Alaska: State urges U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Ninth Circuit's recent decision in waterways sovereignty case - The State of Alaska in an amicus brief filed Monday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to hear John Sturgeon’s waterways sovereignty case and to ultimately overturn the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision of October 2017.

Sturgeon filed his petition for certiorari on January 5, 2018 and the State is says it is hopeful that the Supreme Court will once again review these important issues related to the State’s right to manage its own submerged lands and navigable waters flowing over the top of those lands.

“Last time Mr. Sturgeon went before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Court sent a very clear message to the Ninth Circuit – you must take Alaska's unique statutes and history into account,” Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth said. “Instead, the Ninth Circuit completely ignored the Supreme Court’s guidance and expanded a federal doctrine on reserved water rights far beyond its ordinary and reasonable meaning.”

This case arises out of Sturgeon’s operation of his private hovercraft on Nation River, a state navigable water running through a federal national park area known as a Conservation System Unit. Sturgeon was using a hovercraft on his annual moose-hunting trip - an activity permitted under state law - when the National Park Service threatened him with a citation for violating a federal ban on hovercraft use in park units. Sturgeon sued, challenging the federal government’s assertion of broad regulatory authority. The State filed its own suit as well but was dismissed for lack of standing. Since that time, the State has supported Sturgeon’s legal efforts by filing amicus briefs, also known as “friend of the court” briefs. 

This case already made its way to the Supreme Court previously after the Ninth Circuit held in favor of the National Park Service, but the Supreme Court sent the case back to the Ninth Circuit in March 2016 with specific guidance on Alaska's unique history and federal statutes that apply and asked the Ninth Circuit to review the case again. 

The U.S. Supreme Court in March 2016, in an unanimous decision (0-8) written by Chief Justice John Roberts, handed a narrow victory to John Sturgeon in his legal challenge to the U.S. government’s power to prevent him from riding his hovercraft on a river through a federal preserve to reach remote moose-hunting grounds.

The Supreme Court threw out a lower court ruling in 2016 favoring government, but did not decide the bigger question of whether the government can regulate hovercraft use on a waterway within park service property in Alaska.

Rather than using the Supreme Court’s emphasis on State sovereignty as a guide, the Ninth Circuit held that the federal government has broad authority, stemming from the federal government’s reserved water rights, to regulate navigable waters in federal national park areas in Alaska - despite the State’s ownership of submerged lands. Sturgeon and the State both believe the Ninth Circuit is again wrong, and Sturgeon has requested the U.S. Supreme Court to review the issue for a second time due to the Ninth Circuit’s failure to properly apply the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act and recognize state management authority over navigable waters in the State. - More...
Wednesday AM - February 07, 2018

Alaska Network will assist safe shellfish harvest in Alaska By PAULA DOBBYN - A new network of experts from across the state will work to help Alaska communities better understand and mitigate the effects of harmful blooms of algae, including the toxins they produce and the potential health risks to humans and animals.

Partners in the Alaska Harmful Algal Bloom Network aim to improve public awareness, research, monitoring and responses statewide.

Harmful algal blooms are caused by certain phytoplankton that produce toxins. The blooms can poison humans, fish, seabirds and wildlife that consume toxic shellfish. Alaska has had four human fatalities and 123 reported cases of paralytic shellfish poisoning since 1993, all linked to wild shellfish. Recent die-offs of marine mammals also may be linked to harmful algal blooms.

The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services’ Division of Public Health recently said climate change is likely to increase the threat of harmful algal blooms. Warmer waters extend the phytoplankton growing season, increasing the likelihood of toxic blooms, and may allow new potentially harmful phytoplankton species to expand their ranges to Alaska.

Commercially harvested shellfish available in stores and restaurants have passed federal Food and Drug Administration-approved and state-run toxin testing and are safe. However, there is no routine testing of shellfish for personal and subsistence shellfish harvest. While there is no way to guarantee safety of personal and subsistence harvested shellfish, the AHAB Network strives to share monitoring and research efforts to provide information to coastal Alaskans on harmful blooms. Eventually, the network hopes to develop the ability to forecast such blooms. - More...
Wednesday AM - February 07, 2018

DAVE KIFFER: Thank God it's Monday - I have decided that "words" are a problem.

Yeah, yeah, sticks and stones may break your bones but words will never hurt you. 

I'm pretty sure that my mother taught me that little ditty. Probably when I was in Kindergarten and I came home with a bloody nose because a girl a couple of years older than me pushed me off the sidewalk and I fell headfirst into a yard on Austin Street. I can't remember exactly what was involved there, but I'm pretty sure that some "words" took place before I got clocked.

Speaking of Kindergarten, how many people can say they attended school in a building that was then turned into a bar?  By several ex teachers?

On the other hand,  my father once went to school in a building that used to be a bar (Charcoal Point). Maybe I am seeing a Ketchikan trend here? - More...
Wednesday AM - February 07, 2018

JOE GUZZARDI: Trump, Congress Ignore Unsustainable Population Growth - In his State of the Union address, President Trump proposed a four-pillar immigration plan that would include ending chain migration. Unfortunately, he didn't specify when his plan would end the chain, an understandable evasion since it would continue under the deal he's pursuing for 15 to 20 years.

During those years, the four million prospective immigrants on the backlogged waiting list would eventually enter, and as lawful permanent residents would be able to compete with American citizens in the labor market.

Ironically, later in his address, President Trump pledged that his administration would develop job training programs for America's vulnerable: "Let us invest in workforce development and job training. Let us open great vocational schools so our future workers can learn a craft and realize their full potential." 

Adding legally authorized workers to the economy, as the president is content doing, and continuing to import foreign-born workers on employment-based visas while offering a fig leaf of job training programs is indefensible. In his administration's first year, President Trump has made little mention of reducing employment-based visas. - More...
Wednesday AM - February 07, 2018

TOM PURCELL: Actually, Things Are Pretty Good and Getting Better - "The country is divided. The political rhetoric is getting worse. The world seems to be in a mess."

"Relax, my friend. If you step back from the noise and emotion, you'll realize things are pretty good."

"Pretty good? Democrats and Republicans are fighting like cats and dogs. Half the country sides with one party as it demonizes the other. President Trump calls Democrats in Congress nasty names as Democrats call him even nastier names."

"That is regrettably true. The political hyperbole is awfully intense. But, believe it or not, it has been worse. Google the name-calling Thomas Jefferson and John Adams used against each other during the presidential campaign of 1800!"

"But the rich are getting richer, thanks to Trump's tax plan!"

"Ah, more hyperbole from politicians. Look, thanks to the recent tax-system overhaul, corporate taxes have been reduced and U.S.-based companies doing business overseas are bringing billions in overseas profits back to America. Combined with Trump's undoing of hundreds of overzealous regulations that have been inhibiting investment and growth, the economy is booming." - More...
Wednesday AM - February 07, 2018