Ben Boettger

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Meet and greet? Peninsula residents seek town hall forums with congressional delegation

Editor's note: This story has been changed to remove a group inaccurately named as the organizer of an Anchorage town hall meeting.  When Alaska’s congressional delegates visited… Continue reading

HEA prices to drop in 2016

Homer Electric Association will decrease its rates starting January 1, 2016, while an unresolved proposal that may raise them remains suspended until July. The cost… Continue reading

HEA seeks to recoup costs for Bradley Lake power transmission

Homer Electric Association is requesting a temporary 3.25 percent rate increase, effective in February, to recover what it says is a significant loss from transmitting… Continue reading

Graphic by Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion This map, taken from the Kenai Peninsula Borough Parcel Viewer and modified by the Peninsula Clarion with information from Homer Electric Association's Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license application for the Grant Lake Hydroelectric project, shows the existing route of the Iditarod National Historic Trail in blue and HEA's proposed reroute of the trail in pink, as well as the powerhouse and water-diversion tunnel HEA plans to build.

Officials consider recreational impact of HEA’s Grant Lake hydroelectric project

In one possible future, a footbridge may cross Grant Creek about a half mile from Grant Lake, its source in the hills above Moose Pass.… Continue reading

Graphic by Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion This map, taken from the Kenai Peninsula Borough Parcel Viewer and modified by the Peninsula Clarion with information from Homer Electric Association's Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license application for the Grant Lake Hydroelectric project, shows the existing route of the Iditarod National Historic Trail in blue and HEA's proposed reroute of the trail in pink, as well as the powerhouse and water-diversion tunnel HEA plans to build.
A Pelton waterwheel, similar to those that spin Bradley Lake's two turbines, sits in a storage area on Friday, April 15 at the Bradley Lake power station. Created in the 1870s, Pelton wheels have an efficient paddle design that can extract almost all energy from a flow of water. This wheel was removed from the turbine due to stress at the base of the paddles.

Bradley Lake maintenence complete

Editor's note: This story has been changed to correct an annual rate orginally described as a monthly rate. Since 1991 the Bradley Lake Hydroelectric Plant… Continue reading

A Pelton waterwheel, similar to those that spin Bradley Lake's two turbines, sits in a storage area on Friday, April 15 at the Bradley Lake power station. Created in the 1870s, Pelton wheels have an efficient paddle design that can extract almost all energy from a flow of water. This wheel was removed from the turbine due to stress at the base of the paddles.

State prepares for Cook Inlet lease sale

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Oil and Gas will start taking bids in June for 9.95 million acres of oil and gas… Continue reading

Kara Johnston makes her way through a bouldering route on River City Wellness Center’s new climbing wall on Saturday, April 8, 2017 in Soldotna, Alaska.

Rock wall offers new ascent for peninsula climbers

Local climbers gained a new foothold on the central peninsula April 8 with the opening of an indoor bouldering wall in Soldotna’s River City Wellness… Continue reading

Kara Johnston makes her way through a bouldering route on River City Wellness Center’s new climbing wall on Saturday, April 8, 2017 in Soldotna, Alaska.

Hilcorp gas leak found, oil source still being investigated

Last weekend contracted dive crews from Homer visited Hilcorp’s underwater fuel gas pipeline in Cook Inlet's Middle Ground Shoal area and located the source of the… Continue reading

Hilcorp to reduce flow in leaking gasline, halting production on two platforms

Editor's note: This story has been updated with an estimated future leak rate as a result of the pressure decrease. Hilcorp announced plans on Saturday… Continue reading

Hilcorp gas pipeline leaking into Cook Inlet

A damaged underwater pipeline is leaking between 210,000 and 310,000 cubic feet of natural gas per day into Cook Inlet, according to estimates by the… Continue reading

John Morton/Kenai Wildlife Refuge Andrew Skibo (left) of chemical manufacturer SePRO oversees application of the herbicide Diquat at Daniels Lake, in a boat piloted by Kenai Wildlife Refuge Biologist Todd Eskelin (right) on Tuesday, June 3 2014. After being mixed with lake water, liquid Diquat enters the lake from a spray-hose on the rear of the boat.

Group declares partial victory over elodea

In a public presentation on Thursday, Kenai Wildlife Refuge Supervising Biologist John Morton said that herbicide treatments have eliminated elodea from two of the three… Continue reading

John Morton/Kenai Wildlife Refuge Andrew Skibo (left) of chemical manufacturer SePRO oversees application of the herbicide Diquat at Daniels Lake, in a boat piloted by Kenai Wildlife Refuge Biologist Todd Eskelin (right) on Tuesday, June 3 2014. After being mixed with lake water, liquid Diquat enters the lake from a spray-hose on the rear of the boat.

Lake Hood Elodea may threaten Kenai Peninsula

This summer the invasive waterweed elodea was eliminated from two of the three infected lakes on the Kenai Peninsula. However, recently discovered elodea in Anchorage’s… Continue reading

Tobias Schwörer, a researcher at the University of Alaska's Institute for Social and Economic Research, produced this map of floatplane bases and destinations for his study of how elodea, an invasive waterweed, could spread through the state. Floatplanes are a significant spreader of the weed, fragments of which can lodge in their rudders and floats.

Controlling elodea with data

Although the invasive water-weed elodea was officially eradicated from the Kenai Peninsula this summer, the statewide threat remains. Floatplanes, which can inadvertently carry colonies of… Continue reading

Tobias Schwörer, a researcher at the University of Alaska's Institute for Social and Economic Research, produced this map of floatplane bases and destinations for his study of how elodea, an invasive waterweed, could spread through the state. Floatplanes are a significant spreader of the weed, fragments of which can lodge in their rudders and floats.

Cook Inlet Energy unsuccessfully contests fine

The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission’s final decision to put a $446,000 penalty on Cook Inlet Energy remains final. In an order Tuesday, the… Continue reading

Cook Inlet Energy fined for safety valve violations

The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission — the state regulatory oversight group for the hydrocarbon industry — has issued a $446,000 penalty to Cook… Continue reading

PacRim coal mine permitting suspension leaves some simmering debate

Although a plan to strip-mine coal from beneath the Chuitna River’s west Cook Inlet tributaries is done for the moment, elements of controversy may continue… Continue reading

Hilcorp seeks Falls Creak Area expansion

Oil and gas company Hilcorp Alaska wants to add about 40 acres of land to a gasfield located between Clam Gulch and Ninilchik. Hilcorp applied… Continue reading

Mt. Spurr towers high over the Chuitna River on the west side of Cook Inlet near Tyonek, Alaska. PacRim, the company investing in the mine, informed the state March 31 that it was suspending its quest for permits for the mine, which would have extensively strip-mined throughout the Chuitna River watershed. (Photo courtesy Ground Truth Trekking)

In Tyonek, surprise, relief over PacRim change of plans

After last week’s announcement that PacRim Coal is halting plans for a strip-mine in their region, some inhabitants of the west Cook Inlet’s Chuitna watershed… Continue reading

Mt. Spurr towers high over the Chuitna River on the west side of Cook Inlet near Tyonek, Alaska. PacRim, the company investing in the mine, informed the state March 31 that it was suspending its quest for permits for the mine, which would have extensively strip-mined throughout the Chuitna River watershed. (Photo courtesy Ground Truth Trekking)

Kenai donates 5 lots to Habitat for Humanity

The central Kenai Peninsula chapter of Habitat for Humanity will build a house in Kenai every two years until 2026, using five properties the Kenai… Continue reading

Pat Foley, Senior Vice President of Alaska Operations for North Slope oil producer Caelus Energy, speaks on the oil industry's importance to Alaska's fiscal recovery during a talk on Wednesday, April 5 at the Kenai Chamber of Commerce and Visitor's Center. "We're all in the oil business," Foley told his audience, speaking of oil's central place in Alaska's economy. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Caelus seeks to invest locals in Smith Bay oil

Under Alaska’s current oil tax and incentive program, the state “is really a co-investor” in oil and gas development, according to Pat Foley, Senior Vice… Continue reading

Pat Foley, Senior Vice President of Alaska Operations for North Slope oil producer Caelus Energy, speaks on the oil industry's importance to Alaska's fiscal recovery during a talk on Wednesday, April 5 at the Kenai Chamber of Commerce and Visitor's Center. "We're all in the oil business," Foley told his audience, speaking of oil's central place in Alaska's economy. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)