Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska announced a $5.7 million investment to support access to rural healthcare in Alaska. This investment will be made over the next three years to University of Alaska Anchorage and Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. It will also create a new rural grantmaking program, administered in partnership with Rasmuson Foundation and housed at The Alaska Community Foundation.
The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority approved a loan participation to pay off construction financing provided by First National Bank Alaska for the new Gateway Hotel in Seward.
Quintillion Networks and ATLAS Space Operations announced plans for North America’s highest latitude ground station to be located 250 miles inside of the Arctic Circle in Utqiaġvik.
Results from the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council efforts to monitor the long-term environmental impacts of the operation of Alyeska Pipeline Service Company’s Valdez Marine Terminal and associated tankers since the Exxon Valdez oil spill have shown oil contamination in Prince William Sound and the Gulf of Alaska has reached all-time low values.
US Senators Lisa Murkowski and Joe Manchin introduced bipartisan legislation to accelerate geothermal energy development in the United States, which includes provisions for research and development of both existing and enhanced geothermal systems, resource assessment updates, grant program authorization, and improved permitting.
The Matanuska-Susitna and Kenai Peninsula boroughs are far apart on their opinions of where the proposed Alaska LNG terminal should be built and whether the draft federal environmental impact statement is adequate.