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Economic Development and Advocacy for Southwest Alaska
| December 2012 |
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| Greetings!
Hello, and thanks for reading the latest SWAMC newsletter for members and friends of the region. Mother Nature has decided she wants to burst some pipes early this winter season, so we hope everyone is staying warm and safe out in the SW Region. There is a lot to report on this month, so let's get to it.
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SWAMC's 2013 Annual Economic Summit and Membership Meeting
With 2012 coming to a close, it means a new SWAMC Conference is right around the corner. SWAMC's 2013 Economic Summit & Annual Membership Meeting will be held February 20-22 at the Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage. SWAMC is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2013, and the conference theme will be: 25 Years of Regional Connections. In the end, maintaining and strengthening our regional ties is what it's all about for SWAMC.
Normally a two day event, next year's conference will include a one-day regional energy workshop on Feb. 20th to focus on energy planning and new ideas and innovations. Some of the other topics on the regular program will include a transportation carrier roundtable, comprised of regional air carriers (some old and new), the ferry system, and a Bypass Mail official. We will have an extensive processor/community needs discussion focused on partnerships and creating opportunities for the region. We will explore SW Alaska's role in global shipping and logistics. A regional broadband report, seafood industry workforce needs, and other topics will also round out the agenda. There will even be a debate on maximum benefit resource extraction featuring UAA's award-winning debate team.
If you would like to get a head start on registration, you can do that here. (SWAMC has partnered with the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco again for our conference, so you will be taken to their site for online registration). And if you'd like to sponsor the event and help us celebrate 25 years of partnerships, you can do that here. Stay tuned for regular email updates! |
Southwest Region Representatives Participate in Iceland Tour
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Rep. Edgmon & Nils Andreassen at Hellisheiği Geothermal Plant
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At the end of November a group of Alaskan business, policy and community leaders, along with energy experts and utility operators, spent five days exploring Iceland's energy technology and policy as well as their corresponding economic and infrastructure development. With much organizational help and support from the Institute of the North, the group explored new ways to build mutually beneficial relationships between the two areas.
SWAMC's Executive Director, Andy Varner, participated in the exchange, as did Senator Gary Stevens (District R), Representatives Alan Austerman (Dist 35) and Bryce Edgmon (36), Aleut Corporation President Thomas Mack, and Lake & Pen Borough Manager/SWAMC Board Member Lamar Cotten. All of these Southwest Alaska representatives had their particular interests in Iceland, including geothermal and hydroelectric energy; seafood development and how Iceland's quota model has affected communities and fishermen; Arctic shipping and strategic port locations; Iceland's approach to Energy and Arctic Policy; Clusters and Economic Development, particularly related to value-added seafood businesses; research and development partnerships, and more.
There are many differences between Alaska and Iceland, to be sure, but there are also lessons to be learned. That small, isolated country dug itself out of a deep recession in 2008 and is now powering an impressive, increasingly diversified economy built on the ingenuity and innovation of its 300,000 people. They are positioning themselves as an Arctic player, and Alaska could look to its friends "over the pole" as we develop our future in the ever-changing global economy.
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STEM Coordinator Update 
Last month we introduced the Real World Design Challenge, a high school competition to design an unmanned aerial vehicle, and we are pleased to announce that this year Kodiak High School is the first Southwest school to participate. We'll keep you updated as the team participates in the state competition and, fingers crossed, at nationals in Washington DC.
We're also happy to announce that, thanks to our partnership with the Juneau Economic Development Council and a small grant from American Seafoods, we'll be able to buy five SeaPerch underwater robotics kits for teachers in the Lake & Peninsula School District. These kits offer an amazing opportunity to learn about electricity, buoyancy, engineering and marine science in a hands-on, creative and relevant way, and the robots the students build will work like the ones increasingly used in industry and research. STEM programs like these are so valuable because they introduce students to possible careers while teaching knowledge and skills that will make them competitive whatever their field.
Competitiveness has also made STEM education a major issue recently for lawmakers in Washington. As testimony from businesses on the House's STEM Jobs Act illustrates, high-tech industries need highly skilled workers. While the bill as a whole is controversial, the one thing all parties agree on is the importance of STEM and the need to support it at the national level. In conjunction with schools' local efforts and our regional push, the national interest in STEM will help ensure Southwest students can find secure, high-paying jobs when they graduate.
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Business Spotlight: ALASKA AEROSPACE CORPORATION
 The Alaska Aerospace Corporation (AAC) was established by the State of Alaska to develop a high tech aerospace industry. AAC's corporate offices are in Anchorage, Alaska. Their core business is space launch from the Kodiak Launch Complex, a state-of-the-industry spaceport on Kodiak Island that provides access to space for commercial and government interests. KLC was the nation's first commercial spaceport not collocated on a federal range, located about 44 road miles south of the city of Kodiak at Narrow Cape, on State Land. KLC is the nation's only high latitude full service spaceport. It was designed specifically to provide optimal support for space launches to polar orbit, including circular and highly elliptical Molniya and Tundra orbits. KLC offers unrestricted down range launch azimuths - missions without land over-flight. In March 2012, Lockheed Martin announced that it had selected KLC as its dedicated West Coast launch facility for Athena rocket launches. Lockheed Martin has been working with the state on expansion plans for the new medium-lift launch pad, expanding payload and functionality. "Our nation needs affordable lift to meet current and projected demands at a time of declining budgets and economic pressures," said John Karas, vice president and general manager, Human Space Flight, Lockheed Martin. With these plans the company is positioned to expand the Athena II program as it continues to evaluate the business case for Athena III launches from Alaska. The Athena III would be capable of launching satellites weighing 10,150 lbs. The new medium-lift capability from Kodiak would enable Lockheed to engage Alaska businesses as future suppliers, benefiting the state and the Athena launch program, as well as the opportunity to engage future generations of engineers and scientists through Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) outreach. Highlighting this fact, AAC, in collaboration with private businesses and pubic officials, recently held a supply chain conference to analyze opportunities for a home-grown Alaskan network of suppliers; an Alaska Aerospace Cluster, of sorts. The Alaska Aerospace Corp. is a new member of SWAMC.
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Community Spotlight: KARLUK
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Karluk,_Alaska_late_1800s.jpg Located on the southwestern coast of Kodiak Island, Karluk overlooks the Shelikof Straits and Katmai National Park on Alaska's Aleutian Range. The mouth of the Karluk River is thought to have been populated by Aleutiq People for more than 7,000 years. Russian hunters established a trading post and a salmon saltery there in 1786. At that time, the village was located on both sides of the Karluk River, and in the Lagoon. By 1800, Karluk was known for having the largest cannery and the greatest salmon stream in the world.The US Post Office was established in 1892. The first Kodiak cannery, Karluk Packing Company, was built on the Karluk spit in 1878. Just four years later, five canneries were operating at Karluk,bringing many new people to the village. By the late 1800's, millions of fish were being caught and processed each year. Alaska Packers Association opened a hatchery in 1896 because officials believed that hatcheries would protect the dwindling salmon runs. But over-fishing continued to reduce the number of salmon at the Karluk River. Eventually the cannery moved to Larsen Bay and the hatchery was closed in 1917. After a severe storm in January 1978, the village council decided to relocate the community to the present site, upstream on the south side of the lagoon. Today's Karluk village is quiet, with the beautiful old Russian church sitting high on the bank at the end of the lagoon overlooking the sea. A small air strip sits between the church and the village. Bear and Sitka blacktail deer are often seen along the lagoon and on the beach. Also on the beach is one remaining cannery building, the last of the many that stretched all along the beach at the mouth of the river. The driving economic force in the village is still the Karluk River, supporting a handful of lodges offering sport fishing, hunting and ecotourism opportunities. Recently the village purchased a landing craft to assist with fuel deliveries, awarded from a high priority grant from the BIA. The village council is conducting wind monitoring in hopes of pursuing wind power generation to offset high energy costs. The boom times did return to Karluk River after the crash in the early 1900s, though not quite to the height of the runs prior to first canneries. Typical cycles dictate that natural systems will encounter times of high and low abundance; the problem is that these cycles often outlast the human counterparts that rely on the healthy production of that river system. The Kodiak Regional Aquaculture Association, in collaboration with the villages of Karluk & Larsen Bay, Koniag, Kodiak Borough, ADF&G, fishermen, biologists and residents are working to resuscitate a revitalization program that was successful in restoring productivity to the Karluk after runs crashed in the 1970s. The resuscitation program requires nutrients to be added to Karluk Lake, allowing the fishes food source to blossom, providing feed to vulnerable fry and thus increasing survival rates as the healthy fry have a higher likelihood of perpetuating the species. The economic benefit of Karluk Lake System Enrichment could have an annual positive economic benefit of $146 million. Despite unanimous local stakeholder support, presently the project is mired in political deadlock, dictated by interests outside of Alaska.
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Economic Indicator: Fuel Cost Comparisons
Converting energy sources to a common unit of measurement allows us to compare relative costs per unit of output. The charts below aggregate data compiled by the Alaska Energy Authority's Alaska End Use Study, representing total energy use in a home. Aggregating community-wide total energy use requires understanding individual homeowner consumption; however, due to the enormity of research this would entail, AEA conducted case studies of a Hub Community (Bethel), and a Village Community (New Stuyahok), to represent total usage in Rural Alaska.
Figure 1 displays relative Home Energy Use. Notice that heating represents 90% of all residential energy use - the most important energy for residential homes is heating. Figure 2 displays Fuel Cost Comparison by Home Type. Notice the variance in price even though energy use is constant by home type - home efficiency and fuel source have a dramatic effect on final total costs. Fuel costs for the analysis in Figure 2 assume: Fuel oil at $6/gal; natural gas at $9/MCF (higher than prices in Anchorage); and heat pumps using $0.15/kwh electricity and a Coefficient of Performance of 2.5 (meaning each unit of electricity provides 2.5 times more energy output).
The total energy use illustrated here represents Bethel, which has a colder climate than most communities in the SWAMC region. It can be assumed that energy use required for heating is overestimated compared to homes in the SWAMC region; however, relative cost comparisons by fuel source should remain constant.
SWAMC is currently contracting with AEA to conduct Regional Energy Planning in the Aleutians and Bristol Bay, and perhaps Kodiak in the future. Understanding energy use is important but complicated, so please contact us for a more thorough analysis of energy use and costs in your region.
Figure 1:
Figure 2:
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Thanks to These 2013 Conference Sponsors!
Deck MasterWells Fargo Coffee Break Aleutians East Borough Boyd, Chandler, Falconer Northern Economics
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New Members of SWAMC
Adak Eagle Enterprises, LLC
Alaska Aerospace Corporation
Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers
Arni Thomson Consulting
Coastal Transportation
DOWL HKM
GCI
High Tide Environmental
Pacific Seafoods- Kodiak
Qagan Tayagungin Tribe
Statoil
Vitus Marine, LLC
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Some of Our Partners
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We're a member of
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Visit Southwest Alaska
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SWAMC Board of DirectorsShirley Marquardt, Pres.
Alice Ruby Glen Gardner
Joe Sullivan Kathleen Totemoff Lamar Cotten Layton Lockett Louise Stutes
Patrick Jordan Paul Gronholdt Trevor Brown
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SWAMC Staff Andy Varner
Executive Director
Erik O'Brien Economist; Development Specialist Cameron Dean STEM Coordinator/VISTA |
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| Upcoming Events & Dates to Remember | |
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As always...
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Thanks for your support of SWAMC. Please don't hesitate to share your thoughts, ideas, concerns and events. For previous newsletters, click the link below.
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