October was an exciting month for the IGAP department!  AlexAnna and I took our first trip to Dillingham that we can remember, to attend the Bristol Bay Energy Summit.  We spent three intense days listening to guest speakers from around the state, including Senator Lyman Hoffman, Representative Bryce Edgmon, and Lieutenant Governor Craig E. Campbell.  Booths were set up from various vendors giving away free pencils, bags, and candies that we took full advantage of!  Topics ranged from renewable energy sources to weatherizing your home for energy efficiency.   We had the honor of listening to speakers from a wide range of state and federal agencies including, the Denali Commission, United State Department of Energy, Alaska Energy Authority, United States Department of Agriculture and various Bristol Bay organizations.  

My favorite lecture was on the Carter Doctrine and when the Earth will run out of oil.  We are currently producing 84.5 million barrels of oil and day and the demand for it is 84.9 million barrels.  There is an estimated one trillion barrels of oil left in the ground.  The United States is the biggest oil hog in the world using 19,650,000 barrels a day.  Egypt uses the least with 562,000 barrels a day.  Supply and demand will keep fossil fuel prices trending up, which is why we are interested in renewable energy sources.  There are many benefits to using renewable energy, including, price stability, it is clean, inexhaustible and we can harness it locally. 

This was the first summit of this type for the Bristol Bay region and it is a great step forward in advancing our area in renewable energy resources.  It was extremely educational and useful, thanks to all who made it a wonderful experience. 

In other environmental news, our potatoes have been hardened and set aside to deliver.  Our Potato Harvest Festival will be on October 27th 6 pm at the school gym.  The total weight of all our potatoes was 405 pounds!  Good job planters and pullers alike! 

In the near future AJ Salkoski with RurAL Cap will be coming to do a site visit and review the work we completed with our EPA Demo-Grant.  Mr. Salkoski was supposed to come earlier, but with all our travelling and a busy schedule of his own, the timing has been off. 

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please contact Angel or myself at the office.