Understanding the risks and limiting the use of harmful PFAS

Cook Inlet Tribal Council

Effectual Drilling

Our cover subject, Martin Stuefer, director of the UAF Geophysical Institute’s Hyperspectral Imaging Laboratory, or HyLab, started flying gliders at the age of 15 in Austria, which led to his interest in meteorology and remote sensing. Today he’s also the pilot for the HyLab: an airplane fitted with hyperspectral imaging equipment that can gather information on just about anything for applications across industries statewide.

The HyLab is just the latest innovation launched from UAF’s Geophysical Institute, which is celebrating seventy-five years of studying Alaska’s geophysical phenomena. Geophysical Institute Director Robert McCoy says by next year the institute will have 400 researchers pursuing a range of projects studying the aurora, volcanoes, permafrost, earthquakes, glaciers, sea ice, and Arctic weather. “One of the things that I do is try to find new ideas on the horizon and find synergy between groups… mainly staying out of people’s way,” McCoy laughs. “They’re absolutely bright people, and they work really hard, and they do extremely well. The GI is humming on all cylinders, so just helping the machinery move along.”

Celebrating seventy-five years of data exploration and extraction

New ownership with a new vision

Suiting a mine’s methods to its environment and commodity

n 2019, the federal government released expanded health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) regulations. The new rules allowed HRAs to be used to pay for individually purchased health insurance policies effective in January 2020. How has that turned out for employers and employees?

ince the advent of online banking, the future of brick-and-mortar financial institutions has been called into question. According to conventional wisdom, because of new technologies, traditional banks and credit unions could go the way of the dodo and the dinosaur.

And it is true that many consumers have indicated they no longer use traditional tellers for their many financial needs. For example, the number of customers who work with a teller decreased 15 percent between 2007 and 2017, according to Asterisk Intelligence’s “Teller Analytics” report. According to Chase’s recent “2020 Digital Banking Attitudes Study,” about 80 percent of respondents use a smartphone or a computer to complete banking activities, and 85 percent say they save time by managing their finances digitally. It seems as if these changes are here to stay.

ata security is a growing concern for businesses across all industries, especially when it comes to protecting digital assets at remote or rural sites. Adding to the challenge is the persistent shortage of skilled security specialists and semiconductor chips—exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, companies can adopt strategic measures, such as using a third-party provider, to augment their technical resources and safeguard their information.

Today companies are placing a greater, and much warranted, emphasis on data security. As cyber criminals constantly find new ways to attack, identifying emerging threats is paramount. Phishing attacks, where hackers try to trick people into revealing private information, remain the single biggest threat to businesses, according to Christian Cheatham, senior solutions architect at Alaska Communications. “Phishing emails can come from trusted vendors’ or coworkers’ email addresses that have been compromised,” Cheatham says. “The tell-tale signs of phishing have become harder to spot, requiring even more vigilance from employees. Employee awareness training remains the best, first defense against business email compromise.”

hen per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS, first appeared in the ‘40s, this group of synthetic substances was a dream come true. With their unique ability to repel both oil and water, resist temperature, and reduce friction, chemists quickly found a use for them in all types of daily products and industries, such as non-stick cookware, paints, cosmetics, certain outerwear, to-go food containers, firefighting foam, chrome plating, electronics, construction materials, and oil recovery.

However, the qualities that make PFAS substances so amazing proved problematic. By the ‘90s, studies found that PFAS substances didn’t easily break down in the environment and could travel to groundwater and spread into the soil, build up in the food chain, and bioaccumulate in humans. For these reasons, certain kinds of PFAS have been dubbed the “forever chemical,” though several companies are investing in technologies to make that nomenclature obsolete.

ometimes, a smaller tool is the right tool for the job. That’s the philosophy behind new technology that Anchorage-based Alaska Drilling and Completions (ADC) is ready to deploy. Co-owners David Ross and Tim Flynn call their novel approach “effectual drilling.” As Flynn, the chief operating officer, defines the term, “We are able to look at how your market is and how we can fit in there to make your market better.” How ADC fits is with a scaled-down rig that promises cost savings and, therefore, more exploration for oil and gas.

Flynn and Ross both have nearly thirty years of experience as petroleum engineers. Since teaming up to form ADC, they’ve drilled for ConocoPhillips, Repsol, “all major oil lease holders,” says Flynn. The pair have worked in engineering, consulting, and project management, and Ross, ADC’s president, says their all-around service is especially useful for smaller clients who want to monetize a lease.

olatility in the global oil market, the recent decline in oil prices and extreme weather patterns in Alaska have made digital innovation in the oil and gas industry essential. To remain competitive in a rapidly changing marketplace, operators in the North Slope must find new ways to increase efficiency, reduce costs and improve safety for employees in the field.

While a smart oil field might sound like something out of a sci-fi movie, we are moving closer to this reality with the adoption of technological solutions like Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Augmented Reality (AR) and wearables.

he valuable mineral deposits investors have brought online or are attempting to bring online in the Last Frontier usually stand out for their mammoth size. There is the Red Dog Mine, the largest zinc mine in the world; there’s the Donlin Gold project, which is one of the largest known undeveloped gold deposits in the world; and then there’s the controversial Pebble Project, which constitutes one of the largest copper and gold discoveries in the world.

“In Alaska, people are looking for elephants, because it’s easier to develop elephants—they are more economical,” says Jennifer Athey, geologist and lead data manager for the Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys (DGGS). In the mineral exploration industry, “elephant” is a shorthand term for extremely large deposits. Athey points out that the magnitude of such deposits allows for the construction of roads and other infrastructure needed to bring a mine online.

sourdough hunkered along a stream, scrutinizing his pan for pay dirt. A line of cheechakos ascending the Chilkoot Trail, each one hoping to strike it rich with a Klondike claim. The Three Lucky Swedes pulling nuggets out of Nome’s golden sands, triggering the rush of 1899. Rugged individuals are the foundation of mining in Alaska, now often overshadowed by “elephants” like Red Dog and Fort Knox. Yet small companies and prospectors are still out there, exploring the landscape for the next big lode.

The physical properties of gold make the metal particularly suitable for small-scale mining. Being denser than the surrounding rock (known as gangue), gold tends to settle while the worthless grit is washed away with water, a method in use since ancient times. Gold’s luster also makes it easy to spot visually, with no modern chemical analysis necessary. Of course, that glitter is also what makes gold a sought-after rock, imbuing it with monetary value that rewards miners’ efforts, even when the find is merely dust or flakes.

very day, approximately 1,000 Alaskans go to work where the sun never shines. They are the miners in the tunnels at the Kensington, Greens Creek, and Pogo mines. Meanwhile, their cohorts at the Fort Knox, Usibelli Coal, and Red Dog mines labor with blue sky over their heads. Same industry, two different approaches to extracting minerals from the earth. Whether the risks and rewards of open pit versus underground mining make sense for any given site depends largely on the depth and nature of the deposit and the type of ore expected to be found.

Half of the six producing mines in Alaska are surface mines, where the landscape is scraped away to expose the mineral resource. Teck and NANA Regional Corporation’s Red Dog mine, north of Kotzebue, is a classic example: the country’s largest zinc and lead producer is visible from high altitude as a crater nearly a kilometer wide with concentric terraces leading to the bottom, which is usually filled with groundwater.

t was all hands on deck at the end of 2020 as new ownership took charge of the storied Peter Pan Seafoods company, now Peter Pan Seafood Co., preparing for their first season at the helm.

“We had a great season. The new ownership group came in with a strong vision and made a lot of commitments, and we’ve done what we set out to do, despite the challenges that come with being in a pandemic,” says Peter Pan Seafood Co. vice president of operations Jon Hickman. “We’re excited to continue moving in the right direction and building on this first season.”

The Japanese seafood goliath Maruha Nichiro offloaded the flailing Peter Pan Seafoods last year—for a loss of nearly $28 million—to a joint venture between Rodger May of Northwest Fish; the Na’-Nuk Investment Fund, managed by McKinley Capital; and RRG Capital Management.

n the waters surrounding Hoonah, the small Tlingit village located on Chichagof Island west of Juneau, fishermen used to watch cruise ships sail by, carrying thousands of visitors in and out of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. As the same scene unfolded each summer, it planted the seed for what would eventually become Icy Strait Point, Alaska’s only Native-owned and operated port of call.

“For many years, people would be in their fishing boats and watch as tourists came to visit the homeland but weren’t really experiencing the home of the Hoonah people,” says Mickey Richardson, director of marketing for Huna Totem Corporation, which owns and operates Icy Strait Point. “And so, it was kind of like, ‘Why are they going to visit our homelands and not coming to visit us?’ is really where the idea started.”

It’s an idea that has taken root across the state. As tourists show a growing interest in gaining a deeper understanding of the people and places they’re visiting, tribal organizations and tour operators have begun offering an increasing variety of activities to accommodate that demand.

ook Inlet Tribal Council (CITC) is all about people: its employees, its clients, its community. So it’s no surprise that the organization was recognized by our readers in our annual July Best of Alaska Business (BOAB) awards in two categories: Best Place to Work 250+ Employees and Best COVID-19 Response.

According to one BOAB survey respondent, “CITC remained open for services throughout the pandemic as a critical service for some of Anchorage’s most in-need people. They staggered appointments with on-site presence as needed and used all of the available technology to keep operations fluid… CITC was hit hard by both the earthquake and the pandemic; however, their value of resilience really shined through for their employees.” Many, many others wrote in as part of the BOAB survey process to report how CITC puts people first every day—and in any crisis.

efore stepping into the role of President and CEO of Explore Fairbanks in June, Scott McCrea was the director of tourism for the organization for seven years. “[Tourism] is an amazing industry to work in, especially here in Alaska where we have this bucket list destination that people dream of visiting,” he says. “The team here is very good at what they do, and they’re passionate about our destinations, so I feel very rewarded that I get a chance to come in and work with these amazing people each and every day.”