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P E N I N S U L A
Wednesday, August 1, 2018 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 48, Issue 260
$1 newsstands daily/$1.50 Sunday
Permit puzzle
In the news Nevada man dies when commercial canoe flips in Southeast river ANCHORAGE (AP) — A Nevada man died when a commercial canoe with 10 people on board overturned in a glacier river in southeast Alaska. The body of 50-year-old Steven Todd Willis of North Las Vegas was pulled from the Davidson Glacier River by a Coast Guard helicopter crew. Alaska State Troopers shortly after 10:30 a.m. Monday received a report from the Haines Police Department that the commercial canoe with an operator and nine passengers had overturned in rapids. Four people were reported missing. A Coast Guard helicopter headed to Skagway was diverted and the crew found Willis’ body. He was pronounced dead just before 1 p.m. Everyone on board wore life jackets. The helicopter transported the nine survivors to a staging area. The name of the boat operator was not immediately released.
Explosive material removed from lake near Sitka SITKA (AP) — The low water level at a lake near Sitka led to the discovery of explosive material near the shore. A person found plastic tubes near a ramp into Blue Lake last week and reported the items to the fire department, the Daily Sitka Sentinel reported Monday. The tubes with explosive material inside were found in holes in an area usually covered by water, said Bryan Bertacchi, the electric utility director for Sitka. “The water is at its lowest level since the most recent construction,” Bertacchi said, referring to the 2014 project that increased the height of the lake’s dam. The city called in a licensed explosives handler, Southeast Earthmovers, to remove the material. The contractor destroyed the items by burning them a safe distance away. The contractor believed the material was older than the last dam project, Bertacchi said. The public was not believed to be in any danger, but officials took precautions to safely remove the items, he said.
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Salmon initiative would criss-cross state jurisdictions, officials say By ELIZABETH EARL Peninsula Clarion
Evening on the Kasilof A commercial fishing vessel motors slowly past lines of personal-use dipnet fishermen in the mouth of the Kasilof River on Tuesday, July 31, 2018 in Kasilof, Alaska. Commercial fishermen and dipnetters share the mouth of the Kasilof River, though commercial boats move slowly through the area nearest the mouth and don’t generate large wakes. Tuesday night was a brisk one for the Kasilof river dipnetters — at the evening hightide, hardly a minute passed without three or four fishermen hauling in sockeye and the occasional pink salmon from the water. The Kenai River dipnet closed Monday because of poor returns to that river, but the Kasilof River dipnet will remain open until Aug. 7 unless closed by emergency order. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/peninsula Clarion)
Beyond just the cost and politics of Ballot Measure 1, state administrators have expressed concern about who would be in charge of what land. Ballot measure 1, a statewide ballot proposition commonly known as the “Stand for Salmon” initiative, would rewrite much of the existing statute relating to permits for activities in fish habitat. One of its main thrusts is to classify types of permits into “major” and “minor,” with major permits required for projects judged to have a significant impact on stream habitat. Proponents have said the initiative would give the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Habitat Division more discretion over whether to grant a permit; opponents have said it would block a number of major resource development projects and infrastructure projects in the state. At a special hearing July 20 of the Senate State Affairs committee, See FISH, page A8
Preliminary figures show Permanent Fund outperformed market By JAMES BROOKS Juneau Empire
The investment managers at the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation have once again beaten the market. According to preliminary figures released Monday, the fund is up $5.1 billion in the fiscal year that ended June 30. That’s a return of 10.74 percent, much better than the fund’s recent average and much better than the goal for the fund. “We knocked it out of the park,” corporation CEO Angela Rodell told the Empire in a Tuesday morning interview. “We can really see we’ve done an amazing job this year,” she said. It’s not just this year: Rodell has been CEO since 2015, and in that time, the fund has seen average returns of 7.96 percent. Again, that was above the goal set by the corporation’s board of trustees. Speaking Tuesday, Rodell said she wants to see how the fund’s returns compare to other big public investment agencies. CalPERS, the nation’s largest public pension fund, announced 8.6 percent returns last month. That fund has $351 billion in assets; the Permanent Fund has about $64.9 billion. New York State Common, the nation’s third-largest public pension fund, returned 11.35 percent for a fiscal year that ended March 31. Internationally, China’s equivalent to the Permanent Fund returned 15.7 percent from the year before. Norway’s equivalent, the largest in the world, returned 3.5 percent, then dropped in value during the first quarter of this year. The Permanent Fund’s returns in the most recent fiscal year are down from FY17 returns of 12.57 percent. In a speech to the Juneau Chamber of Commerce last week, Rodell told attendees that
it is important to see the fund beat a passive index benchmark, or “if you let a computer do the investing for you.” This year, that index would have returned 7.83 percent courtesy of a booming bull market. The fund returned nearly 4 percentage points above that, showing the work of the fund’s investors. “I think you’re starting to see the benefits of that in-house management touch every asset class,” Rodell said. The difference between a passive strategy and the active one used by the corporation works out to about $1.7 billion. Coincidentally, that’s approximately the amount the Alaska Legislature appropriated from Angela Rodell, Executive Director of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, speaks about the fund this year to pay for the positive results of the fund this year at the APFC office on Thursday, July 26, 2018. (Michael government services. Rodell said legislative de- Penn | Juneau Empire) bates over spending from the fund (on dividends as well as government services) haven’t impacted fund returns so far: An investment strategy works whether a fund has $65 billion or $63 billion. The key for the fund is stability. It fares best under a By VICTORIA PETERSEN The community center offers events for the steady draw rate, and the corPeninsula Clarion public nearly every day of the week, including poration’s board of trustees has a cards night, a quilters meeting, craft groups, asked lawmakers to abide by Mary Youngman describes the Funny River an exercise group and on the first and third strict rules when spending from Community Center as the area’s big great liv- Friday of every month a volunteer cooks soup the fund. Lawmakers approved for the center. ing room. some rules in their session this Youngman moved to Funny River from She’s the advertising chairwoman for the spring, but the binding power Funny River Community Association, which North Pole about seven years ago. She’s been of that legislation has not yet is hosting the Funny River Festival this week- attending the quilting club at the community been tested. center almost as long. end. “The challenge will be keep“(The community center) really serves as The festival is the only big event the coming it at that limit and not viomunity association organizes, with the pro- the gathering spot for the residents here and lating their own rule,” Rodell ceeds going towards keeping the community the community,” Youngman said. “The comsaid. munity center is really special for me.” center running. As they try to keep returns Youngman said she’s hoping the festival “It’s kind of our only real big money makas high as they are today, fund er,” Linda Vizenor, who is helping plan the generates enough funds to keep the commumanagers will face more hurnity center’s lights on and doors open. festival, said. “It’s what supports us.” dles than those erected by the “We’re working towards just keeping a The small building on Pioneer Access Legislature. Most investors place for the community, you know as we age Road, about 13 miles down Funny River believe the current bull market Road, sits near the community’s new play- we don’t just sit home and rock and read, or will turn bearish sometime in ground, paved walking trail, basketball court, watch TV,” Youngman said. “We get involved the next five years. No boom pickleball court and sledding hill. During the with people.” lasts forever. The Funny River community has been 2014 Funny River fire the community center “All the expectations by evquickly expanded into a disaster relief center traditionally home to retirees and seasonal eryone globally is that this is for area residents affected. See FEST, page A8
Funny River Festival supports community’s ‘great big living room’
See FUND, page A8