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Southeast News
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The Berkowitz-Benson campaign is championing what it calls the “Alaska Ownership Stake.”
“In a nutshell, Alaskans who receive the permanent fund dividend can check a box to invest in the pipeline – the natural gas pipeline – which means, they can make money from that venture and own a piece of the pipe as we say,” Benson said.
Governor Sean Parnell has criticized the plan, saying there already are options in the works. He told Anchorage television station K-T-V-A that under the Berkowitz plan, the state would have to finance a fifth of the pipeline and go into debt for the rest.
Benson says she’s not sure where Parnell came up with those figures.
“I think he needs to take a closer look at the plan,” she said. “This is a plan with this opportunity for Alaskans to invest, and from that, help get this pipeline going.”
She says the plan to let Alaskans own part of a pipeline isn’t anything new.
“Our objective is to lower fuel costs,” she said. “Our objective is to find means for energy for all aras of Alaska, and to reduce those costs at the same time. Our idea puts in place an opportunity for Alaskans in other areas that aren’t directly affected by oil and gas industry to be invested. And it also shows Alaskans’ individual attitude and commitment to the development of their own resources. And that’s part of the beauty of this plan, and we can show the rest of the nation that we’re serious about this. We’re done talking about it. We’re going to do it.”
Benson says the plan has two additional phases, but she wouldn’t elaborate on what they involved.
It’s no secret that most small Southeast cities have been losing jobs, and people. Changes in the fishing industry, the downturn in timber and higher energy costs have sent some residents to nearby larger towns, or outside the region.
That’s happened at the same time Sealaska has focused more on investments and manufacturing operations down south.
"Sealaska’s own economic presence within these communities has diminished as we’ve continued to scale back our own operations," Dick says.
Southeast’s regional Native corporation wants to return some focus to its shareholders’ home communities. So last year, it created a new subsidiary to support development of sustainable communities and economies within Southeast.
That division is called Haa Aani, Tlingit for “Our Land.” It encompasses several existing initiatives, including oyster farming, sand and gravel, and wood-pellet marketing and development. But it’s looking for more, particularly in resource extraction.
"Mineral development I think is certainly a potential. When we look at economic development and opportunities for rural communities, Sealaska has a subsurface land base that is quiet substantial. And that’s something that we have to take a hard look at and determine whether or not those assets are on the table," Dick says.
Haa Aani may also work in fisheries and forest management. And Dick says it could revisit some failed ventures.
"We need to analyze why things weren’t able to happen in the past. But going forward, it’s about innovation and overcoming obstacles. I’m not particularly interested in hearing why something can’t be done. I’m more interested in hearing and understanding what it takes to make it happen," he says.
Sealaska has given the subsidiary the same name it uses for its lands-selection bill before Congress. If it passes, the corporation would take ownership of tens of thousands of acres of valuable timber land. That would be managed by Sealaska’s logging subsidiary.
It would also allow the corporation to select several dozen small plots of land that fit other Haa Aani’s goals. The so-called futures sites could be used for ecotourism, hydro and tidal energy development and other ventures.
But Dick says it’s unclear how the bill will fit into the business.
"I won’t say that Haa Aani as a division of Sealaska will manage futures sites. But futures sites will certainly have a role in how we develop the region in terms of economic opportunity."
Sealaska has already entered into business-development partnerships with Klawock’s Viking Lumber and the Juneau-based Tlingit-Haida Central Council. And more are planned.
'Sealaska can’t and will not do this alone. It’s going to take a collaborative effort with a number of organizations to make this truly a reality and a success in the region," he says.
A major focus will be lowering energy costs and providing jobs that can keep young people in small communities.
He says shareholder and local hire will be high priorities for any venture. But they also must make business sense.
"We have over 20,000 tribal member shareholders. We have to meet financial expectations of our shareholders. So this is not going to be a social program. But it’s really going to be a program predicated on developing economies that meet financial hurdles for everybody involved," he says.
Dick, a shareholder who was raised in Hoonah, began his job in mid August. He’s worked for Sealaska as vice president of corporate development, director of diversity solutions and as a natural resources engineer.
Click here to hear more of our conversation with Russell Dick.
Hear earlier reports on:
The Eastern Sea Lion population has recovered and the threats facing them have been addressed to the point where they no longer need Endangered Species Act Protection.
In announcing the petition – which was joined by the states of Washington and Oregon – Governor Parnell said taking the Steller Sea Lion off the list would remove what he sees as a “roadblock to development” in Southeast Alaska.
"If our petition is successful, we’ll take a large swath of Southeast Alaska’s coastline out from the ESA’s burdensome and litigious regime," he said.
The Eastern population lives roughly east of Prince William Sound and along the Pacific Coast South to California . It has increased by an average of about 3 percent a year since the 1970’s and has been on the Threatened Species list since 1990.
Lowell Fritz of NMFS’s Alaska Science Center, says this particular population of sea lions was already the subject of a recovery plan developed by the agency in March of 2008.
"This was likely to be a candidate for de-listing because it has shown fairly consistent, fairly unimpeded increase over thirty years – three generations of sea lions. So it didn’t seem like it was threatened with extinction any longer," he said.
Parnell also has asked that the National Marine Fisheries Service not increase protection for the Western population of stellar sea lions — which carries an “endangered” listing. NMFS has determined that the status of the Western population is affected by commercial fishing, and it raises the possibility of curtailing fishing activities in the Western Aleutians.
Fritz says the Western population is very different and has had different dynamics over the last thirty years.
"I don’t think you can .. and we haven’t … made the claim that just because the east has done well, that that means much of anything in regard to what should or shouldn’t be done in the west," he said.
Parnell has brought action against the federal government on many fronts – from health care to polar bears. But he says this action is the first “offensive” step the state has made – saying all the others were in defense of Alaska’s state policies.
His opponent in the November general election, Ethan Berkowitz, says Parnell is using disagreements with the federal government as a distraction.
"It’s easier to hurl accusations at the federal government than to take responsibility for his own failings," he said.
The federal government will review the Alaska, Washington and Oregon petitions for delisting. That review will be open for public comment, and NMFS has ninety days to respond.
Sitka Superior Court Judge David George dismissed all but one charge against Kookesh and three co-defendants.
The four were cited in July of 2009 for catching more sockeye salmon than their subsistence permits allowed. They were contacted by state troopers while beach seining at a bay near Angoon, on Southeast Alaska’s Admiralty Island.
Kookesh and the other defendants, all Angoon residents, challenged the state’s right to manage subsistence on the island, which is mostly federal land.
They lost that fight. But they also argued that the state failed to follow its own rules for setting harvest limits. And they won.
Kookesh says those limits were too low.
"We challenged what we thought was unfair bag limits on the subsistence-use fishery in Angoon. They said that you can only get 15 fish per family per year and a couple miles away you had commercial seine boats getting thousands of fish a day," he says.
Kookesh is also board chairman of the Sealaska Corporation and co-chairman of the Alaska Federation of Natives. Judge George presided in the case because Angoon’s magistrate is Kookesh’s daughter.
In addition to the senator, Rocky Estrada Sr., Stanley Johnson, and Scott Hunter were cited.
Attorney Anthony Strong represented the four fishermen.
"The 15-fish limit was not promulgated to all the strictures of the administrative procedures act. And that failure to follow the administrative procedures act means the regulation is not valid and the defendants cannot be prosecuted for that failure to follow that 15-fish limit," he says.
The state could appeal the decision. District Attorney Doug Gardner says officials will wait for the judge’s formal ruling, which is due out in about a week.
"I think decisions to appeal decisions by courts in Alaska are careful and considered decisions that really require looking at a written decision, making a decision based on that. So I can’t comment on that right now," he says.
Short of a successful appeal, Kookesh, Estrada and Johnson are in the clear. But Hunter still faces legal action.
"There is one remaining citation for fishing without a subsistence permit. And I can’t comment substantively on that but I can say procedurally that that case has been set for a status hearing on Tuesday of next week," he says.
The trial has been delayed several times due to appeals and other issues. The most recent date was supposed to be Wednesday, September 8th.
Kookesh says he hopes the ruling leads to other challenges of subsistence fishing limits.
"I’m excited to have a judge agree with us that the bag limits were unjust and unfair. I’m excited to get this behind me because so many people in the state who felt that it was the right thing to do to challenge this. I’m also excited for the fact that it helps clarify the subsistence picture in Alaska," he says.
The four people cited faced $500 fines for exceeding the possession limit of a subsistence permit. That’s considered a non-criminal offense.
Meanwhile, Kookesh and his family went fishing again this summer, but in a different location with larger bag limits.
"It’s important to us. It’s a major part of our life. I still live in my village. I still subsist and I still help other people subsist and I help other people go through that subsistence process as bad and as good as it was in a lot of cases. It’s just wonderful to at least feel a little bit vindicated," he says.
Kookesh is a Democratic state senator representing more than 100 small communities in Southeast, Prince William Sound and the Interior.
Angoon battles state on subsistence
Sen. Kookesh to contest subsistence fishing violation
ANB-ANS challenge state on subsistence
EXTENDED AUDIO: McAdams talks to KCAW. Recorded Aug. 31, with the help of the Alaska Public Radio Network.
But the other two members of Alaska’s Congressional delegation say they’ll keep the measure in play.
Congressman Don Young introduced the first Sealaska bill in 2007.
But Lisa Murkowski’s office has been doing most of the recent heavy lifting. That’s in part because she’s the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which handles such legislation.
In an internet interview earlier this year, Murkowski took the lead in defending the bill against critics.
"There’s been some concern somehow or other, Sealaska is getting something extra, something that they’re not entitled to. And what I think is important to appreciate is the history, and the fact that Sealaska remains incomplete in terms of their conveyances under ANCSA," she says.
Murkowski’s narrow primary defeat still leaves her the power to push the measure through in her final months.
But Robert Dillon, her Natural Resources Committee spokesman, says that is not in the works.
"I’m not aware of any plans to move the bill in the immediate future. There’s certainly no plans to rush the bill through until it’s finished and ready to go. And at that point it would be made public, again, with any changes," he says.
Murkowski will serve until early January. But Dillon says scheduled recesses leave only about five weeks for Congressional action.
Don Young continues to sponsor a version of the measure. Spokeswoman Meredith Kenny says he is committed to seeing the bill through.
He serves on the House Natural Resources Committee, a key panel for the bill. But he no longer holds the leadership post he once had.
The third member of Alaska’s Congressional delegation, Senator Mark Begich, is also a sponsor of Murkowski’s legislation.
"His goal is to get the bill passed through Congress," says Begich spokeswoman Julie Hasquet.
She says he believes in the bill, which would allow Sealaska to select approximately 80,000 acres of the Tongass National Forest. That would be outside boundaries set in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.
"He continues to support the bill and whether it’s while Senator Murkowski is still in office or after she leaves office, if it hasn’t passed by then, Senator Begich will continue to work to get this bill passed," she says.
The chief contenders for Murkowski’s Senate seat are less positive about the bill.
"It would just create a high degree of economic impact in a way that would hurt Alaskans," says Republican candidate Joe Miller.
He slammed the legislation as a back-door deal during the primary. His campaign press staffers have not returned calls about the legislation since the August vote.
But in pre-election interviews, he criticized more than the process.
"The concern I have is that when you select outside boundaries it creates all sorts of uncertainty for private enterprise, other users, other stakeholders, that have come to depend on land that no one ever thought would be selected because it wasn’t within ANCSA boundaries. And so I think as a general concern, that is going to create, if you we go that route with this bill, uncertainty throughout the state, she says.
The Democrat in the race is less negative, but far from enthusiastic.
Senate candidate Scott McAdams has sat through meetings on the bill as Sitka’s mayor. But he would not say whether he’d sign on as a cosponsor.
"I think that the Sealaska land bill is a work in progress. I think as a general rule putting Native lands back into Native hands is the right thing to do," he says.
Sealaska officials were not available for interviews in time for this report. But spokesman Todd Antioquia sent an e-mail saying, quote, “We are not prepared to speculate and we will continue to evaluate all our options. We have legislation … with bipartisan support and we will continue working towards passage.”
Meanwhile, some bill opponents say it’s one of the reasons Murkowski lost to Miller.
Point Baker resident Don Hernandez, who has campaigned against the measure, says it cost the incumbent votes.
"On Prince of Wales Island I’m sure that there were a good number of people that voted against her specifically because of this bill. There may have even been a few people switching parties so they could vote for Joe Miller. It wouldn’t surprise me," he says.
An analysis by Native law attorney Donald Craig Mitchell, published in the Huffington Post, also suggested the bill could be a factor.
Despite the opposition, the incumbent pulled in about 57 percent of Southeast Alaska’s GOP primary vote. That’s a stronger return than most other parts of the state.
Web links:
- See the latest primary results.
- Link to the Scott McAdams campaign website.
- Connect to the Joe Miller campaign website.
- Watch an online interview with Lisa Murkowski by Alaska Internet Network’s Brad Fluetsch.
- Hear and interview with Joe Miller by KFSK's Melati Kaye.
- Link to a report on Scott McAdams' chances by KCAW's Ed Ronco in Sitka.