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Fifty-Three Alaskans Sign Up for ObamaCare During First Month

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Photo Credit: WND Alaska is one of 36 states that has relied on the federally run site to provide access to the marketplace, where individuals can browse for insurance to help meet requirements of the federal health care law. The site has been marred by glitches since its launch Oct. 1, and in the first month, less than 27,000 people in those states had selected plans, figures released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services showed. Another 79,000 individuals had signed up in states running their own exchanges.

“There is no doubt the level of interest is strong,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a release. She said enrollment is expected to grow “substantially” over the coming months. The open enrollment period ends March 31. That is also the cutoff date to enroll without risk of a penalty.

The federal health care law requires virtually all Americans to have insurance beginning next year. There are exemptions for financial hardships and religious objections, but those who ignore the mandate will face fines.

U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, said the figures released Wednesday show the health care law “is a sinking ship with too many holes to fill.”

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Mark Begich’s Lie Costs 5,360 Alaskans Their Insurance

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Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield, Alaska’s Largest Health Insurer, Is Cancelling More Than Half Of Its Individual Policies Due To ObamaCare. “The largest health insurer in Alaska has sent cancellation notices to more than half its individual members in the state because their existing policies do not meet requirements of the new federal health care law. Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield spokeswoman Melanie Coon said Friday that of its more than 9,000 individual members in Alaska, fewer than 3,800 were on “grandfathered” plans. Those are plans that were in existence before March 23, 2010, and have changed very little.” (Becky Bohrer, “Premera Sends Alaskans Health Policy Cancellation Notices, Will Offer New Plans,” Anchorage Daily News, 11/1/13)

5,360 Alaskans Will Lose Their Existing Plans. “Coon said discontinuation notices have gone to about 5,360 other members, who have been told they will be matched to new plans that are closest to what they had before in an effort to keep anyone from losing coverage.” (Becky Bohrer, “Premera Sends Alaskans Health Policy Cancellation Notices, Will Offer New Plans,” Anchorage Daily News, 11/1/13)

BEGICH PROMISED ALASKANS THEY “CAN KEEP” THEIR CURRENT PLANS; BUT REFUSED TO HONOR THAT PROMISE WHEN GIVEN THE CHANCE

On July 27, 2009, As Health Care Reform Was Being Debated, Begich Promised Constituents That “If You’ve Got A Doctor Now, You’ve Got A Medical Professional That You Want, You Get To Keep That.” BEGICH: “If you got a doctor now, you got a medical professional you want, you get to keep that. If you have an insurance program or a health care policy you want of ideas, make sure you keep it. That you can keep who you want. That we keep that patient-doctor relationship very strong.” (Sen. Mark Begich, Remarks At iTownHall, 7/27/09)

After Voting To Pass ObamaCare, Begich Claimed “Alaskans Who Have Health Insurance Now, And Are Happy With It, Can Keep It.” “Alaskans who have health insurance now, and are happy with it, can keep it. While the thousands of Alaskans who do not have health insurance, or have insurance they can’t really afford, will have access to an insurance exchange offering affordable health insurance choices. An estimated 52,000 Alaskans will quality for tax credits to help purchase affordable health coverage.” (Press Release, “Sen. Begich Statement On Passage Of Health Reform Bill,” Sen. Mark Begich, 12/24/09)

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Radiation from Japan Nuclear Plant Arrives on Alaska Coast

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Photo Credit: CBC News Scientists at the University of Alaska are concerned about radiation leaking from Japan’s damaged Fukushima nuclear plant, and the lack of a monitoring plan.

Some radiation has arrived in northern Alaska and along the west coast. That’s raised concern over contamination of fish and wildlife. More may be heading toward coastal communities like Haines and Skagway.

Douglas Dasher, a researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, says radiation levels in Alaskan waters could reach Cold War levels.

“The levels they are projecting in some of the models are in the ballpark of what they saw in the North Pacific in the 1960s,” he said.

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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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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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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.

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