"Reliable and affordable utility services remain out of reach for thousands of Alaskans. Between $1.5 billion and $2 billion of public investment is potentially at risk due to the inadequate operations, maintenance, and management of electric, water, sewer, bulk fuel, and solid waste utilities in many small rural Alaska communities. This report provides a foundation of facts and ideas that can be used to move toward sustainable utilities in these places."--Executive summary.

The state of Alaska recognizes the challenges these rural communities face and provides financial support via the Power Cost Equalization (PCE) program. The PCE subsidizes the electricity prices paid by customers of these high-cost utilities. The PCE program is designed to spread the benefits of Alaska's natural resources more evenly throughout the state. Yet even with this subsidy, electricity is still much more expensive for these rural customers. And beyond the PCE, other forms of assistance to rural utilities are becoming scarce given the state's current fiscal environment. Nearly 90 percent of Alaska's unrestricted budget funds in recent years have been tied to oil royalties--a sector experiencing significant declines in production and oil prices. Consequently, as Alaska looks to tighten budgets, the challenge of lowering rural utility costs, while encouraging self-sufficiency, has become more urgent. This study examines reliability, capital and strategic planning, management, workforce development, governance, financial performance and system efficiency in the various communities visited by the research team. Using those attributes, a tier system was developed to categorize rural Alaska utilities into Leading and Innovating Systems (Tier I), Advanced Diesel Systems (Tier II), Basic Systems (Tier III), and Underperforming Systems (Tier IV). The tier approach is not meant to label specific utilities, but rather to provide a general set of benchmarks and guideposts for improvement.

Report on the "Alaska Village Demonstration Projects" designed to demonstrate methods to improve sanitary conditions in native villages of Alaska.

The Law Library presents the complete text of the Section 360D Water Systems for Rural and Native Villages in Alaska (US Rural Utilities Service Regulation) (RUS) (2018 Edition). Updated as of May 29, 2018 The Rural Utilities Service (RUS), an Agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is modifying its existing regulations to establish a separate regulation for making grants to rural or Native Alaskan Villages under the Rural Alaska Village Grant (RAVG) Program. The existing RAVG regulation will be relocated to its own section and modified to conform with streamlined processes established through a Memorandum of Understanding among USDA, RUS; The United States Department of Health and Human Services, Indian Health Service (IHS); The State of Alaska, Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC); and the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC). The grants will be provided directly to a rural or Native Alaskan Village or jointly with either DEC or ANTHC for the development and construction of water and wastewater systems to improve the health and sanitation conditions in those Villages through removal of dire sanitation conditions. This ebook contains: - The complete text of the Section 360D Water Systems for Rural and Native Villages in Alaska (US Rural Utilities Service Regulation) (RUS) (2018 Edition) - A dynamic table of content linking to each section - A table of contents in introduction presenting a general overview of the structure