Alaska
Six Alaska projects receive grants from DOE rural & remote clean energy program – Alaska Native News

The Biden-Harris Administration’s Department of Energy Tuesday announced it has awarded more than $20 million to Alaskan communities for rural and remote clean energy projects. The six projects selected as part of the Energy Improvement in Rural and Remote Areas (ERA) grant program aim to cut energy costs, enhance climate resiliency, and support local economic development:
- Tanacross Solar PV and Tok Battery Energy Storace System (Native Villages of Tanacross and Tok, Alaska): $5 million grant to install 1.5MW of solar PV on the grid at the Alaska Power & Telephone power plant paired with a 1.5MHw battery energy storage system that is expected to displace more than 12,500 gallons of expensive diesel fuel each year.
- Big Battery as our Backbone (Kokhanok Village, Alaska): $5 million grant to upgrade the Kokhanok microgrid with a 943kWh battery energy storage system and solar, PV, wind turbine and electric thermal storage heating units, significantly increasing the microgrid’s reliability and resilience.
- New Stuyahok Solar-Battery (New Stuyahok, Alaska): $4.3 million grant to construct a 500kW solar PV array, a 540kWh battery energy storage system, and a microgrid controller – leveraging abundant summer daylight hours to displace nearly a quarter of fuel consumption for rural Yup’ik villages in the remote Dillingham region.
- Decarbonizing the Tongass with Tribally Owned Heat Pumps (Prince of Wales Island, Alaska): $2.5 million grant for a tribally owned project to install air-source heat pumps in up to 240 tribal buildings – powered by existing clean hydroelectric resources – to help reduce residents’ energy reliance on and emissions from fossil fuel use.
- High Penetration Solar-Battery Project (Ambler, Alaska): $2.1 million grant to upgrade an existing power plant to allow for a 400kW solar PV system and a 500kWh battery energy storage system to produce nearly a quarter of the community’s electricity and allowing the village’s diesel generators to be turned off for the first time in more than 40 years.
- Ouzinkie Independent Power Energy Improvement Project (Spruce Island, Alaska): $1.7 million grant to construct a 160kW solar PV and 210kWh battery energy storage system for a new microgrid offering back-up power during severe weather outages and reducing electricity costs by 10% for this community of 128 indigenous residents.
Nineteen projects across 12 states and 13 Tribal nations and communities were selected for this round of ERA grant funding. Further details on the $78 million awarded is in the press release below, and you can find specific project details on the OCED website.

Alaska
Alaska firefighters rescue 4 from top floor of abandoned, burning hotel

Anchorage Daily News
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Four people were rescued from a fire Friday morning at a vacant former hotel in Spenard, the Anchorage Fire Department said. No one was injured.
The first call about the fire came in at 6:55 a.m., said fire department spokeswoman Megan Peters. The fire was burning on the top floor of the former Americas Best Value Inn and Suites on the 4300 block of Spenard Road, she said.
“When units arrived, four people could be seen on the top floor. All four were rescued by firefighters using the ladder truck,” she said. “None of the individuals reported any injuries.”
More than 30 fire department personnel responded. Firefighters were on scene through the day extinguishing hot spots, Peters said. No firefighters were injured.
“Hopefully investigators will be able to get in there soon to look into the cause and origin of the fire,” she said.
The same building burned in July 2022, displacing 19 people from the 44-unit hotel. It had been vacant since, according to the fire department.
© 2025 the Alaska Dispatch News (Anchorage, Alaska).
Visit www.adn.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Remote shutoffs, emergency sources and lines dedicated for firefighting are the many options being explored
Scrutiny is being applied only to projects using money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, from the administration
The Potter Valley Fire Department hosted water supply training with six other departments using water from ponds
Councilmember Monica Rodriguez said Mayor Karen Bass’ ousting of Fire Chief Kristin Crowley is a move to deflect criticism of Bass’ handling of wildfires
Alaska
A Somali man’s deportation battle cracks a window into how ICE is operating in Alaska

Federal immigration authorities are trying to deport a Somali asylum seeker living in Anchorage, as his attorneys argue he should not be held because his country is on a list of nations the U.S. has determined are too dangerous to return migrants to.
Roble Ahmed Salad, 27, is one of five people detained in Alaska by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement so far this year, amid a nationwide immigration crackdown ordered by President Donald Trump.
The federal attorneys representing immigration authorities in the case say Salad has been ordered deported since 2023 and should be removed from the Unites States imminently.
On Feb. 7, Salad’s attorneys challenged his detention in federal court here, saying the government’s hold of him was illegal because he had complied with all legal requirements and, under the law, can’t be deported.
Salad’s attorney, Margaret Stock, wrote in a court filing that in her 35 years of practicing immigration law, she had “never seen ICE detain a person in this circumstance.”
“The expensive mess that ICE has created is evident from the history of the events in this case,” she wrote.
The attorneys representing the U.S. government in the case declined an interview request.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Anchorage said in a statement that it “works alongside partner federal agencies to uphold the nation’s immigration laws.”
The court fight cracks a window into complicated and often opaque immigration proceedings, and reveals the resources the government has dedicated to its efforts to deport Salad, an Anchorage assisted living home caretaker.
The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown has seen publicized raids and mass deportations in cities across the United States, but has been quieter in geographically isolated Alaska. As of mid-February, 41,169 people were in ICE custody nationally, according to NBC News. The administration has repeatedly said it is deporting people with criminal records in the United States, using official social media channels to showcase the arrests of undocumented people charged with serious crimes.
The Daily News obtained the names of all of the people picked up by ICE in the state so far this year through jail records. Only one of the five appeared to have a criminal record in Alaska, a misdemeanor conviction for applying for a driver’s license without citizenship status 15 years ago. The federal immigration agency pays the state $212 per day to house immigration detainees, who while in ICE custody are not charged with a crime but with civil immigration code violations. Detainees are dressed in prison garb, at times shackled and treated as any other inmate at the Anchorage jail.

None of the other four people detained, who include Mexican and Guatemalan nationals, are still being held in Alaska jails or prisons. It’s not clear where they are now.
Roble Ahmed Salad has never been charged with a crime, either in the United States or Somalia, according to court filings.
Salad’s saga is a testament to the shifting landscape of Trump-era immigration enforcement, which has landed the 27-year-old in jail, living in a no-man’s-land of detention between deportation and a life in Anchorage.
According to federal court documents, Salad entered the U.S. through the Mexican border in December 2022 and asked for asylum. Initially, his claim of fearing his home country and government was found to be credible, according to filings by his attorneys. But his asylum claim was later denied at a hearing in which he had no attorney, according to a memo filed in his case by his lawyers. Salad then filed an appeal, which was also denied.
The government ordered that Salad be deported in May 2023. But because Salad was from Somalia, ICE couldn’t send him back due to the “chaotic, violent and dysfunctional conditions” in his home country, his attorney wrote in a court filing. He was detained for as long as immigration detainees can legally be held, then released on an “order of supervision” on Nov. 28, 2023, because “it was not likely he would be deported to Somalia in the reasonably foreseeable future and his continued detention would have been unconstitutional,” the court filing by his attorneys contends.
He was ordered to check in with immigration authorities more than a year later, on Dec. 18, 2024, in San Antonio, Texas, according to filings by government attorneys representing immigration authorities.
In the meantime, Salad moved to Alaska and got work as a caretaker at an assisted living home, according to case filings. He was living in an apartment in Anchorage.
In December 2024, Salad flew back to Texas, draining his savings, for his required Dec. 18 check in with immigration enforcement, according to the filings of his attorney, who entered airline ticket stubs as evidence. But initially the check-in wasn’t recorded by the government. When it was discovered he’d moved to Anchorage, he was considered an “immigration fugitive” at high priority for deportation, according to filings by the government in the case.
His attorneys rejected that notion, writing in court filings that “fugitives do not spend their savings flying 4,000 miles to report in as directed,” to immigration authorities in Texas, in court filings.
In January, with an attorney helping him, Salad applied for temporary protected status, which people from a short list of countries the U.S. considers too dangerous and unstable for resettlement can obtain. Temporary protected status prohibits deportation, and Somalia is included among the countries of origin eligible, until at least 2026.
The list of countries eligible for temporary protected status is getting shorter: Last month, the Trump administration announced that Venezuelans would lose protected status — a move that’s being challenged in court. And on Thursday, the administration cut Haiti from the status.
On Feb. 5, Salad was taken into custody in Anchorage by ICE agents.
On his application paperwork, included as part of his federal case, Roble said he’d never been to jail in the United States. He said he’d been jailed for two months in Somalia for participating in political demonstrations against the government.
Salad was flown from Anchorage to Texas on Feb. 7, and then returned just days later to appear at a federal court hearing this week. The government is expending major resources on Salad’s case, the court filings allege.
“So far ICE has purchased three airline tickets to fly two ICE officers plus Mr. Salad from Anchorage to Texas,” Stock wrote in a court filing. “Then ICE had to purchase three airline tickets to fly two ICE officers plus Mr. Salad back from Texas to Anchorage. And ICE is continuing to incur detention expenses. Yet Mr. Salad is clearly not an ‘immigration fugitive.’ Mr. Salad’s continued detention is thus unlawful, purposeless, and expensive.“
Teresa Coles-Davila is a Texas immigration attorney who said she’s familiar with Salad’s case, though she is not a party to it. To her, it sounds like ICE is “digging in their heels, and they’re doing everything they can for the optics, because now they’ve invested so much time and money in it.”
The court held an evidentiary hearing Wednesday but hasn’t ruled on the legality of Salad’s detention. He remains at the Anchorage jail.
Alaska
Flying people and freight around the state is important in building and maintaining connections
Flying is a big part of the Alaska lifestyle.
For many of us, that means out-of-state travel, or even out of the country.
But just as we fly off to Seattle or Frankfurt and other points abroad, airplanes also take travelers to the far reaches of the state.
The big jets go to many destinations around the state. Alaska Airlines flies 737s to Nome, Cordova, Bethel, Juneau, Kodiak and Utqiagvik every day. Also in the mix are the smaller regional jets operated by Horizon Air: the E175s.
The smaller jets fly between Anchorage and Fairbanks, King Salmon and Dillingham, plus other destinations as required.
But there are a bunch of other communities in the state that Alaska Air and Horizon don’t reach. The communities are too small, or the airstrips aren’t big enough, or both.
Air travel to and from most of these communities is restricted to planes that accommodate nine passengers or fewer. A few larger communities in Western Alaska enjoy service with larger planes. Ravn Alaska flies the wing-over twin-engine Dash-8 with 29 to 37 passengers. Aleutian Air operates the 50-passenger Saab 2000.
The air carriers are changing things up — and it affects travelers around the region.
Last December, Ravn Alaska advised the U.S. Department of Transportation that it intended to halt its essential air service flights on April 29 between Anchorage and St. Mary’s, as well as between Anchorage and Unalakleet.
For reference, it’s expensive to fly to either destination, between $450 and $545 one-way, with at least 14 days’ advance notice.
The U.S. DOT put a hold on Ravn’s plan, ordering the carrier to continue flying until another carrier is found. Sterling Airways, the parent corporation for Aleutian Airways, submitted bids to serve the two communities, with a subsidy of at least $5.8 million. ACE Air Cargo also submitted a bid, requesting a subsidy of more than $4.4 million. ACE also does quite a bit of charter passenger flights with its fleet of 19-passenger Beechcraft 1900s.
Kenai Aviation submitted a bit with no subsidy for Anchorage-Unalakleet and was awarded the route. According to Jacob Caldwell, Kenai Aviation’s president, the carrier will fly a nine-passenger King Air twice each day between Anchorage and Unalakleet. Fares start at $495 each way.
There’s been no award yet for the Anchorage-St. Mary’s route. Ravn will continue to fly three times per week until a new carrier is selected.
The essential air service program for small, rural communities started in 1978 when airlines were deregulated. The qualifications for communities has changed over time, but right now there are 65 routes in Alaska that qualify.
[Nonstop flights from around the country and from Bush Alaska are an essential part of Anchorage’s economy]
Prices for travel to Alaska’s smaller communities almost always generate sticker shock for travelers from Anchorage.
Anchorage-Kenai tickets cost $145 each way on either Grant Aviation or Kenai Aviation. Tickets to Homer on Ravn or Aleutian Air cost between $143 and $190 each way.
Fares to Valdez went down when Ravn won a $6 million annual essential air service contract. Today, the one-way fare is $89.
Flights to Dutch Harbor cost $689 one-way on Aleutian Airways, which now is the only carrier that flies there, since Ravn pulled out.
Ravn is the only carrier flying from Anchorage to St. Paul Island and the fare is $770 one-way.
There are many small air carriers providing service between Anchorage and smaller communities around the state. That includes Alaska Air Transit, which flies to the Prince William Sound communities of Chenega and Tatitlek. Iliamna Air Taxi and Lake and Pen Air both fly from Anchorage to communities on the Alaska Peninsula. Many other smaller carriers offer charter service around the state, which makes sense if you have a small group that can fill the plane.
Mike Reeve, grandson of Reeve Aleutian Airways’ founder Bob Reeve, flies all over the state with his fleet of King Airs. His carrier, Reeve Airways, operates two scheduled routes: between Anchorage and Gulkana and between Anchorage and McGrath.
In the summer, Reeve also flies from Anchorage to McCarthy twice each week.
Reeve gets an essential air service subsidy for the Anchorage-Gulkana run. Although he doesn’t receive a subsidy on the flights to McGrath, he continues the daily flights “to develop the market.”
Kenai Aviation’s Joel Caldwell, Jacob’s father, also spoke about developing the market with the increased frequency to Unalakleet. Currently, Ravn flies four times per week in the Dash 8. With Kenai Aviation’s twice-daily flights, Caldwell said travelers could fly back and forth to Anchorage in one day.
Both Reeve Airways and Kenai Aviation submitted proposals to fly between Anchorage and Seward, supported by an essential air service subsidy.
Air carriers in Alaska have a multitude of issues to consider before starting a new route. Many carriers only fly freight and mail. Evert’s Air Service and Ryan Air both fly freight and mail almost exclusively. Still, Ryan flies a passenger flight five days a week between Anchorage and Aniak. And Evert’s flies passengers to several villages out of Fairbanks.
If a carrier elects to fly passengers, there’s the mix of passengers, freight and mail to configure on each flight. Also, passengers have their own checked luggage.
Flying the mail is an important contract for rural air carriers. Postal revenue can be a decisive factor in making a route profitable. Another important factor for passenger air carriers is medical travel, often paid by insurance or Medicaid.
Matt Atkinson is one of the owners of Wright Air Service in Fairbanks. On the tarmac in Utqiagvik, Atkinson was unloading a Cessna 208 that just arrived from Nuiqsut and Deadhorse. Next to him was a pallet of boxes and other freight that needed to go to Wainwright, 86 miles west of the airport. There were foodstuffs, Amazon packages and a young girl’s bicycle crammed into the plane.
“Passengers are important,” said Atkinson. “But you win the hearts and minds of our people with mail and freight.”
[Recent events put aviation safety at the front of mind for travelers]
Next weekend, Alaska’s air carriers will get together for their annual convention. At the top of the agenda is aviation safety, which was brought in to crystal focus following the crash of the Bering Air flight last month. But there’s also a seminar of dealing with the U.S. Postal Service, which is an important partner in Alaska aviation.
Flying people and freight around the state never has been easy. But those companies and individuals dedicated to that mission play an important role in connecting people around the state.
-
Culture1 week ago
The impact of being only player from your country to play in the Premier League
-
Politics1 week ago
Federal department slashes millions in contracts, including $230K for 'Brazilian forest and gender consultant'
-
Technology1 week ago
YouTube TV has a deal to keep Paramount content
-
Politics1 week ago
Some Dems already turning on Hogg two weeks into DNC vice chair gig: report
-
Culture1 week ago
Tilted Axis Press Took a Big Risk on Translated Literature. It Paid Off.
-
World1 week ago
UN commander injured as Lebanese protesters torch car near Beirut airport
-
Business7 days ago
One Fix for Ailing Movie Theaters? Becoming Nonprofits.
-
News5 days ago
Kamala Harris Has Scrambled the California Governor’s Race Without Entering It