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CLARION P E N I N S U L A
Sunday, December 16, 2018 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 49, Issue 66
In the news Former elections director tapped to return to role JUNEAU — A former Alaska elections director is returning to that role. Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer announced he has appointed Gail Fenumiai as director of the Division of Elections. She is set to start Jan. 2. Fenumiai held the job from 2008 to 2015. She was replaced by Josie Bahnke. Meyer chief of staff Josh Applebee says Bahnke’s last day was Friday. Applebee says the change in leadership is not expected to be a problem in ongoing litigation over a Fairbanks House seat. Democrat Kathryn Dodge challenged the results of a recount that showed her losing to Republican Bart LeBon by one vote. Both candidates have questioned decisions made on whether to count, or exclude, some ballots. Lauri Wilson, a regional elections supervisor, will be interim director until Fenumiai takes over.
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Dunleavy releases budget draft New administration proposes full PFD payout, no back pay leavy said he supported paying residents a full Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend and money they missed out on when payouts were reduced starting in 2016 amid a budget deficit. Revenue Commissioner Bruce Tangeman said separate legislation may be needed to handle the issue of back payments. He said Dunleavy has been clear that it is a big issue and one that he will pursue. By one budget estimate, a full dividend and back payments could cost $4.3 billion. Dunleavy has said the state can afford to pay those using permanent fund earnings. During the campaign, Republican Dunleavy also said he wanted to reduce spending and limit the growth of govern-
By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
JUNEAU — Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s initial budget draft includes a full payout from Alaska’s oil-wealth fund for residents next year, but not money Alaskans missed out on during the three years checks were capped. His revenue commissioner, however, indicated that Dunleavy still plans to pursue the back payments. The budget draft released Friday — ahead of a statutory deadline — was described as a starting point that works off the budget document Gov. Bill Walker’s administration pulled together before Walker left office Dec. 3. But Dunleavy’s draft re-
Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks to members of the media before welcoming Juneau residents to the Governor’s Open House on Tuesday. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
lies on a more conservative oil leave a projected $1.6-billion price. And with the full divi- gap. Walker didn’t include a dend payout, Dunleavy’s bud- full dividend. get office said the draft would During the campaign, Dun-
See PFD, page A3
Second-graders campaign to collect food for Sitka hungry SITKA — A second-grade class is helping feed hungry people in Sitka. The children at Keet Gooshi Heen Elementary School are participating in a project to collect food that will be donated to the Salvation Army. The Sitka Sentinel reports the project is called “Fill the Halls.” Student Taan Moll says he likes helping people who don’t have much food and that there are plenty of people who need help. He says a homeless person once asked his mother for money because he was hungry as he and his family rode home. Students have created posters, made flyers and decorated donation boxes to attract contributions. One of the children’s teachers, Jule Peterson, says the second-graders organized events to get all grades in the school to participate.
Trevor Davis skates on Bottenintnin Lake on Monday. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Hitting the ice
— Associated Press
Snow 27/21 More weather on page A8
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Local skaters take advantage of late start to winter By JEFF HELMINIAK Peninsula Clarion
Some central Kenai Peninsula outdoors enthusiasts have found a silver lining to the slow snow start to winter. And it looks a lot like a skate blade.
Laura Pillifant is as avid a skier as anyone. She skied for the University of Alaska Fairbanks back in 1978 and has been a familiar figure on the area’s ski trails since moving here in 1989. Yet, as she talked about a
Dec. 9 outing to Griebe and Camp Island lakes on the Swanson River canoe trails with a group of friends, there was no trace of disappointment that the skis that day were left in the car. “The lake was beautiful,
USCG takes over F/V Nordic Viking cleanup in Seward By KAT SORENSEN Peninsula Clarion
The United States Coast Guard is taking charge of cleaning up fuel released in the Seward Harbor after the F/V Nordic Viking sank last Sunday. The vessel, which sank for unknown reasons on Dec. 9, released an unknown amount of marine diesel and other petroleum products into the harbor. The particulars and ultimate cause of the release are unknown but the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation reported that the ship had See SUNK, page A3
The F/V Nordic Viking sank in the Seward Harbor last week. (Photo courtesy of Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation)
with the mountains and sun out,” Pillifant said. “It was so nice.” In March, Pillifant will ski from border to border in Finland over the course of seven days, averaging 40 to 80 kiloSee SKATE, page A3
Could a tsunami traveling up Cook Inlet affect Kenai? Scientists say maybe By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
On the morning of Nov. 30, many residents on the Kenai Peninsula received automated tsunami warnings on their cell phones following the magnitude 7.0 earthquake. While Seward and Homer evacuated their schools and braced for impact, some residents in Kenai may have been left confused. An hour or so after the earthquake rumbled the peninsula, Kenai City Manager Paul Ostrander was on the radio, assuring residents that they had nothing to worry about when it came to a potential tsunami. Shortly after this, the warnings were canceled across the state. The tsunami warnings, which come from the federal level, were automatically issued to communities in the Cook Inlet region the morning of Nov. 30. Could a tsunami traveling up Cook Inlet affect the city of Kenai? Scientists say maybe. Donald More, acting director of the National Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, said there is a tsunami threat for Kenai, though it’s a small one. The city of Kenai sits at the crux of the mouth of the Kenai River and the silty salt waters of Cook Inlet. Moore said tsunamis caused by earthquakes will slowly diminish as they travel up Cook Inlet toward Anchorage. He said Kenai is not under threat when it comes to thrust-generated tsunamis. “Kenai will probably not see significant damage from this kind of tsunami,” Moore said. Moore said a different kind of tsunami could affect Kenai — one that is caused by landslides, both above and underwater. In 1883, the southern Cook Inlet volcano St. Augustine erupted, sending a massive chunk of the mountain into the sea. The landslide caused four 20-feet-high waves to crash on the shores of the Kenai Peninsula, according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory. “The Kenai Peninsula is in risk of this kind of event,” See THREAT, page A3
North Slope police identify worker killed at oil field ANCHORAGE (AP) — Authorities have identified the Alaska worker killed last week at a North Slope oil field as 36-year-old Shawn Huber. Huber died early Dec. 7 at Milne Point in what the North Slope Borough Police Department said was an “equipment accident,” the Anchorage Daily News reported Thursday. Hollis French, the chair of the state Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, said this week that the worker was hit by heavy drilling pipe. He said he had spoken with a Hilcorp official who characterized death as resulting from a “pipe mishandling incident.” Huber was employed by
Kuukpik Drilling, a contractor for Hilcorp Alaska. Public records list a Wasilla address for Huber. His death is the first workplace fatality on the North Slope oil fields since 2012, according to the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Kuukpik Drilling and Hilcorp did not immediately respond to the newspaper’s requests for comment Thursday. Company officials have previously declined to release additional details about the death, citing the ongoing investigations. Huber died at the Innovation 1 drill rig, said Jeffrey Brown, See SLOPE, page A3