Peninsula Daily News for Wednesday, March 9, 2011
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Business
Politics & Environment
State pregnancy centers measure fails to advance Peninsula Daily News news services
OLYMPIA — A controversial bill that would have attached regulations to limited service pregnancy centers has failed to advance in the Legislature. House Bill 1366, the Limited Service Pregnancy Center Accountability Act, didn’t make the cut-off Monday evening for bills to pass from their house of origin. That means the bill appears dead at least for this year. Debate over the bill prompted many pro and con letters published in the Peninsula Voices section of the Peninsula Daily News’ Commentary page. The measure required limited-service pregnancy centers to notify patients up front what services they do not provide, such as birth control and abortion. The centers also would have to provide a free written statement of pregnancy test results immediately after the test is completed. Violators could face a civil action against them in Superior Court. Limited-service pregnancy centers are not licensed medical facilities, but some offer services such as free pregnancy tests or ultrasounds. They are often operated by groups opposed to abortion. Opponents saw the bill as an attack on organizations that oppose abortion and argued it could force the
In defense of the ‘service snake’ OLYMPIA — A man from Shelton who uses a snake as a service animal traveled to Olympia on Tuesday to lobby against a bill that would narrow the definition of what qualifies as a service animal. The measure opposed by Daniel Green would change the state law on service animals to meet federal standards, narrowing the definition to only dogs and miniature horses. Green says his boa constrictor is trained to hug him when it feels Green is about to have an epileptic seizure. Green said the snake helps him avoid injuries. At a state Senate Labor Committee hearing, Green said the proposed bill would preclude him from going to many places. Green kept his snake in a bag during the hearing. Restaurants and other retailers have backed the measure, saying that allowing any animal to be considered a service animal creates health hazards and other problems for their customers. The Associated Press pregnancy centers to shut down because they would be more vulnerable to lawsuits. Rep. Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island, said she introduced the bill after hearing from groups such as Planned Parenthood that these centers might be providing false or misleading information about abortion, pregnancy and birth control. Some women also claimed that they had trouble obtaining their medical records or had to wait long periods of time for their pregnancy test results, Clibborn said. In other action Monday, a Republican-led motion to
bring a vote on a bill that would have restricted driver’s licenses access to illegal immigrants and attempted to stop other identification fraud also failed to advance.
Other bills Moving forward were a bill calling for another extension of a long-standing pilot program that allows dogs to track cougars; a bill that attempts to end a loophole that allows state employees to collect both a pension and a paycheck; and a measure that would impose harsher penalties for drunken driving offenses.
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Among the bills not passing: n A Senate measure on stricter regulations for initiative signature gatherers. n A bill to get rid of automatic traffic cameras. n A bill that would have repealed a year-old rule passed by the Legislature that prevents borrowers from taking out more than eight loans in a year from a payday loan company. Anti-poverty advocates said the cap on loans protects against predatory lenders, while lawmakers including Rep. Steve Kirby, D-Tacoma, say it is forcing borrowers into an unregulated Internet market. The state Senate advanced a regulation on eminent domain that has failed to gain traction in the past. Their goal is to close a door opened six years ago by the U.S. Supreme Court. In the 2005 Kelo v. City of New London (Conn.) decision, the high court ruled that governments can condemn property to help a private developer. In effect, said Sen. Cheryl Pflug, R-Maple Valley, governments would be saying, “You’re taking good care of your land, but we think somebody else would make us more money with it.” Under Senate Bill 5077, governments in Washington state would be barred from using eminent domain for economic development. The bill passed 45-4 and now heads to the House.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Exxon Mobil Corp. has won a round in a dispute with environmentalists who want more money to clean up oil left on the shoreline of Prince William Sound from the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker spill. U.S. District Judge H. Russel Holland ruled Monday against a request from former University of Alaska marine science professor
Rick Steiner. Steiner had filed a motion trying to force the oil company to pay a $92 million claim filed in 2006 by the state and federal governments. Government lawyers are waiting for studies on the remaining oil and the effectiveness of cleanup techniques before pursuing the claim. “The court urges the governments and their trustees to proceed with all possible
speed to complete studies that are under way and any necessary evaluation which they may require,” Holland wrote. Exxon said it doesn’t have any obligation to pay more. The Irving, Texas, company paid $900 million in restitution in a 1991 settlement. But the settlement also had a “reopener” clause allowing the state and federal governments to later claim up to $100 million
more from Exxon if there were unforeseen damages. Steiner argued at a hearing Friday that the judge should force Exxon to pay the money immediately with interest, along with criminal fines. The judge ruled that Steiner didn’t have standing to try and force a resolution and declined to do so himself. “It was a profound and unconscionable betrayal of public trust,” Steiner said.
Federal logging curbs reinstated in Alaska’s vast Tongass forest By Felicity Barringer The New York Times
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal district judge has reinstated a Clinton-era regulation that prevented logging on old stands of hemlock, cedar and spruce trees in large stretches of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska. The judge, John Sedwick, ruled that a Bush administration decision to reverse course and allow tree-cutting was made for reasons that he called “implausible, contrary to the evidence in the record” and in conflict with judicial precedents. The state of Alaska had intervened in support of the federal government, arguing that closing off areas open to
logging would cost jobs. But in his ruling, handed down late Friday, Sedwick said evidence presented in the case showed that logging in southeastern Alaska has been declining in any case.
Largest component At 16.8 million acres, the Tongass is the largest component of the national forest system. It was the center of a battle in the 1990s between the timber industry and environmental groups and has a strong emotional pull for environmentalists as a remnant of the primeval immensity of the North American wilderness. The initial Clinton-era rule, issued in 2001, prohib-
ited logging roads in 9.5 million acres of the forest. The Bush administration’s partial reversal potentially opened 2.3 million roadless acres to logging trucks. For the past seven years, administrative rulings by the federal Forest Service and by federal courts have veered in one direction and then another, on the status of the “roadless rule” and federal protections for oldgrowth timber. The current case was
brought by a local village, Kake, which sought to preserve the acreage for recreational use. Niel Lawrence, a lawyer for the village who is also forestry projects director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said “it no longer made sense to open up pristine rain forest in the Tongass to development.” Sedwick’s ruling does not invalidate three timber sales that have already been granted in the contested area.
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Oil prices dip
Exxon Mobil wins ruling in Alaska oil spill dispute The Associated Press
PORT TOWNSND — Intellicheck Mobilisa, which makes identification systems used at U.S. military bases, reported a fourth-quarter loss of $642,000, or a loss of 2 cents per share, which compares with a loss of $573,000, or a loss of 2 cents a share a year earlier. In a report Tuesday, the Port Townsend-based company also noted good news — its revenues for the fourth-quarter, which ended Dec. 31, rose 18 percent to $3.05 million from $2.58 million for the same period in 2009. For fiscal 2010, Intellicheck Mobilisa reported a net loss of $2.6 million, or a loss of 10 cents a share, and revenues of $12.3 million. That compares with fiscal 2009, when the company reported a loss of $525,000, or a loss of 2 cents a share, and revenues of $12.4 million. “A significant percentage of the 2010 net loss came from non-recurring costs including litigation, acquisition related and costs associated with relocating and expanding our facilities,” company officials said in a statement. CEO Nelson Ludlow, added that the 18 percent increase in fourth quarter revenues was evidence that the company’s investment in business development initiatives was paying off.
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