Tag Archives: Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation

A Department of Environmental Conservation budget proposal could mean some rough years ahead for small shellfish farms in Alaska. Testing shellfish for harmful toxins is currently subsidized at 100 percent, but this proposal would split the fees 50-50 between farmers and the state. That’s threatening to put some small farms out of business. Wilfred Pavloff and Larry “Bunson” Sugiak shuck …

Kodiak residents may have noticed an orange-tinted sun and acrid-smelling air Monday morning. That’s the result of smoke coming down from the Kenai Peninsula where the Swan Lake Fire continues to burn. On Saturday the wildfire jumped the Sterling Highway and is currently burning at more than 110,000 acres, according to the National Wildfire Coordinating Group. A smoky sun shone …

The pipe leak near Mission Lake is fixed and fully operational as of Wednesday night, according to a city of Kodiak press release posted Thursday morning. An excavator dumps gravel back into the pit on Metrokin Way, originally dug to fix leaking sewer pipes. Mission Lake can be seen in the background. (Photo by Kavitha George/KMXT) “The leak is fixed, …

Governor Dunleavy’s proposed budget would eliminate the state’s only dairy inspector, making it nearly impossible for up-and-coming dairies like Kodiak Baptist Mission’s Heritage Farms to sell milk commercially. The House passed a workaround to the issue in their version of the bill last week, but it remains to be seen whether that makes it into the final budget. Kelli Foreman, …

Daysha Eaton/KMXT After allegations that farmers market vendors were selling food that violated state food safety laws, the biggest farmers market in Kodiak is moving. And a new market is springing up where the old one used to be, bringing the number of markets in town to three. It’s 40 degrees and pouring rain in Kodiak but inside Judy Hamilton’s …

Around 3,000 gallons of oil were released into the Shuyak Strait after this building collapsed. (Photo Courtesy of the Coast Guard.) Mitch Borden/KMXT At the end of February, 3,000 gallons of oil spilled into the Shuyak Strait about 50 miles north of the City of Kodiak.  The oil was in a building that collapsed because of a severe windstorm. Since …