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Alaska: More than a dozen community leaders travel to Juneau calling for better salmon habitat protection By MARY KAUFFMAN - Community leaders from around the state visited with legislators this week urging them to pass House Bill 199, “The Wild Salmon Legacy Act,” introduced by Fisheries Committee Chair Rep. Louise Stutes (R- Kodiak) at the request of the Alaska Board of Fisheries. 

Alaska’s Board of Fisheries submitted a letter to the State Legislature in January 2017 asking for an update to a 60 year old law guiding development in salmon habitat. 

HB 199 would update this old Alaska’s law governing development in salmon habitat and encourage responsible development. Earlier this week, a separate group of community leaders also provided testimony against Pebble Mine in a legislative hearing, citing the harmful impacts the mine would have on wild salmon. The conversations with legislators highlighted an issue that has become one of the top priorities for Alaskans during this year’s legislative session.  

“Wild salmon are everything to me, to my family and to my community,” said Thomas Tilden, First Chief of the Curyung Tribal Council. “We are not saying no development, what we want is development done responsibly. We are asking for an update to a 60-year-old law that has not been adjusted since statehood.” 

Community leaders traveling to Juneau in favor of House Bill 199 included Tom Tilden from Nunamta Aulukestai in Dillingham; Tim and Mary Wonhola, New Stuyahok Elders; Mike Friccero, a Kodiak and Bristol Bay commercial fisherman; former State Senate President and backcountry guide Rick Halford from Chugiak and Aleknagik; and Jasmin Ieremia, a Petersburg teen advocate who commercial fishes with her family and other community leaders from Talkeetna, Anchorage, Sitka and Homer.

Alaskans from across the state have voiced support for improving salmon habitat protections, an issue that has unified users – from urban anglers to rural subsistence communities to commercial fishermen.

There are those who oppose House Bill 199. In a January 2018 letter to the Rep. Stutes from Lorali M. Simon, Usibellie Coal Mine's Vice President of External Affairs, Simon writes , "Alaska's permitting system already sets high standards for the protection of public health and the envirnomnet, including fish habitat. By definition, a permitting process is intended to permit an activity. The opposite of permitting as activity would be denail of an activity. Alaska does not have a denial system - it has a permitting system. However, HB 199 creates a denial system.

Simon further wrote, "Usibelli Coal Mine is concerned with many aspects of HB199 including many of the similarities in WOTUS, such as jurisdictional reach, the expansion of regulatory oversight, and increased uncertainty for community and resource development projects."

Usibelli Coal Mine was founded in 1943 and has grown to become the largest coal mining operation in Alaska. UCM currently has a work force of approximately 115 employees, and operates year-round. Mine production has grown from 10,000 tons in 1943 to an average between 1.2 and 2 million tons of coal per year.

The Council of Alaska Producers also submitted a letter of opposition to the Alaska House Special Committee on Fisheries in February 2018.

Karen Matthias, Executive Director of the council, wrote, "CAP remains concerned that mining projects could not be developed under HB199 and that is would also jeopardize the continuation or expansion of existing mines. The operationg mines in Alaska were built under modern environmental laws and their operations are strictly monitired by state and federal agencies. Their excellent track records are testament to both their commitment to responsible development and to Alaska's world class permitting system. The vital industry directly and indirectly provided almost 9,000 jobs in Alaska, revenue to state and local governments, and benefits to Alaska Natives through the ANCSA revenue sharing requirements." - More...
Friday AM - February 23, 2018

Alaska: Kids Count Report Reveals Many of Alaska’s Children Struggling - KIDS COUNT Alaska, a project at the Alaska Children’s Trust (ACT), released a new report detailing the latest trends in the economic well-being of Alaska’s children and their families. Each quarter a report is released with the goal to shed light on a number of statistics that impact a child’s life and future.

“All families, no matter their education, economic status, family structure or where they live, can raise thriving children,” said Alaska Children’s Trust Executive Director, Trevor Storrs. “Unfortunately, many of our hard-working families across Alaska are struggling.”

The report shows 36% of Alaska’s children live in poverty, 20% are from homes that don’t have enough food and are hungry, and 31% live in homes with a high housing cost burden. When families are unable to provide the basic needs, children are at risk of experiencing adversities that can negatively impact them lifelong.  

According to the report, there are significant disparities in family income by race/ethnicity in Alaska. While median family income was $75,500 in 2015, only White families earned more than the median ($91,300); all other race/ethnicities earned less (non- White median family income is $48,700). Alaska Native families and American Indian families have the lowest median income ($43,600).

Approximately 11,000 children live in families with incomes less than $12,000 a year. The report also shows most families in poverty are single-parent families.

Financial security is a complex issue that no one policy can solve.  However, leaders in the private, public, and nonprofit sector can take steps to the issues that put children’s and families’ financial security and stability at risk.  - More...
Friday AM - February 23, 2018

Alaska: HB 392 Seeks Economic and Legal Justice for Women in Alaska - Legislation was introduced this week to create a Commission for Women and Girls to identify legal problems that prevent women from earning equal pay for equal work in Alaska. The commission will also work to determine best practices to promote economic, social, legal, and political justice for women. House Bill 392 calls for the commission to create a report to be presented to the Alaska Governor and the Alaska Legislature every two years with policy recommendations and a plan of action with achievable goals.

Women earn an average of 68 cents for every dollar a man makes in Alaska for doing the same work, according to a March 2017 report from the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. A similar report from 30 years ago showed women earned 62 cents on the dollar when doing the same work. The study found this to be true in 80 of Alaska’s occupations and at every age and educational level, even though men and women participate in the workforce at nearly equal rates.

“Six cents growth over 30 years is unacceptable,” said Rep. Tarr. “We know that discrimination is a huge factor in these statistics, and we need a serious investigation of the laws and regulations that prevent Alaska women from reaching their full economic potential.” - More...
Friday AM - February 23, 2018

Southeast Alaska: Young Halibut Hook Fisherman & Grandfather Accept Award at Innovators Hall of Fame - A young Tlingit fisherman and his grandfather were invited by Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) to accept an award from the Juneau Economic Development Council and the Alaska State Committee for Research (SCoR), which announced the induction of the traditional wood halibut hook into the Alaska Innovators Hall of Fame last week.

Thomas George, a master fisherman and hunter, and his grandson, Thomas Barlow, both of Klawock, were to accept the award on behalf of northern Northwest Coast people at a ceremony held Wednesday.

George trained Barlow to fish handmade hooks as a child and today, at the age of 14, he is an accomplished halibut fisherman who is deft at landing the fish with hooks. SHI staff learned about the pair in 2016 while doing research for a book about traditional wood halibut hooks, which will be published by SHI this year, said SHI President Rosita Worl.

Worl noted the young man knew how to use "line-ups," a traditional technique used to pinpoint precise locations for fishing, and that he makes his own halibut hooks.

"Thomas' grandfather passed on the traditional knowledge associated with using halibut hooks, and we were astonished to witness his prowess in locating his family's traditional halibut holes using line ups and his ability to land fish with the hook," Worl said. - More...
Friday AM - February 23, 2018

Alaska: Alaska House Passes Resolution on Proposed Plan for Offshore Lease Sales - Wednesday, the Alaska House of Representatives passed House Resolution 6, weighing in on the 2019-2024 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Draft Proposed Program. The current draft program calls for lease sales in 14 of the 15 planning areas in Alaska (there are a total of 26 planning areas across the country).

“With this resolution, the Alaska House joins Alaska’s entire Congressional delegation, the Governor, and a number of tribes and other stakeholders who have requested that 11 of the 14 planning areas be removed from the draft proposed plan,” said Representative Geran Tarr (D-Anchorage)

Tarr said, “The Chukchi and Beaufort Seas planning areas have far and away the greatest estimated recoverable reserves for oil and gas, and while the Cook Inlet Planning Area has more modest potential, it is a critical source of affordable energy for Alaska’s most populous region. Lease sales in other areas are unlikely to attract significant interest, would create tremendous controversy, and would wastefully expend State and Federal money on lease sales which would not lead to development.” - More...
Friday AM - February 23, 2018

JOHN L. MICEK: Do You Trust Trump on Gun Control? - Donald Trump, the man who needs a cue-card to feign basic human empathy, is serious about gun control?

Yeah, right. This is still the same president whose promises far outperform his actual ability to carry them out.

Remember when Trump promised a spectacular replacement for Obamacare? That hasn't happened. In fact, he made it worse.

Trump promised a massive infrastructure program. What we got relies on a paltry $200 billion investment from the federal government to magically conjure $1.5 trillion from private interests and cash-strapped state and local governments.

He loved the Dreamers until he squeezed them so he could get more money for his preposterous border wall. And immigration reform, of any kind, remains at a standstill.

And now we're supposed to believe that he'll successfully push for comprehensive background checks, raise the age of gun-purchasers to 21 and move to ban bump-stocks?

It would be nice to think Trump is serious about actually doing any of those things. Unfortunately, hard experience teaches us that his desire for approval far outweighs his desire to make substantive policy change. - More...
Friday AM - February 23, 2018

MICHAEL REAGAN: More Love, Not Gun Control - We live in a country where liberals are constantly working to get rid of things that were once sacred to America.

They've taken God out of our public schools.

They've politicized and disrespected our national anthem.

Now, exploiting a tragic school shooting in Florida, they're aiming to get rid of our guns.

Liberals think turning America into a gun-free zone will make our schools safe and stop sick young men from going on bloody killing sprees like the one in Parkland.

The clamor for stricter gun control by the mainstream media and leading Democrats like Pelosi and Schumer is as simplistic as it was predictable.

But it's not the guns, stupids.

It's not what a disturbed 19-year-old boy has in his hands that makes him kill.

It's what he does not have in his heart - love.

I don't want to sound like a bleeding heart who thinks the Parkland shooter is a victim of society or is not totally responsible for his horrible crime.

But I haven't seen any evidence yet that he had anyone who loved him or truly cared about him after his adoptive mother died last year. - More...
Friday AM - February 23, 2018