Economy

For several southwest Alaska communities, it will take years to replace what was lost in one night of hurricane force winds and floods, unleashed from the remnants of Typhoon Halong. Some may never rebuild completely.

How and where to begin is a question that seven trainees tackled at a construction workshop offered by the Alaska Works Partnership, a non-profit agency funded mostly by the state.

Most of the apprentices were from Kipnuk, one of the hardest hit communities. They evacuated to Anchorage after the storm struck the Western Alaska coast on Oct. 9.

“They just lost their homes,” said Tiffany Caudle, the training coordinator for Alaska Works Partnership. “They lost everything.”

But Caudle says the workshop comes at a good time.

“I do think this is really helping them stay positive and stay hopeful,” she said.

Hands-on recovery

The men were all volunteers, who signed up for 40-hours of training on how to frame a house.

They started on Oct. 20 at the program’s headquarters in Mountain View. They met in a big garage, empty except for a stack of boards, nails and tools. But soon, the constant clang of hammers and the buzz of electric saws filled the room with energy.

“This is the door, and this one’s going to be the window,” said Devon Mann, as he laid out the boards for his house frame.

“Everything we’re learning in here and doing, it’s going to be useful for our village,” he said.

Trauma is still fresh

Devon, who is 19, looked sharp in his brand new hoodie. It was given to him after military planes airlifted him and almost his entire community of Kipnuk to Anchorage. Devon arrived with only the clothing he had on, but after a five-mile ride in a floating house, he still carried the baggage of trauma.

“The way the house was rocking, how fast we were going,” he said, “worst experience I ever had.”

Most of Devon’s family made it to the school, but he and his 16-year-old year old brother stayed behind to salvage valuables that were floating away. Suddenly the water came up and trapped them in their house. As the surge carried it off, the power went out and in the darkness, they jammed every bit of bedding, towels and clothing they could find against the wall in a desperate attempt to block the flow. They bailed the water out with buckets, but it rose up to their knees.

“I thought something bad was going to happen to the house, like break apart. I thought that would be it for us,” said Devon, who almost gave up. “But I had hope. I had hope.”

And it’s hope that keeps him going now.

Hope takes shape

“Leveling, framing, stuff we’re doing here in the training – it’s useful in the village,” he said.

Devon and the other trainees still don’t know whether Kipnuk will be rebuilt or eventually moved to higher ground, but they want to be prepared to help whatever the future brings.

“I want to step up,” Devon said, “And I want to know what to do in that moment.”

William Andrew, who has been an instructor at Alaska Works Partnership for almost 20 years, is impressed with Devon and the rest of his group. He calls them “naturals,” because they have been quick to catch on.

“From what they went through, I’ll be honest with you, their attitudes are awesome,” Andrew said. “They’re wanting to learn. They’re being great.”

As Andrew walked around the room, he peppered his students with questions about their work – quick to point out small mistakes that might later lead to bigger problems.

“I can’t stress it enough.Use your wrist. Use your wrist,” he reminded them, as he waved a hammer, to warn them about putting stress on their arm muscles.

Andrew knows it’ll take more than one workshop to teach his Kipnuk apprentices how to rebuild their village, but he hopes it will give them a good foundation to learn more.

“The class has been going so great, that I think they’re going to be telling all of their neighbors and all of their friends,” he said. “I think there’s going to be a lot more demand for training.”

New partners needed

Alaska Works Partnership is now in search of more funding to offer more classes for the disaster evacuees. The agency hopes it can attract some new partners, who will recognize that this group needs the help at a critical time.

Like his students, Andrew is Yup’ik and comes from a small village. He’s originally from New Stuyahok in Bristol Bay and knows, from his own experience, that far too many village construction jobs go to outside contractors, who hire very few locals. But Andrew hopes this time will be different.

“I’m excited about their future. And I’m hoping they get to rebuild it,” he said.

The state approved a contract on Monday agreeing to pay Juneau’s new hydroelectric utility $1.3 million to power the controversial Cascade Point Ferry Terminal — a project that has yet to be finalized.

That money will pay for a transformer and engineering for a submarine cable required to connect the Alaska Department of Transportation’s proposed ferry terminal to the Sweetheart Lake hydroelectric project that Juneau Hydropower plans to bring online in 2028. 

According to the contract, the state will pay Juneau Hydropower whether or not the ferry terminal project proceeds.

“If they live up to their part of the bargain, we would be responsible to pay for that,” said Christopher Goins, southcoast regional director at the department.

Goins said one major reason the state signed this contract now is because the cost would rise if the department decides to electrify later on, after Juneau Hydropower designs its system without this addition. 

Duff Mitchell, the managing director of Juneau Hydropower, said the other main reason is that the equipment takes a long time to get here. 

“We’re looking at between 52 weeks to over three years, depending on the manufacturer,” he said. 

Mitchell said the transformer wouldn’t be used for anything else if the ferry terminal project doesn’t get built. 

“If, in fact, it goes forward, then we would use it,” he said. “Otherwise, it will be sitting there waiting for the future.”

The department plans to break ground on the first phase of the ferry terminal project in the summer, which will establish an access road and staging area, but not the terminal itself. The state extended the public comment period on the proposed Cascade Point Ferry Terminal to Jan. 9. 

Correction: This story has been updated to clarify that the funds will pay for engineering of the submarine cable, not the cable itself.

One of Alaska’s smallest telecommunications companies is about to provide a critical backup for the entire state.

On Wednesday, Cordova Telecom Cooperative and GCI announced a partnership to lay an undersea fiber optic cable from Juneau to Cordova and a second cable from Cordova to Seward.

When open for service in fall 2027, the two cables will provide high-speed internet to small communities in Prince William Sound and northern Southeast Alaska.

The development matters to the rest of the state as well, because when combined, they will provide a route for internet traffic between the Railbelt and Outside. Currently, four undersea cables through the Gulf of Alaska are the principal routes for internet and phone traffic between Alaska and the rest of the world.

Matanuska Telecom Association opened the state’s first overland fiber connection in 2020 as an alternative, and the new route will give the state another redundant option, said Cordova Telecom CEO Jeremiah Beckett.

“With what we’ve built out, scalability wise, we could put all the current Alaska traffic on our network if needed,” Beckett said.

While satellite internet services like Starlink have transformed life in rural Alaska, ground-based fiber internet remains the backbone of worldwide telecommunications, delivering service faster and in volumes that satellites can’t provide.

“It’s kind of like rural communities that don’t have the ferry,” Beckett said. “Places without fiber don’t have the same access that folks with fiber do. So this is really to help connect those rural areas and give them the same access to the digital economy and marketplace as the rest of the world.”

Despite their advantages, fiber-optic cables can be vulnerable.

“Up north, it’s ice scouring … and in our area, it’s typically ship anchors and earthquakes,” Beckett said.

Alaskans have become intimately familiar with the consequences of broken cables in recent years.

Northern and northwest Alaska are particularly familiar: Quintillion’s fiber-optic cable has been severed three times in two years. The latest break wasn’t fixed for more than seven months because sea ice precluded repairs. That caused widespread problems in areas served by the cable.

In March, a break in a subsea cable left the Alaska Legislature to do business on paper for a day and knocked out both cellphone and internet service for much of Juneau. Juneau had alternatives; a temporary fix was in place within days.

When the cable leading to Sitka broke in 2024, it took weeks to repair. People canceled surgeries and businesses went cash-only until internet service was restored.

Adding a backup fiber route reduces the odds of blackouts like those. Currently, Cordova is served by a single undersea fiber line through Prince William Sound to Valdez.

When the project is complete, internet and phone traffic will have three possible routes: north, west, and east.

The two cables will cost roughly $88 million combined, according to figures provided by Beckett, and the project is principally funded through two federal grants. Cordova Telecom is paying for part of the project, as is GCI, which will be what Beckett calls an “anchor tenant and partner.”

“It was a good matchup for both of our long-term goals,” he said.

In a prepared statement, GCI senior vice president Billy Wailand praised the plan, which is formally known as Fiber Internet Serving Homes in Southeast Alaska, or FISH in SEAK.

“Critical state services require network diversity,” he said. “GCI turned up the first subsea cable to Alaska in 1999 and landed a second diverse fiber in 2008. We are thrilled to partner with CTC on its FISH in SEAK project, which includes a next-generation cable that ensures Alaska and its capital city continue to benefit from the newest technologies and adds another crucial layer of redundancy to the network.”

Communities along the cable route will see huge changes, Beckett said. Residents of Pelican on Chichagof Island in Southeast Alaska, who use boardwalks instead of roads and four-wheelers instead of cars, will be able to get fiber internet access directly to their homes.

The island village of Chenega in Prince William Sound, which has about 50 year-round residents, likewise will have new access to fiber internet.

Alaska’s Lost Coast, between Glacier Bay and Yakutat, could be dotted with cellphone towers.

Beckett, who grew up in Cordova, returned to the town with his spouse 12 years ago, “basically when Cordova got its subsea fiber,” he said. “We were both teleworkers, and that created the opportunity for us to move back to Alaska, essentially.”

Since then, he’s seen internet service improve and has become head of his local telecom, which has just 20 employees.

Because it’s a cooperative, it’s run as a nonprofit, he said. That means the telecom’s goal is to deliver faster service and low rates, not necessarily generate a profit.

In Yakutat, “a few years ago, you couldn’t get cell service anywhere,” Beckett said.

“We’ve upgraded the cell service there to 4G and outside of the fishermen complaining because their wives can get hold of them, it was a huge boost for the community,” he said.

“If someone gets hurt, they can call the paramedics and not have to drive 20 miles before they get to service. … It’s giving people reasons to think about moving home, because it’s one less inhibitor to be back in Alaska,” Beckett said.

“Yakutat actually got a new clinic a couple years ago, and then with this, I think they’re going to see some good growth. Everyone likes core services, right?”

The federal government research organization that has been devoted for half a century to renewable energy development has had the word “renewable” stripped from its name.

The Trump administration, which broadly opposes renewable energy projects, changed the name of the Colorado-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory to “National Laboratory of the Rockies.”

The U.S. Department of Energy announced the name change on Monday, effective immediately.

“The energy crisis we face today is unlike the crisis that gave rise to NREL,” Assistant Secretary of Energy Audrey Robertson said in a statement. “We are no longer picking and choosing energy sources. Our highest priority is to invest in the scientific capabilities that will restore American manufacturing, drive down costs, and help this country meet its soaring energy demand. The National Laboratory of the Rockies will play a vital role in those efforts.”

NREL has a prominent presence in Alaska. The agency in 2020 joined into a partnership with the Cold Climate Housing Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The UAF facility is one of four NREL centers; two campuses are in Colorado and there is an office in Washington, D.C.

Jud Virden, the laboratory’s director, said the new name “embraces a broader applied energy mission entrusted to us by the Department of Energy to deliver a more affordable and secure energy future for all,” according to the statement.

However, the name change is a troubling sign to one Alaska organization involved in projects promoting renewable energy and energy affordability.

“Removing ‘Renewable’ and ‘Energy’ from NREL’s name raises concerns. Renewables are key to affordable, secure energy and deliver long-term economic benefits, especially for rural communities,” Bridget Shaughnessy Smith, communications director for the Alaska Public Interest Research Group, a non-profit consumer advocacy group, said by email.

“While it’s not yet clear if this name change signals a broad mission shift, any refocus cannot come at the expense of renewable energy or by prioritizing already well-funded fossil fuel industries. Remote microgrid communities in Alaska are working with NREL to innovate toward affordable, reliable energy, and this name change must not disrupt that critical work,” Shaughnessy Smith continued.

NREL’s history started in 1974, when the organization was established as the Solar Energy Research Institute. In 1991, President George H.W. Bush elevated it to national lab status and changed the name to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

The Cold Climate Housing Research Center was established in 1999 with a mission of improving housing and building conditions in Alaska’s extreme climate. The center has focused on renewable energy, along with energy efficiency, structural integrity for buildings on permafrost, indoor air quality and designs that are sustainable in the far north. The center headquarters is the world’s farthest-north building with a platinum rating, the highest possible, bestowed by the U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

The NREL-Cold Climate Housing Research Center partnership has participated in numerous recent energy and environmental innovations, including the development of non-plastic housing insulation made from a fungi-wood pulp blend.

The NREL name change adds to a list of government agencies and geographic sites changed by the Trump administration this year to align with the president’s agenda.

On the day he was inaugurated for his second term, President Trump issued an executive order directing that the Gulf of Mexico be renamed “Gulf of America” and that Denali, North America’s tallest peak, revert to its previous federal name, Mount McKinley.

The Denali name comes from the traditional name for the Alaska peak used by the Koyukon people, the region’s Indigenous residents. The name, which translates to “the high one,” has been the official state of Alaska name since the 1970s. The McKinley name, for former president and Ohioan William McKinley, has been widely panned in Alaska, and state lawmakers passed a resolution asking for the Denali name to be restored for federal government use.

In September, Trump issued an executive order directing that the U.S Department of Defense be renamed “Department of War.” That resurrected a department name that was dropped in 1947.

Alaska sees the largest seasonal employment swing of any state, according to new data from the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The gap between the lowest and highest employment months is about 14% in the state, or a difference of 43,900 jobs. The next closest state is Montana at 6%.

State economist Dan Robinson said tourism, seafood processing and construction are especially seasonal industries, and that they bring thousands of workers to communities around the state.

“There’s some big economic activity that occurs seasonally, that just really blows things up in the summer,” he said.

Alaska’s employment is far less seasonal than it used to be. In the 1970s, the difference between the highest and lowest months was over 40%, according to the report, more than twice the current level. That difference was largely tied to building the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and a wave of oil-boom construction. The state’s seasonality has been relatively stable since the early 1990s.

Robinson said some of the state’s most rural areas see the biggest seasonal differences. For example, in the Bristol Bay Borough employment skyrockets in the summer months from just under 500 jobs to almost 4,000, according to the study. That’s an increase of over 667%.

“They’re small enough to not have very big industries elsewhere, the support type industries,” Robinson said. “They’re interesting and unusual for rural areas in the country because either fishing or tourism are massive draws.”

The Denali Borough and Skagway are also extremely seasonal, which the report attributes to tourism. Anchorage sees the smallest swings at 6%.

The report said that seasonal employment swings are also likely tied to Alaska having the largest gross migration rate – the number of people moving to and from the state each year. Between 1990 and 2018, Alaska’s gross migration rate was 12.8%.

Robinson said about 20% of workers don’t stay in the state long enough to claim residency.

“There are things that excite people to come here, both as a tourist and then to live here. The possibility of living here is kind of a big adventure, but we also have strong push factors,” Robinson said.

Those push factors, Robinson said, are a comparative lack of entertainment, and long winters.

The City and Borough of Juneau is seeking ideas from Juneau residents about how to spend the fees paid by cruise ship passengers this coming year. More than $20 million is expected to be available for tourism-related projects. 

Juneau residents and businesses can now submit proposals to the city through Dec. 31. The last round of funding paid for things like free public Wi-Fi downtown and increased bus service to the Mendenhall Valley.

Alix Pierce, the city’s visitor industry director, said community suggestions play a critical role in what gets funded and what doesn’t. 

“We do get a lot of good ideas for what residents are feeling the need for in the community,” she said. “And, not spending general fund on our waterfront infrastructure and our visitor services does free up budget elsewhere in the city to do other things.” 

Every cruise season, the city collects a $5 fee from each passenger who comes into town from a ship. The fees can fund tourism projects that benefit visitors and locals in Juneau. In the past, these fees have funded upgrades to downtown public restrooms and improvements at Marine Park.

The city expects to collect about $22 million in fees this year. But the money collected can’t go toward paying for just anything. A lawsuit the cruise industry filed and settled with the city in 2019 clarifies the limits on how and where the city can use the funds, and some projects require approval by the cruise ship industry. 

Pierce said that people often don’t understand those parameters and that leads to a lot of proposals being rejected. 

“It’s unfortunately not money that’s just available to fill the hole in the city budget,” she said. “We are restricted in how we use those funds.”

Usually, the projects are downtown near the waterfront area, where the impacts of tourism are felt the most. But other parts of town can still secure funding for projects, like near the Mendenhall Glacier, as long as tourism reaches that area and the project would benefit tourism. 

Residents can submit their suggestions for projects in a few different ways. The city has a web form where people can submit proposals. It outlines what types of projects would fit the criteria. The Assembly will ultimately decide which projects to fund during the spring budget cycle.

Clarification: This story has been updated to reflect that the lawsuit settled between the City and Borough of Juneau and the cruise ship industry in 2019 lays out constitutional limits on how passenger fees can be spent.