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Friday
May 02, 2014
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Low tide... Time to eat
This little guy managed to find and stash three crab during Thursday's low tide.
Front Page Photo By CINDY BALZER ©2014
(Please respect the rights of photographers, never republish or copy
without permission and/or payment of required fees.)
Southeast Alaska: “It’s Groundhog Day” on Tongass Timber Problems Says Murkowski - U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) pressed U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell this week for his failure to increase the amount of timber cut annually in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest.
Murkowski referred to Chief Tidwell’s appearance Wednesday before the Senate Appropriations Interior and Environment Subcommittee hearing on the Forest Service’s budget request as “Groundhog Day.”
“Because every year you commit to working with me to improve the timber sale program and permitting for other multiple-use activities on the Tongass National Forest and the next year we find ourselves having the same conversation about why things have not improved,” Murkowski told Tidwell.
Quoting a news release from Sen. Murkowski, last year was not a good one for Southeast, Alaska. Region 10 was the Forest Service’s worst performing region, with the agency accomplishing just 16.8 percent of its harvest target. The agency’s 2008 land management plan for the Tongass projected an annual timber sale program of up to 267 million board feet, but only about 35 million board feet have been harvested annually over the past decade.
“A harvest of 35 million board feet annually is unacceptable,” Murkowski said. “Despite repeated pledges from the Forest Service to increase timber harvest levels, we continue to see a steady march toward losing what remains of the timber industry in Southeast.” - More...
Friday PM - May 02, 2014
Southeast Alaska: Floatation Restored to Skagway Ferry Terminal, Repairs Underway - The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities announced that flotation was restored to the Skagway Ferry Terminal dock on Wednesday. The dock was previously submerged the morning of Thursday, April 24.
The dock is undergoing a thorough inspection for damage, which will include an underwater examination by divers. Repairs to the passenger ramp, electrical system and the vehicle ramp hydraulic system are underway. Additional repairs may be necessary and at this time it is unknown when the dock will be fully repaired and operational.
Further updates will continue to be provided as necessary at FerryAlaska.com. Ferry service to Skagway remains cancelled through May 9, 2014. - More...
Friday PM - May 02, 2014
Alaska: Economist Goldsmith shares impressive data with the Resource Development Council; Economist Misses the Mark on Oil Tax Impacts Says Chair of Repeal the Oil Giveaway By MARY KAUFFMAN - In the first presentation of a study comparing Senate Bill 21 to Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share Act (ACES) at the Resource Development Council yesterday, University of Alaska Anchorage’s Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) Economist Scott Goldsmith revealed very encouraging research results. Goldsmith's bottom line: SB 21 is having a positive effect since its passage in 2013.
Last year the Alaska Legislature made a controversial change in the oil production tax, the state’s largest source of oil revenue. The old tax, known as ACES (Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share), was replaced with MAPA (More Alaska Production Act, or SB21). How much money the production tax brings in is a big issue: oil revenues pay for most state government services, and the industry accounts for roughly half of all Alaska jobs stated Goldsmith in his study.
Quoting Goldsmith's study, supporters say the new tax will stimulate North Slope oil investment, leading to more oil production - and so to higher oil revenues and new jobs. Critics say the oil industry doesn’t base investment decisions on tax structure, and that the revised tax is a give-away to the industry. They cite as evidence the $2.1 billion drop in the Alaska Department of Revenue’s forecast of expected 2014 oil revenues after the new law was passed.
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Alaskans face a choice between the old and the new tax structures this August, when a referendum on the primary election ballot will ask them whether to keep or repeal the new structure. Goldsmith said his paper is intended to help Alaskans understand the two systems, which have the same tax base but differ in their tax rates, credits, and treatment of certain new production.
According to Goldsmith's paper:
• About 4% of the $2.1 billion drop in the fall oil revenue forecast for 2014 is due to the new tax. Most of the decline can be traced to lower price and production assumptions—as well as higher cost assumptions—in the forecast, and the effects of those changes on the tax rate. The rest of the decline is a one-time drop, with oil producers claiming credits expiring with the old tax.
• Future revenues are very sensitive to oil prices and costs of production and are difficult to forecast. If current trends continue—if costs continue to rise
faster than oil prices—the new tax could produce more revenue. But if conditions revert to those of past years, when production costs were lower, relative to oil prices, the old tax could produce more revenue. Among the factors contributing to rising production costs in recent years have been inflation in the price of inputs, maintenance of aging facilities, and development of marginal fields.
• The tax change, combined with a modest increase in new production, would produce higher revenues under a reasonable range of assumptions about oil prices and production costs. New investment would drive up tax deductible costs in the short run—reducing production taxes—but that loss would be more than offset in later years by additional production tax and royalty revenues from new production, even at a lower average tax rate.
• Investments that draw new outside money into the oil patch could create long-lasting jobs and increase consumer purchasing power. For example, $4 billion in new spending in the oil patch could add an average of 5,000 public and private sector jobs per year over 20 years, with more than $300 million of additional wages and salaries annually.
When the new oil production tax known as SB21 or MAPA (More Alaska Production Act) was passed by the legislature last year replacing ACES (Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share), the Alaska Department of Revenue forecast the change would cost Alaska $700 million in lost revenue in its first year (FY 2014) and as much as $4 billion over the next 5 years, assuming no incremental production stimulated by the new taxviii . Opponents of the tax viewed this as evidence of a massive “give away” to the oil producers stated Goldsmith in his paper. This fear seemed validated when a few months later the Alaska Department of Revenue issued their annual 10 year oil revenue report (Revenue Sources Book, Fall 2013) showing a $2.142 billion drop in FY 2014 revenue compared to the previous year forecast before MAPA was passed. - More...
Friday PM - May 02, 2014 |
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Fish Factor: Halibut & Sablefish Prices Up; Snails on Acid; & Fish Watch By LAINE WELCH - The basic laws of supply and demand are resulting in a nice pay day for Alaska halibut and sablefish harvesters. Prices for both fish are up by more than a dollar a pound compared to the same time last year.
Fresh halibut has been moving smoothly and demand is steady since the fishery opened in early March, said a major Kodiak buyer, where dock prices were reported at $6 a pound for ten to 20 pounders, $6.25 for halibut weighing 20 to 40 pounds, and $6.50 for “40 ups.”
At Homer and in Southeast Alaska, halibut prices have yet to drop below six bucks a pound, said local processors. Dock prices at Homer last week ranged from $6.50 to $7.00 per pound “for very small loads.”
At Southeast, after reaching a high of $6.75 at Easter, halibut prices were $6.60/$6.40 /$6.10 per pound. Processors are reporting “strong halibut catches and lots of nice fish”. The fresh fish is being flown out almost daily from Southeast and distributed in small lots to markets all over the US. Alaska’s total halibut catch this year is close to 16 million pounds.
The higher halibut prices are likely due to the slower pace of the fishery and less fish crossing the docks. Just over 3.5 million pounds had been landed statewide by May 2 out of a nearly 19 million pound catch limit. Top ports for halibut landings were Seward, Homer, Petersburg and Kodiak. - More...
Friday PM - May 02, 2014
Alaska: Cast (a Vote) for Alaska Salmon. Earn A Chance To Win a Vacation - The Nature Conservancy in Alaska is celebrating Earth Month by inviting adventure lovers to help support Alaska salmon, while entering for a chance to win a seven-night trip for two to Montana’s Pine Butte Guest Ranch.
Participants will be automatically entered into the Nature’s Adventure Sweepstakes when they visit www.facebook.com/AlaskaAirlines and vote for one of six conservation projects. The Nature Conservancy and the winning project will receive a $60,000 donation from Alaska Airlines. The sweepstakes ends May 31, and a winner will be selected at random and notified within three business days. The project that receives the most votes will be announced at noon June 2, 2014, on Alaska Airlines’ Facebook page.
“In Alaska, we know that nature runs on salmon. And so do people. For 25 years, Alaskans from all walks of life have supported our work to keep the state’s most important lands and waters healthy,” says Randy Hagenstein, Alaska State Director for The Nature Conservancy. “This new partnership is one more way to ensure salmon continue to sustain our traditions and people throughout Alaska.” - More...
Friday PM - May 02, 2014 |
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Alaska: New ocean acidification study launched in Prince William SoundBy SHARICE WALKER - Beginning this week, two surface wave gliders resembling yellow surfboards will cruise around Prince William Sound as part of a five-month monitoring program to measure ocean acidification. Simultaneously, state-of-the-art instrumentation installed on a glacier tour boat will monitor glacial runoff, while an underwater autonomous glider patrols beneath the surface looking for plumes of water that could be harmful to some species.
A remote-controlled glider, similar to the one shown here will measure ocean acidification in Prince William Sound from May to September 2014.
Photo by Richard Feely, NOAA/PMELA
The project, funded mostly by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Ocean Acidification Program, is led by Jeremy Mathis, director of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Ocean Acidification Research Center and supervisory oceanographer of the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, and Wiley Evans, a research associate with the UAF acidification center, in partnership with the Alaska Ocean Observing System.
Scientists estimate that the ocean is 25 percent more acidic today than it was 300 years ago, largely due to increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels and changes in land use. Almost half of the CO2 emitted remains in the atmosphere, with the land and ocean absorbing the rest. When the ocean absorbs CO2, its pH balance changes through a process called ocean acidification. Because cold water can absorb more CO2 than warm water, acidification can disproportionately impact coastal regions around Alaska.
Recent publications by Mathis and Evans have shown that the process of ocean acidification may be worsened around tidewater glaciers due to the freshwater melt plumes that occur is summer and fall. - More...
Friday PM - May 02, 2014
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Update in Progress for
May 02, 2014
 End of Session By Vic Fischer - The legislative session is over, and things aren’t looking good for Alaska’s budget. After passing the Oil Giveaway last year, now Alaska has a $2 billion annual deficit. Yes, “billion” with a “b.” At the rate we’re going, all of our savings will be gone soon. - More...
Monday PM - April 28, 2014
Weiss Ball Fields By Jamie May - I just have to say as a coed softball player and a dog owner I'm well aware of the feces problem on the Weiss ball fields. Not only do I take my two dogs there on occasion for a good contained run, but surprisingly I also use the fields for what they were intended for, softball. - More...
Monday PM - April 28, 2014
Consequences of legalization of Marijuana By Marvin Seibert - When the voters of the great state of Alaska consider legalizing marijuana for recreational use they should look to Colorado and what is happening there for guidance in their vote. Remember Colorado has had pot legal for 4 short months and look at what has taken placed. - More...
Monday PM - April 28, 2014
RE: Proposed law to legalize marijuana By Craig DeBoer - Mr. Marvin Seibert, it is clear that you have not done any research on marijuana. Not only is alcohol more addictive, it is deadly whilst there has not been one overdose from marijuana ever. Yes, small children have found their parents' stash and ingested it. Whose fault is that? What about the children who get into their parents' prescription meds? Booze? Even firearms! All three are proven to be deadly with misuse, unlike marijuana. - More...
Monday PM - April 28, 2014
Ethanol - a ticking time bomb! By Joey Garcia - I am not a savvy to gases or additives in their terminology, rather see, feel and use, whatever in this world seen on more in advantages, rather than the opposite. - More..
Monday PM - April 28, 2014
Let the public vote on minimum wage By Betsy Chivers - Fellow Alaskans, please urge all senators to oppose HB 384, the minimum wage bill! I’m pleased that the legislature has finally looked at the salary of a full-time minimum wage worker and realized that a person living on $16,120 lives in poverty. However, low-wage workers have been disregarded for so long that they have a right to be wary when the legislature all of a sudden sees the light and embraces an increase to the indecently low minimum wage. Is their intention just to snatch this issue off the ballot? I believe so. - More...
Tuesday AM - April 22, 2014
RE: Annoying sign holders By David Jensen - The "sign holders" had less to do with me as an individual who believes that ending a human life for convenience is "Murder" than Marie Zellmer's letter that called anyone that does not agree with her opinion "Idiots". I would like to apologize to the organizers and participants of the "Forty Days For Life" demonstration if I didn't make this fact abundantly clear in my first letter. - More...
Tuesday AM - April 22, 2014
Completeing an anti-abortion thought By Marie Zellmer - I have refrained from using names in my postings, to be sensitive to other people's lives, but I must say one last thing to Rob Holston. I believe that anyone who would post the insensitive and horrible things you have posted needs to see a councilor. I am speaking not about his cause, because everyone has the right to believe what they want, and if he wants to think abortion is murder, that is his right. What I have an issue with is how he is presenting his beliefs. I mean wanting to chop up living, breathing puppies is a bad sign. Calling me a murderer, who is duped by the medical profession and science means that something does need to be addressed, but not by me. - More...
Tuesday AM - April 22, 2014
Proposed law to legalize Marijuana By Marvin Seibert - Once again another state, namely Alaska will vote on the opportunity to play Russian roulette with 2 bullets in the chamber instead of one. I have always heard the argument that Alcohol is more addictive than Marijuana, even if that was true do we really need another legal way to get stoned and check out of a useful life in society? - More...
Tuesday AM - April 22, 2014
Ball fields By Susan Dornblaser - Mr. Lanham, I have walked at North Point Higgins and Weiss fields and the trail to Coast Guard beach for 7 years now every morning before or at daybreak. Ardie and I kept all the feces and ball players disgusting refuse picked up for a minimum of 5 years. You have noticed the excess feces but that is a very limited amount of refuse left out there. I clean up duck heads and duck bodies with duck tape on them out of the field also. No one will ever teach the geese to pick up after themselves. - More...
Tuesday AM - April 22, 2014
Ketchikan's north end dogs By Paul Alberts - I was set aback by this letter as I read one complain about dog crap so much. Spend a little more time with your family and push spay and neutering (or pay to help someone's pet) instead of spending all of your time on some dumb hunting dog stuff. No mention of actually hunting with your dogs or family. what a waste of time and money for one's family. - More...
Tuesday AM - April 22, 2014
Minimum Wage: Let the People Have a Voice By Daniel Repasky - We, the Citizens of Alaska, by initiative have made the effort to see a modest minimum wage increase placed on the ballot for Voters to decide in election. We believe it that important. It’s not often that the people express their desire for a change in law by petition although this year seems to be a banner year, what with SB21, the Marijuana Initiative, and minimum wage all headed for a vote of the people. AO-37 was another such issue. Over 20,000 voters made the effort to change a bad law. The Assembly majority in Anchorage and Mayor Sullivan did everything it could to frustrate Anchorage’s votes (at taxpayer expense) and successfully delayed this vote until November. Our hope is that those 20,000 voters who signed the initiative/referendum will remember this and vote accordingly whenever Mayor Sullivan’s name appears on a ballot. - More...
Wednesday AM - April 16, 2014
Shopping dogs... By Dixie Rhodes - After reading the letter sent in by Laura Attwood, I decided to put in my own two cents. I've noticed a trend recently for people to bring their small dogs into grocery stores while they shop. I know that there are certified therapy dogs and service dogs in Ketchikan. I understand that there are people that need the help that therapy / service dogs provide. I have no problem with that. My problem is when I see people inside a grocery store with their puppy or small breed dog. Clearly, these are not service or therapy dogs. - More...
Wednesday AM - April 16, 2014
North End Dog Owners By Joseph Lanham - I love dogs by choice. I think you would be hard pressed to find more than a hand full of people that spend more time training and working with their dog than I do. I am commanded by God to love their owners ☺. This is more difficult. - More...
Wednesday AM - April 16, 2014
Alaska Fair Project By Michael Goodner - My name is Michael Goodner, and I am a third grader from Anselmo-Merna School in Merna, NE. I am nine years old. My class is having a States Fair and I have drawn your state to research. - More...
Wednesdsay AM - April 16, 2014
For the birds By Victoria McDonald - After years of picking up dead birds that have broken their necks after hitting my windows, I might have found something that will prevent their deaths. - More...
Wednesday AM - April 16, 2014
Prohibitions on same-sex marriage are inconsistent with freedom, justice, liberty and equality By Hollis French - Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These simple words, found in the Declaration of Independence, helped forge the ideals embedded in the United States Constitution -- a constitution that is the envy of the free world. Why? Because it stands as the finest example of humanity's commitment to freedom and equality. - More...
Wednesday AM - April 16, 2014
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