Alaska
Disaster response presents an early test for Alaska’s Rep. Peltola
As she begins her second week on the job, Congresswoman Mary Peltola is getting ready to prod the U.S. Home for supplemental catastrophe spending to assist Western Alaska recuperate from the storm.
Peltola was one of many final representatives to go away the Home chamber after a sequence of votes Monday evening.
“I’ve been having conversations with members of the Transportation Committee, members of assorted subcommittees, members with extra seniority than I’ve who’ve been via pure disasters, giving me recommendation on completely different approaches I can take,” she stated.
It hasn’t occurred but, however President Biden is more likely to signal a catastrophe declaration, as he did for a special storm over the weekend that devastated Puerto Rico. Gov. Mike Dunleavy stated Monday evening he’d ship a request quickly.
That will launch quite a lot of federal cash to storm victims. Congress typically has to move supplemental funds to pay for responses to main disasters.
One among her challenges will likely be to make different Home members acknowledge the gravity of the Alaska catastrophe, particularly as a result of fewer individuals are damage there in comparison with the three million Puerto Ricans who misplaced energy and different infrastructure.
Peltola talks concerning the toll on Alaskans who hunt, fish and collect to feed their households.
“These communities, all up and down the coast, have been spending all summer season lengthy, gathering meals and placing it of their freezer for the winter,” she stated Monday evening. “Now all of those freezers are going to have electrical injury, water injury. It stays to be seen how a lot of that meals may be salvaged.”
Peltola says catastrophe aid funding for each Alaska and Puerto Rico is likely to be wanted within the persevering with decision — the laws Congress has to move earlier than the top of the month to maintain the federal government working.
She has been elected to serve till January. She’s additionally working for the following full time period. Politicians are sometimes judged by how effectively they deal with a catastrophe, and that is her first.
She needs folks within the nation’s capital to know of all of the automobiles broken within the storm and the way vital they’re to a household’s meals safety.
“Small boats with outboard motors, four-wheelers, snow machines — my concern is that we guarantee that authorities companies know that these are usually not leisure automobiles, that these are important automobiles for on a regular basis residing,” she stated.
Her Republican rivals, Sarah Palin and Nick Begich, additionally issued statements concerning the storm.
Palin stated in a information launch that she’s heartbroken by the devastation.
“We’re seeing the actual spirit of Alaska proper now, with folks all around the state reaching out to assist their fellow Alaskans on this time of want,” her launch stated.
Begich, in an emailed assertion, stated his prayers exit to the folks affected by the tragedy. As did Palin, he spoke of appreciation for first responders and the Crimson Cross.
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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