternoon Monday, at which point NWS Juneau issued a “special weather statement” calling for one to three inches of snow the rest of the day.

What happened was indeed special.

“Basically what happened is we had a boundary just stall across the Juneau area and just had moisture running over top that boundary, and that just allowed us to have continuous snowfall into the evening until we started to get those winds to kind of increase and pick back up to move that boundary out,” Nick Morgan, a NWS Juneau meteorologist, said Tuesday morning.

Juneau’s snowfall for the month of March is 69.2 inches, which is also a new record.

The weather forecast doesn’t call for any more snow until possibly Sunday night. But much like some other periods this winter where breaks in the snow were accompanied by record cold spells, the mostly sunny skies forecast today and tomorrow are accompanied by weather conditions of official concern as a wind advisory is in effect for Juneau until Wednesday afternoon.

“Specifically for the downtown Juneau area, starting Tuesday afternoon into probably Wednesday afternoon, people will probably see some sustained winds of 15 to 25 miles an hour, with some gusts up to 50 miles an hour,” Morgan said.

“We’re having a fun winter, aren’t we?” he added.

Juneau’s record season of snow began in mid-November with the first of what would be many newsworthy events. City officials tore down a homeless encampment near the airport, citing a need to keep the area clear for plows in anticipation of the first significant accumulation during the coming days.

Exactly one inch of snow fell during November, well below the historical average of 13.8 inches — to say nothing of the 69.8 inches that fell in 1994, the all-time high since recordkeeping at the airport started in 1948.

On Dec. 11, the Juneau Independent published a story with the headline: “Weather service says to expect a dry, cold winter. Here are ways to be prepared.”

“We’re looking all the way out through the rest of January into February, we’re looking less precip and colder temperatures pretty much through most of this next winter, for the next three-month outlook in Southeast Alaska,” Jeff Garmon, head meteorologist at the Juneau weather service station, said at the time. “So we’ll probably get a little less snowfall than we typically would, and we’re probably going to be colder than we normally would be, which means drier, colder air from the Interior.”

The weather clearly had other ideas.

A record 9.6 inches fell at the airport on Dec. 6, resulting in the first measurable snowpack that month at the airport. Another four inches fell Dec. 7, causing widespread power outages. Then on Monday, the first instance of heavy snow being followed by intense cold occurred, with the first sub-zero temperature of the winter recorded Dec. 10 at minus 5.8 degrees Fahrenheit.

Snow returned in force on Dec. 15 when yet another record was set with 9.2 inches of accumulation, putting the monthly total at 29.3 inches — well past the monthly average of 20.2 inches. But what Juneau residents now commonly refer to as “Snowmageddon” or “Snowpocalypse” was just getting started.

Another sub-zero cold snap — which had homeless campers pleading for heating fuel bottles, and caused problems with water pipes at Eaglecrest Ski Area and elsewhere — had Juneau in a deep freeze leading up to winter solstice. Daily cold-temperature records were set three times during a four-day period ending Dec. 22.

A mass snowfall event began Dec. 27, with Juneau receiving the most accumulation during a five-day period in recorded history, with some areas reporting depths of more than six feet. The December snowfall total at Juneau’s airport reached 82 inches, shattering the old record of 54.7 inches set in 1964.

The results were dire in many ways as boats and their shelters sank, roofs at businesses collapsed, water pipes burst and froze, and residents in some small Southeast communities were isloated without plane or ferry service for extended periods.

The situation didn’t arrive with the arrival of the New Year as, among other things, the fuel canopy at Fred Meyer’s gas station collapsed on Jan. 1 and the store itself was evacuated due to roof safety concerns. Snowload concerns at that store and the Nugget Mall would result in both being closed for multiple-day stretches.

A snowfall disaster declaration, announced Jan. 6 by Juneau’s municipal government by the city and Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, was ratified by the Juneau Assembly a day later, allowing state aid to help with clearing and repair efforts. The record-breaker situation put Alaska’s capital city in the global media spotlight, with legitimate media and AI-driven websites covering the situation with varying degrees of accuracy and folly.

More heavy snowfall during the first half of January also saw heavy rain that resulted in high avalanche, roofload and flooding concerns. An evacuation advisory for hundreds of residents living near slide paths resulted in an emergency shelter being set up at Centennial Hall where some families lived for days, while some residents in other areas struggled to keep their homes from being deluged by floodwaters.

On Jan. 13, City Manager Katie Koester told Assembly members that — with the help of more than 200 people flown in on one plane and a load of shovels on another — more than 3 million pounds of snow from municipal facilities and schools following the storms from previous weeks.

The airport received 21.1 inches of snow during the month of January, below the historical average of 24.5 inches. But the February total of 27.9 inches surpassed the average of 16.7 inches, including a record 9.6 inches on Feb. 28. In a moment of supreme irony, a study released that month declared the length of Juneau’s winters are shrinking faster than any other city in a national study due to climate change.

March came in like a lion and kept roaring, with a record 7.3 inches of snow March 3, followed by a series of snow showers during the next few weeks that put Juneau within seeming reach of the all-time record by last Thursday, with total airport accumulation at 181.7 inches. The long-held assumption was the official record was 194.3 inches set in 1964-65.

More snow showers, including a daily record of 3.6 inches on Sunday, put Juneau’s total at 195.8 inches — except that was also the day NWS Juneau officially changed the record by adding 7.5 inches to the total from 2006-07, setting the new benchmark of 197.9 inches.

Nicole Ferrin, warning coordination meteorologist for the Juneau weather station, said Monday that Aaron Jacobs, an employee at the station since 2002, raised concerns about the accuracy of local climate records based on having worked and lived through the winter of 2006-07.

“He’s the one that pointed out to the rest of us that this was a problem, and they’d actually attempted to fix the climate record quite a few years ago,” she said. “And I guess we didn’t have the paper copies back then to back it up, but we found other sources to get the climate record correct.”

Ferrin said local staff spent the previous week examining records trying to confirm — and update if necessary — the data, with an eye on making sure any declaration a new snowfall record for Juneau is indeed accurate.

A short time later on Monday, NWS Juneau issued its special weather statement calling for up to three inches of snow — and when the clock reached midnight about nine hours later the winter of 2025-26 was officially one for the history books.

This story was originally published by the Juneau Independent.

The post Juneau officially has its snowiest winter on record appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who in January declared “there is simply no shortage of good news” about the Alaska LNG Project on the same day its developer said it was moving into an “execution phase,” is now proposing a massive tax cut for the company so the project doesn’t stumble.

A bill introduced by the governor Friday, exempting the pipeline from property taxes and instead imposing a tax on the volume of gas flowing through it, is part of a series of recent actions at the Alaska State Capitol indicating the long-discussed project is still far from certain.

Many policymakers say the gasline is indeed closer to reality than in past years, due largely to President Donald Trump’s aggressive push for expanded oil and gas drilling in Alaska. But there are strong differences about taxation and other details.

Critics of Dunleavy’s bill say it could cost the state billions of dollars in revenue compared to current taxation, while municipalities where the pipeline passes through would lose property taxes on that infrastructure. The governor told the Anchorage Daily News on Friday that if the pipeline isn’t built, then the state and municipalities will get nothing.

“So it’s a catalyst to billions upon billions upon billions of dollars and decades of future (revenue), not to mention the thousands of jobs and the other economic benefits from that,” Dunleavy told the newspaper.

A press release issued by the governor’s office on Friday asserts “the Alaska Department of Revenue estimates the legislation can raise more than $26 billion in tax and royalty revenue over 30 years, including more than $22 billion in state revenue (and) nearly $4 billion in local revenue.”

Those figures are being challenged by some lawmakers and policy analysts who are awaiting further details of the bill expected to be presented during legislative hearings this week. Among the concerns are a decade-long delay until the production tax begins, plus a complex array of rules and formulas involving taxes and royalties.

There is universal support — or nearly so — for a natural gas pipeline in the Alaska Legislature, said Senate Rules Chair Bill Wielechowski, an Anchorage Democrat who has made oil tax reforms a major plank in his political platform, in an online town hall Saturday. But in sketching out a hypothetical scenario, based on likely market conditions, he said Alaska in 10 to 15 years would be getting a pittance of its fair share under Dunleavy’s bill

“We’re in a situation where you’re going to have gas sold for $25 in which the State of Alaska gets maybe 15 to 20 cents — a very, very low amount,” Wielechowski said. “We don’t want to jeopardize the project, but we need to ensure that we’re getting, as a state, our constitutional maximum value for the resource.”

The Alaska LNG Project is an 800-mile pipeline transporting natural gas from the North Slope to Southcentral Alaska, with the intent of in-state use of the gas as well as export to foreign countries. The majority owner with a 75% stake is Glenfarne Group LLC, with the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. (a state-owned corporation) the minority owner.

The most recent official cost estimate for the project is $44 billion. Project supporters say it will create at least 7,000 construction jobs, plus hundreds of permanent year-round jobs during the operation of the pipeline, which has a 50-year projected lifespan.

Glenfarne issued a triumphant declaration on Jan. 22 that “a series of major advances” had moved the first phase of the project “from development into early execution” phase. Dunleavy, in his final State of the State address that night, stated a range of agreements and partnerships announced by Glenfarne meant the company “deserves enormous credit for this outstanding work that will benefit all of us.”

But Glenfarne still has not officially made a final investment decision to build the pipeline, and many of the agreements announced are pledges of intent or interest — not ironclad contracts to buy gas or otherwise invest in the project. Meanwhile, some key legislative leaders say they haven’t gotten enough information from the company to consider what taxes and other terms are appropriate to impose.

“It’s a little difficult for us to say this is the tax relief we should give,” Senate Majority Leader Cathy Giessel, an Anchorage Republican, said during a press conference last Tuesday.

The pipeline would bring in about $1 billion annually for the state under current property tax laws, if the project is assessed at $50 billion and 3.5 billion cubic feet of gas moves through it daily, Larry Persily, a former Alaska deputy commissioner of revenue, told the Anchorage Daily News. He said under Dunleavy’s plan — a tax of six cents per 1,000 cubic feet of gas, with a 1% annual rate increase — the state would get $75 million the first year the production tax is in effect.

The flow tax would not begin until either 10 years after gas starts flowing through the pipeline, or the daily annual flow is 1 billion cubic feet, whichever comes first. The 3.5 billion cubic feet figure is its projected flow once in full production.

The first of this week’s legislative hearings about the Alaska LNG Project occurred Monday when Glenfarne President Adam Prestidge, Northern Compass Group LLC President Mark Begich and Alaska Gas Line Development Corp. Commercial Director Matt Kissinger presented their arguments in favor to the House Resources Committee.

“In front of us right now, and in front of the state Legislature, is an incredible opportunity to develop and lead one of most important infrastructure projects in the entire world right now,” Prestidge said in his opening remarks to the committee.

The governor’s proposed tax change, Senate Bill 280, is scheduled to get its first hearing at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday by the Senate Resources Committee.

This story was originally published by the Juneau Independent.

The post Dunleavy seeks huge tax break for Alaska LNG Project, says state won’t benefit from any revenue if it isn’t built appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

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 Legislature and Gov. Mike Dunleavy adopted the state budget last year.

But the question of how and when all the items will be funded is still uncertain. Lawmakers chose to rely on anticipated oil revenue to fund the bill rather than drawing from savings. 

The Alaska Senate passed the budget bill by a 19 to 1 vote on Wednesday, with Sen. Robert Meyers, R-North Pole opposing. The bill was quickly transferred to the Alaska House where it passed unanimously by all 40 members. The bill now moves to the governor’s desk for his consideration.

The Legislature created a select bicameral conference committee to hammer out differences between House and Senate versions of the budget bill over the last week. 

The final bill includes $75 million for disaster relief to cover the state’s response to the Western Alaska storms last fall, and almost $100 million for fire suppression. It contains $20 million for the Alaska Department of Corrections for overtime spending, as well as $34.4 million for Medicaid and $12.8 million for other public assistance programs through the Alaska Department of Health. The bill allocates nearly $130 million toward the Alaska Higher Education Fund which provides grants and scholarships to students.

The spending bill also includes a time-sensitive appropriation for Alaska’s construction industry. It contains $70.2 million in state dollars to unlock roughly $630 million in federal grant funding that industry groups have said is essential for the summer construction season.

But how the nearly $450 million budget bill is funded is still in question. 

Legislators have been closely watching oil prices since the start of the Iran war, which state forecasters have projected could potentially generate hundreds of millions in state revenue for Alaska. 

Lawmakers agreed that if oil-driven state revenues from now until June 30, the end of the fiscal year, are not sufficient to cover the stopgap budget, then the Legislature will draw from state savings. That roughly pencils out to an average of $74 per barrel of oil through June to cover state spending, according to data provided by the House Finance Committee. 

But that vote to confirm drawing from savings again failed in the House on Wednesday — the fourth vote held in the House this year. To draw from Alaska’s main $3 billion savings account requires support from three-quarters of the House and Senate.

The Senate approved the immediate draw from savings on Wednesday by a 16 to 4 vote, but it failed to pass the House by a vote of 22 to 18. It takes 30 votes in the House to spend from the savings reserve. 

On Thursday, House Speaker Rep. Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, expressed concern at sending the budget bill to the governor with what he said was no “backstop” funding from savings.

“So if the price of oil goes down, the governor may not have the money ultimately, to finish up or to pay for operations,” he said for this fiscal year. 

Edgmon said he is concerned with banking on future oil prices to pay the state’s bills. 

“It’s the first time, I think maybe perhaps in Alaska’s history, we’ve ever done it this way,” he said. “It’s going to be very interesting to see how this plays out, because oil prices can certainly go up as well, but they can also go down. And it’s not the way that I like to operate in terms of being fiscally responsible.”

Members of the Republican House minority caucus in opposition from drawing from savings expressed confidence in oil revenues providing enough funding to cover state expenses.

“Everything in this bill the state currently projects enough revenues to fund,” said Rep. Will Stapp, R-Fairbanks on Wednesday. “We still have many days in session, happy to revisit in the event oil price changes and we need to structure something in order to meet our obligations. That is not a requirement at this moment.” 

The stopgap budget bill now moves to Dunleavy who can sign or veto the bill or let it pass into law without his signature.

Bread, the staff of life, at least for those who are not gluten-intolerant. Once you learn the basics of bread making and have flour, salt and yeast in your cupboard, you won’t go hungry even if the roads are closed and no groceries come in. 

It isn’t difficult, just try it and learn. It’s a skill that will serve you well.

Here is a basic recipe:

You’ll need a large bowl. Warm it and add 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups warm milk or water, a tablespoon of honey or sugar, and a tablespoon of dry yeast. Stir and let it sit for five minutes or so, and then add a cup of flour. Let it sit anywhere from an hour to all day. If you cover it make sure it has air to breathe, or it can choke.

 When you come back, stir it down and add a teaspoon of salt and about two tablespoons of slightly cooled melted butter. I always like to add one or two beaten eggs.

Then start stirring in the rest of the flour, a cup at a time and beating well. It will probably take about three cups of flour. When you think it’s stiff enough, turn it out onto the floured counter, put more flour over it so it doesn’t stick to your hands or the counter, and keep turning, flattening, folding it over and shaking flour over it as necessary. When it seems to hold its shape well (around five minutes of this kneading) you can fold it into a loaf shape, put it into a greased pan, let rise until double in bulk and bake it at 350-375 degrees for about 35-40 minutes.

There are a lot of other things you can do with it. 

– You can roll it out, spread it with brown sugar, cinnamon and melted butter, roll it up and cut into rounds to make cinnamon rolls (more butter is better, of course, and so is the addition of raisins and chopped nuts). 

– You can make pizza: cut the dough into two halves, roll them out into large circles, and put on some tomato sauce, pepperoni, cheese and whatever else you like. 

–Or you could cut the dough up into about twelve pieces, set them in a 9”-by-12″ pan, let rise, and have dinner rolls. 

– Focaccia is also wonderful:  roll the dough out to fit a 9”-by-12″ pan, let it rest in the greased pan for a few minutes, and then poke your fingers all over it, making little indentations.  Drizzle it with olive oil and sprinkle it with rosemary and salt  (flaky salt is very nice here).  

Any of these should take about 20-25 minutes at 375.

The price of flour has gone way up, like everything else, so consider buying it in larger quantities, which are far cheaper per pound. I buy it in 10-pound bags ,which is not only cheaper but you don’t run out of flour all the time. If a 10-pound bag of flour costs about $15, then you should be able to make this recipe for less than $1.50 

Yeast will add about $1.50 to the cost of a loaf if bought in those little foil packets, but the jars are cheaper per tablespoon and buying it by the pound is even cheaper.

I usually make it with part milk or add milk powder. 

I rarely make 100% white bread. I prefer to use part whole wheat, barley, einkorn or spelt. Any of these whole grain flours should be added at the beginning of the bread making so they have plenty of time to absorb moisture; otherwise, they go on absorbing it later and causing the bread to be dry. Finish with white flour as in the basic recipe. Non-wheat flours taste delicious but have little or no gluten, which is great for gluten-intolerant people, but it’s hard to get bread to stay light without it. 

 You don’t have to use butter in the recipe. Old American recipes called for melted lard or suet, which turns out to be excellent. Many people use olive oil, especially for pizza.

 If the power goes out, you can cook bread in a covered cast iron pan over the coals of a fire like our great-grandmothers did (nowadays that would likely be over the barbecue). She also grew her own wheat and had it ground. Wheat, barley and oats all grow very well in Haines if you care to try them.

Sally McGuire is a 40-year resident of the Chilkat Valley who raised four healthy children in Fairbanks and Haines on a budget, but always with an eye to real food and producing as much as possible of what the family ate. Her column Eating Well in the Chilkat Valley is focused on making affordable meals with what’s local, seasonal and available at the grocery store. 

The post Eating Well in the Chilkat Valley: A basic bread recipe appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has proposed eliminating property taxes for the Alaska LNG project to incentivize development of the $46 billion gas line and export facilities. 

The bill was introduced to the Legislature on Mar. 20 and would exempt the project from local taxes in Alaska, including property and sales taxes. Instead, a volume-based tax would be levied once the pipeline starts producing significant quantities of gas from the North Slope. 

In a statement, Dunleavy said his legislation “removes a structural barrier” that would help get the gas line built. The project is expected to create thousands of construction jobs, spur the development of new industries and potentially lower power and heating bills for consumers.

“We bring more gas into Alaska and stabilize supply — that lowers cost for families like yours and businesses,” Dunleavy said Wednesday on social media. 

The state of Alaska is expected to collect over $22.5 billion in new revenue from the project over the next 36 years, primarily from production taxes and royalties, according to state economists. 

In addition to exempting the project from property and sales taxes during its ramp-up period, the Alaska Department of Revenue estimates Dunleavy’s bill would equate to a 90% reduction in property tax revenue, once the pipeline is at full capacity.  

Municipal governments are expected to take the biggest hit from that change. If the project was built under current tax law, they would collect an extra $13 billion in revenue through 2062, or $360 million annually.

Some long-time lawmakers have questioned whether the pipeline will result in reduced gas prices. Others have questioned why such a sharp reduction in property taxes is needed. 

‘Industrial renaissance’

An 800-mile pipeline from the North Slope to deliver natural gas to market has been a dream in Alaska for decades. But prior efforts have all fallen short. 

Supporters say its prospects have never been stronger. Key permits are in hand, several Asian nations are interested in buying Alaska’s gas, and President Donald Trump has voiced support for the project.

Former Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Begich has been hired by the Dunleavy administration to help advance the pipeline. He told lawmakers the 1973 oil shock helped spur development of North Slope oil. Now, war in the Middle East has upended LNG production and raised prices, which makes Alaska natural gas more attractive, he said.

“This is our moment,” he said to the House Resources Committee on Monday, calling the gas line “an incredible project.” 

Glenfarne, a New York-based company, signed on to develop the pipeline last January. It owns 75% of the project while the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., a state agency, owns the remaining 25%.

But the economics of the $46 billion gas line remain uncertain.

Glenfarne chose to split the project in two. The first phase would see construction of a pipeline for domestic consumption, with delivery of gas targeted for 2029. The second phase would construct a plant and shipping terminal in Cook Inlet for export. 

Alaska’s current tax structure means a 2% property tax can be levied on oil and gas infrastructure. 

Dunleavy’s tax proposal would impose a volume-based alternative. A new tax would be levied at 6 cents on every thousand cubic feet of gas, which would increase by 1% annually.

The tax would only be imposed once the pipeline delivers an average of 1 billion cubic feet of gas per day or 10 years after gas starts being produced. 

Dan Stickel, economist with the Department of Revenue, on Wednesday said reducing property taxes would help with front-end costs. He said the agency is not examining Dunleavy’s bill as a tax cut because it would help spur the pipeline and potentially lead to new state revenue.

Stickel told the House Resources Committee that AGDC and Glenfarne have said the project will not move forward without property tax relief. 

At full capacity, the pipeline is expected to deliver 3.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day. Southcentral Alaska’s demand for Cook Inlet gas equates to roughly 70 billion cubic feet of gas per year.

Adam Prestidge, president of Glenfarne Alaska LNG, said the project would be an “industrial renaissance” for Alaska. It could create 7,000 jobs during construction and spur new opportunities such as data centers, he said.

Wearing a lapel pin in a House Resources Committee hearing that said “build the line,” Prestidge told lawmakers discussions on gas agreements are ongoing with Alaska utilities. He said agreements could be signed and made public in the next couple of months.

“This is the only way to significantly bring down the cost of energy for Alaskans,” he said.

‘Huge give’

The Alaska Department of Revenue estimates the state would receive $22.5 billion in revenue from the gas line through 2062. The majority of that windfall would come from production taxes and royalties. 

Compared to Alaska’s current tax regime, Dunleavy’s proposal would see the state miss out on $200 million per year from property taxes once the pipeline is at full capacity, projections show. 

The alternative tax structure proposed by the governor would see $64 million per year collected by municipalities at full gas production and $9 million annually by the state.

For municipalities, there would be a bigger hit.

The gas line is expected to be built through four municipalities that collect property taxes: the North Slope Borough, Denali Borough, Matanuska-Susitna Borough and the Kenai Peninsula Borough.  

Under Alaska’s current tax structure, municipal governments would be expected to share in $17.3 billion from the pipeline through 2062. Under Dunleavy’s tax bill, it would be below $4 billion. 

Anchorage Democratic Sen. Bill Wielechowski, vice-chair of the Senate Resources Committee, spoke at a Tuesday news conference. He said legislators would look closely at Dunleavy’s proposed tax break and determine whether a 90% cut in property taxes is appropriate. 

“I don’t know anybody in the Legislature who doesn’t want a gas pipeline. The question is, what is it going to take to get it?” Wielechowski said. 

State projections show that under both tax systems, the owners of the pipeline are expected to collect $60 billion over the next 36 years.

Anchorage Republican Sen. Cathy Giessel, chair of the Senate Resources Committee, estimates Alaska has invested $1.1 billion to build a natural gas pipeline, but nothing has been built. 

On Tuesday, Giessel cited costs like public safety that could be borne by communities along the proposed pipeline. She said it would likely take until the second phase of the project before 1 billion cubic feet of gas is produced per day. Meaning, it could take years before municipalities collect Dunleavy’s volume-based tax, she said.

“That’s a long time for these communities to have no property tax,” she said. 

State data suggests local governments would take $6.3 billion in property taxes through 2042. Dunleavy’s volume-based tax would net them $1.3 billion over the same period.

“This is a huge give to the company,” Giessel said. “Will it still be enough for them? I don’t know.” 

Mayors in impacted communities are set to testify on the governor’s tax proposal on Friday afternoon before the Senate Resources Committee. 

SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE

Haines Volunteer fire department Chief Zak Overmyer works to self-rescue from being in the water of Chilkoot Lake during a cold water rescue certification class on Sunday, March 1, 2026, near Haines, Alaska. (Rashah McChesney/Chilkat Valley News)

A group of Haines Huts and Trails, Haines Volunteer Fire Department staff and Luc Mehl (right) unbox the fire department’s new rescue raft on Sunday, March 1, 2026, at Chilkoot Lake, near Haines, Alaska. Eleven students earned ice rescue technician certification over the weekend. (Rashah McChesney/Chilkat Valley News)

Nate Arrants works to break through thin ice during an ice rescue course on Chilkoot Lake near Haines, Alaska. (Rashah McChesney/Chilkat Valley News)

Rashah McChesney/Chilkat Valley News
Leslee Downer poses with various pickled treasures from her garden during a Tuesday, Feb., 24, 2026, pop-up at Haines Brewing.

Robert Reid climbs alongside the Haines Highway on on Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, near Haines, Alaska. (Rashah McChesney/Chilkat Valley News)

Matthew Baker answers questions about a baryton that he played during a concert on Monday, March 9, 2026, at the Chilkat Center in Haines, Alaska. Baker was part of the trio Amour Courtois which plays jazz interpretations of medieval music. (Rashah McChesney/Chilkat Valley News)

Efrén López answers questions about a Hurdy Gurdy that he played during a concert on Monday, March 9, 2026, at the Chilkat Center in Haines, Alaska. López was part of the trio Amour Courtois which plays jazz interpretations of medieval music. (Rashah McChesney/Chilkat Valley News)

(Lizzy Hahn/ Chilkat Valley News) Assembly member Mark Smith talks during the assembly meeting Tuesday, March 10, 2026 in Haines, Alaska.

(Lizzy Hahn/ Chilkat Valley News) Toby Rafford, winner of Friday’s ski event, looks on as Freeride World Tour head judge Lolo Besse drinks beer out of Rafford’s bowl on Friday, March 13, 2026 in Haines, Alaska

(Lizzy Hahn/ Chilkat Valley News) Jan Hill and Deanna Strong tell the audience the story behind the robe Strong is wearing on Friday, March 13, 2026 in Haines,Alaska.

Kyle Fossman threads a pass around a Klawock defender. Sunday, March 22, 2026. (Will Steinfeld/Chilkat Valley News).

Kyle Tompkins goes up for a layup against Hoonah. Monday, March 23, 2026. (Will Steinfeld/Chilkat Valley News)

Colton Combs attacks the rim. Monday, March 23, 2026. (Will Steinfeld/Chilkat Valley News)

(Lizzy Hahn/ Chilkat Valley News) The “Tiny Dancers” group performs as older students blow bubbles behind them during the Klukwan school circus on Thursday, March 19, 2026.

(Lizzy Hahn/ Chilkat Valley News) Klukwan student Felix Benassi prepares sushi for audience members after the Klukwan school circus performance on Thursday, March 19, 2026.

(Lizzy Hahn/ Chilkat Valley News) Kids fly down the freshly groomed sledding hill on Mount Riley Road on Saturday, March 21, 2026.

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A pesky type of bacteria called Vibrio parahaemolyticus presents a textbook example of the ways that climate change creates health risks in Alaska.

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is the world’s leading cause of seafood-related foodborne illnesses. Until recently, Alaska waters were considered too cold for the bacteria to pose a threat to fish-eaters in the state.

That changed in 2004.

That summer, 62 cruise ship passengers were sickened after eating raw oysters provided by a shellfish farm in Prince William Sound, in the Southcentral part of the state. At the time, it was North America’s northernmost known case of vibrio-caused human illness — by a vast distance. Up to then, the most northern case involving oysters had been about 600 miles to the south in British Columbia.

Every year since then, there have been a handful of cases reported to state health officials, though some cases undoubtedly go unreported, said Dr. Joe McLaughlin, Alaska’s state epidemiologist and lead author of the New England Journal of Medicine study that described the 2004 event. In 2024, the most recent year for which data is available, there were seven reported cases, according to the Alaska Department of Health.

Vibriosis, the disease caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus infections, is characterized by vomiting, diarrhea and similar symptoms broadly associated with what people term food poisoning.

The reported Alaska incidents in 2004 and subsequent years had common origins. “The vast majority of cases that we see nationally are food consumption of raw oysters. That’s certainly true here in Alaska,” McLaughlin said.

The link to warming conditions is also clear.

Vp, as the bacteria is known, thrives in warmer waters. It generally needs temps of 15 degrees Celsius, or 59 degrees Fahrenheit, to be active, though it can survive in colder temperatures in a dormant state.

Prince William Sound, like the rest of Alaska, has been warming over the past decades, and additionally has been subjected to repeated marine heatwaves that have wreaked havoc for fisheries, birds and marine mammals.

The warming trends were apparent during the summer of 2004, when mean daily water temperatures at the shellfish farm that provided the oysters to the cruise passengers never dropped below the 15-degree Celsius threshold during July and August.

Though infections are unpleasant, the presence of Vp poses only a minor health problem in Alaska. That is largely because the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s food-safety program responded quickly to the 2004 cruise ship case by setting up a new system that requires shellfish farmers to keep their products properly chilled.

“It requires water temperature monitoring at oyster harvest sites and rapid post-harvest cooling and temperature controls for all oysters harvested between June 15 and September 15 every year,” McLaughlin said. “That’s when ocean waters warm up to concerning levels. And the plan has been highly effective in reducing outbreak.”

The department has the authority to take enforcement actions to keep farmed oysters safe. In 2018, for example, it temporarily shut down operations at two oyster-rearing operations in Southeast Alaska when outbreaks that year were traced to those sites. The farms reopened after they took corrective actions, as directed by DEC. The department also worked with the organizations distributing and serving the oysters to reinforce safety standards.

There have been no lab-confirmed cases in Alaska connected to seafood other than raw oysters, but that does not rule out the possibility, McLaughlin said. Elsewhere, people have gotten infected from different types of fish, he noted.

“In general, the risk for Alaskans — anybody who is not consuming raw oysters — your risk is extremely low of getting Vibrio parahaemolyticus infection. It’s not zero,” he said.

Alaska’s expanding shellfish-growing industry is taking the threat seriously.

At this year’s annual Mariculture Conference of Alaska, shellfish farm operators listened intently during a workshop on food safety. At the event, experts from Washington state described steps to keep oysters and mussels safe, including protection of the “cold chain” distribution system and some innovations that have been used in southern regions where heat-related challenges are more entrenched.

Any vibriosis case can impact consumer perceptions about the industry, said Shannon Boldt, a biologist with the Pacific Shellfish Institute, a research and educational organization based in Olympia, Washington.

“We all know when an outbreak happens, everyone is affected,” Boldt said at the March 10 workshop.

She recommended that operators be forthcoming with customers as well as employees about steps to avoid Vp infection risks.

“I know it’s a little scary for growers to talk about bacteria,” she said. But it is important, she said. “It goes a long way in boosting confidence that people know what you’re doing.”

The growth of shellfish farming in Alaska is itself another link between vibrio and climate change.

As warming temperatures and ocean acidification put pressure on established fisheries and fishing-dependent communities, Alaskans have turned to mariculture as an adaptation. Governments from the federal to tribal levels and nonprofit organizations have encouraged farming of oysters, blue mussels and kelp as ways to diversify and strengthen what is commonly called the “blue economy.” The term refers to the sustainable use of marine resources.

Farmed oyster production increased from 4.5 million in 2000 to 7 million in 2022, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, though most of the oysters were sold within the industry rather than to the public. Each year since at least 2019, applications for new aquaculture permits have been fielded by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, which manages state tidal and submerged lands where such activities operate. And research is underway to expand shellfish growing beyond the oysters and mussels that are currently sold, including projects exploring abalone farming and hatchery enhancement of natural clam beds.

Alaska shellfish and kelp farmer and state officials have long-term ambitions of expanding the mariculture in the state into a $100 million-a-year industry, an exponental increase from current revenues, reported at about $1.5 million in 2024.

McLaughlin said it is logical to assume that as more oysters become available on the market, the chances for vibriosis will increase.

“Fortunately, this DEC program, the control plan, the Vibrio parahaemolyticus program, has been really successful in curbing cases,” he said.

While oyster-eating people are largely protected by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation protocols, the same is not true for other voracious consumers of raw shellfish: sea otters.

Otters can be sentinels of ocean conditions, and studies by veterinarians in California and Alaska have used tests of otters to trace the movement of Vp through the environment.

“Sea otters likely acquire the bacteria through their local prey, their natural food source, which include filter feeders that can concentrate bacteria,” Dr. Carrie Goetz of the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, a coauthor of the studies, said by email.

A 2013 study led by Goetz found Vb not only in sea otters but in a harbor porpoise and a beluga whale, with infection cases coming from Homer, Seward, Cordova, Cook Inlet, Kachemak Bay, Kodiak and Dillingham — well beyond the initial geographic scope identified in 2004.

More recently, Goetz and her colleagues have been using genetic analysis to examine the virulence of Vb strains that affect sea otters, which vary a lot, they discovered. Some are apparently mild. Most of the Vb-positive otters they examined during their research were actually asymptomatic, Goetz said.

In a study published in December, the veterinarian team found signs that the most virulent strains — those causing sickness among people as well as otters — appear to be spreading geographically.

The study contains a warning for Alaska: As warming continues and marine heatwaves become more common, those virulent strains could become more dominant, posing more risks to otters and humans.

This article was produced as a project for USC Annenberg’s Center for Health Journalism and Center for Climate Journalism and Communication 2025 Health and Climate Change Reporting Fellowship.

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