Alaska
Alaska Permanent Fund committee tries to figure out how to stay out of media limelight
At the Governance Committee for the Alaska Permanent Fund Board of Trustees on Monday afternoon, there was much talk about transparency and “building back the trust” with the public.
The committee members and their consultant team discussed the delicate balance the board of trustees has in talking to people who promote investment opportunities to the $80 billion sovereign wealth fund of Alaska, and how the trustees communicates those opportunities to the professional staff.
There was also discussion about the need for better crisis communications to deal with matters that could arise.
All of the discussion was aimed at resolving issues that put the Permanent Fund Corporation in an unflattering limelight over the past few weeks, after someone inside the professional staff leaked out emails to the Alaska Landmine website that showed how uncomfortable the chief investment officer was with trustee Ellie Rubenstein’s perceived heavy-handedness in pushing investments possibly related to her own financial interests.
Rubenstein is vice chair of the board of trustees and chairs the governance committee. She also has a father — David Rubenstein — who is famous for the world-famous private equity fund he started, Carlyle Group, which has in the past managed a small portion of the Alaska Permanent Fund’s investments and would probably appreciate more opportunity. She’s also on speed dial with the governor of Alaska. The leaked emails revealed she may have an interest in getting rid of the board Chairman Ethan Schutt.
Britt Harris IV, who was named acting CEO of the $56.7 billion Austin-based Texas Permanent School Fund Corp., is on the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp.’s investment advisory group. He advised the board more than once that there needs to be a clear line of responsibility between the trustees and the the professional staff. He and other advisers reminded the board that although they may be approached by many people at conferences eager for the business of the Alaska Permanent Fund, their role ends after they make a referral to the professional staff. The fund is doing well, they said, and there’s not a lot of room to wedge in another investment adviser.
Britt acknowledged that when at conferences, trustees are expected to treat people they meet with courtesy and professionalism, but passing along the information to the staff should be where it ends.
The committee discussed setting up a common email address where they can send the information, so that other board members and staff could see it, adding to a sense of transparency.
The Funston Advisory Group, which advises Permanent and Sovereign Wealth Funds, had a list of recommendations that were in addition to some of the ideas the trustees and staff came up with:
- – Establish Board term limits
- – Establish an Enterprise Performance Risk Management Program
- – Formalize internal CIO Investment Committee structure, duties and reporting practices
- – Develop clear and expanded compliance monitoring and reporting responsibilities
- – Forrnalize due diligence processes and related compliance reporting
- – Spell out Board Standards Policy discipline options and procedure
- – Consolidate all governance bylaws, charters and policies into Manual
- – Provide secure laptops or tablets to trustees for APFC business Develop investment beliefs to further guide planning and policies
- – Revise the Audit Committee Charter to provide for: o Committee monitoring of compliance with audit report recommendations
- – Audits of investment and operations reports for accuracy and reliability
There were no votes taken during the meeting, which was attended by all members of the board of trustees, with the exception of Chairman Schutt. About 65 other people were dialed into the meeting, but no one from the public offered any comments during the public comment segment of the agenda.
Alaska
Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport busy with holiday travelers
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) -Many of the people arriving to and departing from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport Sunday agreed that Anchorage’s main airport isn’t as tough to navigate as most right now.
On Dec. 22, three days out from both Hanukkah and Christmas, travelers at the airport were lined up, checking in, waiting for baggage, or going through security; all of those, demanding a wait. However, several travelers told Alaska’s News Source about their experiences and what they were expecting during their flights.
Matt Howard departed from Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina around 5 a.m. “It was the busiest I’ve ever seen it,” Howard said. He estimated he touched down in Anchorage around 6 p.m., adding Ted Stevens was much “less frantic” than the other airports he was at, but thought the evening time frame might have been a contributing factor.
Flying in from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, Kimberly Lamar said she visits her mother in Alaska at least once a year.
“It was pretty overwhelming, trying to get through from Atlanta,” she said. “Then I got to Seattle; it was hard to get through to the gates of Seattle. And finally, this is the easiest airport I’ve actually been in all day.”
Born and raised in Alaska, Gideon Mahoney was traveling to Colorado where he recently relocated. “I’m actually really surprised, right now it’s easy and we were a little late, so…” Mahoney said, glancing at the line for security.
Growing up in Alaska, Mahoney said flying into Denver International Airport can be overwhelming at times.
“We’re working on figuring out how to deal with that,” he said. “We’re getting it.”
As for travelers who haven’t left just yet, Lamar’s advice was aligned with a prepared statement from Alaska Airlines: both said arriving early is the key for holiday travels.
“If you’re flying, make sure you leave early because those lines are crucial,” Lamar said.
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Alaska
Hydroponics provide year-round growing for Alaska farmers
On a recent December afternoon, Soldotna farmer Taylor Lewis preps for a day of harvesting crops. She walks to a tray filled with ripe lettuce and snips a head of it by the stem.
It’s just one of about 900 plants that Taylor and her mother-in-law Jayme Lewis will harvest and process this week – despite freezing temperatures and slushy snow outside. That’s because the duo works for Edgy Veggie, an indoor farm that grows produce year round.
“In the summer, a lot of our business drops off because folks are gardening at home. But in the winter, they’re not, because it costs money to heat your greenhouse,” Jayme said. “It costs a lot of money to heat your greenhouse.”
The company is a hydroponic farm, meaning they grow plants without soil. Hydroponic systems recycle and reuse nutrient-filled water, which minimizes waste. Specially made lighting and climate controlled conditions make it possible for Edgy Veggie to grow indoors during the winter months.
Around Thanksgiving, the company harvested 150 pounds of lettuce, enough to make about 800 salads. That took two days and was one of their biggest hauls of the year. Although not a typical harvest for the company, Jayme says she does see an uptick in business during the winter when Alaska’s produce is almost exclusively shipped up from the Lower 48.
“If you go to the grocery store and pick up a head of lettuce right now, by the time you get it home it will be wilted,” Jayme said. “That’s sad. Literally, that’s sad.”
Jayme says some local restaurants have sourced their vegetables from Edgy Veggie because they last longer and are fresher than grocery store produce.
Nestled between two train cars-turned-restaurants on the other side of town, Henry Krull walks inside his shipping container farm. He points to a wall that’s growing hundreds of bunches of butter lettuce.
Krull is the owner of fresh365, another Kenai Peninsula based hydroponic farm. Just like Edgy Veggie, the farm operates entirely indoors.
“The advantage of growing indoors, in a container like we have, is that we can control the environment,” Krull said. “We can grow no matter what’s going on outside. It can be 30 below outside, but it’s always 70 degrees or so inside.”
fresh365 also sees an uptick in direct-to-consumer sales in the winter. Otherwise, most of their sales go to other businesses, like local restaurants.
And while indoor farming means fresh, local produce year-round for Alaskans, it faces a number of challenges. Krull says growing in a hydroponic setting is much more expensive than traditional farming methods. So, to offset his farm’s energy costs, he installed solar panels, which were partially funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy for America Program, or REAP.
But, Krull says the property doesn’t get much sunlight in the winter.
“The sun is a very valuable commodity, it’s valuable for not only producing electricity, but it helps to lower the energy costs,” he said. “And the energy costs of the farm containers we have is actually very, very high, because we can’t take advantage of the sun.”
Edgy Veggie, on the other hand, doesn’t even have solar panels. Jayme says their energy costs are high year round.
“Electricity, especially, is outrageous,” she said. “I wish that the state had some sort of option with the electric companies to help support farming. We’re providing a service to the community, honestly. We’re trying to, but it might run us out of business.”
Other challenges to hydroponics include faulty pumps and timers, ventilation issues and water leaks. Like traditional farming, hydroponic farmers say it’s backbreaking work.
But, for farmers like Taylor Lewis, offering fresh and local produce year round is a labor of love.
“Being able to supply our community with anything fresh is great,” Taylor said. “What we have as options in the grocery store – it’s not cutting it.”
“These belong in every community,” Krull said. “We’ve been able to prove that as a business model, it works. You can make a profit doing it, you can provide a good service to your community, and I think we can really do good for our community by providing something that is not readily available on a year-round basis.”
According to the U.S Department of Agriculture, only 5% of food Alaskans consume is grown locally. The state also has very short growing seasons.
Alaska
Nature: Northern Lights above Alaska
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