Unalaska, AK – Representative Bryce Edgmon of the 37th district is one of four state legislators being recognized by the environmental advocacy group Alaska Conservation Voters. Edgmon along with Representative Charisse Millett and Senators Lesil McGuire and Bill Wielechowski - all of Anchorage - received high ratings on the groups legislative scorecard.
Edgmon and Millett co-chair the House Energy Committee together, and AVC praised them both for getting a comprehensive energy bill passed. Susanna Orr is the political director for AVC and she explains why Edgmon's political record stood out.
Unalaska, AK – Summertime in the Aleutian Islands means enjoying the subsistence harvest and digging into things like halibut, salmon, king crab - but not clams or mussels. A project undertaken by the Aleutians Pribilof Islands Association has revealed a dangerous level of toxins that could lead to paralytic shellfish poisoning, or PSP, in shellfish across the region.
The group doing this work is called the Response to Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning in Aleut Communities project, and they're funded by the Environmental Protection Agency and managed by APIA. They've found fatal levels of PSP toxins in shellfish from Sand Point to Akutan to Unalaska.
Unalaska, AK – Unalaska residents are advised to hit up the bank, because next week all the bars might be cash bars. This isn't because they're setting up a cartel. There's just a chance that their credit card reader just might not work thanks to a drifting satellite that might interfere with GCI's signal to the island.
Between August 11 and August 14, what's being described as a "wayward" satellite will float a little to close to the Galaxy 18 satellite that GCI and Alaska wireless use to provide service to the state's rural areas. The bandit Galaxy 15 satellite that's causing all of the trouble experienced a technical failure in April that has caused to lose its position. David Morris, vice president for GCI, explains what exactly happens when the two satellites meet.
Unalaska, AK – After many delays and with much anticipation from the fishing industry, the National Marine Fisheries Service just released its draft biological opinion on Alaska's Steller sea lion population. The draft clocks in at over 800 pages of text, charts, and graphs, and it examines the effect of commercial fishing on this protected species. It also makes some recommendations that could limit fishing in a portion of the Aleutians.
Unalaska, AK – A team of NOAA scientists have just completed an aerial survey and boat survey of Alaska's Steller sea lion population. They completed counts of adults and juveniles through Southeast, Prince William Sound, Kodiak, and parts of the Aleutians.
Lowell Fritz, a NMFS scientist, says that it's too early to glean much from their data, but the NMFS scientists have noticed that survivability of Steller sea lions in the Eastern Aleutians has been increasing, even if the sea lions haven't been having a lot of pups. He says there's still concern about the population in the Western Aleutians.
Unalaska, AK – The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has just put out its biannual integrated report, and there's good news for Unalaska: Both Dutch Harbor and Iliuliuk Bay are looking cleaner.
The report examines the condition of the states water bodies and establishes whether they're in line with the federal Clean Water Act. Iliuliuk Bay and portions of Dutch Harbor were designated as category two waters, which means that they're safe for their designated uses. However, there are two small nearshore parts of Dutch Harbor that remain impaired, according to the report.
Unalaska, AK – Last night, city council zipped through business and moved ahead on financial measures that would help pay for infrastructure improvements.
The council unanimously passed a resolution that would designate the Aleutians West census area as a recovery zone. This would enable the city to issue recovery zone economic development bonds and recovery zone facility bonds, which are tax-exempt bonds created by last year's federal stimulus bill.
Unalaska, AK – A project undertaken by the Aleutians Pribilof Islands Association has revealed a dangerous level of toxins in local shellfish that could lead to PSP - paralytic shellfish poisoning. Community members are advised not to eat shellfish collected from Aleutian waters.
The group doing this work is called the Response to Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning in Aleut Communities project, and they're funded by the Environmental Protection Agency and managed by APIA. They have been monitoring shellfish in the area and found that it is testing at 331 micrograms/100 grams, according to APIA's Bruce Wright. In May, when the water was colder, area shellfish contained about a tenth of that amount. And to put this all in perspective, the cut off for toxicity is 80 micrograms/100 grams. Any more than that, and shellfish is deemed unsafe. Unalaska shellfish is testing at over four times that amount.
Unalaska, AK – Akutan is a small island community in the eastern Aleutians with ever expanding growth potential. The town of 90 people hosts one of the largest fish processing plants in the state. Soon, they might also be home to one of the largest geothermal energy plants. With over $2.5 million from an Alaska Renewable Energy grant, the city of Akutan is exploring the potential of their active volcano. KUCB's Anne Hillman visited Hot Springs Bay on Akutan Island.
