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Monday
January 20, 2014
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Deer Mountain
With almost-like spring days, very little snow has accumulated on Deer Mountain this January. A high of 49 degrees was recorded
Saturday, the day this photo was taken.
Front Page Photograph By CARL THOMPSON ©2014
(Please respect the rights of photographers, never republish or copy
without permission and/or payment of required fees.)
Fish Factor: Alaska fishermen some of last free people on earth; Acoustical impacts comment deadline; & Salmon permits soar By LAINE WELCH - Good science should drive all fisheries decisions, and Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell says he has the chops to maintain a true course.
Treadwell, a Republican who hopes to unseat Democratic US Senator Mark Begich in November’s election, paid a recent visit to Kodiak and “talked fish” in a brief interview.
Few can claim Treadwell’s experience and understanding of the Arctic, where he has represented Alaska on U.S. Delegations in three circumpolar government groups, and been a director of the Institute of the North. He said he “doesn’t expect any major fisheries there anytime soon.”
Treadwell called ocean acidification one of the “most pressing effects” of climate change, and “one of the toughest things to adapt to.” The solutions, he believes, lie in better technology.
“I have always supported trying to make our energy cleaner,” he said, pointing to potential inCO2 sequestration technology and use of hydrogen vehicles. “I believe we can and must be a proving ground for some of these new technologies.”
Treadwell added that he always has been a “tireless advocate for our oceans.”
“But you are not going to find me, as a responsible official from a state known for three things: cold, dark, distance - and where people are already paying too much for energy, trying to raise their energy prices,” he said.
Treadwell has played a leading role in the launch of nearly every Alaska research center from Ketchikan to Barrow; he is a past director of the state Dept. of Environmental Conservation, served as Cordova’s director of oil spill response after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, and was a founder of the Prince William Sound Science Center.
“I would come to the Senate with that background,” he said. I am probably one of the most scientifically savvy people to have ever served.”
On the fisheries side, Treadwell believes “knowledge is power.” He said his entire career has focused on ‘commons management’ of resources, starting with his first job in Alaska as an intern to Wally Hickel when he unsuccessfully ran for governor in 1974. Treadwell helped Hickel pen his position on the 200 mile limit, and he later wrote his graduate thesis at Yale on the limit’s history going back to 1937.
“I also am no stranger to the senior fisheries managers in this country. I have been part of the fight to get CDQ’s – and I will be there fighting with knowledge even if I don’t have seniority,” he said.
Treadwell said he is “passionate” about protecting the livelihoods of fishermen and coastal communities. - More...
Monday PM - January 20, 2014
Alaska: Begich Announces His Oppositon to Pebble Mine, Comments on Findings of Bristol Bay Assessment; Others say EPA Assessment poorly conceived and poorly executed, and cannot serve as the scientific basis for any decisions concerning Pebble By MARY KAUFFMAN - While others are saying the EPA's Bristol Bay Assessment is poorly conceived, poorly executed and cannot serve as the scientific basis for any decisions concerning the Pebble Mine, U.S. Senator Mark Begich (D-AK) today announced his opposition to the project commenting that the mine is not worth the risk.
In a prepared statement today Begich said, “I have long been a strong supporter of Alaska’s mining industry and believe we must do all we can to support resource development industries that provide family wage jobs for Alaskans and keep our economy strong. But years of scientific study has proven the proposed Pebble Mine cannot be developed safely in the Bristol Bay watershed. As the multi-year watershed assessment details, the mine would likely threaten the largest and most lucrative salmon run in the world. Bristol Bay produces half the world’s red salmon and supports thousands of fishing jobs and way of life for thousands of Alaskans. Thousands of Alaskans have weighed in on this issue and I have listened to their concerns. Pebble is not worth the risk."
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“I agree with other pro-development Alaska leaders such as Senator Ted Stevens and former governors Jay Hammond and Tony Knowles, that Pebble is the wrong mine in the wrong place for Alaska," said Begich.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released its final Bristol Bay Assessment describing potential impacts to salmon and ecological resources from proposed large-scale copper and gold mining in Bristol Bay, Alaska last Wednesday, Jan. 15th. The report, titled "An Assessment of Potential Mining Impacts on Salmon Ecosystems of Bristol Bay, Alaska," concludes that large-scale mining in the Bristol Bay watershed poses risks to salmon and Alaska Native cultures. Bristol Bay supports the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world, producing nearly 50 percent of the world’s wild sockeye salmon with runs averaging 37.5 million fish each year.
Begich said last Wednesday, “I have always said I will let science be my guide, and my decision whether to support the Pebble project will be based on this report.”
Commercial fishermen from across Alaska and the United States praised Sen. Begich today for standing up for Alaskan jobs. After examining the science in the EPA’s final Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment, Sen. Begich called the Pebble Mine the "wrong mine, wrong place, too big… Too many potential long-term impacts to a fishery that is pretty critical to that area but also to Alaska, to world markets."
Today, Bob Waldrop, Executive Director for the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association, said, “Senator Begich is standing up for the commercial fishery of Bristol Bay. He deserves our thanks and praise for opposing a project that eradicates up to 94 miles of salmon streams. He has clearly listened to the concerns of commercial fishermen and carefully reviewed the EPA’s extensive scientific report in coming to this critical decision. As the EPA’s Watershed Assessment confirmed, the Pebble Mine alone could destroy the 14,000 jobs and $1.5 billion economy associated with Bristol Bay’s commercial fishery. By opposing the Pebble Mine, Senator Begich is standing up for Alaskan jobs and protecting a way of life for fishermen across Alaska."
Tim Bristol, Trout Unlimited’s Alaska Program Director, also praised Alaska Senator Mark Begich today for opposing the Pebble Mine.
Bristol said, “Hunters and anglers, guides, lodge and sportfishing business owners, and others across Alaska and America are grateful for Sen. Begich’s decision to follow the EPA’s clear science and oppose the Pebble Mine. As he well understands, Pebble is the wrong mine in the wrong place, and is a threat to Alaska’s sportfishing economy. I am hopeful that Senator Begich’s leadership in protecting this sportsman’s paradise will inspire his colleagues to join him and the thousands of fishermen and small business owners nationwide who have also called for action in Bristol Bay.”
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The EPA report comes as no surprise to Alaskans said Governor Sean Parnell last week. “This report is little more than a pretext for an EPA veto of the state’s permitting process, something the federal Clean Water Act prohibits. As my record demonstrates, I will not trade one resource for another, and every permitting application—when filed—deserves scientific and public scrutiny based on facts, not hypotheticals," said Parnell in a prepared statement last Wednesday.
The Alaska Miners Association responded to the EPA’s final Bristol Bay Assessment last week stating the EPA continued to use hypothetical mining scenarios drawn from an aged economic report and NOT from a submitted or completed mine plan. The Miners Association said the EPA omitted current state and federal regulations that would be applied to any such project, and ignored modern mining practices. In addition, the release of the report is further indication that EPA rushed this process, setting a dangerous tone for any development project in the United States.
"As a miner, a lifelong Alaskan, and an American, I am disappointed. First and foremost, natural resource development projects should always be evaluated by science and facts. Nothing more, nothing less,” said AMA Executive Director, Deantha Crockett last Wednesday. “In its assessment, the EPA has done an injustice to all development projects by supposing scenarios of poorly designed mines, omitting real-life standards that mining projects must follow, and exaggerating the impacts resulting from what is an impossible scenario. EPA has also done an injustice to Alaskans who deserve to know the scientific realities of Pebble, realities that will come through a mine plan submitted in the formal NEPA process. It is in this process that we should determine our support for the project based on whether or not it can be done right. This highly flawed report does not give us the information we need to make such an important decision."
About the final Bristol Bay assessment from the EPA, Pebble Partnership CEO John Shively said, “We have maintained all along that the Bristol Bay watershed assessment process has been rushed and thus has resulted in two very flawed documents. We will have to review the final product to see how many, if any, of these fundamental problems raised by the Pebble Partnership, the State of Alaska, EPA’s peer reviewers and others have been addressed. The EPA has studied much smaller areas than Bristol Bay and taken considerably longer and committed considerably more resources to complete them."
“It is a disappointing day when an agency charged with upholding a science based regulatory process ignores its own rules and regulations, and does not take the time nor expend the effort needed to fully assess impacts in the vast Bristol Bay region. We had higher expectations for the EPA," said Shively.- More...
Monday PM - January 20, 2014
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Political Cartoon
Congress Can't Find Funds to
Extend Unemployment Insurance
By
R.J. Matson, Roll Call
Distributed to subscribers for publication by Cagle Cartoons, Inc.
Columns - Commentary
JEFF LUND: Dealing with a 'net loss - I was just finishing up something potentially important when a large section of earth slid down the side of a mountain taking trees, bushes and rock and depositing them amid a section of Hollis. No one was hurt, but over there things went dark and the Internet here in Klawock went dead.
All morning it had been pretty nasty outside. A few times I went out to shoot short video clips to send to my friends in central California who are enduring a drought because all the water they should get from the Sierra Nevada is piped to San Francisco or south to water the lawns and lips of Southern Californians who also play a big role in stealing the Colorado River before it gets to Mexico. But I digress.
When my perusing of online newspapers was halted abruptly there was no panic or nervous twitching on my part. I’m not the type who spends significant portions of my day lost in the Youtube vortex, habitually clicking recommended videos until I realize things like I haven’t eaten or that the sun went to bed and woke up before I looked up. That could be because the Internet service isn’t fast enough to load videos, but even when I was in California I always had a book or fishing magazine that needed re-reading.
So Tuesday when the web stopped working, I didn’t panic. It wasn’t surprising considering the weather. With access to the greatest time-wasting, productivity-sucking, privacy-stealing, yet still necessary invention in the history of humans, I was going to get stuff done. - More...
Monday PM - January 20, 2014 |
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 Let me know when the war on drugs starts By Ken Lewis - Drug Problem? Come on people, problems should be solved not managed. What came first the drug test, or the American who chose not to do dope? With all due respect to those who think drug testing little pockets of certain types of employees is the solution to the problem, you're wrong. If drug testing were a solution to our state/national drug problem, DMV would be used and make drug testing mandatory to operate a vehicle. Time out, not fair, what about my rights, can you hear them marching in solidarity. Them being the ones not tested, who think its funny to see a highly paid ball players go down the tubes for failed Pee-Pee samples, and then excuse the coolness of the other entertainers and artists that blatantly use enough dope to kill a horse. - More...
Monday PM - January 20, 2014
State Legislative Seat By Peter Bolling - Dan Ortiz, a resident of Southeast Alaska for almost 50 years, is running for the District 36 House seat. I can think of no better person to represent the diverse communities of Southern Southeast Alaska. Dan has lived in Ketchikan and Hydaburg and his work has brought him often to Metlakatla and Wrangell. - More...
Monday PM - January 20, 2014
Delete some Federal Holidays By A.M. Johnson - There is little doubt among my acquaintance that I harbor fear from my Government. There is excess overreach by the Federal government into our personal lives far beyond what Natural Law represents. when something comes along that tugs at my frustration with a bit of common sense it is accepted with as a moment of fresh air. The Governor of Maine, Paul La Page is purported to have said in a public speech regarding following Federal laws. - More...
Monday PM - January 20, 2014
Open Letter: LAND USE; WATER RIGHTS By Rick Gustin -
To all Senators and Representatives who have supported HB77 or may support it's Senate bill counter part, I wanted to see if I could change your mind on how you vote regarding HB77. I understand the previously stated reasons for supporting this bill. I get that industry and perhaps some of the people in state government see our current permitting system as, complex, sometimes confused, perhaps at times overbearing and above all slow. I realize that many state employees and business leaders would like to see quicker more wide spread resource development throughout the state. This is seen as providing more jobs and more revenue for the state which is seeing declines in tax revenue and jobs in the oil industry. I totally get all of that. I also feel that there are many citizens of this state, that do not understand the permitting process, may not care about it, but do care about the natural resources that they use each year, (may take them for granted but will sure bitch like hell if they are gone). - More...
Monday PM - January 20, 2014
10% “Tithe” Tax By Stephen C. Eldridge -
Mr. Brooks and the FairTax machine continue to spew out mere propaganda! The “Fair Tax” is a Fraud – we need a 10% “Tithe” Tax! - More...
Monday PM - January 20, 2014
Stop wasting our time By James R. Donnell -
A 2011 study by noted economist Art Laffer estimates that U.S. taxpayers wasted 3.16 billion hours and shelled out $431.1 billion just to comply with the income tax code. This excludes the opportunity costs due to lost productivity, and it costs our economy $216.2 billion annually. - More...
Monday PM - January 20, 2014
WHAT CAN YOU DO? By Diane Gubatayao -
Last October, Dr. Andre Rosay from the UAA Justice Center released data from the Alaska Victimization Survey done here in Ketchikan. Shockingly, the results revealed that 50% of adult women in Ketchikan report being victims of domestic or sexual violence in their lifetimes. That means, statistically speaking, that one out of two women that might be shopping at the store, or attending a Kayhi basketball game, or living in your neighborhood, has been a victim of DV or SA. One out of two! Most of us know someone who has been a victim, and we often ask ourselves, “what can I do?”. - More...
Wednesday PM - January 15, 2014
Open Letter: Unemployment By Forrest A. Mackie - Attn: Lisa Murkowski and Don Young and all Alaska Yahoo politicians; I am an unemployed yahoo who worked the better part of my life working my way up to one of the best jobs at Ketchikan Pulp Company! KPC was the largest employer in this territory and later the state, and the fishing and the logging and the pulp industry were the largest revenue producers for 30 plus years!! Now I am 70 years young, and due to the whim of you politicians that I watch on TV, now I am constantly disgusted by what I see going on in the Whitehouse in the guise of politics. I am totally bewildered at what I see!! - More...
Wednesday PM - January 15, 2014
US Congess shows its True Colors By Michael Spence -
Having just read about the approval of the budget omnibus bill in which the US House of Representatives approved a "over 1 Trillion Dollar" spending bill out of which there is 520 billion dollars in discretionary defense related spending. - More...
Wednesday PM - January 15, 2014
There's a FIX to the U.S. decline in the Economic Freedom Index By Wiley Brooks -
The 2014 Index of Economic Freedom reveals that the United States has dropped out of the top 10 freest economies in the world. Five years ago the U.S. was ranked 6th. Now it is 12th. The FIX is called the FairTax. - More...
Wednesday PM - January 15, 2014
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