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Alaska News Nightly: Friday, Feb. 23, 2018

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Stories are posted on the APRN news page. You can subscribe to APRN’s newsfeeds via email, podcast and RSS. Follow us on Facebook at alaskapublic.org and on Twitter @aprn

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Walker among governors prodding Congress on health care

Liz Ruskin, Alaska Public Media – Washington D.C.

Alaska Gov. Bill Walker stood with his Colorado and Ohio counterparts to announce a new “blueprint” for health care, and they want Congress to get a move on.

Three dead in early morning Anchorage fire

Casey Grove, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage

According to a fire marshal, a parent and two children were found dead in a fire in Anchorage’s Fairview neighborhood early Friday.

Legislature faces another struggle over long-term budget plan 

Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO – Juneau

The Legislature is faced with the same dilemma it’s had for the past three years: how to pay for the state budget when oil and gas revenue can no longer cover the costs. The biggest focus is on a plan that would draw from Alaska Permanent Fund earnings.

Ninilchik student in custody after making gun threat

Aaron Bolton, KBBI – Homer

A 12-year-old male student from the Ninilchik School is in custody after making threats about bringing a gun to school.

Fairbanks tanker truck spills 2,500 gallons of fuel on Richardson Highway

Tim Ellis, KUAC – Fairbanks

A Fairbanks-based tanker truck spilled an estimated 2,500 gallons of diesel fuel Thursday night after the driver lost control and wrecked the rig along an icy stretch of the Richardson Highway just north of Valdez.

Murkowski sends letter questioning oil companies about drop in Alaska hire

Elizabeth Harball, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Anchorage

Murkowski cited a recently released Alaska Department of Labor report, stating the share of out-of-state workers in Alaska’s oil industry rose to 37.1 percent in 2016.

Racers approach conclusion of Iron Dog 2018

Tim Bodony, KIYU – Galena

The 2018 Iron Dog Snowmachine Race is heading into its final stretch. Fresh snowfall, a windblown trail, and a last-minute change in the rules have created some extra drama as teams move towards the Fairbanks finish line.

AK: Sitka students flex their performance muscles at state DDF tournament

Emily Kwong, KCAW – Sitka

While the Olympics come to a close in PyeongChang this weekend, another competition is underway at East Anchorage High School. That’s where over 100 students and their coaches have gathered for the state’s annual “Drama, Debate, and Forensics” Championship.

49 Voices: Erynn Bell of Anchorage

Victoria Petersen, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage

This week we’re hearing from Erynn Bell in Anchorage. Bell is the owner of Rethink Home, a used furniture store.


Iditapod: What the heck is happening?

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Nicolas Petit races toward Nome in the 2017 Iditarod. (Photo: Ben Matheson, KNOM)

We look at three major problems hitting Alaska’s mushing community ahead of the Iditarod. The Anchorage Daily News’ Tegan Hanlon and Alaska Public Media’s Zachariah Hughes sit down with host Casey Grove to discuss the whirlwind of recent news, including a doping scandal, musher mutiny, and increasing pressure from animal rights groups.

Archaeology in northern Alaska: a race against the clock

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A photograph of the Walakpa archaeological site south of Utqiaġvik following a storm in 2014. The storm caused over 30 feet of coastline to collapse and wash away in certain places, along with archaeological artifacts it contained. (Photo Courtesy of Walakpa Archaeological Salvage Project)

Until recently, northern Alaska was one of the places that archaeologists weren’t exactly in a hurry to dig. That’s because the permafrost functioned kind of like a big freezer where artifacts could stay well-preserved until researchers got around to excavating them.

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Of course, that’s changing. Permafrost thaw and coastal erosion mean that more sites are at risk of being lost, or are already gone. And Alaskan archaeologists are joining a national conversation about how to confront these sorts of changes

Anne Jensen is one of them. She’s an anthropological archaeologist who’s lived in Utqiaġvik for over two decades. During that time, she’s excavated many different sites across the North Slope. And increasingly, that work has become a race against the clock.

“I mean it’s like burning down a library basically,” Jensen said. “If you see a library burning, you should at least try and get the rare books out.”

In the Alaskan Arctic, several things are happening at once. One is that the ground is getting warmer, which means that eventually, frozen artifacts will start to rot. Another is that as sea ice disappears from the Arctic Ocean, the coastline of the North Slope is more vulnerable to storm damage. And that means that all kinds of archaeological material is disappearing into the ocean in big chunks.

In her lab at the Barrow Arctic Research Center, Jensen goes to a cabinet and takes out several artifacts, carefully labeled and sealed in plastic bags. One is a fishhook, recovered from a nearby archaeological site in 2013.

“Had we not excavated this in 2013, there was a storm in 2014 that took out not only where this was but about 33-34 feet directly in from the bluff was undercut and slumped and fell apart,” Jensen said. “So this would have all been gone.”

It’s lucky that Jensen got to these artifacts in time. Because in a state as big as Alaska, she says there are probably thousands of sites that archaeologists haven’t excavated… or might not even know about.

Anne Jensen at her lab in Utqiaġvik, looking through artifacts recovered from the Walakpa archaeological site in 2013. She says that, had they not been excavated the year before, they would have been washed away in the 2014 storm. (Alaska’s Energy Desk/ Ravenna Koenig)

So what do researchers do?

One idea is to change the way that research is actually done in places like Alaska. Jensen is part of a committee of anthropologists that are currently urging institutions like the National Science Foundation to fund a surge of documentation of what’s in the field now, and analyze it later.

“Rather than doing the normal science process where you write the proposal, you do the work, you do the analysis, you write it all up, and then you start the cycle over again… having a cycle that’s just getting the data, and getting it stabilized enough that it doesn’t rot in the bags; it goes off to a museum and is taken care of, and then gets analyzed a little further down the road — you’ll wind up with more data 50 years from now than you would if you just do normal science,” Jensen said.

Another thing they’re talking about is coming up with what they call a “threat matrix” — basically a way to help assess which sites are most vulnerable to climate change — which could factor into funding decisions.

Jensen acknowledges that there’s usually not much money available for social sciences like archaeology. But she hopes that the time pressures archaeologists are now under — not just in the Arctic, but in other places around the world where coastal erosion and sea level rise are a problem — will spur more attention to the field.

In Western Alaska, there’s water where there should be ice

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Waves hammered the shore in Diomede during a storm on Feb 20, after the island lost its buffer of sea ice. (Photo courtesy of Frances Ozenna)

It’s been a record-breaking winter in Western Alaska. Temperatures in parts of the state have reached more than 40 degrees above normal, and sea ice cover in the Bering Sea has dropped to levels never before recorded.

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Last week, social media across the region lit up as residents posted photos and videos of open water where, normally, there’s ice. In some communities, people say it’s the first time they can remember seeing wide open water in February.

The tiny island village of Diomede, in the middle of the Bering Strait, got national attention after a resident posted a video of giant waves crashing onto shore and surging between buildings during a storm on Feb. 20.

Beyond the waves? Open water, all the way to the horizon.

And that’s definitely not normal, tribal coordinator Frances Ozenna said.

“This is really amazing to see, this change,” Ozenna said in a phone interview Friday. “I don’t think anybody was really expecting this to happen.”

Ozenna said it’s the first time she can remember ever seeing this much open water in front of Diomede at this time of year: normally the sea ice grows from January all the way through March. But this year, it’s been unpredictable, she said, moving every day, with water opening and closing.

Then on Feb. 20, a major storm blew away what ice there was, and left the village without protection from the waves. The storm flooded Diomede’s water treatment plant and knocked out power. Chunks of ice and debris were tossed onto the beach and the village’s heliport.

“It’s very odd,” Ozenna said. “This is supposed to be the coldest time of the year.”

It’s not just Diomede. The entire Bering Sea is seeing record low levels of sea ice, said Brian Brettschneider, a climatologist based in Anchorage. Brettschneider said ice in the Bering Sea is currently at the lowest level in nearly 40 years of satellite data.

Part of the issue is warm temperatures: Brettshneider said parts of Western Alaska and the North Slope, including St. Paul, Kotzebue and Utqiagvik, are having their warmest winter on record.

“You have warm air running over record warm water,” Brettschneider said. “It’s really hard to get sea ice to form in that situation.”

The drastic drop this year might be an anomaly. Brettschneider said he wouldn’t be surprised if next year, sea ice levels are significantly higher. But he said the overall pattern is clear.

“The trend line certainly is bad,” Brettscheinder said. “My interpretation of that is, this is going to be more likely than not in the years to come.”

That’s left people like Ambrose Towarak shaking their heads.

Towarak is a commercial fisherman in Unalakleet, on Norton Sound. He posted a photo on Facebook of open water in front of town – something he also said he’s never seen this time of year.

“Everybody in the community is like, ‘It’s February! We shouldn’t be hearing ocean waves crashing on the beach,’” Towarak said in an interview Friday.

But that’s exactly what’s happening. Towarak’s friend Jeff Erickson posted a video on Facebook showing waves rolling onto the shore.

In a comment below the video, Erickson posted the lyrics to Bob Dylan’s 1960s anthem.

“In the words of an ancient sage,” Erickson wrote, “…the times, they are a-changin’.”

Legislature faces another struggle over long-term budget plan

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Legislative Finance Director David Teal testifies before the Senate Finance Committee in April 2017. Teal estimates Gov. Walker’s budget includes a $672 million gap for the coming year, even with a draw from permanent fund earnings. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)

The Legislature is faced with the same dilemma it’s had for the past three years: how to pay for the state budget when oil and gas revenue can no longer cover the costs. The biggest focus is on a plan that would draw from Alaska Permanent Fund earnings.

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The House and Senate both passed versions of legislation to draw from permanent fund earnings last year. While they didn’t iron out their differences over Senate Bill 26, rising oil prices and production have shrunk the gap between what the state spends and what it brings in.

But both chambers have taken positions that will make it difficult to pass a combined plan this year. The Senate majority wants a permanent fund draw, and would then wait to see if more changes will be needed in the future. The House wants to balance the budget in the next couple of years, even if it takes a new tax on income or oil and gas production.

“We need more revenue. I mean, we need to balance our income and our expenses,” Homer Republican Rep. Paul Seaton, a member of the mostly Democratic House majority, said.

Seaton is concerned that permanent fund dividends will shrink further without a broad-based tax like a tax on income, as well as higher oil and gas taxes.

“For people to have any security that there is a permanent fund dividend, when you start taking money out of the earnings reserve of the permanent fund, they need some security in that (dividend amount), and knowing what that’s going to be,” Seaton said.

Soldotna Republican Sen. Peter Micciche said the House majority has concentrated on the potential downsides of budget projections, in order to argue for new taxes. He said the Senate is more optimistic.

“We do not want to overcapitalize with taxes today,” Micciche said. “There’s a very good chance we’re not going to need them. And had we passed one three or four years ago, we would likely be overcapitalized today by a sum greater than a couple of hundred million dollars.”

Micciche said the two chambers should agree on where they have common ground – that is, drawing money from permanent fund earnings.

“If you look at what we want to do on discipline regarding the growth of the cost of this government – at inflation or lower – into the future, the reality of it is the fund grows much faster,” Micciche said. “And within a relatively short time, in perpetuity you would never have the need of a broad-based tax in the state of Alaska. I think that’s a worthwhile goal.”

One factor that could keep the two sides apart is the challenge in defining exactly what the size of the deficit is.

Legislative Finance Division director David Teal, a nonpartisan expert on the budget, said Gov. Bill Walker proposed a budget with a projected gap of $672 million between spending and oil royalties and taxes – if the Legislature passed a permanent fund earnings draw.

Micciche said there are a few factors that would drive the number down, including rising oil royalties.

Teal said it could benefit the Legislature to agree on the scope of the budget hole they’re trying to close.

“You want to avoid the situation that we had years ago, when the House had a revenue forecast, the Senate had a revenue forecast and the governor had a revenue forecast,” Teal said. “And when you’re in that situation, and the constitution requires a balanced budget, what are you balancing to?”

The House and Senate haven’t agreed on how much money they need to raise. In addition, they have different ideas on how large permanent fund dividends should be – the House has proposed $1,250, while the Senate proposed $1,000. And there also are differences on how large of a draw the permanent fund earnings can sustain.

Teal said agreeing on goals can help frame the discussion.

“Until people can agree on a set of outcomes that are acceptable to them, you’re going to have people differing on their opinion of whether an action fixes the problem,” Teal said.

And looming over all of this is an election that will determine the governor, half of the 20 senators and all 40 House members.

Lawmakers acknowledge that without a plan this year, the Legislature could make an unplanned draw on fund earnings to close the budget gap.

Athletes give it their all Native Youth Olympics

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Mia Korn, an eight-year-old from McGrath, executes a two-foot high kick at the Junior Native Youth Olympics on February 24, 2018. (Johanna Eurich/KYUK)

Anyone will tell you that strength is not enough. Skill, form, technique and concentration will win the day in most sports, including the Native Youth Olympics (NYO). Those qualities were on exhibit at the Wells Fargo Sports Center at the University of Alaska Anchorage this weekend.

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The two-foot high-kick is a NYO classic. It can be done standing right under the target, or with a running start. The trick is to jump off from two feet, kick your feet forwards and up to hit the ball, and then land back on both feet. Boys and girls compete separately, but at the at the end of Saturday’s Junior NYO competition neither sex had an advantage. Both girls and boys had made kicks up to 55 inches.

That’s way above the heads of youngsters like nine-year-old Mason Logan Beans-Polk from Bethel’s Gladys Jung Elementary School. He had to look up to see the beautiful skin-sewn ball that was his high-kick target. After warming up in his gym shoes, he took them off and stood beneath the ball, measuring the distance with his arms extended. He then took three deliberate steps back, concentrating before making a running jump. He was one of the few who competed barefoot; he had thought that decision through.

“That makes it light and you could kick higher,” Beans-Polk said. “When you kick it makes it way easier to kick without your shoes and socks on.”

Beans-Polk didn’t win the competition, but he came close.

Stewart Towarak, one of the officials, watched. He was a Senior NYO two-foot and one-foot high kick champion when he was in high school. His one-foot high-kick record of 9 feet 6 inches still stands. He says that the youngsters competing in the Junior NYO have a head start. He never even tried the traditional Native games until he was in seventh grade. He observed that any one of the competitors he’s watching could break his record when they get into high school.

“At a young age, you get them interested and it kind of motivates them to get better in all these events and maybe even go through high school,” Towarak said. “For some of these kids this is probably their favorite event throughout the whole year.”

The crowds cheer the kids on, and it is not just the home team that gets the attention. Everyone roots for everyone else; even the opposing coaches are helping their competition improve.

One opposing coach said, “I was telling him he was high enough and he needs to keep his head up, not down, and he’ll kick higher that way.”

It doesn’t matter which community they are from, at the Native Youth Olympics it’s not unusual to hear the entire gym cheering when the athletes succeed.

Alaska News Nightly: Monday, Feb. 26, 2018

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Stories are posted on the APRN news page. You can subscribe to APRN’s newsfeeds via email, podcast and RSS. Follow us on Facebook at alaskapublic.org and on Twitter @aprn

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Tweets aside, Sullivan says Trump good for Alaska

Liz Ruskin, Alaska Public Media – Washington D.C.

Sen. Dan Sullivan said in his annual address to the state Legislature this morning that he doesn’t always like President Trump’s tweets but he likes what the Trump administration is doing for Alaska.

Backlog of more than 20,000 seek Medicaid, public assistance

Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO – Juneau

More than 20,000 Alaskans are waiting for their applications for assistance through health and social services to be processed by the state government.

Young suggests guns could’ve saved Jews during Holocaust

Liz Ruskin, Alaska Public Media – Washington D.C.

Speaking at a conference in Juneau last week, Alaska Congressman Don Young argued against gun control by suggesting Jews might not have died in the Holocaust if they had been armed.

In Western Alaska, there’s water where there should be ice

Rachel Waldholz, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Anchorage

Last week, social media across Western Alaska lit up as residents posted photos and videos of open water where, normally, there’s ice.

Archaeology in northern Alaska: a race against the clock

Ravenna Koenig, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Fairbanks

“If you see a library burning, you should at least try and get the rare books out,” said archaeologist Anne Jensen.

Scientists discover mysterious uranium particle above Aleutian Islands

Zoe Sobel, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Unalaska

The enriched uranium probably came from somewhere in Asia. But even using wind trajectories and particle dispersion models, researchers can’t pin it on a specific country.

Dion isn’t homeless. This is why it matters.

Anne Hillman, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage

Dion Wynne was hospitalized and couldn’t work, but received enough help to keep his housing. His success isn’t just important for his family — it helps everyone. Now advocates are working to make the homeless prevention system less cumbersome.

Athletes give it their all Native Youth Olympics

Johanna Eurich, KYUK – Anchorage

Anyone will tell you that strength is not enough. Skill, form, technique and concentration will win the day in most sports, including the Native Youth Olympics (NYO).

Tweets aside, Sullivan says Trump good for Alaska

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U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan studies notes in the House Speaker's Chambers while waiting for the Alaska House of Representatives and Senate to jointly convene for his annual address on Feb. 26, 2018. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)
U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan studies notes just before his annual address to the state Legislature. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)

Sen. Dan Sullivan, in his annual address to the state Legislature, said he doesn’t like all of President Trump’s tweets but he likes what the Trump administration is doing for Alaska. There’s not a lot of daylight between them when you look at the senator’s voting record.

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Barely two minutes into the speech, Sullivan made the rhetorical equivalent of an eye-roll. It was as he was saying he sees the annual address as an opportunity to step back and look at the big picture.

“But being in elected office, we can get caught up in the news of the day,” Sullivan said. “Sometimes as a result of an intemperate tweet or two. Or three. Or four. ”

During the 2016 presidential election, Sullivan called on Trump to step down as the Republican nominee after the “Access Hollywood” tape became public. Whatever their differences in style, Sullivan and Trump are alike on many policies. According to the data-crunchers at the website FiveThirtyEight, Sullivan’s votes agree with Trump’s position more than 95 percent of the time. (Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s Trump-agreement score is 83 percent The average for Republicans is just over 92 percent.)

In his speech, Sullivan made it clear he’s embracing what Trump DOES, at least for Alaska. As for what the president SAYS, Sullivan is keeping some distance.

“I disagree with a number of the statements and tweets made by President Trump,” Sullivan said. “But in terms of a federal government that is finally working to help grow Alaska’s economy, we are making significant progress.”

Sullivan cited new opportunities for oil development in the Arctic Refuge and elsewhere, the president’s support for a King Cove road and progress on the gas line.

“And the feds are also listening to us as we continue to place well-qualified Alaskans into the highest levels of the federal government,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan named five Alaskans working in the Trump administration: Joe Balash is at the Interior Department, in charge of oil & gas on federal lands. Chris Oliver oversees federal fisheries at NOAA. Drue Pearce is at the Transportation Department. Chris Hladick is the EPA administrator for Alaska and the Northwest, and Tara Sweeney has been nominated to be assistant Interior secretary for Indian Affairs.

Sullivan said the Alaskan Trump appointees will protect Alaska’s interests as they apply national policies.

On gun control, Sullivan says he’ll evaluate proposals arising out of the latest school shooting.

“However, as Alaskans we understand how important our 2nd Amendment rights are,” Sullivan said. “We use firearms not only for self-defense but as a tool to feed our families.”

At a press conference afterward, Sullivan said he has “serious doubts” about President Trump’s proposal to raise the age limit for guns to 21.

“I mean, to me, that would not work in Alaska,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan says the problem of school violence should be considered more broadly.

“Which includes, Are we poisoning the minds of our children by having them watch movies and video games that glorify killing people?” Sullivan said. “I mean just turn on any movie. Those didn’t exist 20 or 30 years ago.”

Sullivan said he knows wading into cultural issues could make him vulnerable for ridicule. He raised the specter of Tipper Gore. She was mocked in the 80s for campaigning to get warning stickers on albums with profane lyrics. But Sullivan said it’s important to consider culture in the debate over how to keep children safe.

State Sen. Berta Gardner, a Democrat from Anchorage, said Sullivan gave a strong speech that hit many of the points legislators wanted to hear. She said, though, she wished he’d talked about increasing Alaska’s share of revenues from offshore drilling, and that he’d said more about advancing the gas line.

KTOO reporter Andrew Kitchenman contributed to this report.


Rep. Young suggests guns could’ve saved Jews during Holocaust

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U.S. Rep. Don Young. (Photo by Wesley Early, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage)

Speaking at a conference in Juneau last week, Alaska Congressman Don Young argued against gun control by suggesting Jews might not have died in the Holocaust if they had been armed.

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“How many millions of people were shot and killed because they were unarmed? Fifty million in Russia,” Young said. “How many Jews were put in the ovens because they were unarmed?”

The recording was provided by Dimitri Shein, an Anchorage  Democrat who is running for Young’s seat. Shein was in the audience for Young’s speech to the Alaska Municipal League and he asked Young about school safety, which prompted Young to bring up the Holocaust.

The argument that gun control allowed the rise of Hitler has circulated among gun-rights advocates for several years.

Here’s CNN’s Wolf Blitzer challenging then-presidential candidate Ben Carson about it in 2015:

“ –So what is your point: If there had been guns in Germany, there might not have been a Holocaust?” Blitzer asked.

“That was only one of the countries I mentioned,” Carson retorted. “There were a number of countries where tyranny reigns and before it happened they disarmed the people.”

A 1938 Nazi law prohibited Jews from owning weapons, but there were numerous instances of armed Jewish resistance during the war.

The Anti-Defamation League says it’s ludicrous to claim Germany’s Jews could have stopped the Third Reich with personal firearms when the military might of entire European countries could not.

Congressman Young is a long-time board member of the National Rifle Association. He said last week he favors allowing teachers to carry firearms. He points to video games and the breakdown of families as possible causes of school violence.

Alaska’s Medicaid and public assistance backlog is 20,000 people deep

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Rep. Les Gara, D-Anchorage, address the Capitol press in March 2017. Gara supported $2.2 million in funding for 41 public assistance workers to reduce a backlog in processing Medicaid and other applications. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)

More than 20,000 Alaskans are waiting for their applications for assistance through health and social services to be processed by the state government.

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The House Finance Committee voted Monday in favor of hiring 41 people to people to reduce the backlog. The extra hires would cost $2.2 million, matched by an equal amount of federal money.

Anchorage Democratic Rep. Les Gara supported an amendment to add the money. He said Division of Public Assistance workers are overworked.

“The morale in that department is not good,” Gara said. “These are people hired because they want to help people. And they’re instead being burnt out.”

But Wasilla Republican Rep. Cathy Tilton opposed the amendment. She noted the department already has unfilled positions.

“If we keep throwing money at it without a plan in place of how we were actually going to reduce that backlog, I think it’s kind of like doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” Tilton said.

The backlog fell from a high of more than 27,000 people in June to a low of nearly 15,000 in December. But it’s risen sharply in the last two months.

Most of the applicants are seeking Medicaid. But the backlog also includes people seeking food stamps and other income-based assistance.

The positions would be funded for three years. Gov. Bill Walker’s administration had proposed making the positions permanent, but House members say the work could be done in three years.

The committee voted 6 to 5 to pass the amendment.

The five Democrats on the committee and Ketchikan independent Dan Ortiz voted for the amendment.

The committee’s four Republicans and Anchorage independent Jason Grenn voted against the measure.

The funding proposal still faces votes on the House floor and the Senate.

Air Station Sitka: An airborne mission over Alaska’s maritime landscape

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Although most people imagine the crews of Coast Guard Air Station Sitka routinely plucking mariners from sinking ships, the most common mission is the non-maritime medevac in flight conditions too treacherous for any other aircraft than the all-weather Jayhawk. (Photo by Emily Russell/KCAW)

Somewhere over Southeast Alaska, just about every day of the year, one of three Coast Guard helicopters is on patrol or training.

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The H-60 Jayhawk is built to fly in bad weather, because that’s when most people need the assistance of the Coast Guard.

Air Station Sitka commander Capt. Chip Lewin discussed the capabilities of his crews and their equipment in a presentation to the Sitka Chamber of Commerce.

Fifty-eight percent of Air Station Sitka’s flight hours are spent practicing: search patterns, approaches and other routine stuff.

And some of their practice is far from routine.

“We do a lot of vertical surface, which means cliff operations, which is a specific maneuver and qualification in the Coast Guard to be able to take a rescue swimmer and hang him down and lean him against a cliff,” Lewin said. “And he’ll traverse a cliff and then hook on to someone who is stranded. We do a fair amount of those here, so we train pretty hard for that.”

Cliff traversing is probably something they don’t talk about until after someone’s already signed up for Rescue Swimmer School.

But Lewin has work for crew expecting to get wet.

“We also do high seas hoisting, where we’ll go out off of Kruzof in certain sea conditions, and go into limits that most air stations don’t go into, and put our rescue swimmers down into heavy seas and practice that,” Lewin said.

Air Station Sitka has seven rescue swimmers on duty, 19 flight mechanics, and 16 pilots supported by 130 additional personnel — all of whom Lewin described as critical to the mission.

From the people who maintain the station’s aging housing, to the technicians who keep the three state-of-the-art helicopters in the air.

The air station’s Area of Responsibility runs from Dixon Entrance in the south, north to Icy Bay near Yakutat.

In all, about 12,000 miles of rugged, remote coastline that is notoriously wet, windy, fog-bound, and frozen.

Lewin told the chamber that Air Station Sitka does not take rookies.

“We don’t have any first-tour aviators up here. This is all second-tour aviators. We are selective on who can come up here,” Lewin said. “And you come up here as an experienced aviator and you’ve got to spend another 6-8 months becoming an Alaska aviator. And even if you’re a senior person you’re spending 6 months flying with a guy or gal who’s already been here a year at least. We have them winter over. That’s because of area knowledge, the flight regime, and the weather. And Kodiak has the same requirements we do.”

Every couple hundred hours a team of Air Station technicians conduct a complete maintenance check on the Jayhawk helicopters. (Photo by Emily Russell/KCAW)

The air station’s mission is mostly non-maritime medevac, transporting roughly 80 people a year experiencing medical emergencies to hospitals in Ketchikan, Sitka and Juneau.

That’s a little different from other air stations which might have more emphasis on law enforcement or fisheries.

But in region where many people live in communities without airports, and where it’s often dark and stormy, the Coast Guard, as Lewin says, is “the only game in town.”

For other work, the air station can be more picky about the weather. While the big cutters tend all the floating buoys, the Aids to Navigation Team — or ANT — looks after everything on land. Lewin says this is a major mission.

“We are taking the ANT out to probably 70 aids a year,” Lewin said. “An aid in Alaska is a stick on a rock with a bunch of lights and batteries. And we hoist them down to that. It’s one of the neatest jobs for those folks. It’s also very unusual how much we do.”

The three H-60 Jayhawk helicopters are essentially “marinized” versions of the Blackhawk helicopter in wide use in the four other military services. But instead of armament, the Jayhawk carries extra fuel — a lot of it. 6,000 pounds of fuel that can keep it aloft for five-and-a-half hours, and give it more range than any other helicopter in its class in the U.S. military.

And the Jayhawks are better looking.

“Our are shiny,” Lewin said. “And theirs are dull and gray.”

Forest Service official says fighting Lower 48 wildfires is cutting into Alaska forest services

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Idaho’s 2016 Pioneer Fire is one of an increasing number of wildfires in national forests. The cost of fighting such blazes is cutting into other U.S. Forest Service programs, including those in Alaska. (Photo courtesy National Forest Service)

Wildfires in the Lower 48 are affecting what the federal government can do in the Tongass and other national forests.

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U.S. Forest Service Associate Deputy Chief Chris French told Southeast Alaska leaders his agency is spending more and more money on firefighting.

“We’ve seen 8,000 positions across the agency that we have essentially shifted from either providing services, forest management (or) recreation management to fire suppression,” French said.

French said firefighting is expected to use up about 60 percent of the Forest Service budget within a few years. That’s three to four times what it was 15 years ago.

French said his agency is also spending more time and money responding to floods, droughts, diseases and insect infestations. He didn’t speak about climate change, but many scientists have said that’s the reason behind such extreme events.

French addressed the Southeast Conference Mid Session Summit in Juneau earlier this month. He also said he’s looking at ways to speed up the agency’s permitting process. He said it has a backlog of more than 6,600 special use permits.

“This includes permitting outfitter guides, folks that are coming to us asking for access to mines or permitting ski areas or even range allotment permits” French said.

French said the agency is looking at excluding more types of projects from extensive environmental assessments. That will include an analysis of prior reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act.

Ketchikan High School wins state Academic Decathlon competition

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Ketchikan High School’s Academic Decathlon team won the state competition Saturday in Anchorage. (Alaska Academic Decathlon image used with permission)

Ketchikan High School’s Academic Decathlon team won the state championship Saturday in Anchorage. They will be headed to the national competition in April.

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Coach Peter Stanton said this is the first year Ketchikan’s team won at state.

“We weren’t counting on it, but we definitely felt that after the results last year, where there were a lot of juniors on the team who were very hard-working, high-scoring, passionate — and then getting second place last year, we definitely felt like we had a chance to win it all this year,” Stanton said.

Stanton said that for about 15 years, it seemed, the two Fairbanks schools – West Valley and Lathrop – traded the championship back and forth. He said Lathrop won the two times Ketchikan took second place, including last year.

“That really stuck with us, that we still needed to beat Lathrop,” Stanton laughed.

And this year, Stanton said, Lathrop came in second.

This year’s Academic Decathlon theme was Africa. Stanton said team members received their materials for that theme last May, and started studying over the summer.

“The literature event required the students to read “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, and several other short stories and poems by African authors,” he said. “The science event, they learned about HIV, Ebola and malaria and other infectious diseases. In social science, they learned about the history of West Africa and they also had art and music, focusing on all sorts of African art and African music.”

Eight Ketchikan team members will travel to Texas in April for the national competition. Stanton said he will have each team member focus their studies on their favorite event, in hopes of winning a medal.

“It is going to be very tough competition,” Stanton said. “Every event is scored out of 1,000 points and the tests are usually pretty difficult. In order to win a medal, they probably are going to need to get 90-plus percent of the questions correct.”

Stanton said he’s proud of all the students for their hard work, and for making history.

Stanton is former Ketchikan High School Academic Decathlon team member. This is his fourth year coaching the team since returning to Ketchikan as a teacher.

The eight Ketchikan students who will travel for the national competition are Mackenzie Fousel, Lydia Sumrall, Megan Cornwall, Adrian Ronquillo, Emme Andersen, Charisma Manalo, Largim Zhuta and Max Varela.

Below are individual team members’ results from the state competition, according to information from Stanton.

  • Franklyn Correa won a bronze medal is social science.
  • Grant Alphege Dulay won silver in social science.
  • Evelyn Andersen won bronze in science and had the highest total score on Kayhi Team 2.
  • John Luke Calderon won gold in music.
  • Daniel Neufeldt won gold in interview and gold in science.
  • Charisma Manalo won bronze in art.
  • Adrian Ronquillo won bronze in economics, silver in science, silver in social science, and gold in music.
  • Largim Zhuta won bronze in mathematics, bronze in economics, silver in science, and silver in social science.
  • Emme Andersen won bronze in essay, silver in music, gold in art, and earned a $1000 scholarship as the fourth-highest scoring scholastic.
  • Max Varela won silver in economics, silver in social science, earned a $1000 scholarship as the fourth-highest scoring honors, and set a new Kayhi record for highest individual total score with 7,665.3 points.
  • Mackenzie Fousel won silver in art, silver in economics, silver in science, silver in social science, gold in science, gold in music, and earned a $2000 scholarship as the second-highest scoring varsity.
  • Lydia Sumrall won silver in science, silver in interview, gold in art, gold in economics, gold in literature, gold in music, gold in social science, and earned a $4000 scholarship as the highest-scoring varsity.

State veterinarian urges farmers to watch for new diseases in Alaska wildlife, livestock

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State Veterinarian Bob Gerlach talks about increasing incidence of disease in wildlife and livestock in a talk during Saturday’s 46th Annual Delta Farm Forum at Delta Junction High School. (Tim Ellis/KUAC)

State Veterinarian Bob Gerlach told a crowd that turned out Saturday for the 46th Annual Delta Farm Forum that diseases that afflict livestock and wildlife are increasingly showing up in Alaska. He says other diseases that are on the increase in northern-tier states and Canada also moving in this direction, due to the warming climate, human-population increase and the movement of agricultural products worldwide.

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Gerlach says Alaska’s cool climate and isolated location has for millennia helped protect wildlife and the people who subsist on it from many of the diseases that thrive in warmer, lower latitudes. Diseases that periodically cull large numbers of wildlife species that live there. But he says that’s changing.

“We’re not isolated from what’s going on in the world,” Gerlach said. “We’re in the center of a lot of what’s going on.”

Gerlach says diseases are now hitchhiking into Alaska through global commerce that brings livestock and other agricultural products here, as well as travelers, newcomers that their bring household pets, and wildlife species that are slowly moving north as temperatures increase here and worldwide.

“Globalization is not just moving food,” Gerlach said. “It’s moving animals, it’s moving products, and it’s moving disease.”

Gerlach told about a hundred farmers and others at this year’s Farm Forum at Delta Junction High School that they need to be alert for any signs of the diseases showing up in their livestock. And he says they also need to be aware of the health of wildlife species that live or range around their farms or ranches, because wildlife is a major source of many of the diseases that can pose a threat to both animals and humans.

“We’re seeing some things that we’ve never seen in the past,” Gerlach said, “and not just in isolated areas. But they’re all over, and reaching up here, in the state.”

The main vector for most of the emerging diseases is ticks. Gerlach says different species of ticks have been showing up in recent years around Alaska, apparently because they, like their hosts, are now able to live and even thrive in the warmer climate that’s set in around the circumpolar north.

“So, introduced ticks don’t have just impact on one animal,” Gerlach said, “It has impact on a lot of different species when they move up here.”

Gerlach says researchers have in recent decades identified five new species of the parasites in Alaska. They include the Pacific black-legged tick, the American dog tick and the brown tick. Also the Lone Star tick, from the Southwest, is now showing up in northern states. He says one was recently found in Kotzebue.

“The fact that it’s up in those areas that used to be way too cold for it means it’s adapting to those areas,” Gerlach said. “And it means we’re at risk for those things, here.”

And the winter moose tick, which has decimated populations of moose in Maine and Minnesota,

“This is one that Fish and Game is extremely worried about – the moose tick or the winter moose tick,” Gerlach said. “The reason is it’s been spreading throughout Canada, it affects just not moose, but any other ungulate. So, blacktail deer, caribou, whatever.”

Gerlach says other diseases on the list of concerns include mycoplasma ovipneumonia, which is transmitted by animals in direct contact with each other. And chronic wasting disease, caused by the exchange of infectious agents called prions between animals. Gerlach says an outbreak of the wasting disease among a group of deer in Alberta and Sasketchewan.

“That population is one of the fastest-expanding populations of wild deer. There’s a 40 percent infection rate in the deer there,” Gerlach said.

Gerlach says as the number of farms in Alaska increases, so too will the chances of disease transmission from wildlife to livestock. And he says as Alaskans grow more food locally, both for their consumption and for sale, they must maintain high standards to protect public health. He cites the case of a child in Fairbanks who contracted salmonella two years ago by handling a chick.

“So that does a risk out for someone who’s selling product from their coop in the backyard. It’s something to think about,” Gerlach said.

Gerlach urged farmers to contact his office if they suspect their animals, or wildlife on the other side of the fence, are diseased.

Wind causes oil spill north of City of Kodiak

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A snapshot of the spill on Shuyak Island. (Photo courtesy of Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation)

On Monday, high winds knocked up to 3,000 gallons of fuel off a dock roughly 50 miles north of the City of Kodiak.

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According to a situation report from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, gusts of more than 80 mph Monday toppled a fuel bladder at Port Williams on Shuyak Island.

The United States Coast Guard has contracted with Anchorage-based Alaska Chadux for cleanup.

Matthew Melton, general manager with Chadux, says their crew is on standby in the City of Kodiak due to wind.

“There’s a lot of people that are ready to rock and roll. We’re just waiting for the weather to lay down so we can get out there and be able to work safety.”

According to the DEC report, they suspect the bladder has released all of its fuel into the water, but Melton says they still need to check out the scene.

“There’ll be some guys who are gonna contain and some guys who are gonna assess, so things will happen pretty quickly once they get there.”

In the case of a fuel spill, they use an oil containment boom, which looks like a long, plastic rope, to gather the fuel and prevent it from leaving the bay.

Shuyak is the site of Port Williams Seaplane Base, which is under the ownership of Ocean Beauty Seafoods, and the area is labeled as critical habitat for both sea otters and Steller sea lions.


Did Russia compromise Alaska election websites or systems? NBC News report says it did

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Boxes holding primary ballots sit on a table at the Alaska Division of Elections office in August 2016. NBC News reported Tuesday that Alaska was one of seven states whose websites or election systems were compromised in 2016 by Russian-backed operatives. (By Andrew Kitchenman/KTOO)

Alaska was one of seven states that had websites or voter registration systems compromised by Russian-backed hackers before the 2016 election, according to a report by NBC News.

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Alaska Division of Elections Director Josie Bahnke said the state today asked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for any information related to the news report.

The state’s election division had announced in September that federal officials informed the state that operatives accessed a publicly available website, but did not compromise the election system.

“It was a public information website,” Bahnke said Tuesday. “It was not our voter registration database, or ballot-tabulation system, or anything that would have an effect on the election, so those efforts were unsuccessful, to tap into the website. And we’ll just continue working with DHS and provide information to Alaskan voters as that information becomes available.”

Anchorage Democratic Sen. Bill Wielechowski said voters have a right to know exactly what occurred.

“This is very alarming, obviously,” he said. “We want to make sure our elections have integrity. We want to make sure our elections process is secure. We want to make sure our websites can’t be hacked, that our databases with Alaskans’ private information is not being accessed by Russian covert operatives.”

The NBC report said some of the breaches were more serious than others, from entry into state websites to access of voter registration databases. The other states were Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Texas and Wisconsin.

Alaska News Nightly: Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018

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Stories are posted on the APRN news page. You can subscribe to APRN’s newsfeeds via email, podcast and RSS. Follow us on Facebook at alaskapublic.org and on Twitter @aprn

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Did Russia compromise Alaska election websites or systems? NBC News report says it did

Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO – Juneau

However, Alaska elections officials had said in September that operatives did not compromise the election system. Alaska has asked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for any information related to the new news report.

Committee scales back draw from permanent fund earnings

Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO – Juneau

The House Finance Committee today voted to reduce the amount the state would draw from Alaska Permanent Fund earnings to pay for the state budget this year.

State veterinarian urges farmers to watch for new diseases in Alaska wildlife, livestock

Tim Ellis, KUAC – Fairbanks

State Veterinarian Bob Gerlach told a crowd that turned out Saturday for the 46th Annual Delta Farm Forum that diseases that afflict livestock and wildlife are increasingly showing up in Alaska.

Wind causes oil spill north of City of Kodiak

Kayla Desroches, KMXT – Kodiak

On Monday, high winds knocked up to 3,000 gallons of fuel off a dock roughly 50 miles north of the City of Kodiak.

University of Alaska opens first all-gender restroom

Associated Press

University of Alaska’s first all-gender restroom has opened at the Fairbanks campus’ engineering building.

Richardson Highway avalanche more inconvenient than dangerous

Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks

The Richardson Highway re-opened Tuesday afternoon in the Summit Lake area after being blocked by an avalanche this morning.

Can Southeast share the wealth of tourism growth?

Ed Schoenfeld, CoastAlaska – Juneau

Passenger fees total about $45 million a year statewide, said John Binkley, president of Cruise Lines International Association Alaska. He said pooling that would allow other cities to boost their industries, too.

Unalaska revisits wind power, hoping for a renewable energy source

Zoe Sobel, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Unalaska

Residents are eager to find out if wind will be Unalaska’s ticket to a greener future.

A recent earthquake leaves Kodiak’s fire station damaged, but energizes efforts to replace it

Mitch Borden, KMXT – Kodiak

Last month’s earthquake in the Gulf of Alaska left the city of Kodiak’s fire station shaken and cracked. It’s also stimulated the efforts to replace the building.

Air Station Sitka: An airborne mission over Alaska’s maritime landscape

Robert Woolsey, KCAW – Sitka

Air Station Sitka commander Capt. Chip Lewin discussed the capabilities of his crews and their equipment in a presentation to the Sitka Chamber of Commerce.

Committee scales back draw from permanent fund earnings

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Rep. Paul Seaton, R-Homer, center, chairs the House Finance Committee shortly before it passed its version of the state budget in March 2017. On Tuesday, the committee voted to reduce the proposed draw from permanent fund earnings. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)

The House Finance Committee voted Tuesday to reduce the amount the state would draw from Alaska Permanent Fund earnings to pay for the state budget this year.

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The committee voted 6 to 4 to draw 4.75 percent of the fund’s market value. That’s a half percent less than the 5.25 percent Gov. Bill Walker proposed.

Homer Republican Rep. Paul Seaton said the lower percent of market value — or POMV — draw is more sustainable. He’s the committee’s co-chairman and caucuses with the mostly Democratic majority.

“The amount of the draw is not based on what our budget deficit is or those kinds of things,” Seaton said. “The amount of a POMV draw is based on the economics of an endowment.”

Endowments aim to grow faster than inflation. A consultant for the permanent fund corporation recently lowered the amount it projects the fund will grow in the future, from 6.95 percent to 6.5 percent.

Anchorage Republican Rep. Lance Pruitt said reducing the draw will increase the argument for an income tax, which he opposes.

“I would rather say, ‘Let’s look at where we can adjust appropriately and manage,’ which would be the earnings reserve right now, than to look at an income tax within the next couple of years,” Pruitt said.

The draw amount faces a vote in the full House. If the House passes it, it would go to the Senate for a vote.

The committee also changed the portion of the draw that would be devoted to permanent fund dividends. They set it at one-third of the draw, which would mean dividends of roughly $1,250 this year.

All members of the majority caucus who were present voted for the change. The members of the Republican minority caucus voted no. Majority-caucus independent Jason Grenn was absent.

The draw under the change would be $1.65 billion, compared with $1.91 billion Walker proposed. It would leave a $1.1 billion gap between what the state spends and what it raises. House majority members want to close this gap by drawing from the Constitutional Budget Reserve.

A recent earthquake leaves Kodiak’s fire station damaged, but energizes efforts to replace it

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Kodiak’s fire station sits at 70 feet above sea level, which is in the city’s tsunami inundation zone. (Photo by Mitch Borden/KMXT)

Last month’s earthquake in the Gulf of Alaska left the city of Kodiak’s fire station shaken and cracked. It’s also stimulated the efforts to replace the building.

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Chief Jim Mullican is standing outside Kodiak’s fire station counting the cracks in one of its walls that were left behind by January’s 7.9 magnitude earthquake.

“You got one there. Here’s two. Here’s three. Here’s four, five, six,” Mullican listed.

According to the Alaska Earthquake Center, that earthquake is considered one of the strongest recorded in the last 150 years in Alaska. And it left Kodiak’s firehouse worse for the ware.

“Nine and this spiders out,” Mullican said.

A lot of the cracks run up the walls and cut all the way through them.

“Step cracks right here, that’s 11. Diagonal crack, that’s 12. I believe there’s another one that’s twelve brand new cracks,” Mullican said.

On the wall Mullican is inspecting, the small lines don’t look like much, but he says they’re serious. The damage spans the whole building and even though the station’s considered stable, he’s still worried.

“I have these cracks that are through the wall, what happens when that next little 4.2, 5.0 earthquake what’s that going to do to this already compromised station,” Mullican said.

Not only is the safety of his firefighters on his mind, but another shake could potentially break the station’s garage doors and trap Kodiak’s fire engines and ambulances. But Mullican says he’s got a plan for if that happens.

“Basically, it involves pulling out our saws and cutting these doors open to get the rigs out if it gets to that point,” Mullican said.

The structural damage isn’t the only problem facing the firehouse. It’s old. The newest section of the building was built in the 1970s. So, Kodiak already a needed a new station before the quake.

“It’s to the point where, truly, we need to tear it down and build a new one,” Mullican said.

To make matters worse, the building’s located in Kodiak’s tsunami inundation zone. When January’s earthquake shook the Gulf of Alaska it also caused a tsunami warning to be issued to many coastal communities including Kodiak.

A huge wave never appeared, but after the scare, Kodiak’s Mayor Pat Branson was called before the U.S. Senate committee on energy and natural resources to talk about the ordeal. In her testimony, she made it clear that replacing Kodiak’s fire station is vital.

“One essential need and safety priority is our fire station. along with protecting the city of Kodiak,” Branson said. “The Kodiak fire department provides all emergency medical services and transports on the Kodiak road system.”

Building a new firehouse will be expensive. It’s estimated the project will cost around $15 million. While in Washington, Mayor Branson spoke with Alaska’s U.S. Senators and its Representative about Kodiak’s need for a new station and where to get funding for the project. Nothings come from those conversations yet, but Mayor Branson says she’s optimistic.

Chief Mullican says something needs to be done soon because Kodiak will get hit by another earthquake at some point

“It’s not if, it’s when because we live in the Pacific Ring of Fire. We’re going to have earthquakes,” Mullican said.

Right now, Mayor Branson says the city is figuring out where the new firehouse can be built where a future tsunami won’t touch it. Once that’s done the city can move on to the next step in the process of replacing the station.

Scrutiny urged over Hydro One’s Alaska foray

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Independent hydropower entrepreneur Duff Mitchell addresses the Regulatory Commission of Alaska at Centennial Hall in Juneau on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018. Mitchell is the managing director of Juneau Hydropower Inc. (Photo by Jeremy Hsieh/KTOO)

More than 100 people turned up to Centennial Hall to observe, listen and speak to state regulators reviewing the acquisition of Juneau’s electric utility by a Canadian firm.

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Thane resident Steve Behnke was one of about a dozen critics to speak. He asked the Regulatory Commission of Alaska to hold an evidentiary hearing because of the high stakes.

“My gut tells me it’s not a good idea for our local electric utility to be under the control of a big distant multinational corporation,” Behnke said. “I’m not convinced that people have thought through all the implications or the appropriate conditions for this merger.”

The RCA can approve or deny the acquisition of Alaska Electric Light and Power’s parent company, Avista, which operates in five states – including Alaska.

Approval is needed by each state for Hydro One of Ontario’s expansion into the Pacific Northwest to move forward. In Alaska, the clock is ticking – a decision is due in late May.

In a lengthy filing, staffers at the Public Utility Commission of Oregon recently recommended against approving the takeover of Avista’s assets there. Closer to home, more than a hundred public comments – most of them critical – have been received by the RCA.

But there were a few supporters in Tuesday’s crowd.

Neil MacKinnon served on AEL&P’s board of directors for 30 years. He read a letter by AEL&P’s former owner Bill Corbus that said the merger would help strengthen the company by adding financial power and technical expertise. MacKinnon said the ownership of the utility isn’t important as long as it’s managed properly.

“Who owns it? Who cares? Who knows? As long as two things happen for the Juneau people: when you hit the switch, the lights come on. And when you get your bill, you don’t panic,” MacKinnon said. “That’s what’s really important.”

One of the biggest points of contention is the fate of Snettisham Hydroelectric Project. Built by the federal government and completed in the 1970s, it’s owned by the state and leased to AEL&P. And it produces most of Juneau’s electricity. Under a complex arrangement signed in the 1990s, AEL&P has an option to buy Snettisham at any time.

That’s led to concern in the community and among elected officials that a critical piece of infrastructure could end up in the hands of private interests.

In an interview, Hydro One executive Ferio Pugliese said his company has no plans to leverage Snettisham for financial gain.

“Monetization of an asset like that is not of interest to us,” Pugliese told KTOO on Tuesday. “That asset is obviously strategic in nature here, it’s strategic to the community – it serves a strong purpose. There’s no value for us to do that. We have a strong balance sheet already.”

Even before the RCA begins deliberations it still has to set other ground rules. It’s already said the Snettisham question is off the table.

But what’s not decided is whether the City and Borough of Juneau will be allowed to intervene as a party to the process. Hydro One had offered some assurances over Snettisham if the city would withdraw its petition and support its buyout.

That didn’t happen and it’s up to the RCA to decide now whether the city will be granted a seat at the table.

In the meantime, the Juneau Assembly has allocated $75,000 for legal costs to make its case.

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