A campaign to get Interior Alaska residents to think about household solar power is gaining popularity. A meeting Monday evening at the Ken Kunkel Community Center will discuss “Solarize Fairbanks”, a community campaign to reduce the costs of solar panels. Standing outside the Chapin family home on a sunny hillside north of Fairbanks, Terry Chapin looks where he might put …
Solarize Homer generates local energy
Adding solar energy to a home or business is easier and cheaper when people band together. Forming a collective can bring down costs and make a project more attractive to installers. That’s the goal of Solarize Homer. You can find information on the Homer, Kenai, Fairbanks and Anchorage Solarize projects at kenaichange.org. or at akcenter.org To sign up for Solarize …
We can’t go back to ‘normal’
We find ourselves in a major transition, a time the like of which most of us have never known. The uncertainty of this moment has filled us with varying levels of fear and anxiety. Collectively we are facing a pandemic, a collapsing stock market, dropping oil prices and the continuing impacts of increasing climate change. Every one of us has …
State ‘will be lenient’ on air and water quality enforcement amid COVID-19 pandemic
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – State regulators are scaling back enforcement of air and water quality protections until at least June and are asking regulated entities to self-report violations during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Governor Dunleavy has instructed his commissioners to do everything that we can in our power to stabilize the economy, to let the regulated community know, to let Alaskan …
Leg with Louie: Before the Session Ends
The Legislature is coming to a close, with pandemic and economic headwinds and more than a little uncertainty ahead. For the safety of our representatives, we need them to pass a budget and go home now. The session will likely adjourn or recess after a budget deal is struck sometime next week. In the meantime, why are legislators, like Sarah …
Leg with Louie: Staying Engaged in Uncertain Times
It is to their credit that our legislators have an eye on the pandemic, and an eye toward closing shop early, and are discussing processes to vote on the budget and governor’s appointments by phone. Taking it week by week is the way to go, or probably more like day to day if yesterday’s spate of event, class, gathering, and …
Leg with louie: Governor Dunleavy heads to the Kenai Peninsula
Dear Friends, The Governor’s operating budget for Alaska was improved by House Finance and sent from the full House this week with increases to the Alaska Marine Highway System, Pioneer Homes, Public Broadcasting, and reduced less than the Governor requested in many other areas. The bill – still a grim and diminished vision for Alaska – headed to the Senate for …
Leg with Louie: From the Smoke, Another Policy Option
Legislation is moving along to provide property tax incentives for energy-efficient new construction, refurbishments, remodels, and renovations. The bill also authorizes municipalities to offer property owners air quality tax credits for improvements, “including new construction, refurbishments, remodels, and renovations that aid in improving the air quality in the municipality.” The bill leaves the task of defining what qualifies explicitly for …
Leg with Louie: Who Pays and Why?
As we mature into modern statehood, or our middle adolescence, or late pre-adolescence as a state, we do well to consider the things we have perhaps outgrown and update them or trade them in for something new. This includes old timey tax structures. Our state’s motor fuel and marine fuel tax has not changed since the 1970s. Senate Bill 115 …
Leg With Louie: Obituary for House Resolution 12
The short, happy life of HR 12 ended this week. HR 12 was born last spring and died this winter, and we won’t spend long mourning it, but we will mark its passing with a few brief words: HR 12 was a house resolution that sought to establish a House Special Committee on Climate Change. At the time of its …