Inside Alaska Business
Alaska Plastic Recovery
Some types of plastic that were difficult to recycle in Anchorage have a new drop-off location. Alaska Plastic Recovery has a spot on East 56th Avenue, near the Central Transfer Station, to accept #4 and #5 plastics, such as shopping bags and food containers. The site also takes #1 and #2 plastics, as does the WestRock Anchorage Recycling Center, but without the restriction to blow-molded bottles. Alaska Plastic Recovery uses a mobile processing unit to convert plastic waste into Grizzly Wood, a lumber product used for picnic tables or trail infrastructure.
New York Café
A historic restaurant in Ketchikan gets $50,000 to upgrade, renovate, and grow new business. New York Café is one of fifty recipients this year of the Backing Historic Small Restaurants grant from American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “The New York Café is Alaska’s longest operating restaurant,” says owner Stephen Reeve. “It began over 120 years ago when a Japanese adventurer, Tony Ohashi, built the pioneer restaurant on the water side of Front Street in downtown Ketchikan. The grant will help us restore some key elements of the building façade and better document the café’s history in the form of historic signage. We want to honor the Japanese families that created the New York Café and much more of the surrounding historic Stedman-Thomas neighborhood.”
ENSTAR Natural Gas
A pipeline for importing natural gas to Cook Inlet may proceed. The Regulatory Commission of Alaska determined in July that ENSTAR Natural Gas affiliate Alaska Pipeline Co. demonstrated that “public convenience and necessity requires the diversification of natural gas supply.” ENSTAR needed approval to expand its service area to Port MacKenzie, across Knik Arm from Anchorage, and build a $57 million, 16-mile pipeline that could accept imports from tankers. ENSTAR considers the investment a precaution, anticipating a production shortfall of local gas. ENSTAR expects to have a purchase agreement for liquified natural gas by the end of this year, but the pipeline would take several years to construct.
Credit Union 1
No other financial cooperative has a branch north of the Arctic Circle, as far as Credit Union 1 (CU1) has been able to find. True, Wells Fargo has banks in Utqiaġvik and Kotzebue, but not-for-profit credit unions have been absent from that part of the globe. CU1 is changing that by opening a branch in Kotzebue. CU1 operates a dozen branches from Ketchikan to Nome as the only state-chartered credit union in Alaska. The Kotzebue branch, located inside a new Alaska Commercial Company store being built in the heart of town, would be the 14th for CU1, after the 13th opening in Wasilla this year.
ASRC Federal
The US Air Force awarded a $146 million contract to ASRC Federal Gulf State Constructors, a subsidiary of Arctic Slope Regional Corporation’s ASRC Federal family of Maryland-based companies, for operations services at Sheppard Air Force Base north of Dallas, Texas. The contract, with potential to extend to 2031, covers property and financial management, engineering, and emergency services for the 82nd Training Wing and 80th Flying Training Wing, as well as the Lake Texoma Recreation Annex about 100 miles down the Red River. ASRC Federal currently supports the Air Education and Training Command’s 71st Flying Training Wing at Vance Air Force Base in Enid, Oklahoma.
Vigor Alaska
The shipyard in Ketchikan operated by Oregon-based Vigor earned a safety award from the Shipbuilders Council of America. The industry group honored Vigor Alaska with its Excellence in Safety award for 2023. Council president Matthew Paxton says, “By adhering to stringent safety standards and implementing proactive measures in 2023, Vigor Alaska has not only adapted to challenges but has also ensured the uninterrupted continuity of operations.” Vigor Alaska is one of eighteen shipyards to receive awards by either having a below-average total recordable incident rate or by reducing the rate by 10 percent or more in a year.
AOGA
The Alaska Oil and Gas Association (AOGA) presented the 2024 Industry Awards at its annual conference in August. The Contractor of the Year Award for Safety Performance went to Cruz Construction for the Phase 1 STP Civil-Mining project at Oliktok Point for Santos. A geologist with Santos, Julianne Lamb, was honored as a Rising Star for bringing GeoIsotopes analysis to Alaska. Alyeska Pipeline Service Company won a third consecutive Project of the Year for Environmental Stewardship and Innovation, this time for decommissioning Pump Stations 10 and 12. And the Marilyn Crockett Lifetime Achievement Award recognized Lisa Pekich, a thirty-three-year ConocoPhillips Alaska employee specializing in community relations and village outreach.