Energy

Southcentral gas utility Enstar sold to Canadian company

A Canadian energy business announced Wednesday it will pay $1.1 billion to buy the parent company of Enstar Natural Gas Co., the lone distributor of natural gas to tens of thousands of homes and businesses in Southcentral Alaska.

Low temperatures, high thermostats set record

Sitka residents have been cranking up their heat so much to deal with single-digit temperatures that they helped the city electricity department set a record.

Most of the gas, about half the fuel oil pumped to Nome

A Russian tanker crew was nearly finished pumping fuel to the iced-in city of Nome today, having sent more than half the 1.3 million gallons of diesel and gasoline through two hoses across the ice.

Photos: Coast Guard Cutter Healy, tanker Renda reach Nome

Fuel begins flowing from tanker to Nome

The transfer of 1.3 million gallons of fuel from a Russian tanker to fuel storage tanks in Nome is going smoothly, with one possible problem avoided. Jason Evans, board chairman of Sitnasuak Native Corp., says one potentially damaged section of hose had to be switched out early this morning.

Harsh Alaska winter leads to fuel shortages in some villages

Photos: Coast Guard Cutter Healy, tanker Renda reach Nome

Harsh Alaska winter leads to fuel shortages in some villages

Living in Alaska's outer reaches is challenging enough, given the isolation and weather extremes, but at least three remote communities also have experienced weather-related late deliveries of fuel crucial to their survival during an especially bitter winter.

Crews in Nome harbor prepare to offload fuel from tanker

Crews worked to build a path Sunday over a half-mile of Bering Sea ice for the final leg of a Russian tanker's mission to deliver fuel to a town isolated amid one of the most severe Alaska winters in decades.

Harsh Alaska winter leads to fuel shortages in some villages

Photos: Coast Guard Cutter Healy, tanker Renda reach Nome

Fuel tanker, icebreaker make progress in journey to Nome

After being slowed and at times stalled by ice in the Bering Sea, a Coast Guard icebreaker and a Russian tanker were making "great progress" toward Nome on Tuesday, according to an official for the corporation arranging the fuel delivery to the iced-in city.

Photos: Coast Guard Cutter Healy, tanker Renda reach Nome

Energy authority moves a step forward on Susitna dam

The Alaska Energy Authority has taken the next step toward construction of a major hydroelectric power plant at Watana on the upper Susitna River by filing a license pre-application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Fuel tanker bound for Nome turns back for minor repairs

There's a new twist in the saga of a Russian fuel tanker trying to reach ice-bound Nome. The Coast Guard said the Renda was just 15 miles out from the Aleutian Islands port of Dutch Harbor when it turned back Wednesday to make minor repairs.

Nome-bound Russian tanker anchors in Dutch Harbor

A Russian tanker that plans to deliver petroleum products to iced-in Nome has arrived at a fishing port in Alaska's Aleutian Islands.