Defending Fur Rendezvous sled-dog champion Blayne Streeper is providing an emphatic answer to the question of whether a sprint racer or distance specialist would prevail at the International Pedigree Stage Stop Sled Dog Race.
Blitzing Monday's 38-mile leg from Pinedale to Cora, Wyo., in 2 hours, 18 minutes, 13 seconds, Streeper tightened his hold on first place, boosting his margin over second-place Anna Bjorklund of Kiruna, Sweden, to more than eight minutes.
Meanwhile, four-time defending Iditarod champion Lance Mackey is languishing in unfamiliar terrain -- ninth place and more than 46 minutes behind Streeper.
Running third 15 minutes off the pace is Aaron Peck, who has started three Iditarods, finishing as high as 45th. And veteran Aaron Burmeister of Nenana is fourth, racing behind some borrowed sprint dogs.
"First impression, I need some faster dogs," Mackey told the website mushing.com after the previous stage at Lander, Wyo. "But I was out there in a baseball hat and glove liners for crying out loud. It sure beats the Yukon Quest at this time of year."
Mackey is a four-time champion in the Quest, where temperatures can dip to minus-50 or colder.
If Mackey is hoping to make up time in the Stage Stop, today's stage, a 64-mile run that starts in Big Piney, Wyo., may be his best bet.
Stage racing is new to Mackey, along with the warm, thin air as mushers raced at elevations exceeding 9,000 feet.
"I feel it in my voice," Mackey told mushing.com. "I was up there winded. Everybody else was poling and kicking, and I was standing there enjoying the scenery. And it is beautiful, I'll tell you that."
The race continues through Wyoming before arriving in Park City, Utah, for the final stage and awards ceremony on Saturday.
International Pedigree Stage Stop Sled Dog Race
Overall Times Through Monday
1) Blayne Streeper, 5:25:15; 2) Anna Bjorklund, 5:33:46; 3) Aaron Peck, 5:39:55; 4) Aaron Burmeister, 5:42:47; 5) Bruce Magnusson, 5:50:34; 6) Jake Golton, 6:00:00; 7) JR Anderson, 6:08:05; 8) Stacey Teasley, 6:10:38; 9) Lance Mackey, 6:11:26; 10) Ken Josefsen, 6:11:30; 11) Jerry Bath, 6:13:54; 12) Sylvain Robillard, 6:15:15; 13) Ryan Redington, 6:17:16; 14) Dawn Breedlove, 6:21:28; 15) Kate St. Onge, 6:26:55; 16) Charlotte Mooney, 6:45:35; 17) Newton Marshall, 6:50:10; 18) Keith Peppler, 6:50:19; 19) Matt Rossi, 6:52:14; 20) Dennis Laboda, 6:53:51.
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Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Miller gives Fairbanks borough 30,000 requested e-mails
JUNEAU -- Joe Miller has turned about 30,000 e-mails over to the Fairbanks North Star Borough, effectively ending his former employer's investigation into e-mails gone from his inbox when he resigned in 2009.
Borough Attorney Rene Broker told The Associated Press that Miller provided the e-mails in January. She said Miller told her that's all the e-mails he had.
She said she considers the matter closed.
The borough had demanded Miller turn over any records in his possession related to his tenure as a part-time attorney.
Records released by the borough indicate an investigation into the e-mails dating at least to October, when Miller was in the throes of a contentious U.S. Senate campaign. His attorney questioned the timing of the probe and also said Miller followed borough e-mail policy.
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Borough Attorney Rene Broker told The Associated Press that Miller provided the e-mails in January. She said Miller told her that's all the e-mails he had.
She said she considers the matter closed.
The borough had demanded Miller turn over any records in his possession related to his tenure as a part-time attorney.
Records released by the borough indicate an investigation into the e-mails dating at least to October, when Miller was in the throes of a contentious U.S. Senate campaign. His attorney questioned the timing of the probe and also said Miller followed borough e-mail policy.
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Weimar under supervision at time of alleged child assault PROBATION: He was caring for 6-year-old while her mother went to the airport.
Former halfway house king Bill Weimar, convicted in the Alaska corruption scandal, was still under the supervision of federal probation officials when he is alleged to have sexually battered a 6-year-old girl in Florida, according to charging documents made public Monday.
A detective with the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office said in the sworn statement that Weimar's illegal contact with the child occurred in August, four months before he was released -- ahead of schedule -- from the supervision of federal probation officials in Florida. His probation officer recommended early termination of supervised release because Weimar had complied with all conditions of his sentence in Anchorage on two public corruption felonies.
On Monday, a spokeswoman for the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office said officers continue to search for Weimar, 70. An arrest warrant was issued Jan. 24.
The dockmaster at the Sarasota harbor marina where Weimar keeps his cabin cruiser said Monday he hadn't seen Weimar for weeks. The boat was still tied up in Weimar's rental slip, said Joe Tattel of Marina Jack.
Weimar had told a sheriff's deputy he lived on the boat, the Renewal, though Tattel said Marina Jack forbids "live-aboards."
The alleged sexual battery occurred in Sarasota County, on Florida's west coast. Weimar was supposed to be looking after the girl while her mother went to the airport, according to the sworn statement of Sheriff's Detective C. Duff.
The mother called Florida child protection services recently when she overheard her daughter enacting sexual conduct with naked Barbie and Ken dolls, Duff wrote. The girl told a child protection services investigator that when she was with Weimar, he had taken off his clothes and asked her to perform fellatio, which she did, the detective wrote.
"The defendant told her not to tell anyone," Duff wrote. The girl described Weimar as "mean."
The mother worked with the authorities to place a secretly recorded call to Weimar about the incident. Weimar "never denied the act occurred" but told the woman he couldn't "say anything about that," Duff wrote.
In January, Weimar voluntarily talked aboard his boat to Duff and acknowledged he had taken care of the girl that day, but denied sexually assaulting her, Duff said in her statement.
A message left by the Daily News on Weimar's cell phone was not returned.
The arrest warrant was issued not long after Weimar's conversation with Duff, said sheriff's spokeswoman Wendy Rose. When officers returned to the marina, he was gone, she said.
Rose said Sarasota authorities have been in touch with police in Alaska and are trying to learn whether there are other child victims.
Weimar once owned a chain of state-licensed halfway houses and drug testing facilities in Alaska and Washington state and became wealthy from government contracts. Before he went into the private corrections business, he was active in liberal Democratic politics in Juneau in the 1970s, then became close to powerful Republicans starting in the 1980s, including the late Rep. Ramona Barnes of Anchorage.
As part of that transformation, he helped finance the state Senate election campaign of Republican Jerry Ward in 2004 with a secret $20,000 contribution in violation of Alaska law. Four years later, Weimar pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy and financial misconduct charges related to Ward's campaign and was sentenced to six months in prison and another six months of home confinement.
Ward, who lost the Republican primary, would have supported Weimar's efforts to build a large private prison in Alaska, the federal charges said.
By the time he pleaded guilty, Weimar had moved to a gated mountainside retreat overlooking Flathead Lake in Montana.
When Duff visited him aboard the Renewal, Weimar said he had moved to Florida in January 2010 "because of his advancing age," the detective wrote.
According to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, Weimar finished his period of home confinement July 2, 2009, and began two years of supervised release, similar to probation. At some point over the next year, his supervision was assumed by the U.S. Probation Office in Sarasota.
Late last year, his Sarasota probation officer, John Holderman, signed a brief report to U.S. District Judge John Sedwick in Anchorage that Weimar "has complied with the rules and regulations of supervised release and is no longer in need of supervision." Sedwick officially discharged Weimar on Dec. 3, six months early.
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A detective with the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office said in the sworn statement that Weimar's illegal contact with the child occurred in August, four months before he was released -- ahead of schedule -- from the supervision of federal probation officials in Florida. His probation officer recommended early termination of supervised release because Weimar had complied with all conditions of his sentence in Anchorage on two public corruption felonies.
On Monday, a spokeswoman for the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office said officers continue to search for Weimar, 70. An arrest warrant was issued Jan. 24.
The dockmaster at the Sarasota harbor marina where Weimar keeps his cabin cruiser said Monday he hadn't seen Weimar for weeks. The boat was still tied up in Weimar's rental slip, said Joe Tattel of Marina Jack.
Weimar had told a sheriff's deputy he lived on the boat, the Renewal, though Tattel said Marina Jack forbids "live-aboards."
The alleged sexual battery occurred in Sarasota County, on Florida's west coast. Weimar was supposed to be looking after the girl while her mother went to the airport, according to the sworn statement of Sheriff's Detective C. Duff.
The mother called Florida child protection services recently when she overheard her daughter enacting sexual conduct with naked Barbie and Ken dolls, Duff wrote. The girl told a child protection services investigator that when she was with Weimar, he had taken off his clothes and asked her to perform fellatio, which she did, the detective wrote.
"The defendant told her not to tell anyone," Duff wrote. The girl described Weimar as "mean."
The mother worked with the authorities to place a secretly recorded call to Weimar about the incident. Weimar "never denied the act occurred" but told the woman he couldn't "say anything about that," Duff wrote.
In January, Weimar voluntarily talked aboard his boat to Duff and acknowledged he had taken care of the girl that day, but denied sexually assaulting her, Duff said in her statement.
A message left by the Daily News on Weimar's cell phone was not returned.
The arrest warrant was issued not long after Weimar's conversation with Duff, said sheriff's spokeswoman Wendy Rose. When officers returned to the marina, he was gone, she said.
Rose said Sarasota authorities have been in touch with police in Alaska and are trying to learn whether there are other child victims.
Weimar once owned a chain of state-licensed halfway houses and drug testing facilities in Alaska and Washington state and became wealthy from government contracts. Before he went into the private corrections business, he was active in liberal Democratic politics in Juneau in the 1970s, then became close to powerful Republicans starting in the 1980s, including the late Rep. Ramona Barnes of Anchorage.
As part of that transformation, he helped finance the state Senate election campaign of Republican Jerry Ward in 2004 with a secret $20,000 contribution in violation of Alaska law. Four years later, Weimar pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy and financial misconduct charges related to Ward's campaign and was sentenced to six months in prison and another six months of home confinement.
Ward, who lost the Republican primary, would have supported Weimar's efforts to build a large private prison in Alaska, the federal charges said.
By the time he pleaded guilty, Weimar had moved to a gated mountainside retreat overlooking Flathead Lake in Montana.
When Duff visited him aboard the Renewal, Weimar said he had moved to Florida in January 2010 "because of his advancing age," the detective wrote.
According to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, Weimar finished his period of home confinement July 2, 2009, and began two years of supervised release, similar to probation. At some point over the next year, his supervision was assumed by the U.S. Probation Office in Sarasota.
Late last year, his Sarasota probation officer, John Holderman, signed a brief report to U.S. District Judge John Sedwick in Anchorage that Weimar "has complied with the rules and regulations of supervised release and is no longer in need of supervision." Sedwick officially discharged Weimar on Dec. 3, six months early.
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At first, town officer didn't describe Waterman as suspect MURDER TRIAL: Defense grills him on jailhouse interview.
The defense tried to chip away Monday at the prosecution's murder case against Rachelle Waterman, grilling one of the key investigators about the pivotal moment when she was first implicated in the killing of her mother.
Mark Habib, then a Craig police sergeant and now police chief in the Southeast Alaska community, was cross-examined about his jailhouse interview with one of the two men in custody for the murder
In the days just after the Sunday, Nov. 14, 2004, murder, Habib didn't describe the teenage Waterman as a suspect in his notes, including what he jotted down during twice-daily law enforcement briefings as the investigation progressed, he acknowledged from the witness stand.
Yet, when Habib interviewed Jason Arrant on Nov. 19, he immediately zeroed in on Waterman and whether she had a role, according to a recording of that interview played in court Monday.
"In your notes -- the notes that you made at the time, OK -- there isn't anything that points to Ms. Rachelle Waterman's involvement -- again according to your notes -- until after you come out of the interview room with Jason Arrant, right?" defense lawyer Steven Wells asked.
"I don't believe there's anything in my notes," Habib acknowledged.
In fact, what he wrote down before the Nov. 19 interview was that both Arrant and another man, Brian Radel, said Waterman had nothing to do with the killing. Both eventually implicated her and pleaded guilty to the murder of Lauri Waterman. Arrant was Waterman's boyfriend and she also had had a relationship with Radel, men eight years her senior, according to prosecutors. Waterman, now 22, is being retried in Anchorage on murder and other charges after a first trial in Juneau ended with a hung jury.
Radel kidnapped Lauri Waterman from her home, then beat and suffocated her as Arrant watched, according to testimony. She ended up battered and muddy, so the men deviated from their original plan of a staged drunken driving accident. They put her in the family minivan and set it on fire.
John Bond, deputy state fire marshal, told jurors Monday that the minivan ended up "a burned-out shell." Jurors saw pictures from the scene of the body, mainly just a skull and some bones covered in ashes. Waterman didn't look at the pictures shown on a big screen.
During the cross-examination, Habib said he was just trying to get Arrant to tell the truth about what happened.
"This is not over. There's still one more person out there running free," Habib told Arrant during the November 2004 interrogation, according to the recording.
Arrant didn't say much for several minutes as Habib went over reasons why he needed to give up Waterman.
Arrant and Radel looked like two evil men who took Waterman's mother, but that's not the real story, Habib said. In fact, Arrant was showing 1,000 times more remorse than Waterman, Habib said.
"That girl played you guys," Habib told him.
Habib brought up his work relationship with Arrant's mother, a police dispatcher, and testified that he did so as a tool to soften Arrant up.
Waterman had told the men that her mother abused her.
In the interview, Arrant eventually told Habib that he asked Waterman what he could do to help her.
"She said it would be better if her mother was not in the picture," Arrant said, implicating Waterman for the first time. He told the officer that Waterman wanted her mother dead.
But when Habib pressed for what exactly Waterman said, Arrant told him that he couldn't remember, according to the recording.
Habib also testified that he had plenty of reason to focus on Waterman. She had initially lied to investigators about whether she had a sexual relationship with Arrant and Radel, he said. When he was interviewing other students at Craig High School, she came into the school office to see who he was talking to. At a time her mother and the minivan were still missing, Waterman told people her mother probably got drunk and drove off a cliff.
The trial resumes today with more from the prosecution. It's not yet clear if Waterman will testify when the defense begins to call witnesses. The case is expected to go to the jury Friday or Monday.
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Mark Habib, then a Craig police sergeant and now police chief in the Southeast Alaska community, was cross-examined about his jailhouse interview with one of the two men in custody for the murder
In the days just after the Sunday, Nov. 14, 2004, murder, Habib didn't describe the teenage Waterman as a suspect in his notes, including what he jotted down during twice-daily law enforcement briefings as the investigation progressed, he acknowledged from the witness stand.
Yet, when Habib interviewed Jason Arrant on Nov. 19, he immediately zeroed in on Waterman and whether she had a role, according to a recording of that interview played in court Monday.
"In your notes -- the notes that you made at the time, OK -- there isn't anything that points to Ms. Rachelle Waterman's involvement -- again according to your notes -- until after you come out of the interview room with Jason Arrant, right?" defense lawyer Steven Wells asked.
"I don't believe there's anything in my notes," Habib acknowledged.
In fact, what he wrote down before the Nov. 19 interview was that both Arrant and another man, Brian Radel, said Waterman had nothing to do with the killing. Both eventually implicated her and pleaded guilty to the murder of Lauri Waterman. Arrant was Waterman's boyfriend and she also had had a relationship with Radel, men eight years her senior, according to prosecutors. Waterman, now 22, is being retried in Anchorage on murder and other charges after a first trial in Juneau ended with a hung jury.
Radel kidnapped Lauri Waterman from her home, then beat and suffocated her as Arrant watched, according to testimony. She ended up battered and muddy, so the men deviated from their original plan of a staged drunken driving accident. They put her in the family minivan and set it on fire.
John Bond, deputy state fire marshal, told jurors Monday that the minivan ended up "a burned-out shell." Jurors saw pictures from the scene of the body, mainly just a skull and some bones covered in ashes. Waterman didn't look at the pictures shown on a big screen.
During the cross-examination, Habib said he was just trying to get Arrant to tell the truth about what happened.
"This is not over. There's still one more person out there running free," Habib told Arrant during the November 2004 interrogation, according to the recording.
Arrant didn't say much for several minutes as Habib went over reasons why he needed to give up Waterman.
Arrant and Radel looked like two evil men who took Waterman's mother, but that's not the real story, Habib said. In fact, Arrant was showing 1,000 times more remorse than Waterman, Habib said.
"That girl played you guys," Habib told him.
Habib brought up his work relationship with Arrant's mother, a police dispatcher, and testified that he did so as a tool to soften Arrant up.
Waterman had told the men that her mother abused her.
In the interview, Arrant eventually told Habib that he asked Waterman what he could do to help her.
"She said it would be better if her mother was not in the picture," Arrant said, implicating Waterman for the first time. He told the officer that Waterman wanted her mother dead.
But when Habib pressed for what exactly Waterman said, Arrant told him that he couldn't remember, according to the recording.
Habib also testified that he had plenty of reason to focus on Waterman. She had initially lied to investigators about whether she had a sexual relationship with Arrant and Radel, he said. When he was interviewing other students at Craig High School, she came into the school office to see who he was talking to. At a time her mother and the minivan were still missing, Waterman told people her mother probably got drunk and drove off a cliff.
The trial resumes today with more from the prosecution. It's not yet clear if Waterman will testify when the defense begins to call witnesses. The case is expected to go to the jury Friday or Monday.
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BP resumes dividend payouts, plans to sell 2 US refineries
LONDON -- BP PLC outlined plans to rebound from the Gulf of Mexico disaster as a smaller, safer company -- selling off almost half its U.S. refinery business -- and restored its dividend payment to shareholders as it unveiled strong fourth-quarter profits on Tuesday.
But uncertainty over the final bill for the Gulf spill and criticism from some analysts that the company shunned a more drastic restructuring tempered the good news.
Casting a further shadow was a dispute at the London-based company's Russian subsidiary TNK-BP, which Chief Executive Bob Dudley acknowledged may cost BP financially to resolve.
Dudley painted 2011 as a year of "recovery and consolidation" for the company as he listed three priorities: improving safety, restoring trust and finding value growth for shareholders.
As anticipated, BP posted a full-year loss in 2010 -- its first in almost 20 years. High crude oil prices at the end of the year lifted fourth quarter profit by 30 percent to $5.6 billion. But that was not enough to wipe out the effects of the Gulf spill, resulting in the full-year loss of $3.7 billion, compared to a profit of $16.6 billion in 2009.
"2010 will rightly be remembered for the tragic accident and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and it is clear that as a result BP is a company in transition," Dudley said in London. "I am determined that we will emerge from this episode as a company that is safer, stronger, more sustainable, more trusted and also more valuable."
Among its first steps of a return to business, the company announced that it would pay a 7 cent per share, or $1.25 billion, dividend to shareholders in the fourth quarter. The company scrapped the first three quarterly payments last year amid political and public pressure to set aside funds to pay for the April 20 Macondo well blowout that killed 11 workers.
"We believe now is the right time to resume payment of a dividend to our shareholders," said Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg.
"We have chosen a prudent level that reflects the company's strong underlying financial and operating performance but also recognizes the need to fully meet our obligations in the Gulf of Mexico and to maintain financial flexibility."
While stressing its commitment to the Gulf, BP put its Texas City and Carson refinery near Los Angeles up for sale. The company didn't put a figure on the two facilities, but said it had already received inquiries and hopes to conclude sales by the end of 2012. It added it plans to honor all its obligations stemming from a 2005 explosion at Texas City that killed 15 workers.
The company plans to concentrate its U.S. refining and marketing activity at Whiting, Indiana and Cherry Point, Washington, as well as in its 50 percent stake in the Toledo, Ohio facility.
BP has already slimmed down by selling some $22 billion of assets and agreeing to an $8 billion controversial share swap with Russia's OAO Rosneft.
BP raised the its estimate for the overall cost of the spill slightly to $40.9 billion from $39.9 billion. The charge covers the cost of the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig, which killed 11 workers in April, as well as plugging the well and cleaning up the southern U.S. coast.
Dudley said the company had a strong case for recouping the brunt of the costs from its partners in the Gulf of Mexico, including Transocean and Halliburton. They have so far not responded to bills from BP and cost provisions do not factor in payments from those quarters.
The company also cautioned that the final total "is subject to significant uncertainty."
Shares in the company, which had already factored in the positive of a renewed dividend payment, fell immediately after the earnings report, but made up some ground later in the session. By the close, the stock was trading 1.3 percent higher at 491 pence. That's still around 25 percent lower than on April 20, the day of the Macondo well explosion, but it is well off a low of 302.9 pence reached in late June.
"The market may be slightly underwhelmed by the lack of a more radical restructuring plan but with Macondo still an ongoing issue it may be too early for BP to implement more radical plans," said Richard Griffith, analyst at Evolution Securities.
"Going forward, the Gulf of Mexico continues to be an issue as it impacts operations," said Tony Shephard, analyst at Charles Stanley & Co., noting that BP's strategy before the accident was centered on the Gulf where it is the largest lease owner. "The Gulf faces a slow recovery in deepwater activity for all participants and further drilling delays are likely."
Dudley said he didn't believe that BP would be singled out for "special treatment" in the Gulf following the spill, but would impose restrictions on itself until it was sure lessons had been learned.
"BP is committed to doing business in the U.S. We are committed to our resource base in the Gulf of Mexico," Dudley said. "It's a very, very high resource base."
BP said clean-up activity in the Gulf has been winding down since no significant volume of oily liquid has been recovered since July 21, and 98.8 percent of the waters formerly closed to fishing had been reopened. The number of people employed on the cleanup had dropped from 20,000 to about 6,200.
As of this weekend, about 91,000 people and businesses had filed for final settlements of claims from the $20 billion fund, administered by Washington lawyer Kenneth Feinberg. Thousands of people have received some money to tide them over until a final settlement amount is offered, but only one has been fully paid -- a $10 million claim which BP called a unique situation.
Complicating BP's attempts to move on from the disaster is a dispute with BP's Russian partners in its TNK-BP venture following BP's share swap deal with Rosneft.
As the company announced its earnings, BP's lawyers were in London's High Court to contest a challenge from the AAR consortium, a group of Russian oligarchs that owns the other half of TNK-BP. AAR has sought an injuction to stop the deal, claiming it violates exclusivity provisions in the TNK-BP shareholder agreement and will erode the joint venture's competitive advantage. TNK-BP now accounts for a quarter of BP's oil production.
AAR upped the ante on Monday by voting against a $1.8 billion dividend payout for the fourth quarter, a move that would deprive BP of $900 million.
A judge ruled Tuesday that BP and AAR should enter an expedited arbitration process, with a hearing before Feb. 14, and that there would be no share swap before Feb. 25.
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But uncertainty over the final bill for the Gulf spill and criticism from some analysts that the company shunned a more drastic restructuring tempered the good news.
Casting a further shadow was a dispute at the London-based company's Russian subsidiary TNK-BP, which Chief Executive Bob Dudley acknowledged may cost BP financially to resolve.
Dudley painted 2011 as a year of "recovery and consolidation" for the company as he listed three priorities: improving safety, restoring trust and finding value growth for shareholders.
As anticipated, BP posted a full-year loss in 2010 -- its first in almost 20 years. High crude oil prices at the end of the year lifted fourth quarter profit by 30 percent to $5.6 billion. But that was not enough to wipe out the effects of the Gulf spill, resulting in the full-year loss of $3.7 billion, compared to a profit of $16.6 billion in 2009.
"2010 will rightly be remembered for the tragic accident and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and it is clear that as a result BP is a company in transition," Dudley said in London. "I am determined that we will emerge from this episode as a company that is safer, stronger, more sustainable, more trusted and also more valuable."
Among its first steps of a return to business, the company announced that it would pay a 7 cent per share, or $1.25 billion, dividend to shareholders in the fourth quarter. The company scrapped the first three quarterly payments last year amid political and public pressure to set aside funds to pay for the April 20 Macondo well blowout that killed 11 workers.
"We believe now is the right time to resume payment of a dividend to our shareholders," said Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg.
"We have chosen a prudent level that reflects the company's strong underlying financial and operating performance but also recognizes the need to fully meet our obligations in the Gulf of Mexico and to maintain financial flexibility."
While stressing its commitment to the Gulf, BP put its Texas City and Carson refinery near Los Angeles up for sale. The company didn't put a figure on the two facilities, but said it had already received inquiries and hopes to conclude sales by the end of 2012. It added it plans to honor all its obligations stemming from a 2005 explosion at Texas City that killed 15 workers.
The company plans to concentrate its U.S. refining and marketing activity at Whiting, Indiana and Cherry Point, Washington, as well as in its 50 percent stake in the Toledo, Ohio facility.
BP has already slimmed down by selling some $22 billion of assets and agreeing to an $8 billion controversial share swap with Russia's OAO Rosneft.
BP raised the its estimate for the overall cost of the spill slightly to $40.9 billion from $39.9 billion. The charge covers the cost of the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig, which killed 11 workers in April, as well as plugging the well and cleaning up the southern U.S. coast.
Dudley said the company had a strong case for recouping the brunt of the costs from its partners in the Gulf of Mexico, including Transocean and Halliburton. They have so far not responded to bills from BP and cost provisions do not factor in payments from those quarters.
The company also cautioned that the final total "is subject to significant uncertainty."
Shares in the company, which had already factored in the positive of a renewed dividend payment, fell immediately after the earnings report, but made up some ground later in the session. By the close, the stock was trading 1.3 percent higher at 491 pence. That's still around 25 percent lower than on April 20, the day of the Macondo well explosion, but it is well off a low of 302.9 pence reached in late June.
"The market may be slightly underwhelmed by the lack of a more radical restructuring plan but with Macondo still an ongoing issue it may be too early for BP to implement more radical plans," said Richard Griffith, analyst at Evolution Securities.
"Going forward, the Gulf of Mexico continues to be an issue as it impacts operations," said Tony Shephard, analyst at Charles Stanley & Co., noting that BP's strategy before the accident was centered on the Gulf where it is the largest lease owner. "The Gulf faces a slow recovery in deepwater activity for all participants and further drilling delays are likely."
Dudley said he didn't believe that BP would be singled out for "special treatment" in the Gulf following the spill, but would impose restrictions on itself until it was sure lessons had been learned.
"BP is committed to doing business in the U.S. We are committed to our resource base in the Gulf of Mexico," Dudley said. "It's a very, very high resource base."
BP said clean-up activity in the Gulf has been winding down since no significant volume of oily liquid has been recovered since July 21, and 98.8 percent of the waters formerly closed to fishing had been reopened. The number of people employed on the cleanup had dropped from 20,000 to about 6,200.
As of this weekend, about 91,000 people and businesses had filed for final settlements of claims from the $20 billion fund, administered by Washington lawyer Kenneth Feinberg. Thousands of people have received some money to tide them over until a final settlement amount is offered, but only one has been fully paid -- a $10 million claim which BP called a unique situation.
Complicating BP's attempts to move on from the disaster is a dispute with BP's Russian partners in its TNK-BP venture following BP's share swap deal with Rosneft.
As the company announced its earnings, BP's lawyers were in London's High Court to contest a challenge from the AAR consortium, a group of Russian oligarchs that owns the other half of TNK-BP. AAR has sought an injuction to stop the deal, claiming it violates exclusivity provisions in the TNK-BP shareholder agreement and will erode the joint venture's competitive advantage. TNK-BP now accounts for a quarter of BP's oil production.
AAR upped the ante on Monday by voting against a $1.8 billion dividend payout for the fourth quarter, a move that would deprive BP of $900 million.
A judge ruled Tuesday that BP and AAR should enter an expedited arbitration process, with a hearing before Feb. 14, and that there would be no share swap before Feb. 25.
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Outside subcontractors get big share of no-bid Native contracts Non-minority subcontractors often get bulk of federal 8(a) work.
When Alutiiq Manufacturing Contractors won a $28 million stimulus contract to replace windows at a federal building in Boston, it wasn't just a win for Alutiiq Natives on Kodiak Island.
The company, which can obtain large government contracts without competition under a program meant to help Alaska Natives, took what's become a common step. It subcontracted out $23 million, or about 80 percent of the project, to a more experienced firm -- in Alabama.
Critics of Alaska Native corporations, or ANCs, say such pass-throughs increase costs for taxpayers and undermine the intent of the contracting privileges by diverting benefits to non-Native firms. ANCs respond that they are simply trying to build the most qualified team to do the government's work.
Alaska's Native corporations have been under fire by some members of Congress who want to strip them of the special advantages they have over other minority firms. But some key questions have been unanswered in the debate: How often do the Alaska companies use subcontractors? And who is getting a share of their business?
An analysis by ProPublica, drawing on detailed reports of federal stimulus projects, shows for the first time that ANCs turned to subcontractors at twice the rate of all other federal contractors and significantly more often than other small, minority-owned firms.
And at least some of this work has gone to large firms -- General Electric, Kiewit and Lockheed Martin -- the stimulus reports show, echoing government audits that have fueled the criticism of ANCs.
Through September, Native corporations had won stimulus contracts worth $823 million for 742 projects, according to the most recent government data. More than 350 projects, or nearly half, rely on subcontractors to do at least some of the work.
By comparison, all other stimulus contractors subcontracted more than 5,600 of nearly 26,000 stimulus projects, or 22 percent. Other minority-owned firms hired subcontractors on 33 percent of their projects.
ProPublica's analysis is based on government data compiled for our Recovery Tracker, an ongoing project to follow stimulus spending. The data offer a previously unavailable window into Native corporation activity because Congress specifically required stimulus recipients to report subcontractors to the public, unlike the rules governing other federal contracts.
CRITICS SEEK REFORMS
ANCs receive more than $5 billion in federal contracts each year, so the stimulus projects account for a significant share of their revenue. Because subcontracting data aren't available for other contracts, it's possible that the overall subcontracting ratio for ANC projects could be different.
After reviewing ProPublica's findings, Scott Amey, a contracting expert at the Project on Government Oversight, said the lack of complete subcontracting data is a barrier. At a minimum, Amey said, the analysis "raises a red flag with ANC contracts."
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., released an investigation of Native corporations in 2009 as chairwoman of a Senate subcommittee that oversees federal contracting. She has said outside contractors and consultants are cashing in at the expense of Alaska Natives. McCaskill and Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., have introduced bills to roll back ANC privileges so they are no different from other small minority firms.
"Alaska Native Corporations are subcontracting huge amounts of their work, which is hindering the program's ability to help Alaska Natives," McCaskill said in a statement to ProPublica. "Alaskans deserve a program that will provide a leg up for individuals," she said, but the program "in its current form is not effectively achieving that goal."
ProPublica reported last month on the Cape Fox Corp. in Southeast Alaska, where outside consultants made millions in fees. While contract revenue skyrocketed over just a few years, Cape Fox's Native shareholders saw few jobs and no increase in their regular dividends as a result.
The Native American Contractors Association, which represents many tribal firms, says such cases are few and far between and that the program is working as intended.
The contracting program is "one of the only federal Indian programs that is working to improve the lives of Native people," Sarah Lukin, the association's executive director said in December. "Now is not the time to roll back the clock on years of socio-economic progress."
HELPED BY SPECIAL EXEMPTIONS
Congress created ANCs in 1971 to provide economic benefits, such as dividends and jobs, to Natives whose claim to ancient lands were blocking plans for the Alaska oil pipeline. Congress later allowed ANCs to participate in the U.S. Small Business Administration's business development program, which allows minority firms to receive no-bid contracts with a goal of eventually graduating to compete on their own.
In recent years, ANC subsidiaries have come to dominate the SBA program.
While other firms in the program have a limit of $3.5 million on contracts for services and $5.5 million on contracts for goods, Alaska Native corporations are exempt and have won awards exceeding $100 million.
The exemption makes ANCs a potentially lucrative partner for large firms acting as subcontractors. And government contracting officers turn to ANCs to avoid lengthy competitions and meet their small business contracting goals. ANCs also may compete for contracts.
The stimulus reports suggest that ANC subcontracting sends a substantial portion of revenue to outsiders. Of the $470 million in ANC stimulus projects that are at least halfway completed, Native corporations awarded about $200 million to other contractors, ProPublica found.
For example, Suulutaaq Inc., owned by Yup'ik Eskimos and Athabascan Indians in villages along the Kuskokwim River, won a $57 million contract to replace bridges on the flood-prone Napa River in California. It subcontracted two-thirds of the work, mostly to a division of Kiewit Corp., one of the largest construction firms in the world.
Facility Support Services LLC, owned by Natives in Juneau, won a $14 million contract to build a testing facility for energy-efficient appliances at the National Energy Technology Laboratory in Morgantown, W.Va. It subcontracted 75 percent to TJR Enterprises, a Hispanic-owned firm that has worked at the lab for several years but doesn't qualify for no-bid contracts anymore because it already completed the SBA program.
Under SBA rules, firms in the minority business development program cannot outsource more than 85 percent of construction contracts. The stimulus reports show that ANCs were above this limit in 40 construction projects. The largest ANC stimulus contractor, CCI Group, subcontracted 95 percent of some of its projects at the Army's Fort Wainwright near Fairbanks, according to reports it filed.
The SBA says that doesn't necessarily indicate a violation because the limit doesn't apply until a contract is complete, and one contract may contain hundreds of projects over several years.
ARE NATIVE COMPANIES DOING ENOUGH?
There's no rule specifying what type of work a prime contractor has to perform. Many, such as Alutiiq Manufacturing Contractors, mainly do back-office work managing the project. But at least some employees have to be doing construction, said SBA contracting official Calvin Jenkins.
Some larger ANCs have begun to question whether other ANCs are living up to the goals of the SBA's program if they perform only the bare minimum of work.
"The intent is to create these long-term successful businesses," said Aaron Schutt, chief operating officer of Doyon Ltd., an ANC that represents a vast area of central Alaska including Fairbanks. "One measure of success is how much you rely on subcontractors. There should in my opinion be a lessening of that reliance in your overall business as you mature in the program."
The Native contractors group says ANCs use subcontractors for the same reason other federal contractors do -- to assemble a qualified team to handle the work in a timely and cost-efficient manner.
Lukin said the government's stimulus reports provide only a snapshot of ANC contracts, making it impossible to discern whether firms are complying with the subcontracting limit. The only way to judge would be to examine the full contracts when they're completed, she said.
But such information isn't publicly available. Until the stimulus, federal agencies weren't required to report subcontractors. The government began reporting subcontractor data on large contracts last fall, but that information won't be available on most contracts until later this year.
BIG CONTRACTORS CASH IN
Past reports that large multinational corporations obtained work through ANC contracting preferences have helped drive the controversy over Native corporations.
Olgoonik Corp., based on the North Slope, received $225 million in military construction contracts but much of the work was done by Halliburton, according to a 2005 article in Mother Jones magazine.
In 2006, the Government Accountability Office reported that contracts to guard Army posts were awarded to Alutiiq LLC and Chenega Corp. but subcontracted to the giant security firms Wackenhut Services and Vance International.
Alutiiq's heavy use of subcontractors also came under fire in 2009 by McCaskill's subcommittee. The report used the Afognak Native Corp., which owns Alutiiq, as a case study. It noted that from 2000 to 2008, Afognak paid subcontractors more than half the revenue on 91 of its nearly 300 contracts.
In addition to Kiewit, other large contractors received stimulus subcontracts from ANCs, though for lesser amounts. Lockheed Martin received $1.4 million, or 17 percent, of a NASA spacecraft project from ASRC Aerospace, an ANC firm representing Natives on the North Slope. It also subcontracted 17 percent of another NASA project to GE Aviation Systems.
Alutiiq's project in Boston calls for replacing windows at the John F. Kennedy Federal Building to make it more energy efficient.
The subcontractor, Physical Security LLC, based in Bessemer, Ala., describes itself as one of a handful of companies that make blast-resistant windows. It has worked on the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, the new Oklahoma City federal building and the Pentagon after 9/11.
In contrast, according to federal procurement records, Alutiiq Manufacturing has four employees and says it specializes in producing modular buildings for offices and health clinics. The JFK Building contract is seven times larger than the annual revenue of $3.7 million it reported in 2010.
Afognak spokeswoman Jana Turvey said the subsidiary now has 45 employees and its parent company has prior experience with projects of similar size and complexity.
Unlike other minority businesses, Native corporations are allowed to cite the past performance and experience of other subsidiaries owned by their parent company when making the case for a contract.
Many federal agencies use no-bid minority contracts because they are quicker than soliciting and reviewing competitive bids. But GSA issued its first notice on the JFK project in May 2009 -- 10 months before giving the no-bid contract to Alutiiq Manufacturing in March.
With Afognak's reliance on subcontracting, it reported a profit margin of just 2 percent in 2009. But because Afognak has only 750 shareholders and had $733 million in contracts, it was still enough to pay the typical Native shareholder about $24,000 in dividends.
Such a large dividend is unusual, however. Most Native corporation shareholders receive less than $500 a year in dividends, according to an earlier ProPublica review of ANC financial documents.
PERPETUAL ACCESS TO CONTRACTS
The SBA program is meant to help minority-owned companies grow by giving them access to no-bid contracts for nine years or until they have the revenue and experience to graduate. But McCaskill and other critics say some ANCs have no intention of standing on their own.
Under SBA rules, minority business owners can participate in the program only once. But tribal corporations are exempt and can keep receiving no-bid contracts indefinitely.
Native corporations may have multiple subsidiaries in the program at one time, and once a subsidiary grows too large for the program, an ANC can simply create a new firm in the same industry to remain eligible.
One example of this occurred with CCI Group, the stimulus contractor that subcontracted 95 percent of some of its projects. The company is owned by the Bristol Bay Native Corp., which represents Yup'ik Eskimos and other Natives in Southwest Alaska.
According to the corporation's 2008 annual report, CCI Group was formed in 2008 after another Bristol Bay subsidiary, CCI Inc., graduated from the SBA program, making it ineligible for no-bid contracts. But that didn't mean Bristol Bay's access was shut off.
"CCI Group was formed during 2008 to pursue work that CCI Inc. will no longer be able to accept," the report said. Duncan Morrison, a top employee at CCI Inc., moved over to become president and chief executive of CCI Group. Morrison declined to comment and Bristol Bay did not return calls.
Under the stimulus, CCI Group has received $106 million in projects, more than any other ANC subsidiary. But much of that work has been subcontracted out, including 20 construction projects in which the subcontract exceeded 85 percent of the project cost.
The SBA hopes that after the agency invests government resources to help a firm, it will be successful, contracting official Jenkins said. But under the law, there's nothing the agency can do if a Native corporation starts a new firm to keep getting no-bid contracts. Congress allowed it to foster economic development in the Native communities and because some ANCs support thousands of Natives.
In November, McCaskill and Thompson introduced bills that would eliminate ANCs' ability to have more than one subsidiary in the SBA program and to subcontract to larger firms.
"We've seen that a very small portion of these companies' profits are reaching Native Alaskans," McCaskill said at the time, "so it's time to acknowledge the fact that this program is not effective for either Native Alaskans or taxpayers."
In December, McCaskill told the Tundra Drums newspaper, which is owned by an ANC, that she would be open to alternatives to help Alaska Natives, but not through "noncompetitive, huge multimillion dollar contracts."
The legislation hasn't received much attention in the new Congress yet and has been widely criticized by ANCs, Native groups and Alaska's congressional delegation.
"In Washington, we are forced to respond to attacks on your success in the 8(a) program," Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, told attendees at the 2010 annual convention of the Alaska Federation of Natives. "All of these unfortunate situations remind us that we must remain vigilant against those who would try to reverse the progress that's been made over the last 50 years."
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The company, which can obtain large government contracts without competition under a program meant to help Alaska Natives, took what's become a common step. It subcontracted out $23 million, or about 80 percent of the project, to a more experienced firm -- in Alabama.
Critics of Alaska Native corporations, or ANCs, say such pass-throughs increase costs for taxpayers and undermine the intent of the contracting privileges by diverting benefits to non-Native firms. ANCs respond that they are simply trying to build the most qualified team to do the government's work.
Alaska's Native corporations have been under fire by some members of Congress who want to strip them of the special advantages they have over other minority firms. But some key questions have been unanswered in the debate: How often do the Alaska companies use subcontractors? And who is getting a share of their business?
An analysis by ProPublica, drawing on detailed reports of federal stimulus projects, shows for the first time that ANCs turned to subcontractors at twice the rate of all other federal contractors and significantly more often than other small, minority-owned firms.
And at least some of this work has gone to large firms -- General Electric, Kiewit and Lockheed Martin -- the stimulus reports show, echoing government audits that have fueled the criticism of ANCs.
Through September, Native corporations had won stimulus contracts worth $823 million for 742 projects, according to the most recent government data. More than 350 projects, or nearly half, rely on subcontractors to do at least some of the work.
By comparison, all other stimulus contractors subcontracted more than 5,600 of nearly 26,000 stimulus projects, or 22 percent. Other minority-owned firms hired subcontractors on 33 percent of their projects.
ProPublica's analysis is based on government data compiled for our Recovery Tracker, an ongoing project to follow stimulus spending. The data offer a previously unavailable window into Native corporation activity because Congress specifically required stimulus recipients to report subcontractors to the public, unlike the rules governing other federal contracts.
CRITICS SEEK REFORMS
ANCs receive more than $5 billion in federal contracts each year, so the stimulus projects account for a significant share of their revenue. Because subcontracting data aren't available for other contracts, it's possible that the overall subcontracting ratio for ANC projects could be different.
After reviewing ProPublica's findings, Scott Amey, a contracting expert at the Project on Government Oversight, said the lack of complete subcontracting data is a barrier. At a minimum, Amey said, the analysis "raises a red flag with ANC contracts."
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., released an investigation of Native corporations in 2009 as chairwoman of a Senate subcommittee that oversees federal contracting. She has said outside contractors and consultants are cashing in at the expense of Alaska Natives. McCaskill and Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., have introduced bills to roll back ANC privileges so they are no different from other small minority firms.
"Alaska Native Corporations are subcontracting huge amounts of their work, which is hindering the program's ability to help Alaska Natives," McCaskill said in a statement to ProPublica. "Alaskans deserve a program that will provide a leg up for individuals," she said, but the program "in its current form is not effectively achieving that goal."
ProPublica reported last month on the Cape Fox Corp. in Southeast Alaska, where outside consultants made millions in fees. While contract revenue skyrocketed over just a few years, Cape Fox's Native shareholders saw few jobs and no increase in their regular dividends as a result.
The Native American Contractors Association, which represents many tribal firms, says such cases are few and far between and that the program is working as intended.
The contracting program is "one of the only federal Indian programs that is working to improve the lives of Native people," Sarah Lukin, the association's executive director said in December. "Now is not the time to roll back the clock on years of socio-economic progress."
HELPED BY SPECIAL EXEMPTIONS
Congress created ANCs in 1971 to provide economic benefits, such as dividends and jobs, to Natives whose claim to ancient lands were blocking plans for the Alaska oil pipeline. Congress later allowed ANCs to participate in the U.S. Small Business Administration's business development program, which allows minority firms to receive no-bid contracts with a goal of eventually graduating to compete on their own.
In recent years, ANC subsidiaries have come to dominate the SBA program.
While other firms in the program have a limit of $3.5 million on contracts for services and $5.5 million on contracts for goods, Alaska Native corporations are exempt and have won awards exceeding $100 million.
The exemption makes ANCs a potentially lucrative partner for large firms acting as subcontractors. And government contracting officers turn to ANCs to avoid lengthy competitions and meet their small business contracting goals. ANCs also may compete for contracts.
The stimulus reports suggest that ANC subcontracting sends a substantial portion of revenue to outsiders. Of the $470 million in ANC stimulus projects that are at least halfway completed, Native corporations awarded about $200 million to other contractors, ProPublica found.
For example, Suulutaaq Inc., owned by Yup'ik Eskimos and Athabascan Indians in villages along the Kuskokwim River, won a $57 million contract to replace bridges on the flood-prone Napa River in California. It subcontracted two-thirds of the work, mostly to a division of Kiewit Corp., one of the largest construction firms in the world.
Facility Support Services LLC, owned by Natives in Juneau, won a $14 million contract to build a testing facility for energy-efficient appliances at the National Energy Technology Laboratory in Morgantown, W.Va. It subcontracted 75 percent to TJR Enterprises, a Hispanic-owned firm that has worked at the lab for several years but doesn't qualify for no-bid contracts anymore because it already completed the SBA program.
Under SBA rules, firms in the minority business development program cannot outsource more than 85 percent of construction contracts. The stimulus reports show that ANCs were above this limit in 40 construction projects. The largest ANC stimulus contractor, CCI Group, subcontracted 95 percent of some of its projects at the Army's Fort Wainwright near Fairbanks, according to reports it filed.
The SBA says that doesn't necessarily indicate a violation because the limit doesn't apply until a contract is complete, and one contract may contain hundreds of projects over several years.
ARE NATIVE COMPANIES DOING ENOUGH?
There's no rule specifying what type of work a prime contractor has to perform. Many, such as Alutiiq Manufacturing Contractors, mainly do back-office work managing the project. But at least some employees have to be doing construction, said SBA contracting official Calvin Jenkins.
Some larger ANCs have begun to question whether other ANCs are living up to the goals of the SBA's program if they perform only the bare minimum of work.
"The intent is to create these long-term successful businesses," said Aaron Schutt, chief operating officer of Doyon Ltd., an ANC that represents a vast area of central Alaska including Fairbanks. "One measure of success is how much you rely on subcontractors. There should in my opinion be a lessening of that reliance in your overall business as you mature in the program."
The Native contractors group says ANCs use subcontractors for the same reason other federal contractors do -- to assemble a qualified team to handle the work in a timely and cost-efficient manner.
Lukin said the government's stimulus reports provide only a snapshot of ANC contracts, making it impossible to discern whether firms are complying with the subcontracting limit. The only way to judge would be to examine the full contracts when they're completed, she said.
But such information isn't publicly available. Until the stimulus, federal agencies weren't required to report subcontractors. The government began reporting subcontractor data on large contracts last fall, but that information won't be available on most contracts until later this year.
BIG CONTRACTORS CASH IN
Past reports that large multinational corporations obtained work through ANC contracting preferences have helped drive the controversy over Native corporations.
Olgoonik Corp., based on the North Slope, received $225 million in military construction contracts but much of the work was done by Halliburton, according to a 2005 article in Mother Jones magazine.
In 2006, the Government Accountability Office reported that contracts to guard Army posts were awarded to Alutiiq LLC and Chenega Corp. but subcontracted to the giant security firms Wackenhut Services and Vance International.
Alutiiq's heavy use of subcontractors also came under fire in 2009 by McCaskill's subcommittee. The report used the Afognak Native Corp., which owns Alutiiq, as a case study. It noted that from 2000 to 2008, Afognak paid subcontractors more than half the revenue on 91 of its nearly 300 contracts.
In addition to Kiewit, other large contractors received stimulus subcontracts from ANCs, though for lesser amounts. Lockheed Martin received $1.4 million, or 17 percent, of a NASA spacecraft project from ASRC Aerospace, an ANC firm representing Natives on the North Slope. It also subcontracted 17 percent of another NASA project to GE Aviation Systems.
Alutiiq's project in Boston calls for replacing windows at the John F. Kennedy Federal Building to make it more energy efficient.
The subcontractor, Physical Security LLC, based in Bessemer, Ala., describes itself as one of a handful of companies that make blast-resistant windows. It has worked on the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, the new Oklahoma City federal building and the Pentagon after 9/11.
In contrast, according to federal procurement records, Alutiiq Manufacturing has four employees and says it specializes in producing modular buildings for offices and health clinics. The JFK Building contract is seven times larger than the annual revenue of $3.7 million it reported in 2010.
Afognak spokeswoman Jana Turvey said the subsidiary now has 45 employees and its parent company has prior experience with projects of similar size and complexity.
Unlike other minority businesses, Native corporations are allowed to cite the past performance and experience of other subsidiaries owned by their parent company when making the case for a contract.
Many federal agencies use no-bid minority contracts because they are quicker than soliciting and reviewing competitive bids. But GSA issued its first notice on the JFK project in May 2009 -- 10 months before giving the no-bid contract to Alutiiq Manufacturing in March.
With Afognak's reliance on subcontracting, it reported a profit margin of just 2 percent in 2009. But because Afognak has only 750 shareholders and had $733 million in contracts, it was still enough to pay the typical Native shareholder about $24,000 in dividends.
Such a large dividend is unusual, however. Most Native corporation shareholders receive less than $500 a year in dividends, according to an earlier ProPublica review of ANC financial documents.
PERPETUAL ACCESS TO CONTRACTS
The SBA program is meant to help minority-owned companies grow by giving them access to no-bid contracts for nine years or until they have the revenue and experience to graduate. But McCaskill and other critics say some ANCs have no intention of standing on their own.
Under SBA rules, minority business owners can participate in the program only once. But tribal corporations are exempt and can keep receiving no-bid contracts indefinitely.
Native corporations may have multiple subsidiaries in the program at one time, and once a subsidiary grows too large for the program, an ANC can simply create a new firm in the same industry to remain eligible.
One example of this occurred with CCI Group, the stimulus contractor that subcontracted 95 percent of some of its projects. The company is owned by the Bristol Bay Native Corp., which represents Yup'ik Eskimos and other Natives in Southwest Alaska.
According to the corporation's 2008 annual report, CCI Group was formed in 2008 after another Bristol Bay subsidiary, CCI Inc., graduated from the SBA program, making it ineligible for no-bid contracts. But that didn't mean Bristol Bay's access was shut off.
"CCI Group was formed during 2008 to pursue work that CCI Inc. will no longer be able to accept," the report said. Duncan Morrison, a top employee at CCI Inc., moved over to become president and chief executive of CCI Group. Morrison declined to comment and Bristol Bay did not return calls.
Under the stimulus, CCI Group has received $106 million in projects, more than any other ANC subsidiary. But much of that work has been subcontracted out, including 20 construction projects in which the subcontract exceeded 85 percent of the project cost.
The SBA hopes that after the agency invests government resources to help a firm, it will be successful, contracting official Jenkins said. But under the law, there's nothing the agency can do if a Native corporation starts a new firm to keep getting no-bid contracts. Congress allowed it to foster economic development in the Native communities and because some ANCs support thousands of Natives.
In November, McCaskill and Thompson introduced bills that would eliminate ANCs' ability to have more than one subsidiary in the SBA program and to subcontract to larger firms.
"We've seen that a very small portion of these companies' profits are reaching Native Alaskans," McCaskill said at the time, "so it's time to acknowledge the fact that this program is not effective for either Native Alaskans or taxpayers."
In December, McCaskill told the Tundra Drums newspaper, which is owned by an ANC, that she would be open to alternatives to help Alaska Natives, but not through "noncompetitive, huge multimillion dollar contracts."
The legislation hasn't received much attention in the new Congress yet and has been widely criticized by ANCs, Native groups and Alaska's congressional delegation.
"In Washington, we are forced to respond to attacks on your success in the 8(a) program," Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, told attendees at the 2010 annual convention of the Alaska Federation of Natives. "All of these unfortunate situations remind us that we must remain vigilant against those who would try to reverse the progress that's been made over the last 50 years."
Fisherman's Choice Charters
Payments to gas line company reach $32.4 million since July BIG JUMP: In the previous 12 months, the payments came to $4.4 million.
JUNEAU -- The Alaska government's reimbursements to a major Canadian pipeline company seeking to develop a North Slope gas line skyrocketed late last year.
Since July 1, the state's payments to TransCanada have totaled $32.4 million, with another $9 million in requests pending as of last week. The payments compare with $4.4 million in reimbursements to TransCanada in the previous 12 months.
TransCanada is eligible for up to $500 million from the state for its spending to develop the long-sought pipeline to link North Slope gas with Lower 48 markets.
The payments have since become controversial even though the Legislature nearly unanimously approved them as part of the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act in 2007.
Millions of dollars are also being spent on a competing North Slope gas line project led by BP and Conoco Phillips. These companies are not seeking reimbursements from the state and they reported spending $150 million as of last October.
Some leading Republican legislators in recent weeks have complained about continuing the reimbursements to TransCanada, even though they say an effort to repeal the act is unlikely this year. The act's proponents say reneging on the payments would be a contract violation that could involve many more millions of dollars in financial penalties for the state.
Since last summer, work on TransCanada's project has sped up as the company, and Exxon Mobil, its partner, took on major projects, including a three-month "open season" during which it sought oil company commitments to ship their North Slope gas production through the pipe. TransCanada is still trying to finalize agreements with the potential shippers.
The pipeline company also is conducting engineering and environmental work required before it applies in October 2012 for a federal license to build the pipeline, according to the Alaska Department of Revenue.
Another reason payments jumped: In the fall, the department cleared a 15-month backlog of invoices that had not been processed yet, it said.
Fisherman's Choice Charters
Since July 1, the state's payments to TransCanada have totaled $32.4 million, with another $9 million in requests pending as of last week. The payments compare with $4.4 million in reimbursements to TransCanada in the previous 12 months.
TransCanada is eligible for up to $500 million from the state for its spending to develop the long-sought pipeline to link North Slope gas with Lower 48 markets.
The payments have since become controversial even though the Legislature nearly unanimously approved them as part of the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act in 2007.
Millions of dollars are also being spent on a competing North Slope gas line project led by BP and Conoco Phillips. These companies are not seeking reimbursements from the state and they reported spending $150 million as of last October.
Some leading Republican legislators in recent weeks have complained about continuing the reimbursements to TransCanada, even though they say an effort to repeal the act is unlikely this year. The act's proponents say reneging on the payments would be a contract violation that could involve many more millions of dollars in financial penalties for the state.
Since last summer, work on TransCanada's project has sped up as the company, and Exxon Mobil, its partner, took on major projects, including a three-month "open season" during which it sought oil company commitments to ship their North Slope gas production through the pipe. TransCanada is still trying to finalize agreements with the potential shippers.
The pipeline company also is conducting engineering and environmental work required before it applies in October 2012 for a federal license to build the pipeline, according to the Alaska Department of Revenue.
Another reason payments jumped: In the fall, the department cleared a 15-month backlog of invoices that had not been processed yet, it said.
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- Fisherman's Choice Charters
- Houston, Alaska, United States
- With over 30 years experience as Alaska salmon fishing guides, Ray Blodgett and his Coast Guard licensed crew are privileged to know the Alaska rivers and their hot spots and have the boats and river savvy to get you there. With 3 rivers to choose from, our Alaska salmon fishing guides have over 300 miles of the hottest salmon and trout fishing waters in the world at their disposal giving our clients a great success rate! Give us a call and LET'S GO FISHING!! 907-892-8707