Business Briefs
Marathon seeks spill plan renewal
Marathon Oil Co. has applied to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation to renew its oil spill prevention and contingency plan for the Beaver Creek Production Facility near Kenai. Copies of the plan are available from DEC in Anchorage and Soldotna. For information, call 269-7680. According to DEC, the deadline for the public to comment or request a public hearing had not yet been set Tuesday, but it should be about Oct. 26.
Student seeks Alaska business cards
Eleven-year-old Alicia Weicht, of Collettsville, N.C., is collecting Alaska business cards for a school project. She asks for five cards from each business.
"After the project is over, the cards will not be thrown out or destroyed, they will be put on display at my school, and if I win, my project will go 'on tour' of the other schools in North Carolina. Please let me know if you can help me with this project or not," she writes.
Her address is P.O. Box 301, Collettsville, N.C., 28611.
Oil industry economic impact surveyed
The Alaska Support Industry Alliance and the Alaska Oil and Gas Association have hired Information Insights Inc. of Fairbanks and the McDowell Group of Juneau to conduct a study to determine the economic impact of the oil industry in Alaska. The study will include separate reports for Anchorage, the Kenai Peninsula Borough, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the city of Valdez and the state. Fairbanks was surveyed last year. AOGA and the project team will be asking businesses for payroll and purchasing information.
The associations plan to present the results to community leaders and legislators in January.
Homer chamber gives beautification awards
NOMAR Northern Marine Canvas Products took this year's Most Attractive Business award from the Homer Chamber of Commerce. The Most Improved/Best Rehab award went to the Art Shop Gallery. The Most Attractive Residence award went to Norma Leland, and the Most Creative/Unusual award went to Specialty Electric Supply. The Kachemak Bay Branch of Kenai Peninsula College drew the Most Attractive Public Building award.
Northwest offers PFD deal
Alaska Permanent Fund dividend checks will be arriving soon, and the airlines are already planning deals. Northwest Airlines says it will trade four round-trip tickets for a dividend check. It also will offer Alaska residents two round-trip tickets for $1,078. The tickets must be bought by Oct. 31, and travel must be completed by Dec. 13. No blackout dates apply. All travel must originate in Alaska. Northwest offers daily service between Anchorage and Minneapolis.
State recognizes environmental efforts
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has recognized three companies for outstanding efforts to reduce waste. Commissioner's Awards went to Northern Air Cargo, Carrs/Safeway and Schlumberger Oilfield Services.
Northern Air Cargo provides free shipping for aluminum cans recycled from many rural communities for the Flying Cans program of Alaskans for Litter Prevention and Recycling. Other partners in the service include Smurfit recycling, Frontier Air, Arctic Circle Air and ACS. Proceeds from recycling go to the communities that send the cans.
Carrs/Safeway stores recycle Christmas trees in Anchorage and Eagle River. This year, they recycled more than 15,000 trees, saving space in local landfills and keeping garbage collection costs down.
For the BP Northstar project in the Beaufort Sea, Schlumberger Oilfield Services has introduced a zero-emissions electrically powered logging unit to acquire data for finding underground oil, gas and water.
Officials to explain groundfish reporting rules
The National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Coast Guard plan five workshops on 2001 record-keeping requirements for Alaska groundfish fisheries. The first will be Nov. 17 at 10 a.m. during FISH EXPO at the Washington State Trade and Convention Center, Room 310, in Seattle.
Others are Jan. 4 at the NOAA/NMFS Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Building 9, Rooms A/B in Seattle; Jan. 16 at the U.S. Coast Guard Training Center in Kodiak; Jan. 18-19 at Unalaska City Hall.
Alliance elects new directors
Members of the Alaska Support Industry Alliance recently elected five new members to its board of directors. Joining the 21-member board are Robert J. Dickson, attorney and partner for Atkinson, Conway & Gagnon Inc.; Richard Faulkner, owner of STEELFAB; Jim Gilbert, senior vice president for Udelhoven Oilfield System Services Inc.; Bob Stinson, president of CONAM Construction Co.; and Maynard Tapp, president of Hawk Construction Consultants Inc. They will serve three-year terms.
The new board ratified selection of its 2000-2001 executive officers. Those are: President Bill Stamps, manager of business development for Peak Oilfield Service Co.; Vice President of Government Relations Bob Stinson, of CONAM; Vice President of Public Relations John "Jack" Laasch, president and general manager of Alaska Petroleum Contractors; Secretary Sally Ann Carey, health, safety and risk management administrator for Natchiq Inc.; Treasurer Maynard Tapp, of Hawk Construction; Immediate Past President Matthew Fagnani, president of WorkSafe Inc.; and At-Large Executive Committee Member Richard Faulkner of STEELFAB.
Fishers may have strayed into sea lion habitat
The National Marine Fisheries Service is investigating allegations that 11 catcher-processor boats violated an Aug. 7 court order banning fishing in critical Steller sea lion habitat.
On Sept. 15, the At-Sea Processors Association told NMFS that several boats inadvertently had fished in critical habitat, surrounding sea lion haul-outs on St. Paul and St. George islands in the Bering Sea. On Sept. 20, the United Catcher Boats and Westward Seafoods notified a federal judge that three more boats had fished for pollock inside the St. George Island critical habitat area.
NMFS representatives say they view violations as a matter of grave importance, and the agency's Office for Law Enforcement is determined to enforce the fishing closures.