But she said the president has made important overtures to Natives and American Indians, pointing to the administration's Generation Indigenous initiative to bring more attention to the community problems — including poverty, substance abuse and suicide — that Native youth disproportionately face.
"It's an exciting time," Brown said. "I know President Obama ... is really looking as a nation at how education is not working for everyone."
The Anchorage Taxicab Permits Owners Association also objected to Uber's entry into the Anchorage market, saying Uber drivers should have to abide by the same laws that govern taxis. That includes the requirement that they purchase taxicab permits, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
In October 2014, an Anchorage Superior Court judge ruled Uber could only operate in Anchorage if it continued its initial free ride program. The judge prohibited Uber from charging for rides until it could come to an agreement with the city over the details of its operations. Uber paid its drivers but did not charge its customers in Anchorage for about six months before pulling out of Alaska entirely.
Negotiations between the city and Uber have been stalled ever since.
"Nothing. They aren’t going anywhere," Assemblyman Dick Traini said.
Uber did not respond to a request for comment on the recent settlement with the Department of Labor.
A bill that would have exempted all "transportation network companies" (including Uber) from having to classify their drivers as employees passed the Alaska Senate last session and was sent to the House Labor and Commerce Committee for consideration when the Legislature reconvenes on Jan. 19, 2016.
“You wouldn’t hear me if we were in the diesel plant right now,” he says, in what teachers would call his indoor voice. “I’d have to be hollering and you’d have to wear ear plugs. This is really quiet.”
The temperature-controlled building houses the relatively simple system where water enters the building in one pipe and splits into two branches before entering the turbine to generate electricity. In each branch of pipe, valves called “spears” automatically adjust to let more or less water through, depending on the fluctuating energy demands of the village.
McCormick monitors the operations from a tiny laptop computer in the powerhouse. Rows of tiny numbers show the volume and pressure of water in the pipe, the amount of electricity being produced and used, and the total lifetime of the system.
“It’s been running for 4,083 hours,” notes McCormick. “Still brand-new.”
Old tech, new savings
This is not the first time Chignik Lagoon has used hydroelectric power on its steeply flowing Packer Creek. A working hydro project once powered a long-gone cannery in the community.
For decades now, diesel fuel arriving via barge has provided the vast majority of the town’s heating and electricity.
In 1984, the first feasibility study began for the modern hydro project. It noted a local price per gallon for diesel fuel of $1.25. Thirty years later, that price has risen to $4.85 per gallon.
Michelle Anderson, grants administrator for the village council and manager of the hydroelectric project, says hydro is already saving the village about $500 a day in diesel costs. It doesn’t entirely eliminate the need for diesel, but the hydro’s 167-kilowatt capacity is currently providing for 94 percent of the village’s energy needs.