By Editor, on February 21st, 2012 Jill Burke, Shawna Williard-Burke | ALASKA DISPATCH
It’s probably the last thing hospital-goers expected to see Sunday on their way into a hospital in Alaska’s largest city: a moose standing in the hallway.
No, not a stuffed or mounted moose. This particular moose was a live ungulate on the move.
See the video and read the full story in the Alaska Dispatch.
By Editor, on February 9th, 2012 Warren Meyer | FORBES
Likely you have heard the sound bite that “97% of climate scientists” accept the global warming “consensus”. Which is what gives global warming advocates the confidence to call climate skeptics “deniers,” hoping to evoke a parallel with “Holocaust Deniers,” a case where most of us would agree that a small group are denying a well-accepted reality. So why do these “deniers” stand athwart of the 97%? Is it just politics? Oil money? Perversity? Ignorance?
We are going to cover a lot of ground, but let me start with a hint…
Read the full article at www.forbes.com.
More–VIDEO: Catastrophe Denied–The Science of the Skeptics Position.
By Roger Maynard, on February 4th, 2012 By Andrew Halcro
One of the bedrock arguments proffered by critics who oppose reforming oil taxes is that compared to other oil producing regions, Alaska is right in the middle. This is false.
Read full opinion at andyhalcro.com.
By Editor, on January 25th, 2012 By Becky Bohrer | AP
JUNEAU–Some Alaska lawmakers, hoping to make a point about federal encroachment on state rights, are urging the federal government take over New York City’s Central Park and designate it as a wilderness area.
Read more in the Anchorage Daily News.
By Editor, on January 25th, 2012  Image is from the NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and shows the solar flare that erupted Sunday evening National Weather Service
The largest Solar Radiation Storm since October 2003 is occurring. NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center is reporting that a G1 Geomagnetic Storm and a S3 Solar Radiation Storm are in progress.
Impacts for this event include:
- Power Systems: Weak power fluctuations can occur
- Spacecraft Operations: Minor impact on satellite operations
- Other Systems: Migratory animals are affected
Aurora will be commonly visible at higher latitudes. Tips on viewing the Aurora are located here. Share your pictures of the Aurora on the Space Weather Prediction Center’s Facebook.
For additional information monitor the Space Weather Prediction Center.
By Editor, on January 10th, 2012 by Doug O’Harra | ALASKA DISPATCH
ANCHORAGE–Alaska just experienced its third warmest December on record, with temperatures averaging about 8.7 degrees Fahrenheit above normal, according to the latest analysis posted by the National Climate Data Center. At the same time, the state was splattered with the fifth “wettest” December – most of that precipitation piling up in big white drifts that blocked on-street parking and choked residential streets to single lanes.
Alaska’s weird warm-wet month was so unsettling, the climate agency listed it as one of the month’s most significant weather events in the nation.
Read full story in the Alaska Dispatch.
By Editor, on January 4th, 2012 by Jeff Richardson | FAIRBANKS DAILY NEWS-MINER
FAIRBANKS—Gasoline prices in the $4-per-gallon range may be uncomfortably high for many Fairbanks residents, but Doug Reynolds believes prices in the years ahead could make these seem like the good old days.
Reynolds, a professor of oil and energy economics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, said he sees oil prices soaring in the next five to 10 years, “easily” reaching $200 per barrel or more.
That increase, roughly double the current price of oil, would translate into gasoline in the $5 to $10 range at the pump, he said.
Read full story in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
By Editor, on December 29th, 2011 By Diane Cardwell and Rick Gladstone | NY TIMES
The United States economy managed to cope this year despite triple-digit prices for barrels of oil. The lessons may come in handy, economists say, because those prices will probably be sticking around.
With Iran threatening to cut off about a fifth of the world’s oil supply by closing the Strait of Hormuz and unrest in Iraq endangering the ability to increase production there, financial analysts say prices for two important oil benchmarks will average from $100 a barrel to $120 a barrel in 2012.
Read full article in the New York Times.
By Editor, on December 20th, 2011 By Mike Dunham | ADN
ANCHORAGE–Debris from the March 11 Japan tsunami has reached Washington state and British Columbia. According to predictions from a leading oceanographer, Alaskans can expect to see flotsam — perhaps tons of it — washing up on beaches soon.
Read the full story in the Anchorage Daily News.
By Editor, on December 20th, 2011 AP | ADN
JUNEAU — Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell estimates a proposed coastal management program would cost $5.4 million a year. The program is being proposed as a ballot initiative.
Read more in the Anchorage Daily News.
By Editor, on December 20th, 2011 Jill Burke | ALASKA DISPATCH
It’s nearly guaranteed to be a monumental showdown, the kind Alaska seems to spawn regularly. On Wednesday, a handful of lawyers will volley before a federal judge over whether the U.S. government properly chose to shut down cod and mackerel fisheries in Southwest Alaska, giving the well being of an endangered marine mammal preference over the livelihood of scores of fisherman.
Read the full article in the Alaska Dispatch.
By Editor, on December 15th, 2011 by Andrew Halcro
Bristol Bay–The recent television ads created by the opponents of Pebble Mine have reached an absurdly new low. Unfortunately, that’s not surprising for this crowd.
Read Halcro’s opinion at andrewhalcro.com.
By Editor, on December 13th, 2011 Alex DeMarban | ALASKA DISPATCH
The National Marine Fisheries Service has renewed plans that may lead to a listing of the ribbon seals under the Endangered Species Act, bringing to three the number of ice-dependent seals in Alaska that could be protected by the act.
The agency rejected a ribbon-seal listing in 2008 but said new information warrants a second look. That’s disappointing news, said Rick Rogers, executive director with the pro-industry Resource Development Council in Anchorage.
The combined population of ribbon, bearded and ringed seal populations in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas exceed 1 million animals, so why should they fall under the act’s protections, he wondered.
Read full article in the Alaska Dispatch.
By Roger Maynard, on November 24th, 2011  Connelly Lake outlet, photo by Danny Gonce Paid commentary:
As you all probably know, AP&T has filed an application for a preliminary permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for the Connelly Lake Hydroelectric Project (Project). We have read all of the comment letters that have been submitted to FERC as of November 21, 2011, and it seems like there are a few misconceptions about our plans. We’d like to take this opportunity to clarify a few matters regarding our interest in the Connelly Lake site. We have structured this as a series of questions and answers. Read more->
By Editor, on November 22nd, 2011 Alex DeMarban | ALASKA DISPATCH
A federal judge upheld the three-year-old endangered listing for the biologically distinct Cook Inlet beluga whale today, rejecting all state arguments and noting that the state’s beluga conservation programs are ineffective and underfunded.
Read full article in the Alaska Dispatch.
By Editor, on November 21st, 2011 by Ned Rozell / Alaska Science Forum
FAIRBANKS – For many Alaskans, January 1989 is a month that still numbs the mind, because of the cold snap that gripped much of the state for two weeks. In Fairbanks, fan belts under the hoods of cars snapped like pretzels; the ice fog was thick and smothering, and the city came as close as it ever comes to a halt, with many people opting to stay home after their vehicles succumbed to the monster cold.
Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
By Editor, on November 19th, 2011  Sen. Mark Begich Press release:
Permanently banning responsible development of the enormous energy resources beneath Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) takes billions of dollars out of the economy, costs Americans sorely-needed jobs and contributes to higher prices to heat their homes and gas up their cars, says U.S. Sen. Mark Begich. Read more->
By Editor, on November 11th, 2011 Press release
WASHINGTON, D.C.–Today, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) and Rep. Don Young (AK-at large) announced plans to introduce the Alaskan Energy for American Jobs Act to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for future energy production and job creation. Read more->
By Editor, on October 24th, 2011 By Craig Welch | SEATTLE TIMES
To understand why scientists were so alarmed last week to see a potentially lethal fish virus surface in two sockeye, consider what happened in South America in 2007.
Atlantic salmon in two sea pens at a fish farm in central Chile struggled that summer with a common bacteria. So workers injected the lethargic fish with antibiotics. Still the salmon developed tumors and lesions. Their livers and kidneys failed. Within weeks more than 70 percent were dead, and other salmon at nearby farms were sick, too.
Read full article in the Seattle Times.
By Editor, on October 20th, 2011 By William Yardley | NEW YORK TIMES
SEATTLE — The scientist in Canada got the results from a respected lab and held a news conference. The ice and bait man at a fish processor in Sitka, Alaska, heard the news on Facebook. Vardon Tremain read it in the newspaper while working on his trolling boat docked here in Salmon Bay.
More scientists in Washington started talking, and 24 hours later everyone is asking more questions. As word spread that infectious salmon anemia, a deadly virus that has devastated farmed fish in Chile, had been found for the first time in prized wild Pacific salmon, there remained much uncertainty about the finding and what its potential impact could be.
Read more in the New York Times.
By Editor, on October 19th, 2011 By Andrew Halcro
October 19, 2011: After the ballots had been counted Monday evening, and it appeared voters of the Lake and Peninsula Borough had narrowly approved a controversial anti-mining initiative, the look on Bob Gillam’s lawyers face said it all; they had their lunch eaten.
Even though the measure passed, and even though Gillam appeared to be rewarded for his half million dollar campaign investment, the narrow 34 vote win represented a huge loss for Gillam and his anti-mining crusade and a huge win for the Pebble Partnership.
Read full opinion in AndrewHalcro.com.
By Editor, on September 28th, 2011 By Becky Bohrer | AP
JUNEAU — A Superior Court judge in Anchorage has sided with the state in a legal battle over the Pebble Mine project.
Judge Eric Aarseth, in a written ruling Monday, found that the state was not required to give public notice before issuing exploratory permits for the project site. He also found the state didn’t need to study the potential impacts of the activity first.
The plaintiffs, who include a coalition of Alaska Native village corporations, said they are considering an appeal to the state Supreme Court.
Read more in the Anchorage Daily News.
By Roger Maynard, on September 15th, 2011  Google Earth rendition of the Chilkoot Valley, looking north from Chilkoot Lake, showing Connelly Lake. Notes by Roger Maynard HAINES has an energy crisis. A little town in the middle of coastal Alaska with high mountain lakes and running water everywhere, we should be rolling in surplus hydroelectric power, but we’re not. Instead, we periodically burn diesel to smoke up our valley at a premium cost to consumers. Even without the diesel surcharge, electrical (IPEC) business customers in the upper Chilkat Valley are getting soaked up to $0.61 per kilowatt hour. Read more->
By Editor, on September 15th, 2011 By Richard Mauer | ADN
After the state lost in two courts, the Parnell administration said Wednesday it would prepare a new environmental impact statement for a 50-mile road from Juneau to a proposed ferry terminal near Haines and Skagway rather than appeal again, this time to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The state announced its decision to go back to the planning process two months after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of a federal judge in Alaska, who said the original environmental impact statement for the Juneau Access Project, from 2006, was inadequate.
Read more in the Anchorage Daily News.
By Editor, on September 12th, 2011  Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Lisa Murkowski will be a leader of the new bipartisan Senate Oceans Caucus when it assembles for the first time tomorrow, with the remaining co-chairs to be named at the event. “It’s an honor to be a leader of this caucus, on behalf of the only state bordering two oceans,” said Senator Murkowski. “The oceans are more than beautiful and important natural gifts, they are our farms, our factories of growth – and our future.” Read more->
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| Chip Bok
bokbluster.com
Feb 21, 2012
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editor@hainesnews.net
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