April 1st: Deer Mountain
Front Page Photo by JIM LEWIS
Graphic by Mary Kauffman

“A significant number of Alaska Natives reside in these communities but have been denied the opportunity to establish village or urban corporations,” said Rep. Young. “There is no reason given as to why this injustice occurred, and the time has come to right the wrong.  As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs, I am proud to introduce this bill and provide a compromise and solution to those who have unjustly been denied rights to land and local resources that other village and urban corporations in Southeast Alaska received under ANCSA.”

In 1993, Congress directed the Secretary of Interior to examine why these five communities were unrecognized in ANCSA.  The Institute of Social and Economic Research (University of Alaska Anchorage) report found no distinction between the five communities and other Southeast Alaska communities, and thus no justification for omission of these five Southeast Native communities from ANCSA.  

Passed in 1971, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) extinguished Native land claims to almost all of Alaska in exchange for about one-ninth of the state's land plus $962.5 million in compensation. - More...
Friday - April 01, 2011

Alaska: HOUSE PASSES GOVERNOR’S OIL TAX REFORM BILL – The Alaska State House of Representatives today passed major tax reform legislation encouraging new investment in North Slope oil fields to reverse production declines, keep trans-Alaska oil pipeline flows steady and halts the loss of oilfield and service company workers.

HB 110, sponsored by the House Rules Committee at the request of Governor Sean Parnell, R-Alaska, modifies key provisions of former Governor Sarah Palin’s Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share, or ACES, oil tax regime. The reform bill restores Alaska’s competitiveness in the pursuit of industry capital by lowering production taxes at high oil prices and boosting incentives for companies to bring new production online.

“We firmly believe that doing nothing is not an option,” said House Speaker Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski. “Even if we got it right back when we passed ACES, which I don’t think we did – the global oil industry has changed since then. It’s night and day. New technology has opened up more places for development and Alaska, with some of the highest production costs and highest oil taxes in the world, is simply no longer competitive.”

The bill separates production into two new tax brackets with incremental increases to the state’s take. Existing production is taxed at a 25-percent base rate and capped at 50-percent. New production will be taxed at a 15-percent base rate and capped at 40-percent. A credit for production-generating drilling increased by 20-percent and several adjustments were made to ACES provisions to establish a better business relationship between the state and industry. The state’s royalty share, and corporate and property taxes are unchanged.

In his legislative report, Rep. David Guttenberg (D-District 8) wrote, "One thing stood out, everyone there wanted to increase production and put more Alaskans to work." He said, "I would have liked to have been able to vote yes for something that would have done that. HB 110 gave Alaskan’s no guarentee of any type of returns. It allowed for $2 Billion in tax breaks to the industry and never required neither increased production or jobs." - More...
Friday - April 01, 2011

Alaska: Awards Presented at 2011 Governor’s Safety and Health Conference - More than 300 Alaskans attended the 2011 Governor’s Safety and Health Conference, participating in training tracks in employer resources, arc flash safety, youth safety, safety education, oil industry, transportation and hospitality, OSHA 10 hour construction course, OSHA 10 hour general industry course.

Trident Seafoods-Ketchikan North & Trident Seafoods-Cordova South; One of eleven organizations qualified for the Governor’s Safety Award of Excellence
Ernie Cadabes, Labor Commissioner Click Bishop, Brian Parsons, Paul Schneider, Dan Taylor, Bob Pelkey, Jr.
Photo courtesy Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development

Information about applying for the Voluntary Protection Program, which recognizes and promotes effective workplace safety and health management through a cooperative program between a company’s management, employees and AKOSH, was also provided.

A highlight of the annual conference is recognition of Alaska businesses that exemplify good corporate citizenship and a commitment to the health and safety of their workers.

One organization qualified for the Governor’s Special Achievement Award. This award is presented for special outstanding achievements in the field of safety and health. Nominees must show a significant and measurable impact on the community, or must have made documented contributions or enhancements to the field of safety and health. This special award was presented to the Alaska Injury Prevention Center and Child Passenger Safety Partners. In 2009, Alaska passed a revision to its seatbelt law that included clarification that most children between ages 4 and 7 need to be secured in a booster seat. Efforts to raise awareness were developed by the Alaska Injury Prevention Center with other partnering agencies. The result was a measurable improvement in the use of appropriate child passenger safety devices from 52 percent to 80 percent, which translates into fewer injuries to Alaska children.

Eleven organizations qualified for the Governor’s Safety Award of Excellence. This recognition is awarded to a group that has demonstrated excellence in safety and health systems that protect employees. Companies must show there is management commitment, employee involvement and a documented system for hazard analysis and hazard reduction. The organizations receiving awards were:

Trident Seafoods-Ketchikan North and Trident Seafoods-Cordova South. The Ketchikan plant employs an average of 200 annual workers and the Cordova plant employs 133. Each plant has been a model of safety practices. Ketchikan reduced its DART by 50 percent from 2008 to 2009 and Cordova went from a 3.3 DART rate in 2008 to zero in 2009. - More...
Friday - April 01, 2011

Columns - Commentary

DANNY TYREE: He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Tax Liability - As both a capitalist and a taxpayer, news of recent antics by General Electric (G.E.) made me wince.

That’s because G.E.’s actions are practically begging the usual suspects to ramp up their protests against “evil corporations.”

According to The New York Times, G.E. – despite making a $5.1 billion profit in the United States in 2010 – paid no federal income tax and actually received a $3.2 billion TAX CREDIT to apply to future indebtedness.

The nearly 1,000 employees in G.E.’s tax department achieved this through a series of deductions, shelters, adjustments, “green” energy subsidies, offshore profit centers, generous depreciation schedules, brownie points, Early Bird specials and a Sunday newspaper coupon that actually expired last Friday but received an “Aw, what the heck, man” pass from a particularly mellow agent at the IRS.

The multinational was just carrying out its fiduciary responsibility to its shareholders (okay, fiduciary responsibility on STEROIDS), but the tax burden does seem troubling in light of recent Supreme Court decisions. With much effort, corporate entities won the same First Amendment rights as individual HUMANS, but apparently want to be TAXED at the same effective rate as disabled THREE-TOED SLOTHS.

Granted, millions of low-income taxpayers pay no federal income tax at all, and I understand that G.E. let the government off pretty lightly. Some of the tax lawyers had been holding out for the keys to Yellowstone, Fort Knox and the Lincoln Memorial. And only a shortage of active volcanoes saved that sacrificial virgin. - More...
Thursday - March 31, 2011

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