Avista Corp. to Acquire Alaska Energy and Resources Company

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Photo Credit: Arthur ChapmanAvista Corp (NYSE: AVA) today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Alaska Energy and Resources Company (AERC), a privately-held company based in Juneau, Alaska. When the transaction is complete, AERC will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Avista Corp.

The purchase price at closing will be $170 million, less the assumption of debt and other customary closing adjustments. The transaction will be funded through the issuance of Avista common stock to the shareholders of AERC. The transaction is expected to close by July 1, 2014, following the receipt of necessary regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of other closing conditions. We expect that the addition of AERC to Avista Corp. will be slightly negative to earnings in 2014, and that it will contribute positively to earnings in 2015.

The primary subsidiary of AERC is Alaska Electric Light and Power Company (AEL&P), the oldest regulated electric utility in Alaska. In 2012, AEL&P had annual revenues of $42 million and a total rate base of $111 million. AEL&P, with 60 fulltime employees, serves approximately 15,900 customers in the city and borough of Juneau. The utility has a firm retail peak load of approximately 80 Megawatts (MW) and serves nearly 100 percent of its load with 102.7 MW of renewable hydroelectric generation capacity. The utility has 93.9 MW of diesel generating capacity to provide back-up service to all firm customers when necessary.

In addition to the regulated utility, AERC owns the AJT Mining subsidiary, which is an inactive mining company holding certain mining properties.

“AEL&P’s 120-year culture of service and community partnership is a great long-term fit with Avista Corp. We have found the company to have similar cultural values and focus on providing safe, reliable service to its customers that Avista has held dear for nearly 125 years. We look forward to working with AEL&P’S highly skilled and dedicated management and employees, and to being part of the Juneau community,” said Avista Corp. Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Scott Morris. “This agreement reflects Avista’s strategy to expand and diversify energy assets and deliver long-term value to the customers, communities and investors we serve.”

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Crews Clear Huge Alaska Landslide At Denali National Park Road

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Photo Credit: Arthur Chapman/FlickrCrews at Denali National Park in Alaska have cleared a massive landslide from a road that is a popular tourist destination each summer.

The landslide discovered last week covered 200 feet of the Denali Park Road with tons of rock and soil.

Crews taking advantage of unseasonably mild weather finished clearing the road at day’s end Monday, and some snow has since fallen, park spokeswoman Maureen Gualtieri said Friday. It’s not clear if instability of the terrain will affect visitors next summer, park officials have said.

Gualtieri said the affected section of road, 37 miles from the park entrance, appears intact. That part of the road already was closed and there were no reported casualties from the slide, which officials believe occurred recently.

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San Fran Bound Delta Flight Makes Emergency Landing at Remote Airfield Near Aleutians

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Photo Credit: APA San Francisco-bound Delta Air Lines plane departed from a remote Alaska community near the Aleutian Islands Wednesday afternoon, 10 hours after its passengers’ original jet made an emergency landing there.

Delta sent the replacement plane to Cold Bay after a Boeing 767 landed safely at about 6 a.m. Wednesday with 167 passengers and 11 crew members on board.

The unscheduled landing came after crew members received an engine warning message in the cockpit, Delta spokesman Michael Thomas said.

“Because of that warning indication, out of an abundance of caution and safety they elected to divert to Cold Bay,” he said. “But at no point was the engine shut down in flight.”

No injuries were reported aboard the plane that had departed from Tokyo.

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Alaskans Experience Warmest October on Record

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Photo Credit: WeatherBell AnalyticsNow is the time of year when Alaska’s snowpack starts to build and temperatures plunge as the days become shorter and shorter. But this year, October has turned out to be more like September, with rainstorms instead of snowstorms, and some of the mildest temperatures on record for the month, particularly across interior Alaska.

While the warm weather pattern, which has been dominated by a high pressure area in the upper atmosphere, is beginning to change with colder and snowier conditions arriving just in time for Halloween, the above-average temperatures have already carved October 2013’s place in the record books.

According to the National Weather Service in Fairbanks, rain in the city is rare after October 20, yet it rained there on Oct. 28 with no snow on the ground, an occurrence that “appears to be unprecedented in more than a century of weather observations,” the NWS said in a note on its Facebook page. Temperatures in the 50s at Eielson Air Force Base and Fort Greely were the warmest on record for so late in the fall.

The warm weather led to an even more unusual sight for the fall: smoke from an active wildfire. The Mississippi wildfire, which started in May about 70 miles southeast of Fairbanks, flared up again on Oct. 28, when strong winds were blowing and there were record warm temperatures in the lower 60s.

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Alaska North Slope Strengthens With West Coast Work Seen Delayed

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Photo Credit: Paxson Woelber/flickrAlaska North Slope crude strengthened to a three-month high after a report that Chevron Corp. (CVX) plans to delay maintenance at its El Segundo, California, complex, the largest single refinery on the U.S. West Coast.

Chevron will push work on a crude unit and coker back to late April from January, according to a person familiar with the schedule who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

ANS, a medium, sour crude used by refiners on the U.S. West Coast, increased $1.75 to $7.50 a barrel over West Texas Intermediate at 2:05 p.m. New York time, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It was the grade’s largest premium since July 12.

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14 Political Races to Watch in 2014

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Photo Credit: Bob LairdIn the 2014 elections, Republicans need to net a six-seat pickup to retake control of the U.S. Senate. They have high hopes, but there is little room for error. In the House, Democrats need a net gain of 17 seats next year to gain majority control and return Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to the speaker’s chair. Here are seven key races to watch in each chamber:

SENATE

•ALASKA: In 2010, Tea Party candidate Joe Miller shocked the GOP by defeating incumbent Lisa Murkowski in a primary; she came back to win re-election as a write-in candidate. Now Miller is expected to be one of three candidates vying for the Republican nomination to challenge Mark Begich, the first-term Democratic incumbent. Other Republicans who could be strong candidates: Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell and Dan Sullivan, former head of the state’s natural resources department.

•LOUISIANA: Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu has been called vulnerable in each of her three prior Senate races, and her fourth run is no different. Louisiana regularly votes Republican in presidential years, and Landrieu’s support of the Affordable Care Act has not helped boost her popularity. Her opponent, Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy, staunchly opposes the law although he introduced health care legislation while a state senator in Louisiana.

•ARKANSAS: Mark Pryor is a moderate Democrat hoping for a third term. His voting record on the Affordable Care Act in increasingly conservative Arkansas, coupled with a strong Republican challenge, may hamper that. Republicans have quickly coalesced around Tom Cotton, a young freshman congressman who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. This race will be a huge spend for partisans on both sides of the aisle.

•KENTUCKY: Americans are frustrated with Washington, and Mitch McConnell is one of its best-known faces. The five-term senator is facing a primary challenge from Tea Party candidate Matt Bevin and, if he survives, an Election Day challenge from Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes. Major ad buys are already taking over the airwaves – eight months ahead of the primary.

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Alaskan Company Suspends Obamacare Enrollments, Cites Faulty Subsidy Calculator

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Photo Credit: Wonderlane/flickrEnroll Alaska, an organization that was specifically created to aid Alaskans in enrolling for Obamacare, has thrown in the towel, at least for the time being.

As the Peninsula Clarion reports, Enroll Alaska has been able to enroll a grand total of only three people since the launch of the health-insurance marketplaces on October 1. It has now given up entirely on that goal, at least until Healthcare.gov, the federal health-care exchange, gives Alaskans accurate figures on the subsidies they’re eligible for.

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Trick or Treat – The 142 Trillion Pound Monster is Back from the Grave

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Photo Credit: Joe BalyeatAs Halloween approaches, an old familiar monster rises from the grave like Freddy Krueger in “Nightmare on Elm Street.” But, unlike the famous fictional character, this beast is real and threatens to choke off our children’s future, consigning our great grandchildren to lifetimes of bondage. The 142 trillion pound monster in the room is America’s mushrooming national debt, and the October surprise is that Congress must once again raise the debt limit only 6 months after raising it to $17.3 trillion.

Consider these alarming facts: the $17.3 Trillion national debt employs Enron-style accounting and ignores government’s major unfunded liabilities including Social Security, Medicare, and government pensions. As a practicing CPA, I assure you that private sector companies would be forced to include these obligations on their balance sheets. So, the true national debt including unfunded liabilities is really $142 Trillion dollars. $142 trillion divided amongst every single taxpayer in America is $1.25 million dollars each. If you thought your family was debt-free… surprise! – you really owe $1,250,000 for every taxpayer in your household.

As your young son or daughter enters the workforce, excited to start building their nest-egg; they’re not starting from ground zero, they’re starting with a 1,250,000 pound weight about their neck – an enormous burden dragging down America’s economy and our children’s future. Sadly, our generation elected spineless politicians who simply didn’t have the backbone to say no to wasteful, excessive government spending.

Alaska Senator Mark Begich, while insisting that he doesn’t vote party-line, has repeatedly voted straight Democrat on numerous party-line votes which defeated US House attempts for lower spending on the continuing budget resolution… Including voting against attempts to simply delay Obamacare (with its $1.8 Trillion pricetag) for one year. Our elected officials are by-and-large still asleep during this living nightmare. According to OECD data, America’s deficit to GDP ratio was second worst worldwide in 2010 and 2011 and fourth worst in 2012. The World Economic Forum also ranked America’s debt to GDP ratio as 140th out of 144 nations, 5th worst in the entire world!

Prior to 2009, historically, 17% of federal government spending was deficit spending. Since 2009, a whopping 53% of government spending is now debt-financed deficit spending. The $3.5 trillion spent annually is almost $28,000/yr for every household in America. Is all this spending necessary, or have zombie-like politicians simply become so dollar-drunk and power-mesmerized that they’ve lost all self-control?

Consider these boondoggles:

·$376 million in White House renovations, including construction of a temporary pseudo Oval Office for the President to use only temporarily while the regular Oval Office is being renovated.

·US Navy spent $681,387 on one “scientific” study confirming that men look taller, stronger, and manlier when carrying a firearm, $300,000 to conclude the first bird on earth was probably black-feathered, and almost a half-million to determine that unintelligent robots can’t hold a baby’s attention.

·$188 Million wasted by the TSA on 5,700 pieces of security equipment sitting unused in storage.

·The IRS spent $4.1 Million on an extravagant conference for 2,600 IRS employees, including $50,000 for line-dancing and Star Trek parody videos, $135,350 for outside speakers, $64,000 in conference “swag” for the employees, free meals, cocktails, and hotel suite upgrades… Meanwhile, IRS discriminates against TEA-Party groups which oppose this wasteful spending.

Is profligate spending by “Washington Gone Wild” enough to tank history’s greatest economic engine – the American economy? Consider this: In roughly the same time period in which politicians ramped up deficit spending to more than half of the federal budget from 2008 to 2012, the median household income in America dropped 8.1%. That’s $4,400 less income per household annually. In that same timespan, a 21% increase in number of Americans in poverty, a 70% increase in number of people on food stamps, and the median net worth of American families plunged 39%.

It’s time America wakes up and realizes that excessive, wasteful government spending is seriously deteriorating our future economic stability. Stand up for our grandchildren’s future; petition Washington for real spending cuts now that will eventually balance the federal budget.

“Government is like a baby: an alimentary canal with a big appetite at oneend and no sense of responsibility at the other end”. (Ronald Reagan)

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Joe Balyeat is a National Merit Scholar, national award-winning CPA, and former Chairman of the MT Senate Business and Economic Affairs Committee. He is a part-time Alaskan residing near Anchor Point, and is an acting Co-Director for Americans For Prosperity- Alaska. ([email protected]).

America’s Oil Surge Leaving Alaska in the Dust; U.S. Producing More Crude Than Imports

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Photo Credit: Fox News America’s oil boom has the Texas tea flowing, whole new towns being built in North Dakota and, for the first time in decades, the U.S. producing more crude than it imports. But Alaska, a state known for its vast oil resources and pro-drilling politics, is being left in the dust of this new oil surge.

The state, with its 800-mile pipeline running from the North Slope to Valdez, has fallen to fourth among oil-producing states, now trailing Texas, North Dakota and California. It’s not sitting well with many there.

“There’s definitely a hit to the state pride,” said Alaska Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Joe Balash. “There’s a certain amount of embarrassment that a place as over-regulated and over-taxed as California is eclipsing Alaska.”

Production in Alaska peaked in 1988 when companies sent 2.1 million barrels of oil per day down the pipeline. Declining ever since, last year production hit a low of 526,000 barrels per day.

Everyone agrees that part of the decline is due to the natural cycle of oil field drilling. Prudhoe Bay, on Alaska’s North Slope, is still the largest oil field ever discovered in the U.S. But nearly 40 years of drilling has diminished the supply of easy-to-get oil.

Read more from this story HERE.

Behind the Warming Lawsuit: Special Interests Push Costly Measures on Alaska

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Photo Credit: alana sise/flickrAs an Alaska Native who follows the manipulation of our society by environmentalists, I watched with interest as Nelson Kanuk, a young Yup’ik man, became a co-plaintiff in a lawsuit against the state of Alaska in an attempt to curb carbon dioxide emissions. Nelson has been presented as a youth leader by the aging environmentalists who are pulling the strings in this case.

In their case, they argue that human-induced warming is threatening Alaska’s residents, changing the environment in a way that they can’t adapt to. If successful, the lawsuit would require the reduction of carbon dioxide by 6 percent per year until 2050 and then by 5 percent through the year 2100.

Sadly, Nelson has been used as a proxy by the well-funded and well-organized environmentalists. A video and photos show Nelson and his family in their village. A five-man crew flew in from as far away as New York and shot the raw footage, which was then turned into a slick video by award-winning producers in Montana.

At the tip of the iceberg of outside environmental groups are iMatter Campaign, Our Children’s Trust and Witness, but it runs much deeper, with ties to organizations that have assets in excess of $1.2 billion and include the Tides Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, according to Form 990s filed with the IRS. The lawsuit in Alaska is one of nine filed nationally, each presented as if it originated from young Americans.

Nelson is from Kipnuk, a Yup’ik village with a population of 639. Like all of Alaska’s Native villages, Kipnuk is on the horns of a dilemma, as its people make the painful transition from a subsistence economy to a cash economy. A look at the Alaska’s Trust video of Nelson shows aluminum, steel, plastic, electronics and wood being used, all imported from far away.

Every aspect of life in rural Alaska is touched by the availability of fossil fuel, and most effects are positive. Warm houses, running water, electric lights and mobility are made possible by the use of this fuel. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, last year 5,527 passengers flew from Kipnuk. Modern life is here to stay.

From outside the Native community, one might think that we are a monolithic group. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In reality, there are many ethnic groups from diverse regions, with many views on development, but you wouldn’t know it from those with a bully pulpit. From the Alaska Federation of Natives to the Alaska Inter-Tribal Council, little dissent is heard.

I believe that many Natives have lost our generational perspective. Tlingit oral history remembers that our ancestors followed retreating glaciers to reach Southeast Alaska. It remembers the names of the grandmothers who, perhaps 10,000 years ago, first tried a dangerous transit on a river that once ran under a glacier. We remember repopulating the coast after the great flood.

Nelson, remarking on a flood in his village, stated that it was the worst he’s seen. Nelson was 16 years old when he made that observation.

James Hansen is a scientist, environmental activist and the lead author of the paper submitted by Our Children’s Trust to various state courts. He claims that we must reduce our carbon dioxide emissions by 6 percent per year to avert catastrophic warming. This is even more dire than the alarmist Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Fossil-fuel burning in Alaska emitted 38.46 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2010, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s U.S. inventory. That’s 0.11 percent of mankind’s 2010 annual carbon dioxide emissions from primarily fossil fuels (33,615 million metric tons, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center).

If we were able to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel burning by, for example, 18 percent, we would drop our contribution to that type of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions to .09 percent, but at what cost to Alaskans?

If successful, Alaska’s most economically challenged citizens would be harmed most. An 18 percent increase in the price of fuel oil would cost the residents of Kipnuk an extra $198,547 per year, based on statistics compiled by the Alaska Housing Authority in a study of Kipnuk. That’s just for fuel oil. It doesn’t account for the increase in food costs, air travel or fuel for snowmachines and boats.

We must hope that our state’s Supreme Court rules against the plaintiffs. Rather than dictating inconsequential but harmful measures to address a tenuous threat in the future, its decision can end a tangible threat to our well being.

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Mike Kinville served in the Alaska Army National Guard for 24 years, retiring as a Sergeant First Class. Mike has been with his wife since they were 14 and 15 years old, and have been married for 27 years. He is the father of 6, with 3 of the children adopted, and is currently a foster parent. Mike and his wife home school their children. Mike is an amateur artist, interested in Tlingit wood carving and form-line art. Mike still supports the US Army, working as a contracted Supply Technician on Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

This article originally appeared in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.