By Editor, on October 20th, 2011  Sen. Lisa Murkowski Press release
WASHINGTON, DC – At times educational and historic, other times scathing and critical, Senator Lisa Murkowski today took to the U.S. Senate floor to commemorate the 144th anniversary of Alaska Day.
She set a sober tone early in the speech when she shared that she is “worried about the future of Alaska – not because of the global economy, not because of high unemployment levels, but because of the treatment we experience at the hands of our own federal government.” Read more->
By Editor, on October 15th, 2011  U.S. Rep. Don Young WASHINGTON, D.C.– Alaskan Congressman Don Young released the following statement regarding the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s passage of H.R. 2309, the Postal Reform Act of 2011, which includes a provision that would have a drastic effect on the bypass mail program on which many Alaskans rely:
Read more->
By Editor, on October 12th, 2011  Read full article in the Alaska Dispatch Craig Medred | ALASKA DISPATCH
FAIRBANKS–A federal magistrate’s decision to convict an elderly Interior Alaska man of criminal charges for confronting National Park Service rangers on the Yukon River last fall did not seem to be sitting well with Fairbanks residents Tuesday. Once more, many of them seemed to be saying, 72-year-old Jim Wilde was getting shafted for daring to stand up and question how the U.S. government does business in the 49th state.
Read full story in the Alaska Dispatch.
By Editor, on October 12th, 2011 WASHINGTON, D.C.–Beginning in the early 1970s, the late GOP Sen. Ted Stevens helped come up with the idea of “bypass mail service,” which allowed Alaskans — including many in remote areas reachable only by plane — to send and receive mail using private air carriers without it ever being handled by the Postal Service. These intra-Alaska mail deliveries cost Alaskans the same as mail sent in the lower 48 states, despite actually costing far more to deliver.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Cal.) and Rep. Dennis Ross (R-Fla.) are pushing to have the state of Alaska repay that extra $70 million the Postal Service shells out every year.
Read more in the Politico.
By Editor, on October 10th, 2011 by Dermot Cole | FAIRBANKS DAILY NEWS-MINER
The chances of getting moving on a major pipeline project in Alaska over the next decade for natural gas exports are close to zero, according to Pedro Van Meurs, unless the state does something dramatic.
Even then, the odds are not good. Getting buyers in Asia or anywhere else to buy 3 billion cubic feet of gas per day for the long term is a daunting challenge when the prospect of cheaper alternatives creates a desire by buyers for deals that don’t lock them in for decades.
His summary of the Arctic oil and gas fiscal systems in the report purchased by the Legislature says the state could improve the economics of a gas line by lowering the government take on a gas project.
Read full article in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
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 14th, 2011  Congressman Don Young WASHINGTON D.C.–Alaskan Congressman Don Young joined several colleagues this week in introducing the BARR Preservation Act.
In the past, the Block Aircraft Registration Request (BARR) program has allowed general aviation aircraft users to opt out of having their flight information made available to the public. However, with the FAA’s recent decision to curtail this decade-old policy and start allowing public access to all general aviation aircraft flight information, this legislation was needed to continue the BARR program. Read more->
By Editor, on September 14th, 2011 by Thomas Sowell | TOWNHALL
The grand myth that has been taught to whole generations is that the government is “forced” to intervene in the economy when there is a downturn that leaves millions of people suffering. The classic example is the Great Depression of the 1930s.
What most people are unaware of is that there was no Great Depression until AFTER politicians started intervening in the economy.
Read Part I in Townhall.com.
Read Part II in Townhall.com.
Read Part II in Townhall.com.
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->
By Editor, on September 3rd, 2011 Alan Bailey | PETROLEUM NEWS
ANCHORAGE–Much has been said and written about the causes and consequences of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, and about the scramble to respond to an oil spill that no one appeared adequately prepared to deal with. However, the U.S. Coast Guard’s incident report, known as the Incident Specific Preparedness Review, or ISPR, provides some fascinating insights into lessons learned from how the response was conducted, and how those lessons might be applied to planning for some future oil spill contingency.
Read more in the Petroleum News.
By Editor, on September 2nd, 2011 By Dan Joling | ASSOCIATED PRESS
An investigation of a federal scientist in Alaska whose observations of drowned polar bears spurred national publicity on climate warming was started after allegations made by another Interior Department employee.
Read full article in the Anchorage Daily News.
By Editor, on August 26th, 2011  State of Alaska press release
ANCHORAGE–The State of Alaska filed an appeal challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2008 listing of the polar bear as a threatened species. The state seeks to overturn a June decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that upheld the listing. Read more->
By Editor, on August 24th, 2011 Sen. Lisa Murkowski By Dan Joling | AP
Federal budget cuts are on the way and programs dear to Alaskans, such as highway and defense construction and rural health care, may not be spared over the next decade, according to U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
The country is drowning in debt, the Republican senator said Tuesday in a speech to Commonwealth North that was billed as a preview of the Capitol Hill agenda over the next four months.
Read more in the Anchorage Daily News.
By Editor, on August 22nd, 2011 By Alicia A. Caldwell | AP
PASCAGOULA, Miss. — Nearly a decade into a 25-year, $24.2 billion overhaul intended to add to or upgrade more than 250 vessels in its aging fleet, the Coast Guard has just two new ships to show after spending $7 billion-plus.
Now it’s facing an uphill battle persuading a budget-conscious Congress to keep pouring money into a project plagued by management problems and cost overruns.
Read full story in the Anchorage Daily News.
By Editor, on August 20th, 2011 Wesley Loy | PETROLEUM NEWS
WASH D.C.–The federal rollout of a draft management plan that could lead to huge new sections of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge being designated “wilderness,” including the potentially oil-rich coastal plain, drew immediate disdain from top Alaska politicians.
Read more online in the Petroleum News.
By Editor, on August 15th, 2011 By Jonathan Grass | JUNEAU EMPIRE
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service releases its revised draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge today.
Bruce Woods, the Service’s chief of media relations for the Alaska Region, said this is the regularly scheduled review process for refuges within the state. He said this revision was announced during the first public comment period in April 2010.
Read full article in the Juneau Empire.
More info:
U.S.F.W.S. full press release
Draft plan and related materials
By Editor, on August 14th, 2011 Craig Medred | ALASKA DISPATCH
HOMER — A packed room of angry and worried small businessmen fearful the federal government is about to bankrupt them got some simple advice Friday night on how to deal with the Washington, D.C. bureaucracy: “Send a letter.”
That was the best Glenn Merrill, assistant regional administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service, could offer charter boat skippers facing imposition of what is being called a “halibut catch sharing” plan.
Read full article in the Alaska Dispatch.
By Editor, on August 11th, 2011 By Gov. Sean Parnell | ADN COMPASS Opinion
ALASKA–This spring, the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers released a draft guidance document that will be used to decide which waters and wetlands will be protected by the Clean Water Act.
If allowed to stand, these guidelines could place an additional 40 percent of Alaska’s wetlands and non-navigable waters under federal jurisdiction. The proposed guidance is ambiguous, capricious and unlawful. It ignored using a cooperative process with the 50 states, as mandated by the Clean Water Act. And it skirted the formal rule making required by the Administrative Procedures Act.
Read the full opinion column in the Anchorage Daily News.
By Editor, on August 10th, 2011 Jeff Richardson | FAIRBANKS DAILY NEWS-MINER
FAIRBANKS, Alaska — Sen. Lisa Murkowski is using a historic gathering to make a simple point this week: Alaska is different.
Read full article in the News-Miner.
By Editor, on August 10th, 2011 The federal investigation into suspended wildlife biologist Charles Monnett has focused on the scientific merit of a 2006 article in which he and a colleague recorded their observations of apparently drowned polar bears in the Arctic, a watchdog group said Tuesday.
In the article, the ADN reports:
[U.S. Senator James Inhofe, R-Okla., has] said that Monnett’s work has been cited by witnesses before his committee and provided “the foundation” for the government’s decision in 2008 to list the polar bear as a threatened species, the first with its survival at risk due to global warming.
“As a result, critical habitat for the polar bear was designated, which added additional layers of onerous regulations to oil and gas development in 187,000 square miles of land in Alaska,” he said, adding that accusations against Monnett’s work “could be serious and have far reaching consequences.”
Read the full article in the Anchorage Daily News.
By Editor, on August 8th, 2011 by Alan Bailey | PETROLEUM NEWS
In the Parnell administration’s latest foray against what it sees as federal overreach in the management of the Alaska’s lands and natural resources, it has voiced strong objections to proposed new water and wetlands guidelines from the Environmental Protection Agency.
Read full article in the Anchorage Daily News
Read State of Alaska press release.
By Editor, on July 30th, 2011 The federal agency that this month suspended a veteran scientist now says its case has nothing to do with an article he wrote about polar bears that apparently drowned, permitting issues or scientific integrity.
Read full article in the Alaska Dispatch.
Read Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility article with links to source documents.
By Editor, on July 28th, 2011  Becky Bohrer | ASSOCIATED PRESS
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A federal wildlife biologist whose observation in 2004 of presumably drowned polar bears in the Arctic helped to galvanize the global warming movement has been placed on administrative leave and is being investigated for scientific misconduct, possibly over the veracity of that article.
Charles Monnett is an Anchorage-based scientist with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement.
Read full article in the Fairbanks Daily News Miner.
By Editor, on July 28th, 2011 Congressman Young press release:
The U.S. House voted tonight against an amendment introduced by Rep. Norman Dicks (D-WA) that would strike a provision in the Interior Appropriations bill forbidding the National Parks Service from enforcing regulations on waters in Alaska’s Yukon-Charley National Preserve. This provision, included at the request of Alaskan Congressman Don Young, will be included in the final version of the Interior Appropriations legislation brought to the floor.
Read more information at donyoung.house.gov.
Read more about this issue in the Fairbanks Daily News Miner.
By Editor, on July 25th, 2011 by Andrew Halcro | andrewhalcro.com
July 25, 2011: Alaskans have learned to expect consistent behavior from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) when it comes to resource development; consistently bad.
The EPA will soon decide on whether to unilaterally impose a more stringent national standard for air quality, despite concerns that doing so will violate our own federal Clean Air Act…
Read more at andrewhalcro.com.
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| Nate Beeler
The Columbus Dispatch
May 16, 2012
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Lynn Canal Map & Marine Traffic (refresh for current ship positions)
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