The lights could dim over Unalaska this week as utility workers test out the city’s newest diesel generator.
The fourth engine will be switched on Wednesday at 12 p.m. Utility director Dan Winters says it will operate at a quarter of its full capacity before workers begin ramping up the load.
"So that could take a day," Winters says. "Or if we see any problems during that process, we’ll shut it down, fix any issues we may have and then bring it back up and start over where we left off at."
Royal Dutch Shell cleared a major hurdle on Tuesday in its quest to return to the Arctic.
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell decided to uphold the sale where Shell purchased many of its offshore leases in the Chukchi Sea -- including the ones the company wants to explore this summer.
But until today, those leases were in limbo. A federal appeals judge ruled that the government hadn’t come up with an accurate estimate of how much development would take place in the Arctic as a result of the auction.
Besides finding a long-term tenant for the Unalaska Marine Center dock, city council will tackle a wide range of issues at their meeting tonight.
During a work session, the council will hear a presentation on the school district’s upcoming budget.
The council will also hold a public hearing and take a final vote on spending an extra $84,000 for upcoming capital projects. More than half of that would go toward designing a stormwater management system for Unalaska Lake.
Horizon Lines' local freight delivery comes into the Unalaska Marine Center every Friday. (Annie Ropeik/KUCB)
An open bidding process for new long-term shipping contracts at the Unalaska Marine Center will go to a vote when city council meets on Tuesday.
It’s the culmination of weeks of back-and-forth between the city, council and residents about the best way to secure a long-term user at the dock while preserving local freight service.
The request for proposals council will vote on hasn’t changed from what they considered earlier this month, and still includes extra points for companies that use local labor.
Kids and adults at the Magic tournament eat some pizza and build their decks out of new cards supplied by Bosco's in Anchorage. (Liam Andersen/KUCB)
For about a year, Unalaska’s community center has hosted a monthly tournament for the trading card game Magic: The Gathering. But last month marked a big step forward: A new card store in Anchorage has agreed to sponsor the event from here on out.
For local players, it could mean a chance to compete on a larger stage. KUCB's Liam Andersen has more.
A composite view of Semisopochnoi in January. (Courtesy: Dave Schneider/AVO)
A volcanic island in the Western Aleutians is stirring again, after several months of quiet.
Semisopochnoi was put on an advisory alert level on Wednesday morning. It’s the first alert at the volcano since a seismic flare-up last June, which was its first activity in almost 30 years.
The Alaska Volcano Observatory says earthquake activity began at Semisopochnoi in January, and increased over the past few days. They also report new seismic tremors they say could indicate magma moving inside the volcano.
Ryan Fry sets up crab pots outside the F/V Farrar Sea in Unalaska earlier this month. (Annie Ropeik/KUCB)
Bering Sea crab fishermen are trying to get through as much Bairdi tanner quota as they can before the season ends next week. This year’s huge allocation put the fleet in a time crunch -- and future seasons could bring more of the same.
That's thanks in part to a change in the species' preferred size -- the smallest crab that harvesters want to sell. The Board of Fisheries unanimously voted last week to decrease that size from 5.5 to 5 inches.
